Piaf! The Show
Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 at 8pm
This performance will include a 15-minute intermission.
Artist Sponsor
James McGaugh and Andrea Roberts
The Cast
Nathalie Lermitte: Singer
Philippe Villa: Piano
Benoit Pierron: Percussion, Xylophone
Frederic Viale: Accordion
Giliard Lopez , Double Bass
Gil Marsalla: Producer, Director
Thomas Richeux: Stage Manager
Piaf! the Show a musical celebration of the life and music of the legendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf.
Conceived and directed by the Nice-based theatrical maverick Gil Marsalla and starring Nathalie Lermitte, a French performer hailed as “Edith Piaf’s legitimate musical heiress,” Piaf! the Show premiered in 2015 as a tribute to “The Swallow of Montmartre” on the centennial of her birthday and was inspired by the award-winning movie La Vie En Rose.
In two 45-minutes acts, the show narrates the rags-to-riches story of the Parisian singer’s career through her unforgettable songs, complemented by a visual tapestry of previously unreleased photographs and images of famous Parisian locations of the Edith Piaf era.
The first act offers a window into Edith Piaf’s life before she became famous. Imagine that you are on the terrace of a small Parisian café, or on a cobbled square in Montmartre. This is where Piaf spent her earliest years, singing in the streets and depending on the kindness of strangers to toss her their loose change.
A young Edith Piaf enters to the sound of a moody accordion. She sings of her childhood growing up poor, and how she longed to spread her wings and fly away Like a Sparrow. Despite her sad words, there’s a smile on her face, because she is no longer that little girl.
Edith continues to remember her youth, speaking of how she used to sing for the terraces between Saint-Ouen and Clignancourt, amongst the gangs of street kids, and the scents of French fries and lilacs.
She speaks of her first lovers, and daydreams of those days of innocence. In You Could Find Her on the Street Pigalle, she relays the story of when cabaret owner Louis Leplee discovered her on the corner in the Pigalle area, in 1935, with her sad pale face. In I Couldn’t Care Less, Edith throws off the judgement of the upper class, reveling in the freedom of her Sundays, walking on the banks of the Seine, rejoicing in the glitter of the dance halls at night, and the tenderness of a lover's touch. It is Paris she loves with the scent of the chestnut trees, the light in the morning, and the music of its streets. Her love of Paris shifts to love of men with It’s a Guy, a man who loved and left her in tatters and My Legionnaire, an affair with an American army boy that wasn’t meant to last. In full swing, The Party Continues with the crowds, music, and carousels. With Bravo for the Clown! Edith revels in the world of the circus, of clowns, musical delights, hidden vices, laughter, and The Sounds of the Dance Hall.
PROGRAM ACT 1
CHANTE-MOI
PLUS BLEU QUE LE BLEU DE TES YEUX
LES MÔMES DE LA CLOCHE
L’ACCORDEONISTE
LES AMANTS D’UN JOUR
ENTRE SAINT OUEN ET CLIGNANCOURT
ELLE FREQUENTAIT LA RUE PIGALLE
C’EST UN GARS
A QUOI ÇA SERT L’AMOUR
LES CROIX
LA GOUALANTE DU PAUVRE JEAN
Intro PARIS
PARIS
SOUS LE CIEL DE PARIS
PADAM PADAM
~ INTERMISSION ~
The second act recreates some of the legendary performances Piaf gave after she had become a renowned artist performing on the world’s most renowned stages. Imagine sitting in the famous Olympia Theater in Paris, or at Carnegie Hall in 1957, when she gave one of her last memorable concerts.
Edith Piaf’s tumultuous relationship with love continues with the uplifting energy of You’re My Carousel, the dark betrayal of Jezebel, the sad goodbye of Autumn Leaves. The memories of those lost love affairs haunt Edith, beating like a wooden heart, Padam...Padam.
Not a woman to dwell in sadness, Edith is caught up in the passion of The Crowd, engulfed, buoyed, and carried away by a love as powerful and crazed as a rollicking mob. In a different tone, her Hymn to Love bares her soul as she surrenders herself entirely to her passion, promising to give up everything—country, home, friends—as long as it would keep love at her side. In My God, she even begs the heavens to keep her love at her side, just for one more day. With the world in her thrall, Edith Piaf embarks on the delicate and beautiful sentiment of her beloved La Vie en Rose. “Hold me close and hold me fast, the magic spell you cast, this is la vie en rose.”
PROGRAM ACT 2
LES TROIS CLOCHES
MON MANÈGE À MOI
LES FEUILLES MORTES
L’HOMME À LA MOTO
MILORD
MON DIEU
LA FOULE
NON, JE NE REGRETTE RIEN
HYMNE A L’AMOUR
LA VIE EN ROSE
IMG Artists
Season Sponsor
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