In his new cabaret solo, Paul de Leeuw plays a clever game with his image ★★★★☆

There is a grand piano prominently on stage, but there is no pianist behind it. Paul de Leeuw says that his favorite pianists, such as Cor Bakker or Miguel Wiels, were not available to join him on a theater tour. Is that because of full agendas? Or maybe also because many people characterize Paul as ‘rather much’, as dominant and present? There is no shortage of self-reflection 60? We’ll see, a cabaret solo in which the 60-year-old all-round artist De Leeuw plays a clever game with his own image.

This has become Paul de Leeuw’s best theater performance in years. Filled with self-mockery, he makes a time travel through his life. He remembers a visit long ago to singer Rita Corita to apologize, looks back on his first (paid) love, but also on meeting his true love and the two sons he raised with him. Very comical is the conference about the special girlfriends that the sons bring home. Paul also examines the relationship with his own father, now deceased, who lived in Poland and was associated by Paul with the qualities strict, stingy and deceitful. Here too the question returns whether you can see people in a new light by choosing a different perspective.

The show has been carefully put together under the direction of Ruut Weissman. Well-played pieces of stand-up comedy transition seamlessly into beautiful piano songs. As a singer, De Leeuw is at his best in narrative songs in which he can act a lot, such as Gay from 19 then and Tropic years. Also the surprising performance of I love you may there be. What about the missing pianist? A creative solution has been devised for this.