Post by Fantasma da Opera on Jul 18, 2009 9:00:25 GMT -5
Piaf by Pam Gems
Teatro Politeama - Lisbon
Premiere, July 16
Again I attended the premiere of another show by my friend Filipe La Féria (MFL, JCS, SoM, Fiddler, Amalia). The show itself, as the name says, is about Edith Piaf. It tells the story of the French diva trough her songs etc etc...you get the picture.
However, unlike the other musicals I'm accustomed to see, Piaf is a rather minimalistic one...and it works wonderfully that way.
The sets are almost non-existent, the orchestra is on stage and all the atmosphere is quite personal.
I admit, although I knew the show existed, I never cared for it so I had no clue about what would be like or not. I was pleasantly surprised with the result.
In the premiere, the main roles where played by:
- Wanda Stuart (Maria in SoM) as Piaf: I liked her a lot more in the performing parts rather than the songs. She has a great voice but it's somehow a bit to crystal clear unlike Ediths actual voice. Even so, she was really convincing in the role and really funny.
- Noémia Costa (Toine): Noémia Costa is a renowned actress in Portugal, although she was never in a musical per se. In Piaf she simply stole the show. When she was on stage with Wanda, because the role of Toine is so funny, people stopped paying attention to Piaf and where more focused on the next joke Toine would say. She was, in terms of acting, the best one on stage. Amazing.
- Paula Sá (Marlene Dietrich): I didn't knew the actress honestly. And I was completely disarmed by the power of her voice. She was vocally the best one on stage. I mean...she has a voice of a kind I had just heard once before...in Rebecca with Susan Rigvava-Dumas. She was THAT good. I mean...my fears of don't find a Portuguese actress that could take the role of Mrs.Danvers vanished.
In the show, Marlene sings only La Vie en Rose. And probably the best rendition of the song I'm heard. As for the character... I honestly don't know if it's true or if it was an invention of Pam Gems...but the last thing I imagine Marlene Dietrich as is as a lesbian. Perhaps bisexual, but in the show she only hits on Piaf and ends up kissing her...so I'm guessing lesbian. And unless I'm VERY mistaken, Marlene was everything but a lesbian. She has a terrible reputation of "doing" half the german Army... Anyway, lesbian or not, it was worth it just for Paula's voice.
- Bruno Galvão (Leplée, Marcel e médico): The only time I saw Bruno on stage was in JCS as Pilate and as I said back then, I didn't liked him at all in the role. In Piaf he was much better. All the characters he played were very well constructed and believable. So this time I did enjoyed seeing him.
All the other actors were all pretty well. The ONLY thing I didn't liked was the way that, once again, the officers of the III Reich are represented. They are always showed as baboons, clowns on stage. And honestly that's not only an insult to an army that conquered half Europe (whether you like it or not) but also makes the characters completely unbelievable. You can't take then seriously.
But apart from that, it's a hour and a half really well spent.
The adaptation of the text and lyrics to Portuguese was also really well done. The songs were sung half in French half in Portuguese, but, thanks to the common base of both languages, the transition wasn't noticed. Several times the song passed from Portuguese to French and I didn't even noticed it.
Overall its a great show, far better than West Side Story, and for once, different than the usual big productions my friend does. (Although they're not gone, La Cage aux Folles running in the North is one of those megalomaniac productions). I really really enjoyed the show and I'll probably go see it again.
