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‘The little sparrow,” French chanteuse Edith Piaf , dead 45 years, remains in big demand.

There was Marion Cotillard's Oscar-winning inhabitation of the little a powerhouse, in the 2007 French film, La Vie en Rose. There was Piaf, a hit theatrical presentation last year, based on her life and staged at London's Donmar Warehouse which later transferred to the West End for another 14 weeks. Now, Montreal-born singer Naomi Emmerson is returning to her native city with Piaf: Love Conquers All, a one-woman musical drama with 13 of Piaf's greatest songs, including Non, Je ne Regrette Rien, Mon Dieu and La Vie en Rose, at the Centaur Theatre.

In fact, the show's creator, Roger Peace (another Montrealer) was well ahead of the Piaf curve. He wrote Love Conquers All in the early 1990s and mounted it in Montreal with Patsy Gallant. It did well enough at that time to transfer to the Place des Arts.

It remained largely on the shelf after that, although Emmerson resurrected it in 2005 at the Toronto Fringe Festival and was voted one of the Patrons' Picks. After touring Ontario and Quebec's Eastern Townships, she entered it in the juried New York Fringe Festival where it won best musical, and went from there to the Soho Playhouse for 10 weeks, its official off-Broadway launch.

Of the Manhattan production, The New Yorker wrote: “Emmerson sings Piaf's songs … with brio, capably handling the challenging material and hitting near-Piafian emotional heights.”

About 100 minutes long, with intermission, the show traces the course of Piaf's extraordinary life, from teenage street singer to international sensation. It does not spare her many addictions – to morphine, alcohol and men, among them boxer Marcel Cerdan and actor and singer Yves Montand.

Emmerson, who doubles as the director, says the show feels stronger than ever, “more polished and more artistically fulfilling. My comfort level is greater.”

An art/music graduate of Concordia University, she has sung with everyone from a punk/pop band (Sons of the Desert) to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. She originated the role of Joan of Arc in Jeanne: The Joan of Arc Musical Drama in Montreal and toured Quebec in the bilingual production.

She says her interpretation of Piaf was enhanced by seeing Cotillard's mesmerizing screen tour-de-force. “That performance was hugely influential. Some of the stuff she did, the choices she made, I thought, I should take that further. Oh, yes, I could incorporate that facial movement.”

Playwright Peace has devoted much of his 45-year career to developing shows about great woman singers. In addition to Piaf, these include Red Hot Mama: Songs and Stories of Sophie Tucker and Ranee Lee in White Gardenia: The New Billie Holiday Musical. He also directed Jeanne: The Joan of Arc Musical at Montreal's Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts.

Piaf: Love Conquers All plays Jan. 28-Feb. 8 at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal (515-288-3161).