It's been more than two decades since Jacques Brel, the singer and songwriter, passed away, but his story-melodies so full of iconoclastic irony still tug strongly at the heartstrings.
That message came through loud and clear as I watched Brel's muse put seven talented Colonial Players through their emotional paces Thursday night in the production of "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris."
I think "Brel" is actually a 19th century Romantic song-cycle masquerading as a theatrical revue. It's plotless -- don't even bother looking for a connecting libretto. Every solo and ensemble number is self-contained.
Yet, themes emerge that move the dramatic flow forward to peak moments of tension, fear, and undeniable revelation.
As these themes of death, alienation, fear of old age, anti-conformity and, yes, compassionate love are spun out, you'll not find much of a comfort zone.
Just when you think you have one of the 26 vignettes notched snugly into its emotional cubby, "Brel" can zap you. Suddenly, that moment of happiness you thought you were sharing becomes a parody of smug, middle-class blindness or a descent into panic.
The cast is extremely good at capturing these jagged emotional edges, especially in the ensemble numbers mounted expertly by director James Gallagher. These group affairs are so atmospheric that when you enter the cafe as three drunken fellows are twitting bourgeois piggishness ("Middle Class"), or visit the red-light district of Amsterdam to sample the anger and disconnection of it all, you'll be drawn in immediately.
You'll have ample opportunity to admire each of Colonial's featured players.
Marti Pogonowski tore my heart out with her sad contemplation of aging ("Old Folks").
Margaret Allman must surely be the fizziest, leggiest corpse I've ever seen ("Funeral Tango"), while tenor Dan Herrel proves a breezy (and fickle) song-and-dance man in "Bachelor's Dance."
Baritone Steve Evans is especially good in the "Amsterdam" sequence, while Wendy Baird Weidemann is affecting in "Marieke," Brel's tribute to his native Flanders, which was so devastated by both world wars.
Andrea Hughes-Ostrowski catches all the emotions of the haunting "Sons Of," and Tom Newbrough is so bloody good everywhere, I'm not sure which of his moments to mention.
Solo singing was variable in Thursday's performance. The women in particular were reaching for high notes and falling somewhat short on matters of pitch. Part of the problem is that Brel wrote tough songs that refuse to stay in the center of the voice. But it also seemed that the company's women (and Mr. Evans in "Fannette") were so under the emotional sway of their songs that vocal fundamentals wound up taking a back seat. Some detachment may be in order.
That's more easily said than done, I admit, for the piercing genius of Jacques Brel is still alive and well in all of us -- audience and actors alike.
"Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" plays Thursdays-Sundays through April 3 at the Colonial Players Theatre, 108 East St., Annapolis. Information: 410-268-7373.
Pub Date: 3/14/99