The Shadow of Brel has been nominated for a 2011 Fleur du Cap Award.

NATAL MERCURY REVIEW

Rhumbelow Theatre, Umbilo: 28 – 30 May & 4 – 6 June 2010

Reviewed by Charlotte Fairfax

 One of musical theatre’s most astonishing talents, Cape Town’s Godfrey Johnson, presents a masterful programme of the music of Jacques Brel at the Rhumbelow Theatre in Umbilo last weekend, and again next weekend in The Shadow of Brel.

The music of Brel features in the first half, and a mix of some of Johnson’s favourite interpretations of well known tunes comprise the second act.

Johnson was put on this earth to perform Brel. He understands the amazing depth of emotion needed to portray the complexity of Jacques Brel’s musical genius.

Johnson is one of the most astounding performers. His voice is heartbreakingly beautiful; his delivery is effortless, and his piano playing is intense and inspired.  Seated alone on bare stage facing the audience playing the piano while barely glancing at the keyboard; he presents a carefully-chosen repertoire of beautiful music that he performs with minimal banter. He takes his audience on an unexpected emotional musical journey allowing the mastery of the music and the power of the lyrics to sneak under your skin.

 With a sparkle in his eye, mischievous grin and a particularly un-showy white shirt and tie, Johnson looks more like the love-child of a pixie and a banker than a world class performer. Free of pretentions, with no costume changes or special effects, one feels a vulnerability and sense of cosiness – as though Johnson is playing especially for you in the quiet comfort of your lounge at home.

 The first act comprises 16 of Jacques Brel’s most celebrated numbers performed in English. One is reminded of Brel’s ability to elicit an amazing breadth of emotions with his lyrics – sometimes raw and angry, then minutes later funny and tender. Listening to Brel is like watching a beautiful woman – you admire the sumptuous gown, then notice her tatty petticoat and grubby fingernails.

 Johnson’s dives in the deep-end by opening with the beautiful, gritty and dark Amsterdam.  Without exception every song is beautiful – but worthy of special mention are the iconic Carousel performing with lighting speed making the audience breathless and dizzy; the achingly beautiful ballad If You Go Away and the sublime declaration of love, Songs of Old Lovers.

I particularly enjoyed the tragic Alone, the fast and deceptively jolly Brussels and the gentle ballad Fanette – performed as delicately as watching a tango danced on the tip of an icicle.    

The mood shifts somewhat in the second half with a dozen quirky interpretations of familiar songs.
His act two repertoire includes a delicious rendition of Cell Block Tango from Chicago with fun local references; the light and witty Masculine and Feminine; Noel Coward’s saucy Nina; a fun version of Chris de Burgh’s 70s hit, Patricia the Stripper; a tongue-in cheek reworking of Madonna’s iconic hit Like a Virgin; a pared down version of Cyndi  Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun and a super-fast Minute Waltz.

Personal favourites were one of Johnson’s own compositions Lady In Blue, and the show’s finale, Tori Amos’s Winter.  

The Shadow of Brel won’t be everybody’s cup of absinthe. It takes listening, focus and concentration. Last Sunday evening’s audience embraced the show completely – you could hear a pin drop. Expected to be transported, challenged and enveloped – not merely entertained. This is musical theatre for grown- ups.

The Shadow of Brel is performed by Fleur du Cap winner Godfrey Johnson, directed by Sanjin Muftic and produced by Cape Town’s Yawazzi theatre productions. It is the fourth musical collaboration between Johnson and Muftic.

It plays at the Rhumbelow theatre in Umbilo:

FRIDAY          4 June    Show starts 20.00                  

SATURDAY    5 June    Show starts 20.00

SUNDAY         6 June    Show starts 14:00

SUNDAY         6 June    Show starts 18.30

Venue opens 90 minutes before show for picnic dinner or braais                

R 100-00 a ticket; limited secure parking available; Booking is essential.  

Bar Available – no alcohol be brought on to the premises.

Book at Computicket or phone or email Roland for bookings H  2057602 / Cell 0824998636 / email roland@stansell.za.net / www.rhumbelow.za.net

Well, the joke’s on them because I am ready for it.

