An American in Paris pirouettes onto the London stage at the Dominion Theatre. Jessamy Chapman reviews it
The music is jazz, the paintings are abstract, and the atmosphere is electric. There's fear, there's love, and there's art. Step into post-war Paris with American Jerry Mulligan, where the people are still jumpy at powercuts – but they got rhythm regardless.
The hero is persistent but loveable GI Jerry (Robbie Fairchild), who rips up his ticket home after the war to stay in Paris and pursue his passion for art. Chance meetings with the elusive and elegant Lise (Leanne Cope) lead to him falling in love, and the pair make a secret agreement to meet every day to dance and forget the past.
Jerry isn't the only guy to have fallen for Lise – his buddies Adam (David Seadon-Young), a fellow American veteran, and Henri (Haydn Oakley), whose family adopted Lise, both have a soft spot too.
There's a dreaming theme, particularly in the fabulous scene where Henri's bumbling novice stage performance becomes a Fred Astaire-style top-hatted white-tie extravaganza.
And the climax is its own stunning, thundering mini-show, a long luxurious ballet sequence set against an abstract backdrop, in which Lise achieves dance perfection by imagining it's Jerry dancing with her.
The Gershwin soundtrack is great, but the songs don't make this musical – it's the dance. The cast fling themselves around the stage in a true visual spectacle, aided by stunning sets and costumes – particularly Fairchild and Cope, who originated their roles on Broadway and twirl with effortless chemistry.
It's a light-hearted musical with a great deal of seriousness. It pulls at your heartstrings, but you can't stop smiling. Groups will love it. Long may it run.
