HAWAII PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
Featured in HPU Theatre's production of "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" are, clockwise from top left, Kevin Yamada, Dennis Proulx, Michael Burns, Lina Doo, Melissa Dylan and Rebecca Maltby.
HPU’s French revue
is alive and well
Two types of people are likely to enjoy Hawaii Pacific University Theatre's community theater production of "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris": first, those who are familiar with Brel's work but willing to hear it performed in English rather than French, even if they feel that some of Brel's subtleties have been lost in translation. The second group, adventurous souls unfamiliar with Brel but open to exploring genres that lie outside the limits of American pop and musical theater, will find director Joyce Maltby's smoothly paced musical revue reason enough to seek out a copy of the newly remastered original cast recording on CD.
Brel's lyrics are generally dark, cynical and leavened with cutting sardonic humor. Several songs use obscenities as punch lines. There is no plot to the show, but each song tells a self-contained story. A six-person ensemble cast brings to them life in engaging style.
"Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris": Presented at Hawaii Pacific University Theatre, 45-045 Kamehameha Highway, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays through April 11. Tickets are $18 general; $14 for seniors, military, non-HPU students and HPU faculty and staff; $3 for HPU students. Special discounts available on Thursdays. Call 375-1282 to reserve.
Veteran actor Dennis Proulx is the expressive comic spark plug of the show and the featured performer in four of the most powerful numbers. In "Mathilde" he expresses in highly animated style the mixed joy and dread felt when someone who broke your heart wants to resume the relationship. In "Jackie" ("La Chanson de Jacky"), he becomes a middle-age man wishing he could win approval simply by "being cute in a stupid-ass way." Proulx got a big laugh on opening night each time he said it.
"Funeral Tango" ("Le Tango Funebre") finds Proulx portraying a dead man and commenting on the behavior of the "phony friends" who have come to his funeral.
"Next" ("Au Suivant") is a harsh and disturbing piece in which Proulx moves like a robot in describing the dehumanizing experience of military service.
Kevin W. Yamada stands out as a singer-actor with his nuanced rendition of "Bachelor's Dance" ("Le Bourree de Celibataire"), playing a man who says he wants to get married but somehow never finds a woman who measures up to his specifications. Yamada scores again with his portrayal of a deceased war hero's statue who says that he went off to war not to defend any high-minded principles or causes, but because he was bored and wanted to sample the delights of "German broads."
Yamada's comic skill embellishes his performance as a bullfighter in "The Bulls" ("Les Taureaux"), a piece that begins with detached speculation on how doomed bulls view bull-ring violence and ends with an indictment of modern war violence. He adds a nice bit of silent comedy to "Carousel" ("La Valse a Mille Temps") with his portrayal of a small boy with a balloon.
Michael Burns joins Yamada on "Middle Class" ("Les Bourgeois"), a crude but funny number about how young radicals often become conservatives as they grow older. Burns stars in "Fanette" ("La Fanette") as a devastated man who discovers the woman he worships is enjoying herself at the beach with another man (Andrew Meader performs the role through Sunday).
A similar painful experience is played for laughs when Burns and Yamada team up with Melissa Dylan and Rebecca Maltby, director Maltby's daughter, on "Madeleine," the story of a man who waits -- in the rain -- for the woman he loves, gets stood up and becomes sick but decides to ask her out again.
Dylan, Rebecca Maltby and Lina Doo share the spotlight on "Old Folks" ("Les Vieux"), a chilling tale about the gradual deterioration of an old couple. Doo has two beautiful solo numbers in "Sons of ..." ("Fils de ...") and "Marieke," and distinguishes herself also with her command of the Dutch lyrics of the latter. (Dutch and French are both the official languages of Brel's native Belgium, and he occasionally wrote in Dutch.)
In addition to performing in the ensemble, Doo also shares music director duties with pianist Beverly Gitzen Katz and plays acoustic guitar on several numbers.
Characterization is often the key, and Proulx, Yamada and Burns excel at it. Choreographer Katherine Jones adds a sense of energy and conflict to "The Bulls" by having Burns, Dylan and Rebecca Maltby swirl around bullfighter Yamada. Jones also provides the visual punch to the climatic encounter on "Carousel."
Karen Archibald (set design) provides an interesting split-level performance area with painted flats suggesting a Parisian locale. Sara Ward (properties design) adds the flower that completes Proulx's performance in "Funeral Tango."
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