The city of light is ablaze with graceful music, lively movement and romance, thanks to An American in Paris, which is making its Milwaukee debut in the current Broadway series. This tender, sophisticated tale of love and loss is set in the early days following France’s emancipation in World War II. An American GI, Jerry (McGee Maddox), appears onstage and glances at the still-gorgeous city he wants to capture in his sketchbook. He tears up his train ticket for home once he spies a mysterious girl (Allison Walsh) on a crowded Parisian street. Little does he know that he’ll soon meet the girl, not in the streets but in a ballet studio where his buddy Adam (Matthew Scott), another American expat, plays piano for rehearsals. All the main characters seem to be aspiring to something. Jerry is an aspiring artist; Adam is an aspiring composer; and their French friend Henri (whom we’ll meet later) is an aspiring song-and-dance man. Even Lise, the daughter of a famous dancer, longs to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Although the Broadway version of Jerry Mulligan (Robert Fairchild) won a 2015 Tony Award for his performance (one of a four Tonys won by the musical), one can’t help but be impressed by his national tour replacement, McGee Maddox. Like Fairchild, Maddox is a trained dancer. He manages the dialogue adequately, but his métier is the numerous dance sequences. While Maddox is not as physically masculine a dancer as Gene Kelly (from the 1951 film, on which the musical is based), he executes each step with grace, confidence, and precision. And he’s manly enough to attract not only the attention of young dancer Lise Dassin, but also Milo Davenport (Kirsten Scott), an American philanthropist who is a few years older than Jerry. That Scott plays a woman so much younger and sexier than her counterpoint in the film tends to blur things a bit, as she seems like less of a cougar than an actual contender for Jerry’s affections. One senses that he may feel some genuine attraction to this woman, who seems to be so interested in promoting his paintings. Meanwhile, Lise is reluctant to return Jerry’s affection. Jerry is even more confused when a family friend announces Lise’s engagement to another man, Henri Baurel (Ben Michael). What Jerry doesn’t know is that Baurel’s family hid Lise (who is Jewish) during France’s occupation. But Henri is all about hiding things from his family, such as his homosexuality as well as his dream of being a song-and-dance man in America.
Willis makes a wonderful Henri, with his French accent and clunky dancing. The audience can’t help but believe him when Lise follows her heart in the end. “I really do love her,” he says, wistfully. Lise learns that her sense of duty (to the Baurels) doesn’t apply when it comes to her heart. At the end, she confesses her love to Jerry. The two of them walk away together in a dreamy, poetic haze.
The dialogue in this book is occasionally clunky and even hokey. But it doesn’t have to be the high point in a show that features breathtaking choreography to a wonderful score by George and Ira Gershwin. The show offers a parade of standard tunes, from “I Got Rhythm” to “S’ Wonderful” and “But Not for Me.” A slightly lesser-known tune, “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” becomes a full-fledged production number in the mind of Henri. His first appearance singing in a small Paris club becomes a full-blown, Busby-Berkley styled extravaganza. Henri is backed by a full retinue of tuxedo-clad men and women in glittery outfits. It’s a hilarious interlude, and almost brings down the house as the performers line up for some chorus-line kicks.
Few of today’s musicals exude the warmth, style and sophistication of An American in Paris, which was welcomed warmly by the opening night audience.
