A Perfect Tonic

Sunday night, was an epiphany after the NYU disappointment last week. On the spur of the moment, I decided to go to see Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, a revival from the 60s that is currently in preview. So, I got a ticket on line, and headed down to the garment district to the Zipper Theater. ( Yup, you guessed it, the playhouse is a renovated zipper factory. ) I got off the C train at 34th and headed toward 37th, then went west toward 9th Avenue. It was dark and cold, and empty-- only a few people on the streets, very few bars, much less bodegas or restaurants. Finally, I found the Zipper marquee, then the door ( not under the marquee ), got my ticket at will call.

Some guy, I guess the sole usher at Zipper ( this wasn't the Shubert, for sure ) gestured for me to follow him down a dim, narrow corridor that looked like the entrance to a loft elevator. I walked on into the next room, high ceilinged, lit with lots of votive lights burning on cocktail tables. The large room had several sofas and easy chairs clustered in seating groups, and a big U shaped walnut bar. The usher pulled back a heavy black velvet curtain into the theater itself, telling me that the show was starting and hurrying me along.

The theater was my favorite kind--small, intimate, and quirky. There were maybe 200 tiered seats, all mismatched chairs and benches with some cabaret-style tables on the floor surrounding the stage which was inches from the front row. The set was simple, a stairwell on stage right leading up to the "orchestra" ( three guys playing piano, accordion, percussion etc. ). I sat on my bench, feeling rushed and a little cramped. Maybe this was a little too intimate. The two men next to me slid over a bit to make room.

And the show began. Now, I don't think I dazzle easily, but, they had me from the first number. Gay Marshall ( A Chorus Line ), a tiny, dark haired woman in stilletos, belted out "Ca Va" alternating between the French and English lyrics seamlessly. There were three other actors: Robert Cuccioli ( Jekyll and Hyde ), Rodney Hicks ( Rent ) and Natascia Diaz ( Man of La Mancha ). I was completely spellbound for the next two hours.

This is a musical that doesn't seem formulaic. It's full of wonderful lyrics and tunes with a storyline--about relationships, death, war, hypocrisy. The show is really the brainchild of Eric Blau, who loved Brel's work, translated much of it from French, then picked 24 songs for the musical. I've had some experience with music, lyrics and tunes, and it is very complex to keep the intent of the lyricist while translating and not just give in to the temptation to "fit" the words into the musical score. I was moved to tears by "Alone" and exhilarated by "If We Only Have Love".

Now, for the best part of the night. ( Yes, it gets better. ) Remember the two guys who slid over so I could sit down? Well, we chatted at the bar during intermission, comparing notes on the show. Scott, 35, from Hartford, Connecticut originally, sells ad space at TV Guide, and is definitely a people person. Alan, 37, is a composer. A composer, how cool is that ? What did I do, they asked? Well, you know my answer. I told them that I was spending the year writing which was a hard thing to say out loud because I hadn't ever given myself permission to JUST write, with the goal of getting published. He asked what my writing genre was, and I described the stories I was writing about the Camino Santiago de Campostella that I had walked a couple of years before. And my desire to perfect my fiction writing and try my hand at a short story. The words stuck in my throat as I spoke.

After the play, they invited me to join them for a drink next door at a new restaurant. We talked about music mostly, our backgrounds and families, our dreams. I told Alan about my fiction writing class which he totally understood. " Guys like that are everywhere when you do creative stuff, unfortunately," he remarked. Alan talked about his composing team and the two musicals they have ready for production. He talked about how hard it was to stay the course. He had come to New York City from upstate a few years back after completing his formal education ( Harvard, then Berkeley Music Institute ), then returning to his home near Saratoga Springs and establishing a successful retail business. "I decided I needed to take my music very seriously, and devote my energy to it."

Alan writes the music, and his music partner, Jenne, writes the lyrics. ( Check out audio of their musicals on mydaymusic.com ) We talked about musicals like Light in the Piazza ( he hasn't seen it yet ), Nilo Cruz and John Patrick Shanley ( my favorites ). And our common love for the piano. I mentioned my youngest son, Ben, a musician, and his brief formal piano career. When Ben was 7, he was practicing one afternoon about 6 months after he had begun lessons. I sat down at the piano to watch and read the music with him. When I pointed out a note by name and asked him to play it, he looked up at me guilelessly and told me he didn't know the note on the page. He had memorized the piece when his piano teacher played it through for him ONE TIME. I was amazed at his ear, and perplexed that his teacher hadn't picked up what he was doing! Alan laughed--he had played by ear for a long time, too, before he finally learned to read the music.

We left, and walked toward 8th Avenue.. They hailed a cab for me, gave me big hugs, and I headed back to Central Park West. Alan was my muse on Sunday night. I'd say meeting those two and listening to great music was a perfect tonic against disappointment. You just never know what lies ahead once you walk out that front door.
M.C.