Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C.

Gigi
Kennedy Center

Also see Susan's reviews of The Widow Lincoln and Bessie's Blues


Vanessa Hudgens
The Kennedy Center's production of Gigi is lovely to look at and charming to listen to, but the show never achieves the transcendence that one would wish for with this material.

Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music) originally adapted Colette's novella as a movie musical that won the Best Picture Oscar in 1958; a subsequent Broadway adaptation in 1973, including additional songs, was not very successful. Now, with a freshly adapted book by Heidi Thomas, Gigi is heading back to Broadway.

Director Eric Schaeffer keeps things shining on Derek McLane's set, all wrought-iron platforms and an Art Nouveau staircase, but it's Catherine Zuber's resplendent costumes that light up the stage. Joshua Bergasse's impressive choreography ranges from gentle pas de deux to rowdy can-cans.

The story, set in 1900 Paris, follows young Gigi (Vanessa Hudgens) as her grandmother Mamita (Victoria Clark) and Aunt Alicia (Dee Hoty), retired courtesans, educate her in the ways of pleasing a wealthy protector. Gigi has grown up around Gaston Lachaille (Corey Cott), a famous man about town and heir to a sugar fortune, but he sees Gigi as a younger sister rather than a prospective mistress—until the day he doesn't. Meanwhile, we see that Gaston's uncle HonorĂ© (Howard McGillin) had a relationship with Mamita in past years.

Thomas increases the age of Gigi from 16, as in Colette's original, to 18 and lowers the age of Gaston from thirties to twenties so their relationship seems less unequal. Gigi is a strong character who knows what's expected of her at a time when women had few advantages, but also what she's willing to accept.

While Hudgens is both sweet and spirited, singing and dancing well, Broadway veterans Clark, McGillin, and Hoty deliver the stronger stage presences, especially the duets "I Remember It Well" and "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore" for Mamita and Honoré. Cott, because of his relative youth, comes across as callow; the problem with a younger Gaston is that the character is written as jaded (his first song is "It's a Bore") and Cott seems too fresh-faced for that.

Kennedy Center
Gigi January 16th —February 12th
Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Adaptation by Heidi Thomas
Honoré Lachaille: Howard McGillin
Gigi: Vanessa Hudgens
Mamita: Victoria Clark
Gaston Lachaille: Corey Cott
Alicia: Dee Hoty
Liane d'Exelmans: Steffanie Leigh
Charles: Justin Prescott
Sandomir: Amos Wolff
Marie-Louise: Ashley Yeater
Detective Leveaux: Brian Ogilvie
Dufresne: James Patterson
Bonfils: Manny Stark
Martel: Max Clayton
Parisians: Cameron Adams, Max Clayton, Madeleine Doherty, Ashley Blair Fitzgerald, Hannah Florence, Brian Ogilvie, James Patterson, Justin Prescott, Manny Stark, Tanairi Sade Vazquez, Amos Wolff, Kathryn Boswell
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse
Music director: James Moore
Eisenhower Theater, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
2700 F St. NW, Washington, DC
Ticket Information: (800) 444-1324 or (202) 467-4600 or www.kennedy-center.org


-- Susan Berlin


Photo: Joan Marcus


Also see the Current Theatre Season Calendar for D.C.