Piaf (play)

Last updated

Piaf is a play by Pam Gems that focuses on the life and career of French chanteuse Edith Piaf. The biographical drama with music portrays the singer as a self-destructive, promiscuous alcoholic and junkie who, in one controversial scene, urinates in public.

Contents

The original production starred Jane Lapotaire in the title role, and included Ian Charleson as Pierre. It premiered in 1978 at Royal Shakespeare Company's The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon, after which it moved to the Donmar Warehouse in London, the Aldwych Theatre, the Piccadilly Theatre, and then Wyndham's Theatre, before going to the United States.

In the U.S. the play began in Philadelphia. After six previews the show opened on Broadway at the Plymouth Theatre on February 6, 1981, with its original star, Jane Lapotaire. It ran for 165 performances, and Lapotaire won the 1981 Tony Award. [1]

Later major productions and revivals

The play was performed in Argentina from 1983 to 1986 with Virginia Lago in the role of Piaf. Lago won the Premio Estrella de Mar award in 1984 for Best Actress and in 1984 the Prensario Award for Best Actress.

The play was also performed in Brasil in 1983 with Bibi Ferreira in the role of Piaf. Bibi won several awards in 1984 and ran the show for more than 10 years. Nowadays, She sings Piaf in her concerts around the world - including The Lincoln Center - NYC.

A London revival occurred in 1993/94 with Elaine Paige in the role of Piaf. In 1994 the play won the Gold Badge of Merit Award from BASCA. In 1994 Paige gained a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

The play was performed in Uruguay from 1994 to 1995 with Laura Canoura in the role of Piaf. In 1995 she won the Iris de Plata Award.

Caroline O'Connor starred in the play in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia in 2000 and 2001, gaining three Australian theater awards.

A second revival from 2008 to 2010 had Elena Roger in the title role. In 2009 she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. This began at The Donmar, before transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre on the Strand. Roger went on to recreate this role in Spain and her native Argentina.

A new production opened at Curve, Leicester in 2013 starring Frances Ruffelle in the lead role. Madalena Alberto was her alternate.

In 2015, to mark Piaf's 100th birthday, a new production opened at the Brighton Fringe, and due to the critical acclaim it subsequently transferred to the Bridewell Theatre and Charing Cross Theatre in London. The actor musician production directed by Jari Laakso starred Cameron Leigh in the title role, supported by Samantha Spurgin as Toine and Valerie Cutko as Marlene. Leigh received a BroadwayWorld Award nomination for her portrayal.

Additional Broadway cast

Critical reception

In his review in The New York Times , Frank Rich observed, "Miss Lapotaire's performance burns with such heartstopping intensity that one never questions her right to stand in for the "little sparrow," who died at age 47 in 1963; one embraces her instantly and totally. While it is far more difficult to embrace Mrs. Gems's rather frail play, I guess we can't have everything. Let's be thankful for Miss Lapotaire . . . Piaf often obeys the dramatic cliches of rags-to-riches-to-rags showbiz sagas. Like an old movie biography, Mrs. Gems's play unfolds in snippets in which minor characters . . . whip by to deliver information . . . or to act out, in absurd shorthand, famous events in the subject's life . . . Instead of raising substantive issues about Piaf, the evening's cartoonish archetypes call the playwright's craft into question . . . These sketchy people just grease the narrative skids and kill too much time. Singly, they may be innocuous, but collectively they become a dead weight around the play's neck . . . Mrs. Gems also relies on that tired device of following most of Piaf's heartbreaks with songs that comment directly on the action. This might work if the songs were Piaf's best, but the ones here are generally lesser-known numbers that seem intended to minimize invidious comparisons between Miss Lapotaire's voice and her character's." [2]

Awards and nominations

Jane Lapotaire won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. Zoë Wanamaker was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. In 1984 Virginia Lago won the Sea Star Award for Best Actress and in 1984 Prensario Award for Best Actress. In 1994 Elaine Paige won the Gold Badge of Merit Award from BASCA and in 1994 a nomination for the Olivier Award - Best Actress in a Musical. In 1995 Laura Canoura won the Iris de Plata Award. In 2009 Elena Roger won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoë Wanamaker</span> American-British actress (born 1949)

