STAGE REVIEW : ‘Jacques Brel’ Still Alive in Pasadena

ONe is either susceptible to the songs of Jacques Brel(25 are used in the Pasadena Playhouse production of “Jacques Brel Is . . .”) or one is not. This listener is not.

To begin with, there’s the skimpiness of Brel’s melodies. Rather than developing an idea, his method is to seize on a phrase and repeat it 50 times, like a remedial reading teacher--’If we only have LOVE / With our arms open WIDE / Then the young and the OLD / Will stand at our SIDE. . . .” Right, got it.

Brel’s lyrics are in the morose tradition of the French cafe song: Life is terrible, love is a fraud, we are all puppets, etc. It is understood in France that this is a manner of speaking. It always reminds me to count my change.

However, “Jacques Brel Is . . .” has been a hit ever since it opened in New York 20 years ago under the title of “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” so it’s clear that a lot of Americans are susceptible to his work.

“Jacques Brel” is being performed at the Playhouse in repertory with “Lies and Legends: The Musical Stories of Harry Chapin.” And again the company proves beautifully loyal to the material. As Americans, they can’t feel as close to Brel’s songs as they do to Chapin’s, but they know what the songs need to work for an audience in the 1980s.

The original “Jacques Brel” company tended to underline points that were already underlined in the writing. This company understands when to leave well enough alone. Take Amanda McBroom in “Old Folks,” concerning an old couple whose lives are running down like a clock.

McBroom sings the song not as a daughter would, but as a social worker or nurse might. She doesn’t have a personal history with them, but she respects the courage that they are showing now. Strange, how this touch of distance makes us take their story all the more to heart.

Director Moni Yakim (he also did the original production) generally encourages a more objective approach to the songs, trusting the audience to get the point. That didn’t always happen Wednesday night, perhaps because of the way the show is miked--although that wasn’t a problem in “Lies and Legends.”

We got the general attitude, but not the specific burden of the song. Eventually the most sensible course seemed to be to pretend that the lyrics were in Flemish (at one point they were), and to watch the story as it played out on the performer’s face--John Herrera’s widening eyes, for instance, when he suddenly saw something terrible happen in the distance to “Fanette.”

George Ball took us into a draftee’s nightmare in “Next,” and Valerie Perri was delightfully scandalous in several numbers, part dream girl and part real girl. (Did she know the difference herself?) Everybody rode the invisible “Carousel,” and the audience could feel the dipping horses.

My neighbor’s handkerchief came out for McBroom’s “No, Love, You’re Not Alone” and for the inevitable “If We Only Have Love.”

“Pure schmaltz,” I informed her later.

“What’s the matter with schmaltz?” she said.

True. But I’ll take Chapin.

At 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena, in repertory with “Lies and Legends: The Musical Stories of Harry Chapin,” Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m., with Saturday-Sunday matinees at 2, through Sept. 11. Tickets: $17-$25; (818) 356-PLAY. Call theater for schedule.

‘JACQUES BREL IS . . .’

A revue based on the songs of Jacques Brel, at the Pasadena Playhouse. Translated and compiled by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman. Director and choreographer Moni Yakim. Musical director Kathleen Rubbicco. Scenery design Gerry Hariton and Vicki Baral. Lighting Martin Aronstein. Costume design Madeline Ann Kozlowski. Sound Bill Hewlett. Production stage manager Theresa Bentz. Cast George Ball, John Herrera, Amanda McBroom and Valerie Perri.

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