Tony-winning ‘An American in Paris’ dances home to Pittsburgh
The success of “An American in Paris” shines a light on CLO as it moves around the world. New productions are keeping Mr. Kaplan very busy. He recently spent six weeks in London for the show’s opening there and is back in time for the tour stop that opens the Pittsburgh CLO summer season, his 20th as head of the 71-yearold company.
Toward the end of the twoweek run, a delegation of 13 from the Shiki Theatre Company, which has eight companies throughout Japan, will come to see the touring production and watch the show unload and move out of the Benedum, then follow it to St. Paul, Minn., to see the load-in there.
The production will be done in Japanese with Shiki’s company of performers, but so far — from Paris to New York to London and on tour — Mr. Kaplan is on call for casting.
“Stuart Oken, Roy Furman and myself are the lead producers, so the future and fate of the show rests with us,” he explained.
The touring company on its way to Pittsburgh has a relatively new Jerry, McGee Maddox, a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada who joined the company in April. His Lise, Sara Esty, spelled Ms. Cope on Broadway and usually went on once a week during the Broadway run. The cast also includes Etai Benson as Adam, Nick Spangler as Henri, Emily Ferranti (“Wicked” on Broadway) as Milo Davenport and Gayton Scott as Madame Baurel.
“It’s a different cast than Broadway and they bring their own personalities to it, but they are really phenomenal,” said Mr. Kaplan, who in March saw the show debut in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times declared the musical “a joyous homecoming … returning the story, characters and George Gershwin music to the theater where the 1951 film version won the Oscar for best picture.”
In Pittsburgh, the tour’s arrival also is a joyous homecoming, of a movie conceived by Gene Kelly that was reimagined by his hometown musical theater company. As a lead- in on Saturday, Pittsburgh CLO hosted the Gene Kelly Awards to celebrate his legacy by rewarding excellence in high school musical theater.
During the run of the show, on June 9, the company will hold its annual gala, when it is expected that the company will have secured the full $10 million of a capital campaign, part of which will support a new musical festival that will debut in Pittsburgh next year.
Mr. Kaplan is sure to be in town that April week in 2018, when the National Alliance for Musical Theatre will hold its annual conference here.
“There’s a lot going on, which is the way I like it,” he said. “We had the mini festival just a few weeks ago, which was very successful, with the big festival just around the corner. I think that’s going to get great national attention. The CLO is producing a tour of the ‘Little Mermaid,’ which is going to be out on the road for 20 weeks this year, and we’ve got some other projects in — Van Kaplan, executive producer the hopper.”
With all that Pittsburgh CLO is handling from Pittsburgh to Broadway and back, has there been any time to reflect on 20 years at the helm?
“Not much time,” Mr. Kaplan said. “But it’s all good.”