Lua Hadar, a die-hard Francophile, seamlessly bridges the culture gap with her delightful and thoughtful new show. Maintaining an audience’s attention through a set of mostly foreign language material requires a commitment to the music’s intent, an emotive delivery of either drama or comedy, and Hadar succeeds on all accounts. Her beautiful mezzo soprano combined with a superb collection of musicians creates the sound and atmosphere of a Paris music hall. "Sous le Ciel de Paris (Under Paris Skies)," a jazz waltz, set a spectacular tone with the Dave Miotke’s lilting accordion and musical director Jason Martineau’s clever piano accompaniment. Hadar incorporates smart, French-English medleys that shined, like "Azure Te" with Nat King Cole’s "L-O-V-E," and a set highlight of "Hi Lili Hi Lo" (from the movie Lili ) combined melodically with "Les Chemins de L’Amour." "San Francisco" written by French pop star Maxime le Forestier after spending some time here, is delivered beautifully and I felt I understood the content without speaking French. Hadar hit all angles from comedy songs to ballads, waltz to bossa, and it all works tres bien!

Steve Murray
Cabaret Scenes
September 13, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org