Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel came to the music scene in the late 1950s but was only celebrated in French-speaking countries, until Mort Shuman and Eric Blau set out to translate his songs and created a revue, which opened off-Broadway at the Village Gate on January 22, 1968, where it played an amazing 1,847 performances. With a cast of four, which included Shuman himself, along with Elly Stone, Shawn Elliott and Alice Whitfield, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris dissected Brel’s songs in translations that were close in spirit to their originals, and introduced him to many who didn’t have the faintest idea who he was or why they should have heard of him. The revue later on became a film, which further added to his popularity worldwide.