The impassioned, polished production of “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris” at MetroStage is a testament to the longevity of the imaginative music and intelligent, thoughtful lyrics of Belgian singer-songwriter Brel. With its references to everything from love to war to class differences, the original show was a smash hit when it debuted Off-Broadway in 1968 and ran for more than four years.

The MetroStage production doesn’t deviate from the original revue structure, where four vocalists (Natascia Diaz, Sam Ludwig, Bobby Smith and Bayla Whitten) perform 28 songs, some as solos, some as duets or trios. There is no story line holding the songs together. They stand alone as brilliant tone poems, illustrating the extraordinary breadth of Brel’s interest in life, its potential for joy as well as for grief and for a host of subtle, muted emotions.