Gigi Revival
Gigi - 2015 Broadway History , Info & More
Neil Simon Theatre (Broadway)
250 W. 52nd St. New York, NY 10019
Set in the magical world of La Belle Epoque in turn-of-the-century Paris, GIGI is a timeless romantic comedy about a young woman groomed in the custom of her family to be a companion to a bored, wealthy playboy, until the two unexpectedly realize this is in fact true love.
This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the debut of Gigi on Broadway. Lerner and Loewe's Tony Award-winning score was first heard in the 9-time Academy Award-winning Best Picture of the same name, directed by Vincente Minnelli. The movie, which was the last of the classic MGM musicals, was based on the Broadway play by Anita Loos and the popular novella by Colette.
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's beloved musical GIGI will return to Broadway in a production directed by Tony Award-nominee Eric D. Schaeffer (Follies), in a new adaptation by acclaimed British playwright and Emmy-nominated screenwriter Heidi Thomas ("Cranforde," "Upstairs Downstairs," "Call the Midwife".)
Gigi - 2015 - Broadway Cast
PREVIEW Gigi - 2015 - Broadway
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FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Gigi
'Gigi': Theater Review
7 / 10
...a lazy eye roll is about the most extreme reaction likely to be provoked by this pretty but charm-deficient revival of the Lerner and Loewe musical, which plants an all-American, too-contemporary Vanessa Hudgens in a wanly unatmospheric Belle Époque Paris...Thomas downplays the issue of Gigi being trained to continue the family tradition by becoming a high-class courtesan...However, by removing almost any doubt that Gigi's fate ultimately will rest in her own hands, Thomas dulls what's most distinctive about the story, turning it into a conventional romance between a bland couple of compatible age range, interrupted by an awkward contractual negotiation...the show soars only intermittently toward the end, notably when Cott (a mini-Hugh Jackman) sings a gorgeous version of the stirring title song, and when Hudgens finally shifts beyond one-note youthful perkiness to display some romantic feeling. Both actors are perfectly sweet and vocally very capable...But the characters never come alive with even half the passion that Clark invests in 'Say a Prayer,' in which Mamita expresses her love and concern for her granddaughter.
Theater Review: A Disney Star in a Girl-Power Gigi
5 / 10
The production's desperation to appeal to tweens instead of their parents results in a disastrous if not deliberate misreading of the tale. Perhaps that wouldn't matter if the show worked on its own terms, but it did not in 1973 when Lerner brought Loewe out of retirement to expand the movie into a stage property, and it certainly doesn't now. There is still, mercifully, the score, which even if all jumbled about still contains five truly great songs and several good ones too. (Most of the newly interpolated ones are distinctly third-drawer, however.) And visually there is much to admire. Derek McLaine's Art Nouveau settings are an elegant solution to the problem of a story in which one of the stars is Paris itself; Catherine Zuber's costumes are a marvel of shapeliness, accuracy, and detail. (That's a good thing in a show that often fails to hold the attention; you can always count buttons.) But most of the other decisions made by the creative team - the director is Eric Schaeffer - reduce rather than enhance the story.
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Gigi History
Other Productions of Gigi
| 2015 | Washington, DC (Regional) |
Kennedy Center Production Washington, DC (Regional) |
| 2015 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
Gigi - 2015 Broadway Awards and Nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Catherine Zuber |
| 2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Victoria Clark |
| 2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Victoria Clark |
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