The New York Times - Recommended
"...The city of light is ablaze with movement in the rhapsodic new stage adaptation of "An American in Paris" that opened at the Palace Theater on Sunday, directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, a gifted luminary of the ballet world. This gorgeously danced - and just plain gorgeous - production pays loving tribute to the 1951 movie, to the marriage of music and movement, and to cherished notions about romance that have been a defining element of the American musical theater practically since its inception. Just about everything in this happily dance-drunk show moves with a spring in its step, as if the newly liberated Paris after World War II were an enchanted place in which the laws of gravity no longer applied. Even the elegant buildings on the grand boulevards appear to take flight."
NY Daily News - Highly Recommended
"...Guiding his first musical, Wheeldon shows a vibrant vision and buckets of imagination, transforming the 1951 film that inspires the show..."An American in Paris" is at its best whenever it's in motion, which is often. Occasionally the show stubs its toes on corny jokes and book scenes that could use a bit more finesse, such as Jerry's clunky wartime reflections. That's nitpicking - just a bit of minor turbulence during this lighter-than-air ride."
Associated Press - Highly Recommended
"...This season on Broadway features multiple musicals that are based on iconic films. One of the most sublime among them is surely "An American in Paris," helmed with panache by top director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. Gloriously inventive and balletic, it has an intriguing new book...Beneath the considerable pizazz, Wheeldon conveys with grace and style the heartfelt romance and emotional colors that keep us enchanted until the last beautiful note has been sung."
Hollywood Reporter - Recommended
"...Some Broadway seasons can slip by leaving the sad impression that the expressive power of dance in the musical-theater lexicon has been forgotten. But this one has already yielded the joyous resurrection of Jerome Robbins' athleticism via Joshua Bergasse's buoyant moves in On the Town. Now comes ballet luminary Christopher Wheeldon, taking an exhilarating leap as director-choreographer with An American in Paris, another show indelibly associated with a classic MGM movie musical. Not only is Wheeldon's nuanced command of storytelling through dance front and center, the production also foregrounds a triple-threat revelation in NYC Ballet principal Robert Fairchild, who proves himself more than capable of following in the suave footsteps of Gene Kelly."
Vulture - Recommended
"...With its odd combination of dour outlook and joyful movement, and its very tasteful corralling of the giddy Gershwin songs from disparate sources that constitute its score, the show is a Broadway unicorn...The attempt to merge dance storytelling with musical-theater storytelling may not always be satisfying but especially at a time when more conventional musicals aspire to the condition of high-speed sledgehammers, it is a delight to relax into a show with a dreamier pace."
NY1 - Recommended
"...The dancing s'wonderful; the music s'marvelous; I was dazzled by the scenery, even if it was a little too busy. But I didn't feel the love. And that's a problem for a show that's billed as a romance....Though very nicely acted by a supporting cast of stage veterans, Craig Lucas's book gets bogged down with too many complicating subplots...on its toes, "An American In Paris" is glorious. But when the dancing stops, it falls disappointingly flat."
Variety - Recommended
"...A dancer is a thing of beauty, and there is beaucoup beauty in director-choreographer Christopher Wheeldon's ravishing production of "An American in Paris," smartly but not slavishly adapted by Craig Lucas from the 1951 MGM movie. This stageworthy vehicle casts ballet stars Robert Fairchild (a New York City Ballet principal dancer) as an American soldier who lingers in Paris after WWII and Leanne Cope (of London's Royal Ballet) as the unattainable French girl he falls in love with. Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron played these roles in the film, and comparisons would not be out of line."
USA Today - Highly Recommended
"...Wheeldon has crafted a show that looks and sounds sumptuous throughout..."Paris" fares best when its talented cast is singing and dancing - which is, happily, a good deal of the time...The ballet sequences, not surprisingly, are the soaring high points. The number can't match the cinematic detail of the original, of course. But overall, it's a dazzling achievement in its own right."
New York Post - Recommended
"...An airy, gentle caress of a show, "An American in Paris" is a welcome oddity on Broadway. Based on the 1951 movie, this musical stars two classically trained dancers - directed by dancer-turned-choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. What those three bring is often swooningly beautiful...The downside of this elegance is that when the production needs pep and razzmatazz, it's in short supply...But when those two are onstage, they make you believe in love - and the power of dance - all over again."
