Music and lives of Édith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich head to the Spriet Stage

Marlene Dietrich was Hollywood’s femme fatale throughout the 30s and 40s, and the name on everyone’s lips. Everyone wanted her. Édith Piaf, the French songbird, had soared to stardom in her home country and would soon intoxicate the rest of the world with her raw, powerful songs of love and longing.

The two women were born fifteen years and 1,000 kilometres apart and found their way to both fame and each other. By the time they met, Marlene had a string of leading roles and was one of the highest-paid talents in show business. A young Édith had been singing on the streets of Paris to support herself and had written the song that would make her famous, “La vie en rose.”

Their first meeting and the lifelong, tumultuous relationship that followed are the story told by the music-infused bio play Piaf/Dietrich, which runs February 17 through March 7 at the Grand Theatre. Audiences will Londoner and notable Canadian theatre talent Deborah Hay, transformed into Piaf on the stage and making a much-anticipated return to the Grand after her stand-out performances in Fall On Your Knees and Mary Poppins in previous seasons. Having dazzled the world from Broadway to the West End as Chicago’s Velma Kelly, Terra C. MacLeod steps into the top hat and tuxedo tails of the smouldering Marlene Dietrich in her Grand Theatre debut.

The cast also features Karen Burthwright and Eric Craig, both with Broadway credits to their names. In fact, they have even performed together as members of the original Broadway cast of Tony Award-nominated Paradise Square. In Piaf/Dietrich, these two Canadian stars will play all of the men and women, lovers and hecklers, muses and rivals, that make up the worlds of these two showbiz legends.

Audiences can expect all the glitz and glamour of mid-century fame in America, all the passion and tragedy of great love affairs, and an epic set list of beloved, powerful hit songs including “La vie en rose”, “Milord”, and “Lili Marlene.” This all-new production of Erin Shield’s show-stopping adaptation will be directed by Grand Theatre Artistic Director Rachel Peake.

“What I love about this story, told originally through the imaginations of German Daniel Große Boymann and Austrian Thomas Kahry, and adapted for our stage by the endlessly talented Canadian Erin Shields, is that it uses music, conflict, and language to transport us,” shares Peake. “Prior to reading this play, I had no idea that these two icons even knew one another. They seem so different – Piaf wearing her heart on her sleeve and her pain in public, while Dietrich hid everything behind a mask of glamour. But friendship is funny that way, attraction is funny that way.”

Piaf/Dietrich, directed by Rachel Peake, will run from February 17 until March 7 on the Spriet Stage at the Grand Theatre. Tickets range from $25 to $97 and are available at www.grandtheatre.com, by phone at 519-672-8800, or at the Box Office, 471 Richmond Street.

The Grand Theatre is grateful to offer Canada Life Pay What You Can pricing, presented on Sunday, February 22 at 2:00 p.m.

Header photo: Deborah Hay and Terra C. MacLeod set to play show business legends in Piaf/Dietrich at the Grand Theatre. Photography by Mai Tilson.