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. Jewelle Blackman, Brent Carver, Mike Nadajewski and Nathalie Nadon really had the right stuff for this show Mike Nadajewski Jewelle Blackman

I don’t know…..I guess you could call me a cultural ingrate. When I booked tickets for the Stratford Festival production of Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, I honestly could not consciously ever remember having heard of Monsieur Brel….or any of his music. And after seeing the production – and hearing it – oh.yes, hearing it – I realize what a sheltered cultural life I’ve led and how it has been entirely my loss.

I was simply blown away by this production – it’s one of the best pieces I’ve seen at Stratford in recent years, and that praise is not given lightly. Things got off to a slow start – or so it seemed to me. I was wondering after the first five or six numbers if maybe I’d bitten off a little more than I was capable of chewing with the Brel word songs. Indeed, it wasn’t really until “Middle Class (the Bourgeois)” took flight that I really got into the spirit of things. And after that I was either laughing or crying alternately depending on which way Brel’s musical poetry pulled my emotions.

And these are wildly emotional word songs if you’re prepared to let them inside of you where they do their best work. I cannot imagine how Eric Blau and Mort Shuman were able to take the Brel works and translate them into English and have them still be as fresh and alive as when Brel was performing them at the height of his career, through the 1950’s and 1960’s.

The show is really a journey through life for most of us – Brel writes about childhood, the loneliness of life, love, death, the places he has lived and pretty well every aspect of the lives we all face as we make this great odyssey. Brel understands that the great drama in our lives involves the ordinary stuff like falling in love, aging and even dying. And there is satire aplenty and pathos and plenty of emotional fun.

Stratford has assembled a terrific cast for the show and the orchestra was wonderful as well, making the whole musical experience nothing but enjoyable. Jewelle Blackman, Brent Carver, Mike Nadajewski and Nathalie Nadon really had the right stuff for this show and although it employs a relatively small orchestra, it really outdid itself the day we attended. Blackman and Nadon were really breathtaking in several numbers, Nadajewski was extremely funny in a couple of numbers, and I enjoyed Carver throughout. All four were in excellent voice and made effective use of the few simple props used in the show.

No, I left the theatre chastising myself for not becoming acquainted with Jaques Brel long before now. His talent is staggering. And when his work is presented by a cast as good as the one at Stratford, the result is a staggeringly good piece of theatre. If you enjoy being entertained, but you like that entertainment to be somewhat thought-provoking, you should certainly check this show out. I’ll likely be checking out the CD store to pick up a little Brel. I’d like to have it on my i-pod.

Also, I saw in the program notes that one of the people who was heavily influenced by Brel’s word songs is none other than Canada’s master poet, Leonard Cohen, who also has somewhat of a knack for putting his poetry to music. And, indeed, when you listen to Brel performed as it was at Stratford, you can hear both the chord structures and rythyms that Cohen has used extensively in his work.

Each year, I like to take in a couple of plays I don’t know much about and Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris was one of those “spec” plays this season. And I would highly recommend it to anyone out there…..anyone with the ability to do a little thinking while they’re being entertained.