Piaf (play)
Encyclopedia
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 in a most unflattering light. She is presented as a self-destructive, promiscuous alcoholic and junkie who, in one controversial scene, urinates in public.
It premiered in 1978 at The Other Place
in Stratford-upon-Avon
, after which it moved to The Warehouse and the Aldwych Theatre
, London. The production starred Jane Lapotaire
in the title role, and included Ian Charleson
as Pierre.
In Argentina occurred in 1983/86 with Virginia Lago in the role of La Piaf. Awards: In 1984 Premio Estrella de Mar for Best Actress and in 1984 Prensario Award for Best Actress.
A London revival occurred in 1993/94 with Elaine Paige
in the role of Piaf. In 1994, Gold Badge of Merit Award BASCA. In 1994, This gained her a nomination for the Olivier Award - Best Actress in a Musical.
In Uruguay 1994/95 Laura Canoura in the role of Piaf. In 1995 Iris de Plata Award.
A second revival in 2008/09/10 had Elena Roger
in the title role. In 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
After six previews opened on Broadway
at the Plymouth Theatre
on February 6, 1981 with its original star, Jane Lapotaire. It ran for 165 performances.
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."
. 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 Premio Estrella de Mar for Best Actress and in 1984 Prensario Award for Best Actress. In 1994 Elaine Page won the Gold Badge of Merit Award 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.
Pam Gems
Pam Gems was a British playwright. The author of numerous original plays, as well as of adaptations of works by major European playwrights of the past, Gems is best known for the 1978 musical play Piaf.-Personal life:...
that focuses on the life and career of French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
chanteuse Edith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
. The biographical
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
with music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
portrays the singer in a most unflattering light. She is presented as a self-destructive, promiscuous alcoholic and junkie who, in one controversial scene, urinates in public.
It premiered in 1978 at The Other Place
The Other Place (theatre)
The Other Place was a black box theatre on Southern Lane, near to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It was owned and operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company....
in Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
, after which it moved to The Warehouse and the Aldwych Theatre
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...
, London. The production starred Jane Lapotaire
Jane Lapotaire
Jane Lapotaire is a British actress.She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the 1960s. Her role in the title role of Marie Curie first brought her to wide attention...
in the title role, and included Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
as Pierre.
In Argentina occurred in 1983/86 with Virginia Lago in the role of La Piaf. Awards: In 1984 Premio Estrella de Mar for Best Actress and in 1984 Prensario Award for Best Actress.
A London revival occurred in 1993/94 with Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
in the role of Piaf. In 1994, Gold Badge of Merit Award BASCA. In 1994, This gained her a nomination for the Olivier Award - Best Actress in a Musical.
In Uruguay 1994/95 Laura Canoura in the role of Piaf. In 1995 Iris de Plata Award.
A second revival in 2008/09/10 had Elena Roger
Elena Roger
Elena Silvia Roger is an Argentine actress 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...
in the title role. In 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
After six previews opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Plymouth Theatre
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 236 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan named for Gerald Schoenfeld....
on February 6, 1981 with its original star, Jane Lapotaire. It ran for 165 performances.
Additional Broadway cast
- Zoë WanamakerZoe WanamakerZoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...
..... Toine - Peter FriedmanPeter FriedmanPeter Friedman is an American stage, film and television actor.Born in New York City, Friedman graduated from Hofstra University before making his Broadway debut in The Great God Brown in 1972...
..... "Papa" Leplée - Judith IveyJudith IveyJudith Lee Ivey is an American actress and director.-Personal life:Ivey was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Dorothy Lee , a teacher, and Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean. She spent 1965-1968 in Dowagiac, Michigan, where she attended Union High School through tenth grade...
..... Madeleine - Jean SmartJean SmartJean E. Smart is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her comedic roles, one of the best known being her role as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women. She later gained critical acclaim for dramatic work, with her portrayal of Martha Logan on 24...
..... Marlene DietrichMarlene DietrichMarlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
Critical reception
In his review in the New York Times, Frank RichFrank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
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."
Awards and nominations
Jane Lapotaire won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a PlayTony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The award has been presented since 1947, and is for performance in new productions or revivals.-1940s:...
. Zoë Wanamaker was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
This is a list of winners and nomination of the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. The award was first presented in 1947.-1940s:* 1947: Patricia Neal – Another Part of the Forest* 1949: Shirley Booth – Goodbye, My Fancy-1950s:...
and the Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. In 1984 Virginia Lago won the Premio Estrella de Mar for Best Actress and in 1984 Prensario Award for Best Actress. In 1994 Elaine Page won the Gold Badge of Merit Award 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
Elena Roger
Elena Silvia Roger is an Argentine actress 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...
won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.