Word: brel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...FIVE years I've been teased by the title Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris as it lurked in the suburbs of the Times theatre page, but it wasn't until recently that I found the enigmatic statement annoying enough to look into. Initiates told me that Jacques Brel is a very successful 42 year old French singer-songwriter and that the mysterious title belongs to a musical revue of 25 Brel songs translated into English. I pictured Brel as a young Chevalier transforming charm into success and moving with case from a Left Bank garrett...
...Jacques Brel playing at Mather House is an altogether headier brew. Instead of light Parisienne melodies Brel's tones are cloudy and foreboding--substantial with the threat of storm. The music has a vaguely northern flavor, almost Germanic as if it had some spiritual connection with the songs Kurt Weill wrote for Brecht. But there is also a carnival air, with melodies spinning faster and faster up and then down...
...star is plump and voluptuous Patricia Covich, a freshman from Emerson college who is making her dramatic debut with Brel. She can turn from a light number to give serious pieces like "My Death" or "Sons of ---" more than their native depths. In between she is a bubbly personality who cannot seem to suppress her enjoyment as if it were her first prom, instead of her first job. Rochman's performance was just as powerful if a bit more self-conscious. "Put the best sheets on the bed, Mathilde's come back to me!" he shouts in an exotic number...
...carping is to be done about this production it should be directed at Eric Blau and Mort Shuman--who translated the songs and are guilty of "additional material"--or perhaps at Brel himself. Some of the songs--notably "Fanette" and the finale "If We Only Have Love"--are trite and slurpy. The cast was good enough to overwhelm Brel's lack of ideas with its own fire but Blau and Shuman's unfortunate use of the English language is sometimes jarring. (Rochman is obliged to shout that he wants to be "cute, cute, cute, in a stupid...
...Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Mather House Cabaret. 9, May 4-7. Wine and fruit served gratis. Call 495-4834 for tickets...