Piaf/Dietrich

A Legendary Affair
by Daniel Große Boymann and Thomas Kahry
Adapted by Erin Shields from a translation by Sam Madwar
February 17 to March 7, 2026
Opening Night: Friday, February 20
Spriet Stage

 

Running Time: 2 hours, including one intermission.

Age recommendation: 14+ 

Read Audience Advisory

Title Sponsor

Piaf/Dietrich

Upcoming Shows & Tickets

February 17, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

February 18, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

February 19, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

February 20, 2026 | 8:00pm   Get Tickets

February 21, 2026 | 2:00pm   Get Tickets

February 21, 2026 | 8:00pm   Get Tickets

February 22, 2026 | 2:00pm   Get Tickets

February 24, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

February 25, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

February 26, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

February 27, 2026 | 8:00pm   Get Tickets

February 28, 2026 | 2:00pm   Get Tickets

February 28, 2026 | 8:00pm   Get Tickets

March 1, 2026 | 2:00pm   Get Tickets

March 3, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

March 4, 2026 | 1:00pm   Get Tickets

March 4, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

March 5, 2026 | 7:30pm   Get Tickets

March 6, 2026 | 8:00pm   Get Tickets

March 7, 2026 | 2:00pm   Get Tickets

March 7, 2026 | 8:00pm   Get Tickets

Two dazzling icons forge an unlikely friendship amidst the challenges of post-WWII and the Golden Age of Hollywood.   

 

GROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR PARTIES OF 10+! LEARN MORE. 

 

They say—in both friendships, and relationships—that opposites attract.   
   
It is the end of the Second World War. Édith Piaf, the French chanteuse known for her raw and emotional ballads, meets fiery Marlene Dietrich, the German actress and singer who took Hollywood by storm. Dietrich recognizes Piaf's talent and takes her under her wing, for the world has yet to see the greatness she has to offer. Can their friendship thrive amidst the chaos of fame, politics, romance, and clashing personalities?  

Piaf/Dietrich is a musical drama about the real-life unlikely friendship of icons Édith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich, featuring timeless hits such as “La Vie En Rose”, “Milord”, and “Lili Marlene”.  Translated from the German production Spatz und Engel (The Angel and The Sparrow), and adapted by decorated Canadian playwright Erin Shields, this glamorous and music-infused bio-play has trod the boards in Europe, at The Segal Centre (Montreal), Mirvish (Toronto), and will now take on the Spriet Stage, directed by Grand Theatre Artistic Director Rachel Peake.   

"I have been a fan of the incredible Erin Shields for many years. In Piaf/Dietrich, she demonstrates yet again her ability to reach into the heart of a story and show us something we didn't understand until now. We see how the real friendship of these two incredible women - Europeans navigating American fame and all its trappings - helps them survive under the heat of the spotlight."
- Rachel Peake, Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre 

ENHANCE YOUR EXPERIENCE

AFTERWORDS

On select Wednesday evenings, immediately after the performance, join host Breanne Ritchie in the theatre's lounge for a brief guided discussion with guest artists, creative team members, and Grand staff members.

Tea Talks

Join us for creative conversations pre-show with host Rachel Peake and special guests connected to the show. Tea Talks begin at 12:00pm before the Wednesday 1:00pm matinée.

Audience Advisory

Mature language and themes; sexual references; theatrical haze; simulated smoking.

The Cast

Karen Burthwright
Karen Burthwright
Supporting Female

For the Grand Theatre: Debut. 


Theatre Credits (Selected): Broadway: Paradise Square, Jesus Christ Superstar. National Tours: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Dirty Dancing, Hairspray, Mamma Mia!. Off-Broadway: Disenchanted (Westside Theatre). Regional: Tell Tale Harbour (Mirvish Productions / Charlottetown Festival); The Colour Purple (Neptune Theatre); The Colour Purple (MTC / Citadel Theatre); Paradise Square (Berkeley Rep); Jesus Christ Superstar (La Jolla Playhouse); I Love You, You're Perfect... (George Street Playhouse); Smokey Joe's Cafe (FST); Sweet Charity (Writer's Theatre); Ragtime, Hot Mikado, Aida (Drury Lane Oakbrook). 
 

