PIAF | Boca Raton Tribune Review

                                                                                                       

Victoria Lauzun is Piaf

By Skip Sheffield

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Women are at the forefront of two new plays that opened this week in Delray Beach.

“Piaf” is a dramatization of the life of French torch singer Edith Piaf. This play with music runs through Dec. 14 at Delray Square Performing Arts, 4809 W. Atlantic Ave. at Military Trail.

There is a romantic, idealized view of the tragic chanteuse, and Edith Piaf certainly fits that description.
The best thing about “Piaf,” a 1978 Tony Award-winning play by Pam Gems, is its star, Victoria Lauzin. Ms. Lauzun embodies the soul of the “little sparrow,” who was born in 1915 and died of liver disease in 1963 at age 47. This comes as no surprise, considering Piaf’s reckless lifestyle. Piaf was the embodiment of “live fast, die young.”
“Every damn fool thing you do in this life you pay for,” were her famous last words. Yet “Piaf” is not a downer. It is more a salute to an indomitable spirit, known by her signature song “La Vie en Rose.”

While that rosy song is what is most people associate with Edith Piaf, my favorite is "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" (No, I Regret Nothing). No, me neither.

Playing Edith's best gal pal and confidante Toine is Courtney Poston, familiar to patrons of Boca Raton's Slow Burn Theatre Company.

Like Edith, Toine is a woman of "easy virtue" in a demi-monde of seedy characters.

Providing super-human musical support is pianist Phil Hinton, who is obscured onstage behind a panel. Musical Director Hinton is at least as important as the characters. I think he should be front, if not center, but that decision is up to director Gary Waldman, who also plays Leplee and a doctor and contributed English lyrics to the French songs.

With the exception of Victoria Anderson as famed cabaret singer Josephine Baker, the rest of the cast is young and a bit uneven. But hey it's live theater in a converted movie fourplex, and if Edith Piaf is your thing, this is well worth a look.

Tickets are $37.50 ($30 group). Call 561-880-0319 or go to www.delraysquarearts.com.

Delray Square Performing Arts Announces its 2014-2015 Musical Theater Season and a Fall 2014 Special Event …

A 3-Musical Subscription Series + a Very 

Special Event in September make for an 

especially exciting 

2014-2015 Musical Theater Season!

*** SPECIAL EVENT Fall, 2014 ***

Gary Waldman

WHAT I LEARNED IN FALLSBURG

Music Director: PHIL HINTON Conducting the Delray Square Band

And Featuring VICTORIA ANDERSON & RICHARD FORBES 

for a Truly Unique Evening

September 12th - 21st Only! Extended thru Oct 19th

Fri & Sat at 8pm, Sun at 2pm

Tickets only $27.50 with discounts for GROUPS of 10+

An evening of hits from Waldman's 35+-year career including lots of YIDDISH favorites, songs by Jewish composers, and an array of special treats performed by one of south Florida's most prolific veteran singer/actor, director, composer, lyricist, producer and stage directors.

A truly unique evening of music and 'shtick' from one of the area's favorite and best reviewed performers:

GREAT VOICE, dynamic energy and whirlwind personality that knocks down all barriers, ethnic or linguistic, to an evening of SHEER PLEASURE. - Sun-Sentinel

Gary Waldman faced a skeptical audience and immediately won them over! His new show gave him the opportunity to display his histrionic and singing abilities to their best advantage! - Jewish Journal

An EXCELLENT VOICE! Uniquely interesting! - Palm Beach Arts Paper

Gary Waldman is a man of MANY TALENTS! - Entertainment News

**********************************************************************

All season performances Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm

THE BEST PROFESSIONAL MUSICAL THEATER VALUE IN S. FLORIDA!

Individual Shows $37.50 each, per person … 3-Show Season $90.00

GROUP RATES

Individual Shows: Groups of 10+ receive a 10% discount – Groups of 20+ receive a 20% discount

3-Show Season (10+) $80.00 ... 3-Show Season (20+) $75.00

(all prices subject to 6% Florida sales tax - exempt organizations excluded)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SHOW #1 - "PIAF"

Reduced-Price Previews November 7th - 9th
OFFICIAL RUN OF SHOW:
November 12th - December 14th

Pam Gems extraordinary, 12-person Broadway musical vividly captures the glamour & squalor, the rise & fall of the complex, fragile, and enigmatic performer Edith Piaf, who continues to be remembered and revered for her exceptional voice and extraordinary life.

The skillful, indeed subtle, combination of the Piaf songs and the scenes from Piaf's origins make up an enthralling evening. 
- New York Post

With power & velocity Piaf leaps at us right from the gutter. - Newsweek

Tony Award Winner!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SHOW #2 - "SHENANDOAH"

Our In-Season Featured Broadway Smash Hit Musical!

SPECIAL PERFORMANCE 12/31/2014 NEW YEAR'S EVE! (9:30 PM) 

(NYE not eligible for subscription inclusion)

Reduced-Price Previews - January 2nd - 4th
OFFICIAL RUN OF SHOW - January 7th - March 4th
Tony Award Winner!

This colorful and dramatic saga with an INCREDIBLE SCORE centers on a strong willed Virginia farmer trying to keep his family neutral as the Civil War rages. The family's story is a heart-warming & heart-rending portrayal of the upheaval that left wounds on the land and its people for generations to come.

This rarely produced GEM of a Broadway musical has been compared to so many others including OKLAHOMA & has even been referred to as the American south's answer to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF for its heart & depiction of how war and hatred can take such a huge toll on the traditions of a family that has embraced its way of life for generations.

The show will star Delray Square Performing Arts Producing Artistic Director, Gary Waldman whose excitement for this project can be summed up with his quote: If there’s anything with which I can delight in getting older it is this … the opportunity to finally play a role I’ve wanted to perform since I was a teenager!

A vocally forceful performance with a historical resonance. The score has many beautiful songs! - New York Times

A first rate show, an antiwar musical with heart and humor … not afraid to believe in the goodness in man. – NBC News
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SHOW #3 - "SOPHIE, TOTIE & BELLE"

Reduced-Price Previews - March 20th - 22nd

OFFICIAL RUN OF SHOW - March 25th - May 17th

One of the most popular musical comedies ever to play in south Florida 

(our 2000 production moved directly from Ft. Lauderdale to Theater4 off-Broadway!), SOPHIE, TOTIE & BELLE is a riotously funny musical based on a fictional meeting between legendary & ground-breaking female performers, Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields 

and Belle Barth. 

With a full-out belt score & some of the best comedic material ever written (mind you, Belle Barth, referred to as the female Lenny Bruce was not for the shy or prudish among us), this delightful musical promises to be among the most fun you will have this season!

An R-rated Act Made in Heaven! The playhouse is rollicking like the old Miami Beach clubs that Fields and Barth frequented, and Tucker was known to visit.  - Sun-Sentinel


_____________________________________________________________________________________

BOX OFFICE OPEN EVERY DAY

(561) 880-0319

4809 W. Atlantic Avenue (NE corner at Military Trail)

www.DelraySquareArts.com

_____________________________________________________________________________________

For review ticket requests, photos, information, interview requests, etc., please contact: MARGOT BURRAL: (561) 800-0319 or margo@DelraySquareArts.com