'Jacques Brel' is livelier than ever

But now that the great Gloucester Stage Company production of "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" is ensconced at the new Stuart Street Playhouse/2nd Stage cabaret in the Radisson Hotel Boston (the former 57 Restaurant), you could say that the late Brel is twice as alive as he was in Gloucester.

That's because there are two casts involved, a new one that is acting up a storm until Nov. 23 and the more subdued but equally virtuoso original cast that has other commitments until then. Beginning Nov. 25, the original cast will sing in the majority of performances.

The fun all began last July, when Gloucester Stage artistic director Israel Horovitz decided to restage the legendary 1960s revue. Eric Blau, one of the original producers, had seen the Belgian-born Brel drive audiences wild in Paris and decided to fashion a musical revue based on his cabaret songs. Brel sang of the passions of youth, the resignation and sadness of old age, the horrors of war, and the everyday absurdities of forging an identity when the spirit cries out to rebel while the society calls out to conform.

Brel had more than a touch of the poet, and his songs are actually mini short stories. But he was also a consummate entertainer, and there's a resolutely upbeat tone to much of his music. When director Scott Edmiston rethought the piece for Gloucester, he added some masterful downbeats. Instead of beginning the show with the high-spirited "Marathon," as the original does, he began with "The Desperate Ones," a song so sad ("They cry without a sound") it makes "Eleanor Rigby" look cheery.

At the head of Edmiston's cast was Leigh Barrett, who sang of love and loneliness, heart and heartbreak, with such piercing wisdom that she seemed to be directly channeling Brel, or even some higher power. With Drew Poling's ruggedness, Eric Rubbe's rakishness, and Caroline deLima's balance of sweetness and sexiness rounding out the cast, "Brel" won raves and was brought back again and again in Gloucester last summer.

Fast forward to the present: Five producers are eager to get the show into Boston in the new cabaret space. The only problem is that Barrett, deLima, and Poling are committed to "Follies in Concert" tomorrow night and next weekend, while Rubbe is in and out of Blue Man Group.

So enter Brel Deux, a new cast with a new personality that appears actually more comfortable in this space than did the original, which appeared for a few performances last week. Except for Rubbe, the original players seemed hemmed in by the closeness of the audience in both their onstage movements and their inability to sing out the way they had in Gloucester.

(One advantage that the audience has in the cabaret: As the piece is set in the Gloucester bar designed by Janie Howland and painted by Everett O'Neil, you can drink along with the characters.)

Brel Deux is again led by the woman in the Barrett role. Merle Perkins covers more ground physically and vocally, coming out to the lip of the stage and gesturing to the audience in "Sons of . . ." as if to include us among Brel's parents of "children we lost in lullabyes." That and another of her solos, "Marieke," bring the house down.

Kent French's delivery is more straightforward and less gruff, but also less powerful, than Poling's; Geoff Burns is more of a comedian than Rubbe; Kristen Sergeant is less developed a singer than deLima.

In general, you get better singing and a more tender take on "Brel" with the Barrett cast and better acting and a higher energy level with the Perkins people. By the time the first cast members finish "Follies" and get used to the cabaret setting, they'll no doubt get back in their groove.

Having seen both casts, I can't imagine going through life without hearing both Barrett and Perkins bringing their own brand of intensity to these songs. Unfortunately it won't be easy to make sure you can see both after Nov. 23. After that, cast information will be hard to get. And at some point, there'll be a melding of the two casts to allow each of the eight to do other things.

With either cast, the evening ends with the stirring "If We Only Have Love." I've seen this production four times now, and I'm still very much in love.

Ed Siegel can be reached at siegel@globe.com.

JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS

Music and lyrics by Brel. Conception, English lyrics and additional material by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman.

Restaged by Todd Gordon and Nicole Jesson from the Gloucester Stage Company production directed by Scott Edmiston. Set, Janie Howland. Costumes, Douglas Fredricks. Lights, Ken Elliott.

At the Stuart Street Playhouse/2nd Stage through Dec. 21. 800-447-7400.