In the Arts
A REVUE of the music of acclaimed Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel comes to Belfast next week.
Jacques Brel is Alive & Well and Living in Paris, a Blunt Fringe Theatre production, stars Colette Lennon, Gerard McCabe, Philip Rahm and Joanna Strand.
The original show was a huge success on its off-Broadway run in 1968 and on its subsequent stints in Sydney, Paris, Amsterdam and Dublin.
It is regarded as "Musical storytelling at its finest" (The New York Post), while Time Out New York dubbed it "the best musical revue ever".
Brel's much-translated songs of love, death, bruised romance and cynicism have influenced generations of artists.
The singer-songwriter, who died in France in 1978 aged 49, recorded most of his songs in French but still became a major influence on English-speaking songwriters and performers such as David Bowie, Alex Harvey, Dionne Warwick, Leonard Cohen and Marc Almond.
English translations of his songs were recorded by the likes of Ray Charles, Judy Collins, John Denver, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams. Brel was also a big inspiration for Irish singer Jack Lukeman, who performs under the name 'Jack L'. Jacques Brel is Alive & Well and Living in Paris hasn't been performed in Northern Ireland before.
Each song in the revue tells a story and examines themes of love, war, being young and growing old, yet there is a good deal of humour in the mix too.
The show is directed by Matthew Johnson and Rachel Logan-Fee, with musical direction by Mark McGrath.
This will be the second show from Blunt Fringe, following their production of The World Goes 'Round earlier this year.
Claire Murray, who founded the company, said Blunt Fringe sets out to attract back to Northern Ireland the many professional actors who have swapped Belfast for London. "There's a wealth of talent that leaves Northern Ireland's theatre industry to pursue global ambitions and we want to entice them back now and again to perform to a home crowd," she said. n Jacques Brel is Alive & Well and Living in Paris opens at the Lyric in Belfast on Tuesday and runs until November 15. For tickets (£18/£20), visit LyricTheatre.co.uk or call 028 9038 1081.
Brian Campbell