Film and TV Credits: Ripple (Hallmark); A Very Jonas Christmas (Disney+); Adults (FX); The Holy Hustle, Son of a Preacher Man (BET+). 

 
Other: 2020 Merritt Award Winner, Best Supporting Actor - 'Shug Avery' The Colour Purple (Neptune Theatre). @kburth. 

Eric Craig
Eric Craig
Supporting Male
For the Grand: Pride and Prejudice, The Hobbit.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): Paradise Square (Original Broadway Cast); Matilda (1st National); Witness for the Prosecution, Evita, White Christmas, Kiss Me Kate (Drayton); Stick Around (Here for Now); Sunday in the Park with George (Eclipse Theatre); Intimate Apparel (WJT); The Secret Garden (Theatre Calgary); Fun Home, Pride and Prejudice (Arts Club); Hamlet (SLSC); The Last Five Years (Angelwalk); Edges (Musical Stage Company).
 
Film and TV Credits: The Handmaid's Tale, Workin' Moms, Good Witch, Reign, Murdoch Mysteries.
 
Other: Eric has yet to see Ambrose, the resident ghost. But he would like to.
Deborah Hay
Deborah Hay
Édith Piaf
For the Grand Theatre: Strawberries in January, Kingfisher Days, Mary Poppins, Fall on Your Knees.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): Blithe Spirit, Everybody, Cyrano de Bergerac, Grand Hotel, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Born Yesterday (Shaw Festival, 10 Seasons); Twelfth Night, London Assurance,
Taming of the Shrew, Pericles, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V (Stratford Festival, 7 Seasons); Fall on Your Knees (Canadian Tour); A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Mirvish/MTC); Caroline, or Change (Musical Stage); London Road (Canadian Stage); As You Like It, School for Lies (Chicago Shakespeare Theater).
 
Film and TV Credits: Good Sam (CBS), Five Days at Memorial (Apple), Cardinal (CTV), The Anniversary (feature film).
Terra C MacLeod
Terra C. MacLeod
Marlene Dietrich
For the Grand Theatre: Debut.
 
Theatre Credits: Chicago: The Musical (Velma Kelly), Broadway, West End, national tour, and the recent 2025 French revival in Quebec. Maggie: The Musical, Cabaret (Goodspeed Opera). Next To Normal (Hippodrome Theatre). Annie, Beauty and the Beast (Tuacahn Theatre, Utah). Addams Family (Moonlight Theatre, San Diego). Spamalot, Blood Brothers, The Producers, West Side Story (Vancouver Arts Club).
 
Film and TV Credits: Lizzie Maguire Movie (Disney), The Reagans, The Dead Zone, and Jeremiah.
 
Other: Jessie Richardson Award recipient (West Side Story, Vancouver Arts Club). www.terracmacleod.biz

Creative Team

Rachel Peake
Rachel Peake
Director
For the Grand Theatre: Artistic Director. Director: Waitress, The Sound of Music, Disney's Frozen.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): Frozen, 9 to 5, The Garneau Block (Citadel); Ring of Fire, Sense and Sensibility (Arts Club); The Sound of Music (Citadel/RMTC); Something Rotten (Theatre Under the Stars); The Contest of the Winds (Caravan Farm); A Christmas Carol (Gateway); Trout Stanley (Persephone); The Snow Queen (Globe Theatre); Green Lake, cool beans, After Jerusalem (Solo Collective).
 
Opera Credits (Selected): Carmen, Marriage of Figaro, La Cenerentola, The Pearl Fishers, La Voix Humaine (Vancouver Opera); Macbeth (Calgary Opera); Phaedra/Serenade, The Little Sweep (Pacific Opera Victoria).
 
Other: Ovation Award and three-time Jessie Richardson Award-winner; www.rachelpeake.com
Mary Ancheta
Mary Ancheta
Music Director
Theatre Credits: Cambodian Rock Band, Million Dollar Quartet, Da Kink In My Hair (Arts Club); Hey Viola! (Charlottetown Festival, Stratford Festival, Thousand Island Playhouse, Gateway Theatre).
 
