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An American in Paris: Christopher Wheeldon Takes On Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron


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I've seen both casts of the King and I. Wantanabe was difficult to understand, but he had a stage charisma that was palpable. Llana is a much better singer than Wantanabe, and also teased out more of the comic aspects of his role. Llana's dialogue was much easier to understand. However, I thought Llana had zero chemistry with O'Hara, and also lacked stage charisma. My three cents. O'Hara is just gorgeous, as are Ruthie Ann Miles and the rest of the magnificent cast. The scenic designs and costumes are gorgeous.

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Funny, Abatt, I had the opposite reaction to Llana in the role of the King. I went in thinking he looked too young for the role, maybe not giving off an overt virility. But he completely won me over. And definitely beautiful singing across the board. Unfortunately it was an evening that O'Hara was off (so disappointed) but her standby, Betsy Morgan, was really fabulous and I felt had lots of chemistry with Mr. Llana. Go figure!

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I lucked out with O'Hara, Llana & Miles. The only substitute among principals & featured performers was Q Lim as Tuptim (subbing for Ashley Parks), who was gorgeous and with fine soprano voice. The theatre itself is non-traditional, with a stage floor that extends over the orch pit and floats out to audience...not the usual proscenium. This allows for some absolutely stunning effects, such as the entry of the ship.

"American in Paris" is in a traditional theatre with the usual proscenium and orch pit between stage and audience apparent at all times. (Palace Th. on Times Square)

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Just a reminder that Robbie Fairchild will leave "An American in Paris" in mid-March, if you haven't seen him already, this is your last chance, AiP loss is NYCB gain. However, he will rejoin AiP in its London run. It's not clear whether AiP will move from NY to London, or there will be 2 concurrent runs in NY and London.

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Former SFB danseur Garen Scribner will be taking on the 'Jerry Mulligan' role on the American in Paris tour:

https://twitter.com/sfballet/status/697188765094182912

This is the original announcement, and as some people have mentioned, other performers my be leaving/joining the tour:
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Garen-Scribner-and-Sara-Esty-to-Lead-AN-AMERICAN-IN-PARIS-on-Tour-Robert-Fairchild-to-Depart-Broadway-Show-This-Spring-20160209

"…Garen Scribner in the role of 'Jerry Mulligan' beginning Tuesday, March 15. Scribner, who has been performing the role at various performances since June, 2015, replaces Robert Fairchild, who will play his final performance on Sunday, March 13. Scribner will star opposite current principal cast members Leanne Cope, Veanne Cox, Jill Paice, Brandon Uranowitz and Max von Essen who will all continue on with the production."

Much luck to Mr. Scribner.

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American In Paris on Broadway will close on January 1, 2017, according to the NY Times. I think the box office dropped quite a bit once R. Fairchild left the show.

I saw it last Sunday matinee at 1/2 price TKTS and was surrounded by people, also on half-price, yet we still saw a lot of empty seats. Still worth seeing, if people haven't yet.

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I was dragged to this at the Kennedy Center last night (12/17/17). Sure, the dancing was nice (but coming the day after the Washington Ballet's Nutcracker, it didn't overwhelm me), but I didn't find anything else about it particularly interesting. As in all too many musicals, the characters were paper thin. The actors were better at dancing than they were at acting; then again, the high school-level dialogue didn't give them much to work with. The story was cheesy (3 men wanting to marry the same woman for apparently no other reason than that she is a very good dancer, at least one of them not even knowing basic things about such as what her religious beliefs were), with an ending that contained no suspense (and the most important plot element - when Lise makes her final choice - happened off-stage). IMO, this is the kind of thing you watch on TV, not something that you pay $$ to watch in a theater.

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