Jono and I have been hard at work drinking coffee and tea and arguing over the running order, and even practising occasionally. It was difficult to let go of some of the songs that we love and worked so hard on, but we wanted to keep the show lean and to the point, so we say good bye to some great pieces like Smashing Pumpkins’ Lily and Cole Porter’s Love for Sale. Another composer that I have a deep passion for is Kurt Weill – and though many of his pieces contain stories of both crime and passion, they just didn’t suit the overall show. But the discussions have firmly planted the seed of desire. At some point there’s going to be a Weill show!

I have also written a new song for the show, the Underwater Cinema – very influenced by Tori Amos’s Pandora’s Aquarium – and collaborated with Jono on another (although we can’t agree on a title yet).

One confession I have to make is that both Jono and I are embarrassingly bad at marketing. We’ve already got some good bookings for the week, but honestly, how many of you have seen the flyers?

Thanks to Jon Minster for his fabulous photography again.

And how many have heard of the great deals for the run? For one thing there’s a discount price of R50 per person for block bookings of 5 or more people. But the really big one is that Alison has generously offered a complimentary load of laundry for paying guests of the show! What an incredible deal, I’m very grateful to Tabula Rasa.

That’s all I have time to say right now, I look forward to seeing you all in the coming days!

Much love,

Godfrey

At least, we wrote most of it. We were rehearsing in St. James’s Church in Seapoint and we were exploring a narrator character. Godfrey had written some amazing text that felt very William Blake meets Tom Waits, which found the speaker in a confessional. As he played around with the delivery and the music a ballad began to take shape. And then we found the voice of this ragged man confessing a crime committed over 40 years ago, telling a story of dark love that began in the very chapel he was now kneeling in.

The amazing piano explorations of mr. Johnson seemed to pull lines and lyrics out of me, and together we wrote the text of this murderer’s haunting pain. I couldn’t believe how energising the process was, and how natural. Godfrey has an incredible gift for bringing out the voice in others even in the writing process – a truly generous performer.

I listened to a couple of songs that Godfrey’s been hiding under his hat. I was especially blown away by his interpretation of the music for the Mariner’s Revenge song. Such layered arrangements combining with deceptively simple hooks to capture the original feeling of the composition while making it uniquely Godfrey.

I’m really looking forward to sharing this show with an audience.

Jono had me in the foreground looking moody and artistic while in the background his friends played characters from the songs I’m going to be performing. There were cowboys, showgirls, soldiers, punk waifs and summer loves. We had to shoot fast so a lot of credit to Jon Minster the photographer who whipped up the energy and kept everything on track.

Big thanks to Jon Mister, Oskar Brown, Kate Reddick, Katrina Jordaan, Merryn Carver, Kim Kerfoot, Jason Potgieter, Darron Araujo,  Juliet Jenkin and Carla Lever. Not mention the Yawazzi boys, Jono and Sanjin.

Once Jono has finished fooling around with the pictures I’ll post more.

Much love,

Godfrey

But before I trot up to Durbs we’ll be opening a brand new show at Tabula Rasa: Stories of Crime and Passion. This will be my first time being directed by Jon Keevy, the talented designer of Yawazzi Productions. We’ve worked together many times before and we’re both very excited about Stories – the song selection is all based around tales of, well I suppose it’s a little obvious, crime and passion. We’re looking at songs by Johnny Cash, Cole Porter, Aerosmith, Kenny Rogers, the Decemberists, Nick Cave, Fiona Apple, Tori Amos and many others. It’s going to be quite a task choosing from such great material, let alone finding a new arrangement for each one.

Back to work now – have to sort out all our SAMRO registrations before these dreams can come true!

Much love,

Godfrey

Information:

Shadow of Brel at Tabula Rasa… 22nd, 23rd, 24th April, 8.30 pm

Stories of Crime and Passion at Tabula Rasa… 13th, 14th, 15th and 20th, 21st, 22nd May, 7.30pm

You can reserve tickets by emailing bookings@yawazzi.com or calling 072 112 1566