AN AMERICAN IN PARIS announces full West End casting

Full West End casting announced for

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

Jane Asher, Haydn Oakley, Zoë Rainey, David Seadon-Young and Ashley Day join

Broadway stars Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope in the Tony® Award-winning new musical

Dominion Theatre from 4 March 2017 |AnAmericanInParisTheMusical.co.uk

 

Full casting is announced for Christopher Wheeldon’s stunning reinvention of the Oscar® winning film (that starred Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron). An American in Paris features the sublime music and lyrics of George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a new book by Craig Lucas. Directly following celebrated engagements in Paris and New York, this critically acclaimed and multi award-winning new musical bursts into life in the West End from Saturday 4 March 2017 with the official opening night on Tuesday 21 March 2017 at the Dominion Theatre.

Joining the previously announced award-winning Broadway stars Robert Fairchild (as Jerry Mulligan) and Leanne Cope (as Lise Dassin) will be Haydn Oakley as Henri Baurel, Zoë Rainey as Milo Davenport, David Seadon-Young as Adam Hochberg and Jane Asher as Madame Baurel. Ashley Day will be the alternate Jerry Mulligan (and will assume the role from Monday 19 June 2017).

The company also features Julian Forsyth and Ashley Andrews, Sophie Apollonia, Zoe Arshamian, Sarah Bakker, James Barton, Alicia Beck, Chrissy Brooke, James Butcher, Jonathan Caguioa, Jennifer Davison, Katie Deacon, Rebecca Fennelly, Sebastian Goffin, Alyn Hawke, Nicky Henshall, Genevieve Heron, Amy Hollins, Frankie Jenna, Justin-Lee Jones, Robin Kent, Kristen McGarrity, Julia J. Nagle, Daniela Norman, Aaron Smyth, Todd Talbot, Max Westwell, Jack Wilcox, Carrie Willis, Stuart Winter and Liam Wrate.

In an extraordinary career spanning more than six decades, Jane Asher (Madame Baurel) has been a successful and popular actor, writer, businesswoman and charity ambassador. As a child actor, she appeared in many films and television series including her debut in 1952 in Mandywith Phyllis Calvert. She went on to star in Alfie with Michael Caine; Deep End (BAFTA nomination, ‘Best Supporting Actress’); Henry VIII and His Six Wives; Brideshead Revisited; A Voyage Round My Father with Laurence Olivier (BAFTA nomination, ‘Best Actress’); The Mistress; Wish Me Luck; the re-make of Crossroads; Death at a Funeral; ‘Lady Byrne’ in Holby City and Dancing on the Edge. She made her West End stage debut in 1960 (in Will You Walk a Little Faster) and has subsequently played leading roles at the Royal Court, National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Edinburgh Festival and on Broadway. Her many notable London stage performances include Festen (with Tom Hardy and Jonny Lee Miller); Blithe Spirit (with Joanna Lumley and Marcia Warren); the stage premiere of Whose Life Is It Anyway? (with Tom Conti) and several Alan Ayckbourn plays, including Henceforward opposite Ian McKellen.

Haydn Oakley (Henri Baurel) recently played ‘Artie Green’ in Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close at the London Coliseum. His other credits include the original casts of The Book of Mormon and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in the West End and Passion at the Donmar Warehouse.

Zoë Rainey (Milo Davenport) has most recently been part of the acclaimed Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company season at the Garrick Theatre, appearing in Romeo and Juliet, The Winter’s Tale and Harlequinade. She also previously starred as ‘Nessarose’ in Wicked (Apollo Victoria Theatre).

David Seadon-Young (Adam Hochberg) recently played ‘Carl Bruner’ in Ghost The Musical (UK Tour and Australian Tour). His other recent credits include A Damsel in Distress (Chichester Festival Theatre), Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory) and ‘Sky’ in Mamma Mia! (International Tour).

Ashley Day (Alternate Jerry Mulligan) was in the original London cast of The Book of Mormon (playing ‘Elder Price’ on numerous occasions). His other credits include ‘Curly’ in Oklahoma!(UK Tour),‘Dream Gabey’ in Leonard Bernstein’s On The Town (ENO),‘Troy Bolton’ in High School Musical (UK Tour) and the original London casts of Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz and the Michael Grandage production of Evita.

The new musical An American in Paris premiered in 2014 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris to ecstatic reviews before transferring to the Palace Theatre on Broadway, where it became the most awarded musical of the 2015/16 season, including four Tony® Awards. A major North American tour begins in October 2016.

An American in Paris features many of George and Ira Gershwin’s most iconic songs including I Got Rhythm, ‘S Wonderful, and They Can’t Take That Away from Me, together with George Gershwin’s sweeping compositions including ‘Concerto in F’ and ‘An American in Paris’.

Jerry Mulligan is an American GI striving to make it as a painter in a city suddenly bursting with hope and possibility. Following a chance encounter with a beautiful young dancer named Lise, the streets of Paris become the backdrop to a sensuous, modern romance of art, friendship and love in the aftermath of war…

  “A perfect integration of dance, romance and classic Gershwin”
 The New York Times

An American in Paris is directed and choreographed by the internationally renowned, British-born Christopher Wheeldon. An Artistic Associate of the Royal Ballet, Wheeldon received an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours ‘for services to promoting the interests and reputation of British classical and theatrical dance worldwide’. He is the recipient of a Tony® Award and two Olivier Awards. The set and costumes are designed by the multi Tony® Award-winning West End and Broadway designer Bob Crowley (The Audience; Mary Poppins and Christopher Wheeldon’s productions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale) with projections by the celebrated British designers 59 Productions (War Horse; London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony).

“Not since ‘West Side Story’ has dance been used to such overwhelming effect on stage”
The Wall Street Journal

With music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a new book by Craig Lucas, the new musical An American in Paris is directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, with set and costumes designs by Bob Crowley; lighting by Natasha Katz; sound byJon Weston and projection designs by 59 Productions. The musical score is adapted, arranged and supervised by Rob Fisher with orchestrations by Christopher Austin; dance arrangements by Sam Davis; musical supervision by Todd Ellison; and additional orchestrations by Don Sebesky and Bill Elliott.

An American in Paris is produced in London by Stuart Oken, Van Kaplan, Roy Furman, Michael McCabe and Joshua Andrews.

Robert Fairchild is appearing with the support of UK Equity, incorporating the Variety Artistes’ Federation, pursuant to an exchange program between American Equity and UK Equity.