Piaf Tickets

Piaf, the story of the extraordinary French singer Edith Piaf, will make its transfer from the Donmar Warehouse in London to the West End from October 21st 2008, playing there at the Vaudeville Theatre until January 24th 2009 (Previews 16th October). The show is overseen by Pam Gem, the person behind the 1978 original, about the short life of the legendary French performer – her teenage years and rise to success and her fall from grace, culminating in her premature death in 1963. Michael Gandage directs the gripping story.

Edit Piaf was one of France’s most successful and celebrated, yet most tragic singers. She sung songs such as La Vie En Rose and Non, je ne regretted rien; captivating audiences with her powerful voice and making her a staple of the 1940s and 50s. As a cultural icon, Piaf’s steep decline from the top was a tragic waste of great talent.

Born in 1915, her childhood was spent with prostitutes in her mother’s Normandy brothel. As a teenager, she joined her father as a street performer and this was where her fate was set, as she toured France and found her voice. During this time she had a child, who died at the age of two from meningitis and it was not until 1935 that she was ‘discovered’ by nightclub owner Louis Leplee. His murder affected her career despite being cleared of involvement. Then in the 1940s, Piaf became an established singer, finding commercial success with her famous song La Vie En Rose.

Tragedy was never far away, however, and she became married to Marcel Cerdan. In 1949 he was killed in a plane crash and marked the turning point in Piaf’s life – the downhill tumble. After a spiral into alcoholism and morphine addiction, she died in 1963 from liver cancer.

The current revival of Piaf is a 30th anniversary production, currently wowing audiences at the Donmar theatre under artistic director Michale Grandage. Argentinian actress Elena Roger stars as Piaf after making her West End debut in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s revival of Evita in 2006.

“We are enormously proud of it and particularly pleased that all the people who were unable to see it at the Donmar will now have an opportunity to catch it in its limited run at the Vaudeville Theatre.” – Michael Grandage.