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Jacques Brel is Alive and Well in First New York Revival, March '06
By: BWW News Desk Dec. 05, 2005
The show will be directed by Gordon Greenberg (The Baker's Wife - Paper Mill Playhouse), who previously staged the show at Albany's Capital Repertory Theatre in January of 2004. Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris "transforms Brel's astonishing musical compositions into a theatrical experience that has delighted audiences for nearly four decades," according to production notes. The original show opened in 1968 at The Village Gate in Greenwich Village and at 1,847 performances, ran for more than four years.
"With a cast of four actors and four musicians, the show celebrates composer/lyricist Brel's timeless relevance and enduring passions. Translated from the French by American poet Eric Blau and lyricist Mort Shuman ("Save The Last Dance For Me"), the show is a diverse blend of ballads, tangos, boleros, rock and classics. With raw human emotion, each piece tells a story, examining themes of love, war, adventure, broken dreams, people from all classes, being young, growing old and death...but never forgetting that life, with all its tragedies and complexities, shows us much humor."
The cast and creative team have not yet been announced for the show, whose songs include "If We Only Have Love," "Carousel," "Desperate Ones," "Madeleine," and "Amsterdam."
Greenberg has stated the revival will be faithful to the original, but that there will also be some updates. "We have reordered the songs and played with some of the arrangements to create what will hopefully be an emotionally satisfying through-line and a genuinely European aesthetic that matches the soulfulness of Brel's music. At a time when the country is feeling as vulnerable as we did in the early seventies, this music is especially resonant."
The show will play the following performance schedule: Monday at 8PM, Tuesday at 7PM, Thursday at 8PM, Friday at 8PM, Saturday at 3PM & 8PM, and Sunday at 3PM and 7PM. There will be no Wednesday performances. Tickets are $65 and may be purchased through Telecharge at www.telecharge.com or 212-239-6200.
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