Allons Enfants 2023: La Vie Est Belle
In what’s become an annual event, two Francophiles and a Frenchman celebrated Bastille Day in a packed club room at Pangea last Friday. The show, in French and English, is personified by “Qu’est-ce Qu’on Attend Pour Etre Heureux” – What are we waiting for to be happy? (Andre Hornez/Paul Misraki). Steve Ross and Jean Brassard perform a lively medley of “C’est Si Bon” (Andre Hornez/Henri Betti),”Paris Canaille” (Leo Ferre), and “Boum”…goes my heart (Charles Trenet).
Introductory patter meanders around the French fighting for their happiness. One presumes reference to social unrest from the origin of this holiday to recent wage/retirement demonstrations. It’s unspecific. Two songs follow. Neither is striking or as one might anticipate, anthemic. There’s a running joke that origins of songs are French, not English. My Fair Lady is used as a completely puzzling example. As there ARE songs which Americans may not be aware were originally written by the French, one wonders why this inapplicable choice.
“Tico Tico” (Jacques Larue/Zequinha de Abreu) and “Comme D’Habitude” – in English the song, “My Way” (Claude Francois/English-Paul Anka) – describe very different stories in English and French, yet this is hardly made clear. In the latter case only those who can translate will be aware. Ross’s English verse of the latter emerges moving, earned.
The artist also performs a tender, wistful “When the World Was Young” (Johnny Mercer/Philippe Gerard), a stirring instrumental “Umbrellas of Cherbourg”/“Once Upon a Summertime”(Michel Legrand), and songs by his “favorite Episcopalian songwriter, Cole Porter.” “Who Said Gay Paree?” and “You Don’t Know Paree” are exquisitely melancholy. Duets with Brassard proliferate. Even playing piano, Ross turns to audience, lyrically looking for understanding. And his French is good.
With a nod to singer/songwriter Barbara, Karen Akers (fluent) offers“Dis Quand Reviendras-Tu?”- Tell me when you’ll return.“ A woman alone in Paris is left by her lover who promises he’ll be back in the spring. Seasons pass.” Tell me, when will you return?/Tell me, are you aware, at least,/That we can’t get back/The time that’s passing/We won’t get back/Any of the time we’ve lost? Hands tightly clasped, talking to herself and her absent lover, feelings are palpable.
Akers asks Ross whether he’s learned anything about love. “Not a goddamn thing,” comes the wry response. The two perform “A Quoi Ca Sert L’Amour?”- “Love, What is the Point of It?” (Michel Elmer) It’s bouncy and smart. A duet of “Un Homme et Une Femme”- “A Man and a Woman” (Pierre Barough/ Francis Lai) with Brassard is effervescent: “Ba da ba da da da da da da,” they sing to one another smiling. We see complicity in both numbers.
Later Akers delivers the classic “Padam, Padam” (Henri Contet/Norbert Ganzberg) about “a woman obsessed with a melody that plays over and over in her head reminding her how she failed at love.” I don’t know that I’ve ever heard it explained so succinctly. The actress is perceptibly maddened, appealing to the universe for relief. She ends, hands on her ears. It’s splendid.
“Du Soleil Plein La Tete” (Andre Hornez/Henri Crolla) is kind of a “I’ve got the sun in the morning and the moon at night” song. Brassard’s gestures and expression are as exaggerated as silent film. “Emmenez-Moi” – “Take Me Along” (Charles Aznavour/English – Dee Shipman/Aznavour) might easily be sung by Marcel Pagnol’s Marius in Fanny. A young man longs to get away from his small village to see the world. Piano whirls and waltzes: Though I dream like a boy/For my dreams, I’ll work like a man. We believe Brassard, but…
Here’s the thing, Ross and Akers communicate with the audience. Both cabaret veterans, Akers an actress and Ross increasingly incorporating that talent, look to faces drawing us in, making lyrics personal. Brassard, also an actor, seems instead like a music hall entertainer. He doesn’t appear to see us, playing lip service to reciprocity. His work is polished. That he always seems on the verge of dancing (sometimes taking small steps) is delightful. Brassard understands the Parisian flaneur. And has a fine voice. The disconnect is lost opportunity.
Like the My Fair Lady songs, four bars of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Dites Moi” make no sense. “Sampson & Delilah” (Camille Saint-Saens) is obscure and weighs the too long show down.
Les Enfants needs an editor/director
Pangea, for those of you who are unaware, is small and well run with a good kitchen.
Allons Enfants 2023: La Vie Est Belle
Jean Brassard, Steve Ross
Guest Karen Akers
Directed by Jean Brassard
Pangea
178 Second Avenue at 11th Street
Shows
