An American In Paris

I wonder how this will do in terms of longevity? The Broadway production ran 18 months, and unless something is scouting theatres and wanting a show in there, I can see it sticking around just to have something running there, but I don't know if I can see it running longer than the Broadway production unless it gets a sudden rush of ticket sales.

I presume this is asked in jest, but do you not realise how inappropriate it is?!

I know last year she had two weeks at a caravan in Prestatyn and I was just wondering if she was doing the same. No harm in asking?

Late to the party with this as most of you fellow board members seem to make it to the first few performances, so much of what I have to say has been mentioned already.

I SO wanted to love this as I am a great musical theatre fan but came away a little disappointed.

First the positives -

A bargain central front row seat for £30. Great view as you have the orchestra pit between you and the stage plus lots of leg room to stretch out. When you think the seats a few rows back are £99!!

Wonderful orchestra and Gershwin score - although most of the songs have been heard in Crazy for You. Surely others could have been found? Plus most of them were really "shoe horned" in!

Fabulous design - the show looked amazing - the lighting too was wonderful.

Robert Fairchild - A true triple threat. Good singer, fabulous dancer, and huge stage charisma. I could not take my eyes off him! Worth the price of admission alone.

The negatives -

Much has been said about the seamless nature of the ballet, musical and book. But for me the transitions between the two were clunky. I did not feel the piece was strong at all. Huge sections of dialogue which went nowhere, huge ballet sequences which were fine but added nothing. There were some wonderful moments but huge sections which were frankly boring - especially the dialogue.

Jane Asher - just dreadful. Surely there are plenty of actresses who could have played the part better. How on earth did she get cast? Really embarrassing! She had a larger role than I expected from the remarks on here too.

I should not compare it to 42nd St but it is difficult not to having opened at the same time but this really did look "thin" in comparison. The big number "Stairway to Paradise" looked very underpopulated with just 6 show girls and NO staircase! It made me smile that 42nd St has been criticised on this board for its lack of plot but this made it look like House of Cards. Three men fall in love with one girl ....and the obvious guy gets the girl in the last moments of the show - somewhat inexplicably from what I gathered. That is it! No wonder it did seem like a long evening.

I so wanted to love it .....

I have to report though that the theatre seemed completely full on Friday night. Very well received but no standing ovation.

According to Zoe Rainey's instagram, they filmed the show last night. Looks quite professional - is this the usual setup for archive recordings, or could this be commercial?

http://instagram.com/p/BUgcl9olefA

According to notices in the foyer, it was also being filmed last Thursday when I went.

On first glance that does look a lot more substantial than just an archive recording. Usually you only get one or two fixed cameras in the stalls and none of that level of zoom and detail. Could just be a high quality archive recording though for all I know!

At the interval now for today's matinee. Someone in the stalls absolutely reaks of stale sweat close by.... thoughts on the show coming later.

So my thoughts...

First time at the Dominion. Im guessing the theatres Architect was the same as the Liverpool Empire as the auditorium felt very similar to that of the Empire. It also seemed to suffer from the same underground rail vibrations and noise, which I found slightly off putting throughout, but theres not much that can be done about that given location. I do hope the Crossrail doesn't make it worse.

Show wise, all credit to the orchestra. Wonderful orchestrations and a well led band. So good to see an actual Grand Piano in the pit! The story was forgettable and the script a bit too 'Allo Allo' in the first act but the score throughout was beautiful and that was what really kept me interested in the show. I forgot to grab a photo of actual cast members, but suffice to say they were all ok. I didn't particularly love or dislike anyone but I think they were all limited by what the book provided.

Set-wise there were some nice ideas, but I really wasn't sold on such a heavy reliance on the projections. There were quite a few occasions where the set didn't line up with the projections and as a result images overshot and bled, more times than I could count. I found this completely distracting. At times the projections and scenic movement were out of sync so again projection over or undershot. Halfway through the second act there was a street scene with clouds projecting over the sky and houses. It looks completely out of place and like a technical error, like the houses hadn't been image masked, this was very distracting. I also disliked the hard edges of the projection on the rear backdrop. For such a romantic show, the projection felt a bit rigid and uncomplimentary. 

I also really disliked the colour palette of the show. I really think the show would have worked with a strict pastel colour palette instead of the very mixed colours, sometimes pastel, sometimes out of place vivid primary colours. Where the colours should have been vivid, such as in the cutaway dance sequences like the scene in the second act with the modern art set coming to life we were presented with some really washout out blues and reds, these should have been alot more vibrant and vivid to show contrast to the neutral wartime colours of reality. 

For a show to be successful reliant on such crucial technical elements, they really need to get them right. There were a number of missed lighting cues and at the end of act one two false blackouts where it looked like the LX op had cued the blackout before it had been called, then gone back a step lighting the stage, then blackout, then lit, then blackout. Odd.

I've seen the show once and that was enough for me, however if a soundtrack is released I will probably look into getting it.


Edit: Same Architecture firm for Dominion and Liverpool Empire, W & TR Milburn.

I have a friend who just saw the show and thought Jane Asher was the best thing about it........I have to cut her out of my life right? How can anyone think that was a great performance!?!?