Michel Jonasz’ Abraham

Michel Jonasz has been a beloved figure on the French music scene since his breakthrough hits "Du blues du blues du blues" and "J’veux pas qu’tu t’en ailles" in 1977. His success continued in the 80’s with his Tristesse album that produced a string of hit singles "Minuit sonne," "Rock à gogo" and Jonasz’s version of "Lucille," and earned the singer another gold disc. His 1984 greatest hits album also went gold and in 1985 he won three "Victoires de la Musique" awards, the French Grammys, for Best Singer and Best Producer, and Best Single of the Year for "La boîte de jazz". Through the 90’s and 00’s Jonasz continued to release popular albums, tour extensively and appear in over 35 films. One of his most acclaimed roles was in Un amour à taire, a drama about the persecution homosexuals during World War II which won the Audience Award for Best Feature at five of the top LGBT film festivals in the US, including LA’s Outfest.

In 2008 Michel Jonasz got down to a project close to his heart by writing a dramatic play centered on the story of his maternal grandfather, a Hungarian cantor who perished in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. On stage Jonasz embodies Abraham, a Polish Jew, and famous cantor with a unique voice, who just before dying, recalls his deepest memories: his childhood, the escape from Poland, the arrival in Hungary, meeting his wife, his joys and sorrows…until exile and deportation to the camps. Moments of humor and emotion follow one another, acting and singing are intertwined. Jonasz puts Tzigane or gypsy music under the spotlight with inspired original compositions. Jonasz directed the work himself and went to Hungary to record the soundtrack. From September 2009 to April 2010, he presented the one man show at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse in Paris. He has also performed Abraham throughout France and in Israel. The show will be in French with projected English subtitles. Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz is honored to bring this emotional and stunning work to Los Angeles for its first performance here.