Newsday - Highly Recommended
"...From the first moments of "An American Paris," two things are clear...First, it is far more than just another Broadway remake of a Hollywood movie. And choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, in his theater-directing debut, has made something special...Just how extraordinary is unspooled all evening with exuberant, sweeping innovation, dark historical understanding and a big, smart heart. This is the most thrilling dance-driven musical since Twyla Tharp's wordless "Movin' Out" in 2002."
amNY - Recommended
"...Regardless of the book, the music is glorious, the visuals are innovative and the performances are top-rate. Fairchild (a New York City Ballet dancer) may not be Gene Kelly, but he is a terrific leading man."
Wall Street Journal - Highly Recommended
"...This is what musical-comedy dance can look like when it's made by a choreographer who knows how to do more than just stage a song...Not since "West Side Story" has dance been used to such overwhelming effect on Broadway..."An American in Paris" is in no way for ballet buffs only: It is, first and foremost, an old-fashioned, big-hearted spare-no-expense Broadway romance. That it is also a masterpiece of theatrical dance is sweet icing on an already tasty cake."
NorthJersey - Highly Recommended
"...There are some shows where you linger a moment after the actors' curtain calls, reluctant to part company after sharing a swell evening. That was the feeling at "An American in Paris," a colorful, charming, dazzlingly danced adaptation of the great 1951 Gene Kelly movie. With its score of eternally lovely Gershwin songs, the show is a celebration of movement as an equal partner to song and dialogue in telling a story...In every way, "An American in Paris" offers a marvelous journey"
Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...This problem is compounded by the insufficient attention paid to one of the fundamentals of any romance on any stage anywhere in the world. One has to pull for the couple at the center of the story and believe that - if and when they find each other - both will be safe and fulfilled. That is not fully the case here - partly because Fairchild, for all his formidable talents and chops, still needs to find a more serious and substantial character in Jerry Mulligan and better connect, sensually and spiritually, to Cope's Lise, who has so much going on and yet whose wants and needs we still feel we do not fully know."
Time Out New York - Recommended
"...Book writer Craig Lucas takes the bones of Alan Jay Lerner's 1951 screenplay, which sent the great Gene Kelly leaping through postwar Paris after Caron to the hooting, swooning strains of George Gershwin, and concocts a story tinged by Nazi-occupation guilt and soldiers with PTSD. Adam Hochberg (Brandon Uranowitz) narrates the story of his pal, GI artist Jerry Mulligan (Robert Fairchild), and their shared passion for ballerina-muse Lise (Leanne Cope). The leads are charming and the score's divine, but mainly there's middling singing and loads of dance. Hollywood made it look so easy, but simple amour can be hard to translate."
The Wrap - Not Recommended
"...Wheeldon turns the movie's spectacular "American in Paris" ballet into an abstract ballet, as if designed by Mondrian, and as if Gershwin's music didn't make specific references to individual sights and sounds as experienced by an American in Paris...Perhaps Wheeldon opted to go abstract for the finale because his storytelling in act one often makes you want to rewatch the movie to understand what's going on."
Financial Times - Highly Recommended
"A savvy, poetic cocktail of French chic and Broadway pizzazz is a perfect Christmas treat for the ballet-mad Parisians. Time will tell if this ambitious Franco-American co-production wows New York but it certainly deserves to become a repertoire standard...Craig Lucas's wisecracking book fills out characters, changes names and shifts the story to the Liberation...I would beg, borrow or steal to see it all again."
The Guardian - Recommended
"..."An American in Paris" is a fine and fanciful entertainment...It has sublime songs and dexterous dancing. 'S wonderful? 'S marvellous? 'S nearly. Where Wheeldon falters is in pacing and storytelling...At times, the action stalls while the actors move. But if you can ignore the stops and starts, there's so much to enjoy in between, not least some of the Gershwins' greatest hits."
Telegraph - Highly Recommended
"Bold, satisfying and witty...In routines such as I've Got Rhythm (which starts as a funeral dirge and becomes a life-enhancing whirl of movement) and I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise (as grand and splashy as a Busby Berkeley extravaganza), Wheeldon writes a love letter to the great American musical itself."
