An American In Paris (2018)

After the end of WWII, an American G.I. (Robert Fairchild) decides to remain in Paris and become a painter. He becomes friends with another American expatriate (David Seadon Young) and an aspiring French singer (Haydn Oakley) and they all fall in love with the same girl (Leanne Cope). A revised stage version of the Oscar winning film musical directed by Christopher Wheeldon (who also did the choreography) and Ross MacGibbon. The 1951 Vincente Minnelli film is one of the landmarks of the American film musical so it's near impossible to put it out of your mind while watching this production. It suffers in the comparison in so many ways. The joie de vivre is gone and replaced with a darker vision. As the title character, Fairchild is a cipher. He's a good dancer but he lacks presence and more importantly, the sex appeal which Gene Kelly had (it's what set him apart from Astaire). The dancing is good but the choreography isn't fresh, it seems recycled (and not from the 1951 movie). The songs are still by George & Ira Gershwin but some of the new additions seem arbitrary like Fidgety Feet which comes out of nowhere. What's stunning about this production is the Tony winning set design by Bob Crowley which is truly awesome and creative but ultimately (to borrow from another musical), it's just "razzle dazzle" (thank you, Kander & Ebb) to hide the mediocrity of the production. With Jane Asher as Oakley's mother giving the best performance in the show and Zoe Rainey.