You're never too old to become a #StageFave. At the age of 70, Jane Asher is adding her West End musical debut to an extraordinary list of credits in a career spanning six decades. She'll play Madame Baurel in the Broadway transfer of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. She joins the show's already-announced Broadway stars and a host of other #StageFaves, including Haydn Oakley, Zoe Rainey, David Seadon-Young and Ashley Day...
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.
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…
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).
With music and lyrics by George 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 by Jon 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.
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 Mandy with 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.
