Kimmel Center Is Proud Co-Producer of Tony-Winning AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

The Kimmel Center is proud to be one of the co-producers of An American in Paris, which won four honors at Sunday's 69th Annual Tony Awards. The popular Broadway stage adaptation was co-produced by the Kimmel Center as part of Elephant Eye Theatrical and the production consortium Five Cent Productions.

An American in Paris won four Tony Awards in the following performance categories: Best Choreography (Christopher Wheeldon),Best Orchestrations (Christopher Austin, Dob Sebesky, Bill Elliott), Best Lighting Design (Natasha Katz) and Best Scenic Design (Bob Crowley and 59 Productions). The Broadway musical received a total of 12 Tony Award nominations, tied for most of any show, including Best Musical.

"We are thrilled that this exciting production was honored with four Tony Awards as a testament to this new work's bold choreography, lighting, orchestrations and scenic design," said Kimmel Center President and CEO Anne Ewers. "We hope that our future producing endeavors with Elephant Eye Theatrical and Five Cent Productions will continue to provide the arts community with new, innovative theatrical productions that tour in Philadelphia and on the world stages."

2015 is a banner year for the new stage production of An American in Paris. Based on George Gershwin's classic 1928 musical composition and the 1951 MGM film, the new stage adaptation of An American in Paris was also recently honored with the Drama Desk Award Winner for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Robert Fairchild), Outstanding Choreography (Christopher Wheeldon),Outstanding Scenic Design (Bob Crowley), and Outstanding Orchestrations (Christopher Austin).

In 2005, the Kimmel Center joined four other nationally-renowned performing arts organizations to form Five Cent Productions, which also includes the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, Hartford, CT; The Citi Performing Arts Center, Boston, MA; the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, St.Paul, MN; and the Pittsburgh CLO and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (shared), Pittsburgh, PA. Following this formation, Five Cent Productions joined former Disney Theatrical Productions Executive Vice President Stuart Oken and Tony Award-winning producer Michael Leavitt as a producing partner in Elephant Eye Theatrical.

Elephant Eye Theatrical is a theatrical development and production company that creates new book musicals for Broadway and beyond. The company finds and initiates projects, assembles creative teams, funds the genesis and ongoing evolution of the projects, and serves as lead producer when the projects are fully staged. Already a leader in producing new work locally through their annual theater and jazz residencies and the biennial Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), the Kimmel Center's role with Elephant Eye Theatrical and Five Cent Productions allows the Center ownership, exclusivity, and ultimately, the opportunity to bring these high caliber productions to Philadelphia audiences.

In addition to An American in Paris, other Elephant Eye productions have included The Addams Family, which played at Philadelphia's Academy of Music in 2013, and Saved, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2008.

An American in Paris tells the story of a young American soldier and a French girl in Paris after World War II. It features a book by Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee Craig Lucas (The Light In The Piazza, Prelude To A Kiss) and features a score by George and Ira Gershwin. The stage musical is based on the Academy Award-winning 1951 film that starred Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron.

Located in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia, The Kimmel Center's mission is to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience through diverse programming, arts education, and community outreach. The Kimmel Center campus is comprised of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, SEI Innovation Studio, and the Merck Arts Education Center), the Academy of Music (owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association), and the University of the Arts Merriam Theater. TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is the season sponsor of The Kimmel Center's 2014-2015 Season. American Airlines is the official airline of Broadway Philadelphia. For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.