Zoë Wanamaker is an American-British actress who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Wanamaker was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 by Queen Elizabeth II. She has received numerous accolades including a Laurence Olivier Award and nominations for three BAFTA Awards, and four Tony Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty Buckley</span> American actress and singer (born 1947)

Betty Buckley is an American actress and singer. Buckley is the winner of a Tony Award, and was nominated for an additional Tony Award, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Olivier Award. In 2012, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elaine Paige</span> English singer and actress (born 1948)

Elaine Jill Paige is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16. Her appearance in the 1968 production of Hair marked her West End debut.

Pam Gems was an English playwright. The author of numerous original plays, as well as of adaptations of works by European playwrights of the past, Gems is best known for the 1978 musical play Piaf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Warchus</span> British director and dramatist (born 1966)

Matthew Warchus is an English theatre director, filmmaker and dramaturg. He has been the Artistic Director of London's The Old Vic since September 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophie Thompson</span> British actress (born 1962)

Sophie Thompson is a British actress. She has worked in film, television and theatre and she won the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of Into the Woods. She has been nominated for the Olivier Award five other times for Wildest Dreams (1994), Company (1996), Clybourne Park (2011) Guys and Dolls (2016) and Present Laughter (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenna Russell</span> British actress

Jenna Russell is an English actress and singer. She has appeared on the stage in London in both musicals and dramas, as well as appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She performed the role of Dot in Sunday in the Park with George in the West End and on Broadway, receiving the Tony Award nomination and the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role. She has also appeared in several television series, including Born and Bred and EastEnders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Walter</span> British actress (born 1950)

Dame Harriet Mary Walter is a British actress. She has performed on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and received an Olivier Award, and nominations for a Tony Award, five Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2011, Walter was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to drama.

Douglas William Hodge is an English actor, director and musician. He has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as film and television where he has appeared in Robin Hood (2010), Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and Diana, Penny Dreadful (2016), Catastrophe (2018), Joker and Lost in Space, and The Great (2020–2023).

Jane Elizabeth Marie Lapotaire is an English actress from Suffolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elena Roger</span> Argentine actress (born 1974)

Elena Silvia Roger is an Argentine actress and singer who won the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Édith Piaf in Piaf. She has also appeared in the West End in Evita, Boeing-Boeing, and Passion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clare Higgins</span> British actress (born 1955)

Clare Frances Elizabeth Higgins is an English actress. She is a three-time winner of the Olivier Award for Best Actress; for Sweet Bird of Youth (1995), Vincent in Brixton (2003), and Hecuba (2005). She made her Broadway debut in 2003 in Vincent in Brixton, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline O'Connor (actress)</span> Australian actress and singer

Caroline Ann O'Connor is an Anglo-Australian singer, dancer, and actress. For her theatre work she has won three Helpmann Awards: Best Female Actor in a Play for Edith Piaf in Piaf in 2001; in the same category for Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow in 2006; and Best Female Actor in a Musical for Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes in 2015.

Deborah Findlay is an English actress. She has worked primarily on stage and is an Olivier Award Winner, but has also appeared in several TV series. She is known for playing the Defoe family matriarch Ruth in three series of the BBC TV legal drama The Split (2018-2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence Olivier Awards</span> English annual theatre awards

The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply TheOlivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984.

David Leveaux is a British theatre director who has been nominated for five Tony Awards as director of both plays and musicals. He directs in the UK, working at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Almeida Theatre, and the Donmar Warehouse, on Broadway, and also in Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Donnelly</span> Northern Irish actress (born 1982)

Laura Donnelly is a Northern Irish actress. She is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. On television, she is known for her roles in the Starz series Outlander (2014–2017), the ITV series Beowulf (2016), and the HBO series The Nevers (2021–2023).

David Thaxton is a Welsh singer, actor and musical theatre and opera performer. He starred in the Donmar Warehouse's Passion, for which he won the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.

Katherine Kingsley is an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Canoura</span>

Laura Canoura Sande is a singer and composer of popular Uruguayan music. She is considered one of the most renowned female solo artists in Uruguay.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.