An American in Paris/Dominion Theatre

There are those high brow theatregoers who often say “I don’t like musicals’, sneering at their perceived lower form of cultural life but not me. Apart from anything else, it demands extraordinary skills from the cast in terms of acting, dancing, singing and energy. At its best the combination of fine musical score and theatricality can make for a memorable experience. Unfortunately An American in Paris was not one of these. It was a slick rather than a soulful production which strayed some way from the classic musical film of 1951 starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oskar Levant and George Guetary. The producer Christopher Wheeldon treated it far more as a ballet as this is his background and he casted as star of the New York ballet Robert Fairchild in the lead role as Gerry Mulligan. The character Lise is the object of affection of the two principal male characters Gerry Mulligan and Robert Bourel (Haydn Oakley) but given a different spin as Lise (Leanne Cope) being Jewish reawakens old war sores. This did not really work nor did the references to Picasso who by the fifties had moved away from Paris to the South of France.

With songs like I got Rhythm and S’Wonderful you are never going to go far wrong. A large stage suitable for dancing had back drops of Paris and the dancing was first class. Yet both my companion and I admitted to not being fully engaged. We commented on a lack of romantic chemistry between the leads and the slickness of the production.

The vintage musical engaged and embraced the cultural differences between the USA and France; there was a ballet sequence at the end but it was a musical set in the street life of Montmartre with a heady romance. Sadly all of these features were lacking in this production.