Film and TV Credits: Composer: Golden Delicious, Emergence (Knowledge Network); Nosocomephilia, HBO, Showtime, Netflix.
 
Other: Performed in Australia with Mary Ancheta Quartet and invited to represent Canada at the World Expo July 2025 in Osaka, Japan. Bachelor of Music at McMaster University. www.maryancheta.com.
Genny Sermonia
Genny Sermonia
Choreographer
For the Grand Theatre: Choreographer: Waitress, Grand Ghosts. Performer: Elf: The Musical.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): Choreographer: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Gypsy (Shaw Festival); Into The Woods, Follies (Koerner Hall); Disney's Frozen (Neptune Theatre); The Last Timbit (Elgin Winter Garden Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (Capitol Theatre); Take The Moment, One Song Glory (Musical Stage Co.); Mary Poppins, The Barbecue King (Theatre Sheridan).
 
Film and TV Credits (Selected): Odd Squad (PBS Kids); Degrassi (Epitome, Asst. Choreographer); McDonald’s, Best Buy Canada.
 
Other: Honours Graduate of Sheridan College - Music Theatre Performance.
Lorenzo Savoini
Lorenzo Savoini
Set Designer
For the Grand Theatre: Set Design: Mary Poppins. Set and Lighting Design: The Sound of Music.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): Set Design: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Stratford Festival); Wait Until Dark (Shaw Festival). Set and Costume Design: Forgiveness (Stratford Festival). Set and Lighting Design: Summer and Smoke (Crow’s Theatre).
 
Other: 5 Dora Awards, MFA from University of British Columbia and memeber of Associated Designers of Canada. lorenzosavoini.com.
Ming Wong
Ming Wong
Costume Designer
For the Grand Theatre: Controlled Damage.
 
Theatre Credits (selected): A Strange Loop, Kim's Convenience, Three Sisters, De Profundiis, Sizwe Banzi is Dead (Soulpepper); Flex, Wights, Rosmersholm, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, The Master Plan, Uncle Vanya (Crow's); Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (YPT); Salesman in China, Rent (Stratford Festival); Once (TIP); Peter's Final Flight (Ross Petty Productions); The Wizard of Oz, The Inheritance (Canadian Stage); Is God Is (Canadian Stage/Obsidian/Necessary Angel); Wait Until Dark, Candida, Just to get Married, Trouble in Mind (Shaw); The Color Purple (Citadel/RMTC).
 
Other: 2021 Virginia & Myrtle Cooper Award Laureate, 2 time Dora winner.
Michelle Ramsay
Michelle Ramsay
Lighting Designer
For the Grand Theatre: Waitress, Million Dollar Quartet, Titanic: The Musical, The Mountaintop, The Ladies Foursome, Mary’s Wedding.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): A Strange Loop (Soulpepper/Musical Stage/Crow’s Theatre/TOLive); Waitress (Arts Club Theatre); Trident Moon (Crow’s Theatre/NAC); Women of the Fur Trade (Globe Theatre and Stratford Festival); Snow in Midsummer (Shaw Festival/NAC); Come Home: The Legend of Daddy Hall (Tarragon Theatre); Prison Dancer the Musical (Citadel Theatre); The Tempest (Theatre Rusticle).
 
Other: Michelle has received eight Dora Awards, was a finalist for the 2021 Siminovitch Prize, and is the Chair of the Board for Associated Designers of Canada.
Emily Porter
Emily Porter
Sound Designer
For The Grand: Newsies, The Sound of Music, Home for the Holidays, Into the Woods, Prom Queen, Titanic.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): Rez Gas, Waitress, The Full Monty, A Year With Frog & Toad, The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom (The Capitol Theatre); Midsummer Night’s Dream: 1970’s Musical, The Sound Of Music (The Citadel); Jersey Boys (Charlottetown Festival); Ms Holmes & Ms Watson Apt 2B, This is Tom Jones! (The Human Race Theatre); The Little Woman, Monty Python’s SPAMALOT (Stratford Festival); Beauty & The Beast (The Globe Theatre); Mamma Mia (Rainbow Stage, Neptune Theatre).
 
