Piaf - Donmar Warehouse
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
ARGENTINE actress Elena Roger will play Edith Piaf in the 30th anniversary revival of Pam Gems’ Piaf which opens at the Donmar Warehouse on August 8, 2008.
Piaf explores the French singer’s short tragic life – from her teenage years to her death on October 10, 1963 at the age of just 43 – a life tainted by abandonment, drink and drug addiction.
Gems’ bio-play, which was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company with Jane Lapotaire as Piaf and later revived in the West End with Elaine Page in the title role, features some of the singer’s most famous numbers – classics such as La vie en rose; Milord; Hyme a l’amour which was translated into English as If You Love Me (Really Love Me) and sung by Shirley Bassey among others; and Non, je ne regrette rien.
Roger made her West End debut playing Eva Peron in the 2006 revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Evita at the Adelphi Theatre – the first time an Argentine actress had taken the role. For her performance, she received an Olivier nomination for Best Actress in a musical. She went on to play Italian stewardess Gabriella in the hit comedy Boeing-Boeing at the Comedy Theatre.
And in her native Buenos Aires, she has appeared in the original production of Nine, directed by David Leveaux, Beauty and the Beast, Les Misérables (as Fantine) and Saturday Night Fever (as Annette).
Piaf will be directed by Jamie Lloyd whose credits include Pinter’s The Caretaker and the current Pinter double bill The Lover/The Collection at the Comedy Theatre.
Small Change, which has just opened at the Donmar, continues until May 31, 2008.
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