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“Gay Marshall Sings Piaf”
Metropolitan Room – September 15, 22, 29, October 1, 8
In her tribute to French icon Edith Piaf, Gay Marshall says that Piaf “…started out singing to live and later lived to sing.” Tiny, taut and wired with energy, Marshall captures that Piaf spirit in her current show. She has the theatricality and vocal chops to fiercely inhabit every song while inviting the audience into the same sphere and letting the stories embrace them all together. Supporting her is a master quintet with pianist Eric Svejcar, Bill Schimmel on accordion, violinist Deni Bonet, cellist Peter Lewy, and Steve Gilewski on bass.
With Parisian-gamine black chic, her long brown curls topped by a squishy black hat with a bright red knot, Marshall has an expressive face with a wide grin that can twist on a dime into despair or joy. While her waif look adds to the French ambiance, this is not the reason you believe her. Marshall studied these songs, has spoken with songwriters like Michel Rivegauche who worked with Edith Piaf, and she interprets with intelligence. She understands the lyrical essences and has taken the tales into her heart. When she lets loose her passionate vibrato and robust voice nuanced with facets, she tells universal stories, the street tales of Edith Piaf.
Marshall does not imitate but relates the inspiration of “La Petite Môme,” whose resonant voice still symbolizes the spirit of France. Piaf’s shadow is always evident. Showing strong dramatic instincts, Marshall is physically and vocally a kaleidoscope of musical colors, shaping the interweaving French and English lyrics.
Marshall comments that Piaf is usually seen as a tragic figure, but while the singer certainly experienced adversities, she had a great joie de vivre and was an irrepressible romantic. One of Piaf’s classics, “Les Amants d’un Jour” (Claude Delecluse, Michele Senlis, Marguerite Monnot), is the story of a world-weary waitress who gets caught up witnessing the romance of two young doomed lovers and their tragic end. Michel Emer’s “L’Accordioniste” is the story of the loss of a lover, an accordionist, to war, and for the singer, the music was ended. Piaf’s most famous song, “La Vie En Rose” (Piaf and Louiguy), is her homage to the death of her own great love, Marcel Cerdan. One of her last recordings, “Le Doit d’Aimer” (Robert Nyel and Francis Lai), reflects Piaf’s famed romance with a much younger man, Theo Sarapo, and even in a weakened state, Piaf asserts the right for anyone to love whom she chooses. Melodramatic? Of course, but also stirring and human.
Cleveland-born, Marshall is note-perfect in her songs and seems word-perfect in her French, although maybe the French would find fault here. The size, intimacy and personal connection of a cabaret setting suits her perfectly. She has strong stage presence, proven in the Zipper Theater revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and she has now released a CD, Gay Marshall Sings Piaf — La Vie L’Amour. The intimate setting, however, which permits one to watch her face, her subtle body movements, dancer’s arms and eloquent shrugs, is where she presents her songbook best. Here is where her version of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” (Michel Vaucair and Charles Dumont) stands apart from other renditions. Rather than delivering the usual declarative, belting anthem, Marshall embodies the attitude with a c’est la vie resignation, a message of “This is how it was, and I don’t regret a thing.” Instead of a fist in the air, it is a shrug of the shoulder, and it’s very effective.
Edith Piaf will always stand alone as the passion of France, but this music is not everyone’s cup of café. If, however, you are drawn to the resonance and intensity, Gay Marshall, an American who appreciates and understands the French esprit, communicates it with her own zest, sentiment and honesty.