Other: Member of ADC659 and teaches Theatrical Sound Design and Technology at the university level.
Cameron Fraser
Cameron Fraser
Titles Programmer
Nicole Wilson
Nicole Wilson
Assistant Director

For the Grand Theatre: Disney's Frozen.

Theatre Credits (Selected): Actor: Common Ground (The Orillia Opera House); Clue (The Segal Centre); Dead Elephants, One Left Hour - The Life and Work of Daniil Kharms, Two Character Play, Potosi (Good Old Neon); The Real Sherlock Holmes (Lighthouse Theatre Festival); The Belt and the Necklace (Odyssey Theatre); Mankind UK Tour (PLS); Brimstone and Treacle (Precisely Peters Productions); The Seagull (Chekhov Collective). Director: Ivona, Princess of Burgundia (George Brown Theatre School); Phaedra’s Love (Stratford Festival); Dead Elephants, The Last Mammoth, Blue Remembered Hills (Good Old Neon); Frankenstein(esque) (Silent Protagonist). Assistant Director: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Canadian Stage); London Assurance (Stratford Festival).

Film & TV Credits (Selected): The Good Witch (Seasons 6 & 7).

Phyllis Cohen
Phyllis Cohen
Dialect Coach

For the Grand Theatre: Debut.

Theatre Credits (Selected): Dead Elephants (Good Old Neon).

Film and TV Credits (Selected): Once Upon a Christmas Crown (Nicely Entertainment, Prime Video).  

Other: Knight-Thomas Speechwork Certified Dialect Coach. www.canadianpronunciationcoach.com. Instagram @canadianpronunciationcoach. GAA Instructor ProActorsLab (Toronto). Individual and group dialect coaching. 

Suzanne McArthur
Suzanne McArthur
Stage Manager
For the Grand Theatre: 17th season.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): Seven seasons with the Stratford Festival; 6 season with Drayton Entertainment; 6 seasons with Port Stanley Festival Theatre. Worked with the National Arts Centre, the Blythe Festival, Mirvish Productions, Studio 180 Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times, and Tarragon Theatre.
 
Other: Suzanne lives in London with her children, Michael and Charlie.
Melissa Cameron
Melissa Cameron
Assistant Stage Manager
For the Grand Theatre: Newsies, Waitress, The Sound of Music, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Controlled Damage, Grow, Re:Opening Festival (Seeds of Self & One Year), Chariots of Fire, Once, Anything Goes, Mixed Tape, The Importance of Being Earnest, Much Ado About Nothing.
 
Theatre Credits (Selected): Jersey Boys, Maggie, Anne of Green Gables, Munschables (Charlottetown Festival); Waitress, Maggie (Theatre Aquarius); Sweeney Todd, The Gamblers, I Claudia, Offline (Talk is Free Theatre); Hurry Hard, Miracle on 34th Street (Chemainus Theatre Festival); The Last Five Years, She Loves Me, The 29 Steps (Rose Theatre); Legally Blonde (Theatre Sheridan); Gin Game, Cottagers & Indians, Crimes of the Heart, Boeing Boeing, Dial M for Murder, Barefoot in the Park (Watermark Theatre).
Gina Woodward
Gina Woodward
Apprentice Stage Manager
For the Grand Theatre: The Play That Goes Wrong.
 
Theatre Credits: Coal Bowl Queen (Ships Co. Theatre, EFT, HEIST); Mamma Mia!, Little Shop Of Horrors, Disney’s Frozen, Rumour Has It: Adele Tribute (Neptune Theatre); Heathers: Teen Version, The Prom (Neptune YPCo.); Still Dancing, Downed Hearts (Ships Co. Theatre).
 
Other: BA Dalhousie University, Honours in Stage Design and Technical Theatre from Fountain School of Performing Arts.

Musicians

Erik Larson
Erik Larson
Bass
Céline Murray
Céline Murray
Violin
Dave Robilliard
Dave Robilliard
Drums
Tickets