Review: Cirque du Soleil Attempts An Original Book Musical With PARAMOUR

What the internationally-acclaimed Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil is famous for doing, it does extremely well in their new Broadway production, PARAMOUR.

There's no shortage of thrills and amazement to be enjoyed by their latest assemblage of remarkable artists who tumble in the air, swing on straps, balance onto each other and perform gasp-worth feats of strength and muscle control.

However, PARAMOUR is a venture presented by the company's theatrical enterprise in an attempt to create a new and original book-and-score Broadway musical that incorporates their regular ensemble of performers into the story.

It sounds like a juicy gig for anyone experienced in writing musical theatre (Did they even attempt to get Stephen Sondheim or Terrence McNally?), but the authors of PARAMOUR have created material that is, at best, serviceable and, at worst, embarrassing.

Nobody is directly credited with writing the book - you know, the most important element in making a good musical - but director Philippe Decouffle is also billed as conceiver and West Hyler takes blame for the story, a connect the dots Golden Age of Hollywood tale of an egomaniacal director who discovers an "It Girl" songstress who he plans to make both his star and his wife. The only hitch is that there's unspoken love between the singer and the Tin Pan Alley piano player who's her songwriting partner.

The dialogue is harmless enough, although completely lacking in the kind of wit and color that was typical of the era. Likewise the music composed by Guy Dubuc, Marc Lessard and Andreas Carlsson is an attractive enough collection of big band swing and showtunes, but Carlsson's lyrics are an embarrassing display of false rhymes and miss-accented syllables. Sorry efforts like, "All three hearts are in a tangle / When they're caught up in a love triangle," are especially offensive when considering that Hollywood's Golden Age was a time when movie musicals featured some of the American Songbook's greatest selections.

Will anybody care? This isn't exactly a musical aimed at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop crowd and poor writing probably won't hurt the box office. Decouffle doesn't appear to be particularly interested in the dramatic elements, as whenever the main characters sing they're upstaged by acrobats and dancers filling up the stage with focus-stealing routines.

Despite the odds against them, Jeremy Kushnier admirably throws himself into the role of director A.J., narrating the story as a flashback, and Ruby Lewis and Ryan Vona give appealing performances as the young lovers Indigo and Joey.

There is one extremely well-executed musical theatre moment, a slight variation on OKLAHOMA!'s dream ballet, where Indigo's indecision between choosing A.J. or Joey is represented by an extended routine where acrobat Myriam Deraiche alternates sensual positions with Samuel William Charlton, who hangs from a trapeze, and the earthbound Martin Charrat.

Other highlights include twin-brother aerialists Andrew and Kevin Atherton beautifully flying above those in the orchestra section and a team of tumblers launching each other skyward from a teeter totter.

Designers Jean Rabasse (sets) Philippe Guillotel (costumes) and Patrice Besombes and Howell Binkley (lights) do a spectacular job of emulating Hollywood glamour and art deco elegance. Twin screens are best used when they offer vintage peeks at music director Seth Stachowski's eight-piece band.

PARAMOUR has the look, if not the feel, of a fun, splashy new musical. If Cirque du Soleil is serious about being a part of the theatre community and producing future Broadway shows, it would serve them well to work with writers who have strong track records in the genre. Barring that, they'll just have to settle for having a commercial smash.