I'm going to address this just as a report on a regional production - I have no idea if Broadway audiences will go for this (mostly the story).
Changes have been made to the book, and I think it works as much as it can, though I don't know that these Parisian customs are very compelling in this day and age.
I saw the movie maybe once as a child, and always had a great affection for Leslie Caron.
I wasn't sure I'd get to see a production of this show at all, having missed a local presentation 1998, and I certainly didn't expect to see such an elaborate and well done production. A real treat to hear the Lerner and Loewe score.
To have Howard McGillin, Victoria Clark and Dee Hoty on stage together is a great blessing, and they are all wonderful here. And CMU grad Corey Cott is really great as Gaston. He reminds me of Max von Essen - and he and Hudgens seems about the same age (I think in real life, she's actually older) and that makes it less creepy, though I don't know how old either are supposed to be when she "comes of age."
I suppose Hudgens is enough of a star for this cast to go forward (I've read her credits, but only saw her in the first HS Musical, which I've forgotten due to old age). And she's fine - she is childish and almost goofy before Gigi matures (which seems to happen overnight) and she can sing well. I don't think she has an Audrey Hepburn or Leslie Caron kind of special quality, though, but others may feel differently. The woman sitting next to me said at intermission, "Isn't she adorable?"
The set, costumes, ensemble, choreography are all top notch. I like the set more than dramedy seems to - it is a very large and involved structure of a staircase and what seems to be the base of the Eiffel Tower. Additions are made to depict other scenes, and the Maxim's scenes are incorporated particularly well.
I'm very happy to have seen this at the Kennedy Center, however it does in the future.
Running time about 2:40, including intermission.
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