When the authors and the director began working on the TONIGHT...Piaf show, they wanted the play to best reflect the way Edith Piaf herself had been presented on stage. She was always accompanied by her core musicians (3 or 4) and added musicians to the band in the various touring cities. She was always dressed in a simple black dress, hair a mess, and a single spotlight lit her at center stage. For the sake of accuracy, the director of this show decided to use the same principles in the staging. The stage is set with 9 "Waldorf Astoria" bandstands on stage left, a grand piano on stage right, a stool and microphone by the piano, and a microphone on a stand down stage center . The sound design, by Phil Posner, is visually unobtrusive, providing the audience with the feeling of the 1960's "non high-tech" look and sound. The lighting designer, Dusty Rhodes, has skillfully added a large backdrop which is only lit at pertinent dramatic moments. With various washes and a Gobo of a bird in flight, this backdrop can provide an illusion of starkness, of dramatic build up or of emotional release when the moments dictate it. Duration of show: Act one: 56 minutes Act two: 49 minutes Venue: Theatres TONIGHT...Piaf © ~ The play