The new musical, An American in Paris, was uniformly critically acclaimed when it opened earlier this year. Inspired by the Hollywood classic, it is now playing its final 14 weeks at the Dominion Theatre. The last performance of this celebrated engagement will be on Saturday 6 January 2018.
The London production of An American in Paris has been filmed for future release in cinemas, featuring the original cast led by Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope. Further international engagements of the musical are planned and a major North American tour is currently playing.
Written by Craig Lucas, it features the timeless music and lyrics of George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, including the songs I Got Rhythm, ‘S Wonderful, I’ll Build a Stairway To Paradise and They Can’t Take That Away from Me, together with George Gershwin’s sweeping compositions including ‘Concerto in F’ and ‘An American in Paris’.
An American in Paris premiered in 2014 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris to ecstatic reviews before transferring to the Palace Theatre on Broadway, where it received 12 Tony® nominations and won 4 for Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations, Best Set Design and Best Lighting Design. The musical also won four Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Musical, the Drama League Award for Best Musical, three Fred and Adele Astaire Awards and two Theatre World Awards.
Jerry Mulligan is an American GI pursuing his dream to make it as a painter in a city suddenly bursting with hope and possibility. Following a chance encounter with a beautiful young dancer named Lise, the streets of Paris become the backdrop to a sensuous, modern romance of art, friendship and love in the aftermath of war…
The cast is led by Ashley Day (as Jerry Mulligan) and Leanne Cope (as Lise Dassin) with Haydn Oakley as Henri Baurel, Zoë Rainey as Milo Davenport, David Seadon-Young as Adam Hochberg and Julie Legrand as Madame Baurel. The company also features Julian Forsyth and Ashley Andrews, Sophie Apollonia, Zoe Arshamian, Sarah Bakker, James Barton, Alicia Beck, Chrissy Brooke, James Butcher, Jonathan Caguioa, Jennifer Davison, Katie Deacon, Rebecca Fennelly, Sebastian Goffin, Alyn Hawke, Nicky Henshall, Genevieve Heron, Amy Hollins, Frankie Jenna, Justin-Lee Jones, Robin Kent, Kristen McGarrity, Julia J. Nagle, Daniela Norman, Pippa Raine, Aaron Smyth, Todd Talbot, Max Westwell, Jack Wilcox, Carrie Willis, Stuart Winter and Liam Wrate.
With music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a new book by Craig Lucas, the new musical An American in Paris is directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon with set and costumes designs by Bob Crowley, lighting by Natasha Katz, sound by Jon Weston and projection designs by 59 Productions. The musical score is adapted, arranged and supervised by Rob Fisher with orchestrations by Christopher Austin and Bill Elliott, dance arrangements by Sam Davis and musical supervision by Todd Ellison. The UK Musical Director is Steve Ridley. The Associate Director/Choreographers are Jacquelin Barrett and Dontee Kiehn.
An American in Paris is produced in London by Stuart Oken, Van Kaplan, Roy Furman, Michael McCabe and Joshua Andrews by special arrangement with Elephant Eye Theatrical, the Pittsburgh CLO and Théâtre du Châtelet.
Photo: Johan Persson