Gay Marshall

April 12, 2016

Gay-MarshallOver the years, singer-actress Gay Marshall has made the musical repertoire of Édith Piaf something of a specialty. With the 2015 centenary of the legendary French singer’s birth, she has been especially busy of late singing Piaf’s material. Yet in many ways her persona doesn’t seem much at all like that of the singer she celebrates. Piaf’s image, of course, is that of her sobriquet: the beleaguered little sparrow, bravely beating her wings as she flies madly, perhaps foolishly, into the headwinds. Marshall seems a hardier species of bird: a fit and healthy falcon, maybe—swooping and gliding through her performance with confidence and quick-witted ease.

Marshall, who wrote lyrics for most of the English portions of the songs in this Metropolitan Room show (titled simply “Gay Marshall Sings PIAF”), made it clear at the outset that Piaf, herself, was not the forlorn and tragic character that she’s frequently made out to be. Arriving onstage jauntily sporting a fedora, Marshall pointed out that Piaf regularly sang robustly happy songs.

Though Marshall did not impersonate Piaf, there are a couple of ways in which she seemed to catch her spirit. One was the unfettered expressiveness of her gestures. She sang as much with her hands and arms as with her larynx and lips. Her hands beckoned and beseeched. At one point in “Les Amants d’un jour” (Claude Delécluse, Michelle Senlise, Marguerite Monnot), she folded her arms across her torso as if shielding her heart from a chill. During “Milord” (Georges Moustaki, Monnot, Marshall), a few clever twists of wrist and fingers depicted the sparkling of a jewel. Another trait that Marshall shares with Piaf is her embrace of vocal tones that are not always completely mellifluous. When Marshall sang a song like “Le Chemin des forains” (Jean Dréjac, Henri Sauguet), some of the notes had a soft, sweet sound. But, especially when she turned up the volume, she did not flinch from sounding harsh when singing songs that told of rage, righteousness, sorrow, or pain. This raw forcefulness came through especially well in the martial strains of a number like “Le Droit d’aimer” (Piaf, Charles Dumont, Marshall). Throughout the evening, Ross Patterson at the piano helped set the appropriate tone for each selection, and the two artists shared a congenial onstage rapport.

This wasn’t really a “tribute show” in the sense we’ve come to understand the term. Marshall’s patter didn’t fully relate to Piaf’s life and career. True, before singing “La Belle Histoire d’amour,” (Piaf, Dumont, Marshall) and “Les Blouses blanches” (Michel Rivgauche, Monnot, Marshall), she noted that these songs served as a good illustration of Piaf’s anguished state of mind following the death of her lover, boxer Marcel Cerdan, in a plane crash in 1949. But later in the program, she spoke at length (often quite amusingly) about her own life experiences while living in France—coping with language barriers and adjusting to the character of the French people. The high entertainment value provided in these anecdotes masked the fact that her narrative through line was a bit of a mish-mash. She struck a well-considered balance between singing in English and singing in French. Sometimes she would perform one verse in each language; sometimes she would alternate single French lines with single English ones. When a song was mostly or entirely in French, she was careful to provide a spoken introduction that provided context for an English-speaking audience.

Unsurprisingly, Marshall saved many of Piaf’s signature songs for the latter part of the program. These included walloping showstoppers, such as “Milord” and “Padam, padam” (Henri Contet, Norbert Glanzberg). A brief pairing of the inevitable “La Vie en rose” (Piaf, Louiguy) and “Non, je ne regrette rien” (Michel Vaucaire, Dumont) served as a satisfying, crowd-pleasing encore.

“Gay Marshall Sings PIAF”
Metropolitan Room  –  March 7, April 4

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About the Author

Mark Dundas Wood is an arts/entertainment journalist and dramaturg. He began writing reviews for BistroAwards.com in 2011. More recently he has contributed "Cabaret Setlist" articles about cabaret repertoire. Other reviews and articles have appeared in theaterscene.net and clydefitchreport.com, as well as in American Theatre and Back Stage. As a dramaturg, he has worked with New Professional Theatre and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. He is currently literary manager for Broad Horizons Theatre Company.