Jennifer Ward-Lealand reprised her Marlene Dietrich persona in Jennifer Ward-Lealand Sings Marlene, at the 2004 Hamilton Gardens Festival on two Sundays, 22 and 29 February at 9pm in the Victorian Conservatory.  The following review appeared in the Waikato Times on 23 February 2004:

Jennifer Ward-Lealand sings Marlene The Victoria Conservatory, Hamilton Gardens Festival February 22 & 29 9pm
Reviewed by Gail Pittaway,

When a luminary pays tribute to a legend there's an extra dusting of starlight. This glamorous cabaret salute is, above all, a night of wonderful music making. Jennifer Ward-Lealand, better known in this country as an actress, is also a great singer. Her convincing reproduction of Dietrich's extraordinary growls, sighs, sneers and simpers takes us back to a time when stars burned longer and stronger in the popular imagination. And then there's the fur coat! And the dress, skillfully lit by Andrew Malmo, especially in blue light. With Grant Winterburn's sizzling piano and Aaron Coddel's slinky bass, Ward-Lealand covers a range of material in French, English and Dietrich's native German. She displays styles, from pert and coquettish, through poignant, patriotic and passionate, to the wry vamp we all recall. In particular, her delivery of Cole Porter and Piaf songs, quirky and edgy in timing, reflect the skill of both performer and subject at wringing nuance out of a line. Ward-Lealand has Marlene give brief introductions to her songs. We learn of how she came to be in the movies with her first great film, The Blue Angel. Of her love for all things American, characterised in a mournful rendition of My Blue Heaven. The emotional heart of the show is captured in the singing, in English, of the great war-time tune Lili Marlene and, in German, Pete Seager's Where Have All The Flowers Gone? So many boys, lured by song, gone to graveyards every one.