What is it about the French? Is the haute couture? Or the romance of Paris? Does it sometimes seem like every other person is a Francophile? These would include Steve Ross and apparently most of the enthusiastic SRO audience that filled The Triad for one night only as New York’s “Crown Prince of Cabaret” and Quebec’s “Kid from Paris” paired up to polish Ross’s French skills with lessons en Chansons.

Actually, lessons in French did not play a significant part in this delightful show once they finished Betty Comden/Adolph Green/Roger Edens’s “The French Lesson” from the film Good News. The evening was basically about music itself, with pianist/singer Steve Ross and Jean Brassard, a graceful song-and-dance man in the charismatic Yves Montand tradition.  Brassard added much of the patter leading into different song groupings about Paris, love, life and time. Life and time, in fact, formed a loose arc in the show, recognizing the preciousness of time with “Le Temps” (“There Is a Time”) by Charles Aznavour, Jeff Davis and Gene Lees. Brassard then nailed the theme with the theatrical “La Valse à mille temps” (Jacques Brel), beginning in a leisurely tempo, picking up increasing speed and rushing into a tongue-twisting finale.  The conclusion about life, about love was, of course, “C’est si bon” (Henri Betti/Andre Hornez/Jerry Seelen).

Directed by David Krueger, the 90-minute show flowed smoothly, capturing moods of Charles Trenet, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Erik Satie, Jacques Brel, Vernon Duke. In Charles Trenet’s “I Wish You Love,” Ross sang the English lyric by Albert A. Beach while Brassard sang in French, “Que reste-t-il de nos ammours?” by Léo Chauliac. Ross tossed sly asides to Brassard’s humorous tale of a young man waiting for “Madeleine” (Jacques Brel) and, as a treat, he played one of his signature tunes, “Can-Can” by that other Francophile, Cole Porter, not slurring a syllable nor missing an innuendo. Though he sang some songs in French, Ross’s outstanding moment was his solo rendition of Brel’s “Fanette” in English (lyrics by Mort Shuman and Eric Blau), a touching invitation to share in the nuances of a poignant romance.

The outgoing Brassard demonstrated his music hall versatility with smooth hoofing, mime and broad physical comedy, including a comical send-up of Josephine Baker in her banana skirt, all delivered with a good-natured audience connection. Turning on a dime, however, he persuasively found the drama in “Tous les moulins de mon coeur” (“The Windmills of Your Mind,” by Michel Legrand, Eddy Marnay, Marilyn and Alan Bergman) and in the elegant “Classic Serenade” of French love songs.

Steve Ross’s urbane wit and sophisticated musicality and Jean Brassard’s cosmopolitan ease and classic Gallic charm —“C’est si bon.”

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
July 26, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org