BWW Reviews: Ballet Stars Take Broadway in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

"When you think of Paris, what comes to mind?"

For director Christopher Wheeldon, it's Gershwin and Gene Kelly. A former Royal Ballet and New York City Ballet (NYCB) dancer, Wheeldon choreographed and directed An American in Paris, which boldly debuted in the City of Lights in 2014. Besides an exuberant audience, what came to mind on Wednesday, April 15th at the Palace Theatre, were current New York City Ballet principal dancer Robert Fairchild's conjuring of Kelly's ghost and Royal Ballet dancer Leanne Cope's delicate emotional tension, yet no-holds barred physicality.

Known for his contemporary, abstract choreography, Wheeldon's recent projects ventured towards epic storytelling, as with Cinderella, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Winter's Tale. Wheeldon understands the movement of everything: people, sets, costumes. His works bear the feel of his hand turning each piece over and over in examination of all the possibilities. Actors wound eight mirrored panels throughout the stage denoting areas, structures, and time.

A straight forward plot, postwar Paris lures Jerry Mulligan (Robert Fairchild) to rip up his ticket home. Devoted to visual art, he joins a collective of starving artists. "I've Got Rhythm" establishes Henri (Max von Essen) - secretive member of the French Resistance and son of the wealthy elite - and fellow veteran Adam (Brandon Uranowitz) as his buddies. Unfortunately, the Three Musketeers all fall in love with Lise, Henri's soon-to-be fiancée. Jerry also becomes entangled with arts patron Milo Davenport (the incandescent Jill Paice). Love is here to stay, but for whom and in what way is a challenge, only to be solved with fidgety feet on the stairway to paradise.

Uranowitz and von Essen hold greater Broadway credits and musical capacity than Fairchild. However, crafted from his home theater (nearly twice the capacity of the Palace) Fairchild's presence balanced with his peers. Fairchild's boyish nature captured Kelly's impish arrogance. Like Kelly, Fairchild embraced the romance of dance. His early days in jazz class, combined, with his ballet pedigree, prepared him for Kelly's All-American athleticism, of which technique is necessary for survival. Well-loved by dance audiences in New York, his Broadway debut could not have been better played.

Kelly loved to one-up himself. Wheeldon's choreography acknowledged that with heart-pounding stops and balances in an obstacle course of movement. Fairchild met the challenge as he swung through the pirouettes, leaps, and whipped through a dazzling arabesque turn over a counter top in "I've Got Beginner's Luck". A test of endurance, Fairchild's energy renewed with each pas de deux. In the dream sequence, the final pass found Fairchild's daredevil as he held Cope with her feet flying beyond the stage edge.

In a man's world, Cope sweetly seduced. Her Lise demonstrated strong and soft dimensions as she struggled in her loyalty to her fiancé Henri, fought her attraction to Jerry's uncouth gestures, and Adam's creative support. Like Fairchild, Cope soared in the more familiar territory of the pas de deux. Wheeldon gave Cope the same treatment as Fairchild with rushing, twisting movement. She fearlessly glided through the grand lifts, swinging like a pendulum.

As Henri and Adam argued throughout the narrative on the purpose of art, Kelly's maxim proved true: if one has the talent to capture the attention of others, why not use that power to lift their spirits? For his directorial debut, Wheeldon couldn't ask for anything more.

Photo by Matthew Murphy.