Photo Flash: Thank Heaven! First Look at Vanessa Hudgens & More in GIGI at the Kennedy Center

The new Broadway production of Gigi, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's beloved Oscar and Tony Award-winning film and stage musical, begins previews at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre (250 West 52nd Street) on Thursday, March 19 in advance of a Wednesday, April 8 opening night. The production is currently playing a pre-Broadway engagement in the Eisenhower Theater at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (David M. Rubenstein, chairman, Deborah F. Rutter, president) in Washington, D.C. Previews began on Friday, January 16. Opening night is January 29, and the production runs through February 12. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action below!

Gigi stars Vanessa Hudgens, who will make her Broadway debut in the title role, Tony Award-winner Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza, Sister Act, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella) as Mamita, Corey Cott (Newsies) as Gaston Lachaille, three-time Tony Award-nominee Dee Hoty (The Will Rogers Follies, The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, Footloose) as Aunt Alicia, two-time Tony Award-nominee Howard McGillin (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Anything Goes) as Honoré Lachaille and Steffanie Leigh (Mary Poppins) as Liane d'Exelmans.

Gigi, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, features a new book adaptation by Heidi Thomas(BBC/PBS's "Call the Midwife") and is choreographed by Emmy Award-winner Joshua Bergasse (On the Town, "Smash") and directed byEric Schaeffer (Follies, Million Dollar Quartet).

Based on the 1944 novella by Colette, Gigi was first adapted for the Broadway stage by Anita Loos in 1951, with an unknown Audrey Hepburn in the title role; then, following their success with My Fair Lady, Alan Jay Lerner (screenplay and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe(music) adapted the material for the 1958 movie musical, winner of nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film, directed byVincente Minnelli, is widely considered the last great MGM movie musical, and is beloved for its wit, charm and sumptuous costume and production design. Gigi includes such numbers as "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," "I Remember It Well" "The Night They Invented Champagne" and the Oscar-winning title song, "Gigi". Gigi also won the Tony Award for Best Score in 1974.

This new adaptation of Gigi will feature all of the songs from the movie, including two songs, "The Parisians" and "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight," that were dropped from the previous stage version. The production also includes four songs written and added to the stage score by Lerner and Loewe in 1973, "Paris is Paris Again," "I Never Want to Go Home Again," "The Contract," and "In This Wide, Wide World."

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus