Divas - Apollo Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
DANISH choreographer Peter Schaufuss returns to the Apollo Theatre with a new ‘dancical’, Divas, for a limited season only – from June 19 to July 5, 2008.
Performed in three acts, Divas is a tribute to “three of the world’s greatest female stars” – Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland – and focuses on the art and individuality of each; their songs, such as Non, je ne regrette rien and Over the Rainbow, providing a musical backdrop for the dance numbers.
Edith Piaf (1915 – 1963), the French cabaret singer whose signature tunes included Non, je ne regrette rien, La Vie en Rose and Milord, was literally born in the gutter. However, with amazing effort and enormous talent, she became one of France’s greatest ever stars. The victim of a miserable childhood, Piaf, who was just 147cm tall, went on to live life to the full, along the way indulging in alcohol and men in abundance. But she paid the price. Broken, addicted to morphine, rheumatic and almost bald, she had to force herself on stage to sing Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (I have no regrets)…
Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992) was a German cabaret singer and actress whose classic films include The Blue Angel, Morocco and Shanghai Express. In 1930, after making her breakthrough in The Blue Angel, the first German talking picture, she left her husband and child to follow director Josef von Sternberg to Hollywood where she was given a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures. After World War II, she performed as a celebrated entertainer the world over, finally retiring in 1976 to a reclusive existence.
Judy Garland (1922 – 1969), the American cabaret singer and actress whose signature tunes include the immortal Over the Rainbow and whose film credits include The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis and Easter Parade, was introduced to show business at the early age of two when she performed in hundreds of live radio shows with her two older sisters. The role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz made her an overnight megastar, loved and admired by millions worldwide. However, in spite of her popularity and numerous awards, she was unable to cope with the pressures of stardom and eventually, drugs and alcohol became her solace in life and her career became a rollercoaster of scandals and comebacks.
Schaufuss, a former director of the London Festival Ballet (now the English National Ballet), set up his own company, the Peter Schaufuss Ballet, in Denmark in 1997, since when he has created 17 productions – among them the controversial dance piece based on the life of the Princess of Wales, Diana the Princess.
And only last summer, another of his so-called ‘dancicals’ set to the music of the Rolling Stones greatest hits, Satisfaction, ran for a limited season at the Apollo Theatre.
Divas is devised, directed, choreographed and designed by Schaufuss.
Tickets: £16 – £41.
Peter Hall’s revival of Noel Coward’s 1924 play, The Vortex, starring Felicity Kendal and Dan Stevens, completes its scheduled run at the Apollo Theatre on June 7, 2008.
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