Frank Van Laecke, Sam Verhoeven and Allard Blom have been working together for a long time: a golden triumvirate. Van Laecke provided the script, Blom the lyrics, Verhoeven the music. Add to that the atmospheric and sparkling direction/choreography by Martin Michel and you get a gem. This production premiered in 2013 with Leki in the lead role. Now the lead role was entrusted to Sandrine.
New version
The original script was taken up again, completely reworked and deepened. All the different facets of the richly filled life of Josephine Baker are covered. Josephine B. tells the story of the world's most famous revue star.
Josephine Baker.
With this production, these four gentlemen do full justice to the legacy of Josephine Baker. A woman surrounded by an aura and mystery. She was more than a statement. What she did on a social level, namely fighting racial discrimination, in a time when that was firmly entrenched, is phenomenal. Her boldness and courage too. During her lifetime she received the highest French honors. A performance written as a revue, which also has the speed of a revue, also has the outward appearance of a revue, with at its core the story of an exceptional woman. She lived nine lives instead of one: dancer, singer, actress, resistance fighter, activist, star, mother, world improver… and woman. A unique life journey that simply calls for spinning an touching and moving story around it. That succeeded not 100, but a full 200 percent!
Starting point
Last year, French President Macron honored Josephine Baker with the ultimate tribute. 46 years after her death, she was laid to rest in the Panthéon in Paris among other heroes and greats from French history. Director Martin Michel wondered: how would Josephine B react to this? Josephine appears on stage and remains fairly unmoved by it. The revue unfolds as an assemblage, a long flashback that reflects on the most important moments in her life. She was not a plaything, manipulated by men who held the strings, the money and the power. Rather the other way around.
From oppression to freedom
She started her career with a dance company in Philadelphia. A few years later she moved to New York where she got a role in the show Chocolate Dandies, in which mainly people of color were ridiculed. During a show she was discovered by a company of black artists. They also performed in Paris with "La revue Negre". Here begins the lineup of an incredible life story. Sandrine brings the role to herself with natural ease, stylish and refined. What stage presence and what a golden voice: world class! She creates an energy field around herself and causes ripples in all directions. We see a performance in the famous Folies Bergère theater in 1926. There Josephine danced "La danse sauvage" in a banana skirt. She caused a stir with her bare breasts and cheeky banana skirt around her swinging hips. Director Martin Michel brings this scene to the screen suggestively and respectfully. This performance gave Josephine star status. The audience called her 'the black pearl'. Baker's signature song could not be missing "J'ai deux amours: mon pays et Paris". France embraces Josephine, it later becomes her second homeland. Alongside Sandrine, there is an ensemble of eight singing and dancing men on stage who make Sandrine shine in spicy and burlesque choreographies: such as the feather act – worthy of the Folies Bergère and Moulin Rouge – and a parody of the German invasion. From this ensemble, the husbands, the resistance fighter and Martin Luther King also emerge.
An undaunted woman with potential. Her ideal image of the world, however, is her undoing. Handling money is not her strongest suit either. Bailiffs seize her villa. Her good friend, Princess Grace Kelly, helps her out of trouble. She performs again too. Her career spans 50 years. The creators worked from the idea: you don't give a revue artist their own musical. You give a revue artist their own revue. Josephine B. is a whirling, moving, surprising revue about her turbulent life.
Superlatives fall short for this production. Sandrine has it all: the looks, discipline, is super talented and has an incredible voice. When she sings "Paris Paname", her voice resonates through your entire body. She presents the hallucinatory life story of Josephine B. in a captivating and sublime way in a heartwarming performance. But everything about this production fits together like precise clockwork. The set design is refined: a few movable walls, a modular staircase and some chairs. With only minimal interventions, different situations are created each time. The orchestra sits in the wings. As the panels shift, the instrumentalists come into view alternately. The costumes and hairstyles are particularly beautiful. With a small adjustment they transform into something completely different. They also give a beautiful picture of the roaring twenties. The choreography is varied and snappy. An ensemble and orchestra to cherish. A production that has been worked on with love, power and ingenuity. Overwhelming… A revue you must not miss! There are many more performances to follow at the Fakkeltheater, followed by a tour of cultural centers. This production belongs on international stages.
The audience leaped up at the end like a jackknife for several minutes of standing ovation. Emotion everywhere: on stage and in the audience.
It is a crying shame that Judas Theaterproducties fell through the cracks during the subsidy round. Well, gentlemen and ladies who decided on that. Go see this production, then you will surely blush and return home full of guilt.
WHO: Judas Theaterproducties
WHAT: Josephine B. - a life in revue
WHERE: Rode Zaal Fakkel theater
WHEN: 6 October 2022