'Pardon My French' concert at Improv Playhouse
The Improv Playhouse Main Stage will host French lecturer and singer Olivier LeBleu performing American popular songs that traveled to - or came from - France.
By mixing English and French lyrics and offering context and translation, LeBleu gives some insight into both American and French traditions and cultures.
Most melodies will be familiar to those who love '50s through '70s standards, from Bobby Darin's "Beyond the Sea" ("La Mer," Charles Trénet) to Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue" ("Chanson Bleu," Sacha Distel), and from Edith Piaf's "Le Vie en Rose" to Claude Francois' "Comme D'Habitude" ("My Way," Frank Sinatra) you'll never listen to them the same way after LeBleu's performance.
"For a few years I'd been thinking about a show I could give here in the States, that would be both a conference and a concert, about songs which traveled between our two countries," LeBleu said. "I would bring some French back into the songs - and thus, the title of the show would have to be: 'Pardon My French!' And all the songs I'd choose would date from the '60s and '70s, from my childhood, when I was lulled and raised to my mother's passion for singing and popular tunes."
A French writer, historian, translator, and performer, born in 1966, Olivier LeBleu lives in La Rochelle, France. He is a graduate of the Sorbonne University of Paris, in both English language and Media Techniques. He had a 10-year career in the French capital as a television production manager and then moved to La Rochelle where he works as a teacher, lecturer and writer.
As a French translator his work includes translations of "The Glitter and the Gold," the memoirs of the former Duchess of Marlborough Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan; "The Ark before Noah," by British Museum curator Irving Finkel; "Eat Dirt," by Dr. Josh Axe; and "That Woman, The Life of Wallis Simpson," by Anne Sebba. He is a specialist on the subject of Zarafa, the first giraffe to live in France, in 1826. He began acting in his early 20s and is currently performing in his own play, "Le Talisman de la Giraffe."
Writer's residences have taken him as far abroad as Alexandria, Egypt; Vienna, Austria; Pondicherry, India; and San Francisco and Chicago. He's a regular presenter of French Alliances and Lycées across the world.
He is regular visitor to Illinois where he has held residencies with French Lycée, Lake Forest College and Libertyville High School.
"Pardon My French!" will be for one performance only, at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door; or $5 for all students. The Improv Playhouse Main Stage is at 735 N. Milwaukee, Libertyville.
For tickets and details, call Improv Playhouse, at (847) 875-8578 or visit www.improvplayhouse.com.
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