Skylight Opera Presents Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris 1/28

Skylight Opera Theatre of Milwaukee, Wisconsin will open the musical revue Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris on January 28, 2011. Performances will run through February 20, 2011 and will be held on the Cabot Theatre stage, inside the Broadway Theatre Center located at 158 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is a contemporary musical revue that tells a story and examines themes of love, war, being young and growing old...but never forgetting that life, with all its tragedies and complexities, is filled with humor. Jacques Brel is a powerful and bold theatrical experience that was an overwhelming success in its off-Broadway production in 1968 and again in the 2006 revival. Brel's songs are as relevant today as they were when they were written.

Born in Brussels in 1929, Jacques Brel combined his interest in music and literature by writing and singing his own chansons (lyric-driven French songs). He spent his adolescence under Nazi-occupation and after moving to Paris in 1952, he eventually became a world-renowned songwriter and performer. The tenuous balance between passion and reason, humor and tragedy and a respect for ordinary people became the hallmarks of his work. Brel's songs about family, love, loss, life, death, and social injustice often build to a defiant and explosive conclusion with what came known as the "Brelian crescendo". He brought the poetry-set-to-music of the "art song" back to mainstream life and elevated the popular song into an art form of universal relevance.

"I'm thrilled to be directing my first show here at the Skylight! And I am deeply grateful to have Richard Carsey as my musical partner on this show. It just seems right, since Richard and I met, and immediately developed a deep friendship, on the first day of rehearsal of our first Skylight show, Girl Crazy in 1990. Richard's supreme musicianship, passion, intelligence, and humor have made this process a joy.

The Brel songs are intense, dramatic, funny, powerful, lyric driven songs with gorgeous melodies performed by a great cast of four. Three of the four performers are familiar to Milwaukee. Alison Mary Forbes appeared in Skylight's production of Rent. I first worked with her when she was 12, doing Caddie Woodlawn at First Stage. Liz Baltes has deep family roots at Skylight - her late father was a music director at the old space on Jefferson. Liz has been in several productions at Skylight and I performed with her in Animal Crackers. We also did a cabaret together in the Skylight Bar. Steve Koehler teaches acting and physics at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, a Skylight partner school. He was in the Skylight Productions of Little Shop of Horrors, Spitfire Grill, Floyd Collins and Man of La Mancha. PJ Baccari is making his Skylight debut." - Ray Jivoff, Assoc. Artistic Director

TICKETS: $22.50 - $65.00
Broadway Theatre Center Box Office
158 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, WI
(414) 291-7800
www.skylightopera.com

 

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