Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in ParisProduction conception, English lyrics and additional material by Eric Blau and Andmort Shuman Show Sponsor: Blue Cross Season Sponsor: Progress Energy Performed in the Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre On this page: Director's notes from the playbillJacques Brel is Alive and Well & Living in Paris is a librettoless miracle of a show! It includes 25 songs of the more than 300 that Brel wrote in his lifetime.
Born in Belgium in 1929, Jacques Brel was the son of a cardboard manufacturer and was being groomed to take over the family business. Already interested in music, he spurned the idea of life in the family factory. Performing and writing were his keys to freedom.
In his early twenties, Brel went to France and sang his songs in the taverns, cafés and inns of the villages and towns throughout the French countryside. Bit by bit he built up a large and most devoted audience and became the leading "chansonnier" or “troubadour” pop-singer and songwriter in France. He went on to Paris as a true star and made the city his home.
By 1959 his intriguing poetry and music had been discovered by producer/translator Eric Blau who, with rock composer Mort Shuman, adapted and assembled a number of Brel's songs into a musical production format. Brel gave his approval and in 1967 the show opened at The Village Gate in New York where it ran for five years.
Because of Brel's strong opposition to American involvement in Vietnam, he refused to attend his show's world premiere. Several years later in 1969 Brel did attend a performance at The Village Gate. He returned again in 1972 when the show played to a packed house at Carnegie Hall in celebration of its fourth anniversary. He was delighted with the show and took a bow.
Jacques Brel died in 1978, but his music lives on. His songs are bittersweet, containing somber subjects – life hurts, youth dies, understanding heals, love warms. His words portray people who are unwilling, in spite of all they experience, to abandon either the joy of life or the hope that makes life worth living. He speaks to us in the universal language of the heart. This is the soul of Jacques Brel and we are privileged to share it with our audience. -- Haskell Fitz-Simons
Members of the castOlive L. McKrell
OrchestraPiano: Julie A. Florin
Production crewDirector: Haskell Fitz-Simons
Photographers: Andy DeLisle, Haskell Fitz-Simons, Jennifer McIntyre, Stuart Wagner Audition Crew: Ed Bodell, Roger Bridges, Ellen Landau Box Office Volunteers: Joe Ali, Laura Barrier, Beckie Bumgardner, Harvey Bumgardner, Cornell Chappell, Patsy Clarke, Deanna Eckert, Joyce Donaldson, Lynn Hardison, Connie McDaniel, Rose Melvin, Martha Noyes, Pats Palmer, Linda Pritchard, Linda Shore, Edythe Stanislaw, Jane Stikeleather, Marian Susann, Jean Wilkinson House Managers: Cate Foltin, Lynn Freeman, Carol Friedlander, Barbette Hunter, Lilo Miles, Kent Parks, Judi Wilkinson Light Crew: Asher Robinson (Chief), Dee Bitner, Ed Bodell, Jeff Eckert, Catherine Lambe, David Langmeyer, Nicolai Rogers, David Wilk Light Hang/Focus: Andrew Dyer, Chris Eckert, Deanna Eckert, Jeff Eckert, Dave Petrone, Asher Robinson, David Wilk Public Relations Crew: John Adams, Amy Berenson, Barbara Corbin, Heidi Dragon, Olympia Friday, Catherine Lambe, Jacqueline Smallwood Set Construction: Noel Butzke, Jeff Eckert, Julie A. Florin, Joe Kolb, Richard Mancini, Olive L. McKrell, Heather Powell, John Price, Nancy Rich, Rod Rich, Asher Robinson, Alan Seales, Dick Shirk, David Wilk Special Thanks To: Capstone Production Group for Web hosting; Henry Glasgow for piano tuning; Luna Designs for Web site design and maintenance; and PIP Printing for posters. You are here: Photo home > 2003-2004 Yearbook > Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris |
