The Concord Players Present
JACQUES BREL is Alive and Well & Living in Paris

 

a Musical Revue
Conception, English Lyrics and Additional material by

Eric Blau & Mort Shuman

 
Based on Brel's Lyrics and Commentary
Music by Jacques Brel
 
Directed by KIRSTEN GOULD

Music Director SUSAN MINOR

Produced by

Sally Bull

 

Jacques Brel is a librettoless miracle of a show! It includes 20-plus 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, cafes and inns of the villages and towns of 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 song writer of 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 twenty-four 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, of 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 Brel, and we are privileged to share it with our audience.

--Kirsten Gould

Assembled from Programme, published by The Writer's Bridge in conjunction with Ideas Associates, Boston, MA, 1990; and from The Village Gate Program, Blue Curl Productions, Inc., New York, NY, 1992

 

Winter 1999

Our 80th
Season

Performance Dates

November 12, 13, 19, 20, 21 (matinee), 26, 27

curtain is at 8:00 and 2:30 mat

 

click for pictures of
In the Spring of 2000, the Players took a 45 minute cutting of Jacques Brel to compete at Brandeis in the Eastern Mass Assoc of Communiity Theatres. Follow this odyssey

 

The Cast
Lewis Blair
  Larry Peterson
         
Carissa Burkhart
Shana Dirik
   
Jacques Brel
   
 
Tom Dinger
   

click on cast member picture for bio

Musical Numbers

ACT I

Overture
 
Marathon
Company
Alone
Lewis
Madeleine
Carissa, Larry, Shana, Tom
I Loved
Shana
Mathilde
Tom
Bachelor's Dance
Larry
Timid Frieda
Carissa with Larry, Lewis, Tom
My Death
Shana with Carissa, Lewis
Jackie

Larry

Statue
Tom
Desperate Ones
Company
Sons Of
Carissa, Shana
Amsterdam
Lewis and Company
ACT II
The Bulls
Tom with Lewis, Shana
Old Folks
Carissa with Larry, Lewis, Shana
Marieke
Shana and Company
Brussels
Carissa with Larry, Tom
Middle Class
Lewis, Tom
Fanette
Lewis
Funeral Tango
Larry
No, Love, You're Not Alone
Shana
Next
Tom and Company
Carousel
Carissa and Company
If We Only Have Love
Company

Intermission music: Recordings of Jacques Brel performing his own works

The Crew
Stage manager
Assist stage mgr
lighting designer
lighting
lighting
lighting
Set Designer
Set Design
Head Set Builder
Head Set Builder
Set building
Set building
Jim Kerkam
Set building
Frank Counihan
Set building
costume designer
costumes
make-up
Props
props