An American in Paris: The Shows Must Go On Review

Credit: Johan Persson

3rd in line of a very busy weekend - well technically 4th! 

Thursday was The Last Five Years; Friday RENT; Saturday Fiver from the Southwark Playhouse (that I watched while playing a hilarious Zoom quiz at the same time.... BUT since I was multi-tasking, will be fair and save the review for another day); and Sunday, a bit of Gershwin. 

More specifically, the filmed performance of An American In Paris, during its run at the Dominion Theatre; adapted from the 1951 Gene Kelly film. 

Going back through my archive, the last Gershwin show I saw was Crazy For You on tour all the way back in 2017 - and admittedly it didn't fare so well. An American in Paris however, could not have given a more different outcome for me. 

The story follows three different artists living in Paris after the liberation: artist Jerry, composer Adam, and singer Henri, who all fall in love with the same girl, up-and-coming ballet dancer Lise. It sounds basic, and on paper, like a lot of the golden oldies, it is. But the character development in Craig Lucas' book is so good, it gives the actors a lot to work with. Which more importantly, makes it impossible not to fall in love with these characters. Lucas is no stranger for adapting romance stories into musicals however, as he also wrote the book for The Light in the Piazza.  

An American in Paris is more than just a complicated love story though. It also explores the importance of art, and what role it plays: it is set just after World War 2 ended, so people were looking for art as an escapism. But there was plenty of meat to chew over in the scenes between Haydn Oakley's Henri, and Adam played by David Seadon-Young (Oklahoma at the Proms) over what art should be there for: to cheer folks up, or tell it like it is. It's not something you often see, and I thought it was so important considering the time we are in now. 

Considering the excellent book, it is little wonder the performances are on fire, especially from Robert Fairchild (CATS) as Jerry and Leanne Cope as Lise. Both of which being true triple threats went into this with, as Elaine Paige would say "such gusto!"; particularly the choreography (although that's perhaps no surprise either considering both are ballet principals). 

While we are on that, let's talk about choreography shall we - because what Christopher Wheeldon has done is masterful. If you want to get a ballet fan into musical theatre, this is the perfect one for them. Because there is a lot of ballet in this! In fact, there is a 17-minute-long one at the end of the show! 

Wheeldon's style is as smooth and fluid as the River Seine, bringing classical ballet and theatre jazz together just as well as bread and butter. The way he put the storytelling into it, you got lost in it so easily and knew it could have said 1000% words. One example that comes to mind is Lise going from having a bad day at rehearsals to being instantly comforted by Jerry; all without saying a word. That's one more point about the book - it knew when to back off and let the ballet do the talking. 

Sticking with the creative side to end on; the other thing that makes this such a wonderful show is the set, costume and lighting are all absolutely gorgeous! They truly bring the beauty of the city of love to life!

An American in Paris was the perfect thing to watch on miserable and foggy Sunday in November. It's a reminder of the power of love, beauty, and especially art. 

By the time I upload this, the Shows Must Go On YouTube stream will be ending but if this goes online again, the definitely watch this. Or watch the original film - its under a fiver on Amazon. 

If this comes back to the stage (I did hear rumours of a possible tour), I will 100% be getting tickets for this. It is pure joy.