★★★★★ The stars of the sky are not enough to consider with justice this remarkable spectacle on the life of the legendary Edith Piaf. This revival, on the occasion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Liceo theater, demonstrates the validity of the attraction on the life of this great singer, and shows that when there is a generous production, an unsurpassed cast and a valuable stage director, the result is memorable.
As if they were memories, the text by the British Pam Gems (1925-2011), recreates different moments in the life of that woman. Thus, her street beginnings appear, the accidental discovery of her talent, the peak of success, the abuse of alcohol and morphine, the multiple accidents and love failures that she suffered, until her early death when she was 47 years.
It is enough to contemplate the overwhelming performance of Elena Roger, in the skin of what they called “the sparrow of Paris”, to understand how the art of acting is transformed into poetry. From her tiny figure, the actress and singer of international projection, she does not limit herself to reproducing on stage the unprejudiced and impulsive youth of whom she feels the world at her feet. She also does not stop at the stereotype of the last years of the artist, where premature old age and the deterioration of the organism limited the movements of a body subjected to multiple excesses. There is much more here, it is as if the interpreter were a kind of medium for Piaf’s soul to come down to Earth in each performance, and make us conceive the same feelings that the lucky audience had when attending the performances of a true legend.
Some of the most emblematic songs, such as “Mon légionnaire”, “Hymne àl amour” and “Je ne regrette rien”, among others, acquire the exact intensity in Roger’s voice to move us.
The ascetic space, the almost cinematographic lighting, the period costumes, in short, the visual conception, is the responsibility of a first-rate creative team, led by the prestigious English director Jamie Lloyd.
Although the entire cast is remarkable, it would be unfair not to also mention the works of Julia Calvo (moving Toine, the faithful friend), Ivan Espeche (as the businessman Leplée), Natalia Cociuffo (exactly as Marlene Dietrich) and the talented Nacho Pérez Cortés , Rodrigo Pedreira and Ángel Hernández in different roles.
