Edith Piaf’s Paris

MANILA, Philippines - My obsession with Edith Piaf began two years ago when Pinky Amador first gave me the script to the original Royal Shakespeare Company production of Piaf, written in 1978 by Pam Gems. As I read through the script, I was thrilled and disappointed at the same time. Thrilled because the life of the iconic French singer jumped from the page so vividly, but disappointed because I knew that the play, in that state, would be difficult to produce in this day and age of economic woes and fleeting attention spans — almost three hours long with a cast of more than 20 and a full sized orchestra. 

I told Pinky that, in as much as I would love to do it, I couldn’t find a way to produce it on the scale that it demanded. And then the obsession began. I would play her music every day and I would feel a need to listen to certain songs at certain times of the day. I kept thinking about the play, wishing there was a way I could do it.

And then it happened.

While I was in the United Kingdom last year, I was at the Donmar Warehouse (one of the most forward thinking and exciting theatrical companies and venues in London’s West End) and found out that in 2008 they had done a scaled-down production of Piaf that Pam Gems herself edited and rewrote for a smaller cast with two musicians. The production was extremely successful and transferred to a larger theater in the West End where it had a sold-out run. I almost couldn’t believe it. It was exactly what I was hoping for. I picked up the Donmar Warehouse script and after sitting in a coffee shop devouring every word, I sent a message to the playwright’s agents, and then to Pinky, saying “Get ready, we are doing Piaf!” She almost couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t either.

For the next year, the script traveled with me everywhere I went and I downloaded almost all of Edith Piaf’s songs. I have close to 300 songs of hers on my iTunes library. I would listen to them every day for an entire year, never tiring of any of them. I continue to listen to them daily.

For those unfamiliar with Edith Piaf, she is considered by many to be the greatest French singer of all time. Her tragic life is shrouded in mystery and legend but her music is known, heard and celebrated worldwide. Raised in a brothel, Piaf began singing on Paris’s streets, where she was discovered by a cabaret owner. She became a star almost overnight, seducing Paris’s elite and the people of its slums in equal measure with her powerful, passionate and unique voice. Some of her most famous songs include La Vie En Rose, No Regrets, Mon Dieu, Hymn A L’Amour, Milord and The Three Bells.

Last January, Pinky and I were in Europe at the same time and we decided to meet in Paris to immerse ourselves in Edith Piaf’s world.  Along with my childhood friend Cheryl Villanueva, who lives in Paris, we visited Belleville, the neighborhood where grew up. We made an appointment to visit the Le Museé de Edith Piaf, a little-known museum tucked away in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of northeast Paris. Run by Bernard Marchois, an elderly gentleman who met the singer when he was a teenager and became a lifelong fan, the two rooms of his fourth floor flat where she once lived contain mementos from the singer’s life. Letters on the wall, a teddy bear given to her by her final husband, the boxing gloves of Marcel Cerdan, the love of her life, dresses and shoes she wore for various occasions, as well as many photographs that captured the tragedy and hardships that plagued much of her life are all on display. And although a certain sadness permeates the air you also get a sense of how much this woman believed in love and why she said: “Without love, we are nothing at all.”

From there we walked to Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris’s largest cemetery, where those interred include Jim Morrison, Colette, Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin, Moliere, Yves Montand, Gertrude Stein, and of course, Edith Piaf. Without a cemetery map as a guide, we trusted memory from the map outside the side entrance we came in from to guide us through the winding roads to Edith Piaf’s grave. And although it took us a while to get there (as she rests at the opposite end from where we had come in), we found her grave almost as though we were drawn to it. There we saw an elderly man sitting by it weeping silently. A fan? A friend? We will never know. What we did know was that it was someone whose life she had touched. We said our silent prayers, took a few photos and as more people came to pay their respects, we went on our way and headed to Pigalle for lunch.

On the border of the 9th and 18th Arrondissement, Pigalle was once known for its many sex shops and prostitutes who lined the different streets. During the war, American soldiers referred to it as “Pig Alley.” But it is also a neighborhood where artists such as Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec once lived and its most famous landmark is probably the Moulin Rouge. It was here that a teenage Edith Piaf began walking the streets as a street singer and where she would soon be discovered.

The hill above Pigalle is Montmartre, which is probably the epitome of bohemian life in Paris. One of my favorite spots in all of Paris with the gorgeous white-domed Basilica Sacré Cœur and the Place de Tertre, where painters gather to showcase their work, it is almost impossible to leave Montmartre without buying artwork. After all, this is the neighborhood that once housed the studios of Dali, Modigliani, Monet, Mondrian, Picasso and Van Gogh. It is also a neighborhood with many nightclubs and bars and Edith Piaf sang in many of them as she rose to international fame.

Looking back over that day, it was almost as though we had an unseen tour guide who would lead us to the next interesting stop that almost always had something to do with Piaf’s life.

It is only appropriate that our production of Piaf will happen in the year marking her 50th death anniversary. I am blessed to have an amazing cast who all feel as passionately as I do about her life and her music. But there would be no production of Piaf without an actress who can take on the almost non-human demands of the part. This is perhaps why the show is not revived often. But we are fortunate to have Pinky Amador, an actress of unmistakable intelligence and instinct whose well of emotions seems almost endless. There are times in rehearsals where I am no longer sure whom I am watching — Pinky or Edith. They have become one. Without Pinky there would be no Piaf. She is joined onstage by a brilliant ensemble that features Giselle Töngi Walters, Ima Castro, Jamie Wilson, Reuben Uy, Altair Alonso, Hans Eckstein, Mako Alonso, Nel Gomez and Sandino Martin: 10 actors of incredible versatility playing over 30 roles. It is a production that contains sexually suggestive scenes and explicit language, so parental guidance is strongly suggested.

Along with the support of The Philippine STAR, Metrobank Card Corporation, Business World, Velvet, Metro magazine, Portfolio, Hit Productions, Digipost Marketing, MBC Radio, Mellow 94.7, Crossover 105.1, MAC Cosmetics, Facial Care, Jing Monis Salon, Spot.ph, Sir Boy’s Food Republique, McDonald’s, Superbowl, Moshi Moshi, Gerry’s Grill, Crystal Clear, SJG Development Corp, Tri World Piano Center, Alliance Francaise de Manille, RCBC Plaza and the City of Makati, we are thrilled to welcome you all to Piaf. It has been a process of great artistic collaboration that I think the little sparrow herself would be proud of.  I know that she has been with us each day of rehearsals and I will have the best seat in the house kept vacant just for her on opening night. Although my time directing Piaf is coming to an end, my obsession with Edith Piaf will continue for the rest of my life.

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Piaf runs from March 8 to 23 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati.  For tickets call Atlantis Productions at 892-7078 or Ticket World at 891-9999.