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by Daniel Große Boymann & Thomas Kahry, translated by Sam Madwar, adapted by Erin Shields, directed by Rachel Peake

Grand Theatre, Spriet Stage, London, ON

February 20–March 7, 2026

Piaf: “If I’m not on stage, I’m dead”

The Grand Theatre London is currently presenting the first revival of the musical Piaf/Dietrich since its English-language premiere in 2018. The musical which had its world premiere in German in Vienna in 2013 follows the little-known lifelong friendship of two great performers of the mid-20th century — Édith Piaf (1915-63) and Marlene Dietrich (1901-92). Co-creator Daniel Große Boymann called the show a “Schauspiel mit Musik” (“play with music’), but with 22 songs the show functions more like a revue of the great singers’ catalogues. The Grand production is impeccably cast, designed and directed and in many ways is more effective than the show’s 2018 production.

As I noted in 2018, “The musical begins in 1960, when both singers are making comeback appearances and for unknown reasons loath each other. Dietrich’s first concert in Germany after 30 years in the U.S. is heckled because she became a staunch supporter of the Allies against Nazi Germany. Piaf’s comeback concert after many years of physical decline due to alcohol and drugs ends in her collapse onstage”.

The action then flashes back to the singers’ first meeting. This was in New York in 1947 when Piaf was trying to break into the American market. This was difficult for her because she refused to sing in English. Dietrich, in contrast, was already a major movie star in the US, having emigrated there immediately after the success of The Blue Angel in 1930. She subsequently made such films as Morocco (1930), Shanghai Express (1932), Blonde Venus (1932), The Scarlet Empress (1934) and Destry Rides Again (1939) that reinforced her image as an icy sex symbol.

The creators of Piaf/Dietrich portray Dietrich actively helping Piaf win over American audiences. They also depict Dietrich, a known bisexual, beginning a relationship with Piaf, although this is purely their own speculation. The creators show Dietrich caring for Piaf after personal tragedies, such as the death of her lover Marcel Cerdan in a plane crash in 1949, and nursing Piaf during her years of addiction to drugs and alcohol, especially after a car accident in 1951 when she was prescribed morphine which led to dependency. The creators show Piaf as so often incapacitated and Dietrich so often as her caregiver that we do begin to wonder how either had time to pursue their careers.

As it happens the biographical information in the show is really just a timeline to connect the two stars and to provide a minimal background for performances of their greatest hits. What was most noticeable to me in seeing the show this time is that the title Piaf/Dietrich gives a bit of a false impression that the show is as much about Dietrich as it is about Piaf.

In fact, this is not true and Rachel Peake, who directs the show at the Grand seems to realize this. The actors for both Piaf and Dietrich have roughly equal stage time, but it is really Piaf who is the focus of the action. One odd indication of this is that the creators allow the actor playing Piaf to sing her songs without interruption, whereas even Dietrich’s most famous songs are cut short or interrupted by dialogue. “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” (1955) by Pete Seeger (not Burt Bacharach as the show tells us) is the only song that Dietrich is allowed to sing all the way through.

When I saw the musical in 2018, I thought that no one could play the roles of Piaf and Detrich as well as Louise Pitre and Jayne Lewis. Luckily, Canada is blessed with such talent that Deborah Hay and Terra C. MacLeod completely make the roles their own. In the dialogue Hay brings out the combination of sentimentality, low self-esteem and self-destructiveness that make Piaf such a complex, tragic figure. Hay rounds out her portrait of Piaf by also lending her a mischievous sense of humour. Just as Piaf poured raw emotion into her songs, so Hay sings songs like “Hymne à l’amour” (1950) and “Non, je ne regrette rien” (1960) with such fierce passion that they sent chills down my spine. Even in an upbeat song like “Milord” (1959), Hay finds a manic sense that undermines the music’s seemingly celebratory sound.

MacLeod’s Dietrich stands in complete contrast to Hay’s Piaf. MacLeod’s Dietrich combines cold realism, high self-esteem and self-assuredness. Dietrich knows that she is playing the role of an unattainable sex symbol and is happy to play a role rather than lay bare her emotions as Piaf does. MacLeod has clearly made a close study of Dietrich because she has mastered Dietrich’s manner of speech perfectly. She delivers Dietrich’s songs primarily in the diseuse manner of her later years, and it is a great pity that we don’t get to hear her sing full versions of such iconic songs as “Just a Gigolo” (1928), “Falling In Love Again” (1930) and “Lili Marlene” (1939). MacLeod as Dietrich, an outspoken opponent of the Nazis, brings out all the suppressed anger in the refrain of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”

Piaf/Dietrich features two other performers with the nondescript names of “Supporting Male” and “Supporting Female”, actors who play all the other characters required in the show. As “Supporting Male”, Eric Craig skilfully adopts at least four different accents and plays characters ranging from a surprised bellboy to Noël Coward. As someone who has sung Petruchio in Kiss Me, Kate, it is too bad he is allowed to sing only a snippet of the song “Land, Sea and Air” as Marcel Cerdan.

Karen Burthwright is equally adept as “Supporting Female”, playing everything from an avid boxing fan to Lena Horne. As a cabaret singer Burthwright sings “You’re the Cream in My Coffee” (1928) so delightfully that, as with Craig, it is too bad that the creators have not contrived a way for her to sing more often. As an actor Burthwright is very funny as the phony medium Piaf uses to contact Cerdan.

Lorenzo Savoini has a designed a simple but elegant set of several lit arches that serve to separate the onstage band from the playing area. Michelle Ramsay’s creative lighting easily transforms the set from glitzy nightclubs to humble apartments. Ming Wong has created a host of period costumes for Dietrich and the Supporting Male and Female, while Piaf remains mostly in the simple black dress for which she was known.

Deborah Hay’s renditions of Piaf’s songs are so moving and so impressive that the show is worth seeing for them alone. If only the creators had allowed MacLeod to sing some of Dietrich’s famous songs through to the end, the show could better serve to showcase her talent. Nevertheless, Piaf/Dietrich gives audiences not only a glimpse into the past but a view of two contrasting modes of performing — one emotional, one calculating — that still exist in popular music today. Piaf/Dietrich does not make us choose between them but rather view them as complementary.

Christopher Hoile

Photos: Deborah Hay as Édith Piaf and Terra C. MacLeod as Marlene Dietrich; Deborah Hay as Édith Piaf; Terra C. MacLeod as Marlene Dietrich. © 2026 Dahla Katz.

For tickets visit: www.grandtheatre.com.