Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier was the quintessential
Frenchman. He introduced the world to such memorable songs
as "Louise", "Mimi", "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me",
and, from the Academy Award-winning film, Gigi,
"Thank Heaven for Little Girls."
Privately, the man was not anything like his
happy-go-lucky public persona. Insecure and dour, the only
"true" loves in his life were his mother, who died in the
1930s, and the vast international audiences that adored him.
Michael B. Druxman's play is set in 1963, when
the star's failing health makes his ability to perform in
the future questionable. Reminiscing backstage in his
dressing room, he talks about his days of glory in the
French music halls, his early Hollywood movies, romantic
encounters with Marlene Dietrich and other well-known
personalities, as well as the more unnerving times, such as
his experiences in France and Germany during WW2 when he was
falsely accused of being a Nazi collaborator.
CHEVALIER is an affectionate, revealing,
song-filled portrait of the man that America once called
"the French Al Jolson."
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