THEATER REVIEW : Le Petit Offers a Rewarding Reprise of ‘Adieu, Jacques’

“Adieu, Jacques . . . ! ,” Noel Harrison’s fond tribute to Belgian poet-songwriter Jacques Brel, has reopened in a new little theater in town, Le Petit Theatre on the ground level of Hotel Sofitel--of all places. It’s a perfect match. The show sings a lot in French, in a theater that bears a French name. And both are still slightly scruffy.

Harrison’s show, steeped in Brel lore, is a personal tribute that tells us as much about the man paying it as the one receiving it.

Brel inspired Edith Piaf, Yves Montand and generations of plainer folk during the ‘50s and ‘60s. He lived his life his way, giving up celebrity at 38 (in 1967) and dying of cancer at 49, after spending his final years in the Marquesas Islands where he lies buried.

Harrison, an iconoclast of a different stripe, invites us to share not only Brel’s music and powerful lyrics in a flawless original French, but also the depth of the influence Brel exerted on him all his life. First seen at Theatre/Theater in 1989, this show is a private affair that invites us into difficult areas of Harrison’s life as well.

One man informs the other.

The song list is much the same as it was, adding the potent “Ne Me Quittes Pas” (“Don’t Leave Me”) to the lineup of previous emotional contenders such as “Marieke” and “J’Arrive” (“I’m Coming,” sung by a dying man who wishes he could linger longer).

But Brel--and Harrison--can be cajoling too, with “Rosa” ( love in Latin declinations) and “Jo-Jo” (about his best friend)--and very funny, as in “Vesoul” (about marital spats) and a song that counts the ways to kill your wife’s lover.

Since ‘89, Harrison has largely cleaned up a distracting preamble to the actual music-making. And if he can’t entirely avoid the hurdles of simultaneous translation, Harrison handles them with clarity. But some old problems remain. He still shuffles onstage as if still deciding what to do, and still wears too much black in a black theater. Lights often bounce too brightly off his guitar and the guitar sound is thin for the intensity of the Brel music. But the voice, strong and pleasurably underrefined, lends authenticity to the experience.

If the show can use a higher level of energy and coherence, you cannot accuse it of being slick. The rambling, the shared confidences, the casual delivery and the candor make “Adieu, Jacques . . . “ an intimate portrait of one artist seen through the gratitude of another.

* “Adieu, Jacques . . . ! ,” Le Petit Theatre, Hotel Sofitel, 8555 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood. Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m., Indefinitely. $15; (310) 278-5444, Ext. 7777. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.