“So good it should be available on prescription”
Music and lyrics: George and Ira Gershwin Book: Craig Lucas Director/choreographer: Christopher Wheeldon Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, London W1 (020-7927 0900) Until 30 October Running time: 2hrs 35mins (including interval)
“A powerful, mind-altering substance is being peddled at the Dominion Theatre,” said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. No matter how careworn you might be, you will leave this glorious show “with barely a worry in your head, a spring in your step, and an ache for Paris pumping feverishly through every vein”. An American in Paris, which has already been a Tony-winning hit on Broadway, marks the musical theatre debut for the classical choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, said Ann Treneman in The Times. And what an enchanting production it is: inspired by the 1951 film with Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, and packed with seductive Gershwin numbers, it has “its own embellishments, and balletic choreography that at times takes your breath away”. It also has that “indefinable something called grace”, an ineffable lightness, and a “joie de vivre that lifts it, and us, all night long”.
The story is still set in the newly liberated Paris of 1945, said Michael Billington in The Guardian – and still involves an ex-gi and would-be artist, Jerry Mulligan, falling in love with a young Parisian, Lise. But the wafer-thin plotting and characterisation of the movie have here been magically fleshed out into a work of “theatrical gold”. Yet it’s the look of the show that’s truly stunning. Bob Crowley’s set and costume designs have a “touch of genius”, offering a “painterly kaleidoscope” which by turns cleverly evokes Monet, Renoir, Picasso and Matisse.
Making ballet rather than tap the dominant register was a smart move, said David Jays in The Sunday Times. The show’s every touch “carries a frisson” of excitement. Robert Fairchild, who plays Jerry, is a star at New York City Ballet, and “though he had never sung or spoken on stage before, his is a spectacular performance”. Fairchild and Leanne Cope (of the Royal Ballet) are “utterly beguiling” as the young lovers, agreed Sarah Hemming in the FT – her “gentle grace matched by his cheeky, nimble footwork and exuberant leaps”. This wonderful musical is “such a tonic, it should be available on prescription”.