Coloured Lights

The Donmar Warehouse has just announced its new season of plays, through until 2009, as reported today by various news organisations (including Mark Shenton on The Stage’s website).

I was particularly interested to see what their ‘musical’ offering would be in the next season. I had heard that it was going to be an exciting project, but had no idea what to expect. On hearing the news that it’s going to be a revival of ‘Piaf’ by Pam Gems, my intial thought is that it will prove to be an inspired decision.

I suspect that this will be a show that few people predicted, which makes it even more interesting. It’s almost certainly a smart move commercially, given the recent success of ‘La Vie en Rose’, a phenomeal biopic of Edith Piaf, that won multiple awards including both the Best Actress Oscar and Golden Globe for Marion Cotillard. (The film is already available to buy on DVD).

The Donmar have sealed the deal with an excellent choice of lead - Elena Roger (who has a fan sote that you can see here - thanks for the correction Lynn!). I saw her last year as Eva Person in Michael Grandage’s production of Evita at the Adelphi Theatre, and Mark Shenton quotes Grandage as looking for another opportunity to work with Roger. If her performance is anywhere near as good as her portrayal of Peron, this show will be a treat.

The last West End production was 15 years ago, starring Elaine Page, and I’m a good deal more excited about seeing Elena Roger play this part than I would be to see EP in the show…

I’ll look forward to hearing more about the production in due course, but it is already looking like another ‘must see’ show at the Donmar!