BEING PIAF

                                              I regret nothing!
I sing to survive!
The Great Piaf

The moment Eleanora Owen steps on the stage, she is instantly morphs in the great late Parisian chanteuse Edith Giovanna Gassion, later Piaf, meaning sparrow in French. Owen, easily slips into her character like a form fitted dress. She slowly peels off the many complex layers and reveals a talented singer with a lot of tragedy and frailty. Some of her memories are good, like the day she became a mother and some bad that weren’t her fault, like when her mother abandoned her and her father at birth.
Her first taste of stardom happened at age 14 when she accompanied her father Louis Alphonse, a street performer, by doing acrobatics. To ease her loneliness, she befriended a young girl named Simone Berteaut, who she affectionately called Mômone. They were very close.

Owen evokes so much emotion and tenderness. She gives the audience the fragile, yet somewhat strong Piaf who had a treacherous life. After her mother abandoned the family, Piaf was sent to live with her paternal grandmother when her father joined the army in World War I. Her grandmother ran a brothel and soon Piaf was adored by the working women who cared for her. In between telling Piaf’s story, Owen would pick up a bottle of wine, take a few sips of liquid courage, then continue. She wants the audience to see and feel how tenacious Piaf became to catapult her singing career. The first person to recognize her talent was nightclub owner Louis Leplée. He heard sing underneath the streetlights He immediately grooms her. He nicknamed her La Môme Piaf, a slang term for “the Sparrow Kid,” and later, simply Piaf. A legend was born!! Unfortunately, the road to stardom had many downfalls. She would spend money on family and friends, who helped her out, while having little to nothing for herself. Leplée wasn’t happy with Piaf’s generosity and would constantly berate and control her. She refers to him as “quasimodo and dictator.”

Piaf fondly remembers her first love, middleweight champion boxer Marcel Cerdan. Even though he was married and had three kids, they continued their lustful affair. She finally was able to find love with singer, and actor Theo Sarap. He was 20 years her junior and stayed married until her death from liver cancer at age 47, on October 10, 1963. It didn’t help that she was an alcoholic and a morphine user.

Owen is a marvel to watch. She wrote a beautiful, yet heartbreaking piece of work filled with intense emotion. As Piaf, she can ooze on the charm, become a sharp-tongued serpent when she felt disrespected, show tremendous sadness over losing her loved ones, like her daughter Marcelle Léontine Dupont. Piaf had her only child at age 17 and the girl died from meningitis at age two, to at last, being the grand performer who has the gift to touch many with her grand voice. A solid performance by a brilliant actress who delights and charms everyone in her presence.

DETAILS
WHAT: BEING PIAF
WHERE: Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles
WHEN: Saturday, October 26 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, October 27 at 4 p.m.
WHY SEE IT: An emotional rollercoaster that will leave you breathless
RUN TIME: 70 minutes with no intermission.
HOW MUCH: $40 general admission/$30 senior /$20 student
INFO: Reserve by phone: 310-477-2055 ext. 2