‘An American in Paris’ is pure dance magic
If you’re a ballet lover, you need to beg, borrow or steal, whatever it takes, to get tickets to “An American in Paris” at ASU Gammage. And if you don’t like ballet … um, are you sure? Because this show just might make a convert of you.
Based on the 1951 movie musical, the 2015 Broadway adaptation, now on its national tour, was directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, famed in the ballet world for bringing 21st-century flair to works such as “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and an update of “The Nutcracker” set at the Chicago World’s Fair.
Like the Gene Kelly film, Wheeldon’s “American in Paris” is all about dance. Extended sequences tell the story through movement alone, culminating in a 17-minute ballet set to the George Gershwin tone poem that started it all.
Not that the traditional trappings of musical theater — the love story, the Gershwin tunes, the lavish production design — are superfluous, exactly. Rather they are all so beautifully integrated, including rolling set pieces incorporated into the intricate choreography, that they expand the idea of what “a ballet” might be.
Pulling all this off requires multitalented performers, and lots of them, since the lead roles are double- or even triple-cast due to the physical demands of the dancing. On opening night in Tempe, the title role of Jerry Mulligan — a World War II veteran turned artist — was played by McGee Maddox, opposite Sara Esty as Lise Dassin, a quiet beauty who becomes the center of a tangled thicket of romantic interests.
Maddox exudes a boyish exuberance in energetic dance breaks such as “Fidgety Feet,” while Esty’s elegant lyricism is well-matched to her character’s mysterious reserve.
But as is often the case, it’s the supporting roles that give the story its real personality. These include Etai Benson as a wisecracking piano man and Nick Spangler as a blue-blooded Frenchman with dreams of becoming a song and dance man in the Big Apple. They help set the tone with a rendition of “I Got Rhythm” like you’ve never heard it before — first as a dirge, then as an effervescent concoction of French wine in a jazzy American bottle.
Even without the presence of an Idina Menzelcaliber belter, the singing is quite lovely, especially from Spangler and Emily Ferranti, who plays a sassy blond American heiress whose irrepressible herselfness might make you wonder why all the boys are swooning over the brooding brunette instead.
While the stage adaption adds a few twists to the movie version, there’s nothing too surprising about the storyline. But this stylized rendering of midcentury Paris — juiced up with vivid video projections — is an evocative romantic fantasy that borders on the surreal but still manages to acknowledge the tragic backdrop of war that colors the characters’ lives.
There’s a happy ending, of course, but one with bittersweet overtones that gives unexpected emotional heft to a show that celebrates life, love and, above all else, dance.