Washington Post - Highly Recommended
"... “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” has always known that embassies are under attack, that diplomatic and romantic relations are chronically strained and that survival is rough on every front. With its tart tunes and worldly air, the 1968 off-Broadway hit “Brel” is the kind of urbane cabaret you figure is always on view in the bigger cities here and abroad."
DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended
"... MetroStage presents Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, a musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel, an esteemed Belgian singer-songwriter whose music has been re-imagined through generations of artists (Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, and David Bowie, to name a few). Directed by Serge Seiden, and with musical direction by Jenny Cartney, this heartfelt homage breathes life into each of the 29 songs that it covers – giving them their own unique stories from which they thrive."
Washington Examiner - Highly Recommended
"... The MetroStage production doesn't deviate from the original revue structure, where four vocalists (Natascia Diaz, Sam Ludwig, Bobby Smith and Bayla Whitten) perform 28 songs, some as solos, some as duets or trios. There is no story line holding the songs together. They stand alone as brilliant tone poems, illustrating the extraordinary breadth of Brel's interest in life, its potential for joy as well as for grief and for a host of subtle, muted emotions."
MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended
"... Brel's music is rock with a very theatrical bent, which would go on to inspire David Bowie and Soft Cell's Marc Almond, to name just two. In fact, many of the songs sound like numbers from musicals written over the past few decades, including those by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Cats) and Claude-Michel Schöenberg (Les Misérables) –all written, in other words, after Brel died in 1978 at only age 49. If he had lived longer, you can't help but think he might have created some hit musicals of his own."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"... The songwriter and performer Jacques Brel died in 1978, but Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, the theatrical showcase of his songs, will probably live forever—especially if it's performed and staged as well as it is in the gemlike production now at MetroStage in Alexandria, Virginia."
Washington City Paper - Highly Recommended
"... No matter how rollicking the show gets, however, there’s always an element of darkness. The Bayla Whitten-led song-and-dance showstopper “Brussels,” easily the shiniest and happiest song of the bunch, with jaunty straw boater hats for props, details high times in Belgium while slipping in references to the singers’ personal failings and the horrors of World War I. With Brel, you can always count on misery to be a catchy good time."
MD Theatre Guide - Recommended
"... MetroStage did a commendable job with the material, and I hope to see these actors in other performances. Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is directed by the Associate Producing Artistic Director of the Studio Theatre, Serge Seiden, with music direction provided by Jenny Cartney and choreography by Signature’s Matthew Gardiner. Musical accompaniment is provided by Yusef Chisholm on the bass, David Cole on guitar, Greg Holloway with percussion, and Cartney on piano and accordion."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
Fall preview stories are popping up online and in local newspapers this week as area performing arts companies crank into high gear for a frantic September of opening nights. But Alexandria’s MetroStage seems to have gotten the jump on nearly everyone. Their fantastic, energetic revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is the fall season’s first must-see musical theater event. Like The Fantasticks, Jacques Brel is one of those shows that seems to have been around practically forever. Unlike The Fantasticks, however, Brel is not a musical play. Instead, it’s a substantial, multi-dimensional cabaret-style revue loaded with vintage songs and lyrics that somehow seems contemporary and new.
BroadwayWorld - Recommended
"...Belgian songwriter Jacques Brel never shied away from social and political commentary in his well-known lyrics, but he also knew how to write a very listenable tune. Metro Stage does well with staying true to Brel’s persuasive musical and lyrical voice in its current production of the Off-Broadway musical revue, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and exposing his music to a new generation. The overall success of this minimalistic production is largely due to the strong cast and band."
