NEW YORK -- "I don't find inspiration in harmony, but in the darker corners of life," says actress and cabaret singer Ute Lemper at her home in New York City, where I caught up with her last week. On Nov. 9, she will be singing at the Akasaka Act Theatre in Tokyo, which will be the entertainer's fourth performance in Japan.

Lemper, who speaks rapidly and passionately when she becomes interested in the topic at hand, is a 39-year-old mother of two with sultry and slightly wicked good looks. She got her start as an entertainer in 1983 when she was attending the Max Reinhardt Academy in Vienna and caught the eye of the visiting Andrew Lloyd Webber. Not long after, she found herself in the Viennese production of "Cats," and later played the role of Peter Pan in a Berlin production of the classic fairy-tale.

In 1986, she got her biggest break when she won the role of Sally Bowles in "Cabaret." She also appeared in the Robert Altman film "Pret-a-Porter" in a role few women would relish -- strolling naked and nine-months pregnant down a catwalk.