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Miche En Scene The Songs of Jacques Brel Space Theatre 11, 12, 15-17 June Following acclaimed performances at last year's Edinburgh Festival, the Belgian quartet Miche en Scene have finally made their way to Adelaide for a keenly anticipated series of shows devoted to the master chansonier Jacques Brel. Though now dead for 25 years, Brel's songs still maintain their power with their poetic mastery, savage satire and bittersweet melodies. His influence can be detected in writers like Cohen and Cave and Miche en Scene attest to his continuing relevance. Commencing with a highly theatrical version of the early Le Diable (Ca Va), vocalist Micheline Van Hautem covered a vast terrain of lost love, political satire and regret in both English as well as French. Highlights included the introspective and dark beauty of the late songs, Les Marquises, Voir Un Ami Pleurer and Le Bon Dieu. The more familiar repertoire - If You Go Away, Seasons in the Sun (Le Moribund), and the tale of Amsterdam's whores and sailors were given passionate performances. Van Hautem triumphed over the chauvinism of some of Brel's characters and though Brel's voice echoes in my ears, the supporting musicians truly lived this music, with the accordionist Frederik Caelen as marvellous as Brel's own JoJo in Vesoul. The Latin infected guitar of Frank de Kleer added a true sense of the heightened drama and bassist Bob Wisselink, in an often understated way, provided contemporary colour to Brel's passionate dramas. An ideal introduction to the grand maitre of French cabaret.  |
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