Music: La French Touch

La French Touch opens with a spectacular, enigmatic sequence that introduces the all singing, all dancing Isabelle Georges like a spark of Broadway extravagance into a gypsy hootenanny.

The show is an eclectic collection of show tunes, jazz standards and continental romance strung along with a personal narrative about falling back upon music as a counterbalance to the emotional turbulence of childhood and romance. The three other musicians become a part of the performance, spontaneously taking up character roles while working through pieces by Brel, Piaf and Gershwin.

Aspects of the narrative, delivered by Georges, fall a bit flat. The contrast between the personal reality of the storyline and the veneer of the upbeat numbers is difficult, and disrupts the continuity of an overly ambitious production. However, the musical numbers do stand up on their own, with accordions, guitar solo’s and vocal harmonies providing good old fashioned entertainment to those looking for it.

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