Hymne A Piaf
Hymne A Piaf. Opera House Studio. 26 June - 7 July. Sydneyoperahouse.com.
Caroline Nin's Hymne A Piaf is a 70 minute tribute to Edith Piaf, a bit of her tumultuous life and a few of her loves. By no means comprehensive, the show focuses on a few key moments in Piaf's life; primarily her wretched childhood on the streets of Paris, her first big break at the age of 20 and her mid-age affair with married boxer Marcel Cerdan.
The problem with a show such as this is that songs like Hymne A L'amour and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien are so iconic and so totally associated with Piaf’s unique style that to hear them performed by someone other than Piaf is unsatisfying when the performer is supposedly bringing the chanteuse to life. (Rather than interpreting the songs afresh.)It takes a singer-actress of Caroline O'Connor’s calibre to pull off a “Piaf performance”.
Comparisons are inevitable with a show such as this one, however, and Nin, although possessing an adequate voice, is not a Piaf. The patter compensates to some extent, seamlessly blending stories, anecdotes and translations with the songs to offer audiences an insight into this legendary performer and the events that inspired her music. It may or may not help that a new French film version - fabled, fragmentary and impressionistic - is currently in cinemas. La Vie En rose, starring Marion Cotillard as Piaf and costarring Gerard Depardieu, proves that a performer does not have to resemble Piaf to portray her, but the soul and pain must be there to set audiences alight.
Nin has been performing her show around the world for the past six years and one gets the impression that it may be starting to pall. In any event, the spark seemed to be missing the night I attended. The show's simple format of Nin singing a string of songs (backed by pianist Christopher Culpo and bassist Steven Elphick) and pausing occasionally to explain an aspect of Piaf's life is satisfactory, perhaps, for those who are being introduced to France’s most famous and revered singer for the first time, otherwise, perhaps not.