Deadline - Recommended
"...Visually sumptuous and musically rapturous - and really, what more could you ask for? - the show has so many charms. And yet, "An American In Paris" is fabulous looking but vacant. It's a dance show that features some wonderful dancing yet never takes flight. It's lifeless at the center."
New Jersey Newsroom - Highly Recommended
"...Ravishing visuals, beautiful dancing, classic Gershwin songs, dandy performances and a pretty good story; this is a blessedly unfaithful Broadway version of the M-G-M film musical...The entire show truly dances along in Wheeldon's exceptionally graceful staging. The generally dreamy quality with which Wheeldon imbues the production results in a thoroughly enchanting attraction that offers a refreshing change from the hard-driven nature of concurrent Broadway musicals."
CurtainUp - Highly Recommended
"...To paraphrase from one of the many gorgeous Gershwin tunes: It's got rhythm...it's got music...and it's got superb dancers and colorful, eye-popping settings for them to strut their fleet-footed stuff. Bottom line: It's a Wow!...The dancing in this new An American in Paris is sublime. Add the lovely, ear-hugging Gershwin tunes, the stunning stage craft and performances - and what you've got is a theatrical sweetshop filled to the brim with delectable eye and ear candy."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"...If "An American in Paris" fails as an integrated musical, it soars as choreography, and ought to be seen, admired, and appreciated as such. By marshaling dance as few others have on Broadway in recent memory, Wheeldon has provided us a jolting reminder of the incomparable, incalculable power of dance to speak of our deepest longings and agonies when words and even lyrics cannot."
Huffington Post - Somewhat Recommended
"...Christopher Wheeldon's choreography for "An American in Paris", is so spectacular that you have to forgive anything else wrong with the production--and believe you me, there's plenty to forgive--and I mean plenty...As I say, you see this An American in Paris for the dancing. You don't see it for Craig Lucas's libretto...He's tossed aside almost everything else to do what he so often does in his plays: Wax pretentious while believing he's being deep substantive."
NY Theatre Guide - Highly Recommended
"...There is nothing self-conscious about "An American in Paris." It's dazzling and noisy in the best sense of an American musical. At the same time it puts a canny, majestic lift beneath the patter and pas de deux, as Paris is redeemed."
Stage Buddy - Somewhat Recommended
"...In most cases the songs don't make much sense and sometimes feel like they've been forced upon the scenes only to feature as many of them as they could... While it's impossible to dislike 'An American in Paris,' it must be said that the show coasts on the familiarity of the songs and the stunning choreography which sometimes makes one wonder if it would've worked best as a full on ballet rather than a Broadway musical."
DC Theatre Scene - Recommended
"...Why does "An American in Paris" feel so fresh? First-time Broadway director Christopher Wheeldon has turned it into a modern ballet...it's mesmerizing, unlike anything I've witnessed on Broadway before...While this is what makes An American in Paris special, it's not the whole show. There are also traditional razzmatazz song-and-dance routines. There are scenes full of dialogue. There's a plot. Some of playwright Craig Lucas's choices are intriguing (some aren't.)"
As Her World Turns - Not Recommended
"...I did my best to focus on what was happening on-stage, but it was hard to find any of it compelling. Perhaps it deserves another chance given the circumstances but time and money are limited and there are other shows I'd rather give a shot. It was eye-opening in terms of how elements outside the actual production of the show can influence someone's theater-going experience - if this was the ONE show I saw a year, or the first time I was taking a chance on Broadway, I'm not sure I'd go back."
Stu on Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...Director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, who has worked with ballet companies worldwide, has created one of the most extraordinary and spectacular works for the musical theater I have seen in many years. Working with librettist, Craig Lucas, he has fashioned a book musical that is utterly alive with song and dance."
Towle Road - Highly Recommended
"...There is an airy and dizzying quality to Christopher Wheeldon's wonderfully imaginative production of "An American in Paris." It feels something like a first gasp of air after holding your breath for a long, long time. Broadway is currently awash in questionable movie-to-musical marquees, but a stage version of the 1952 Oscar-winning picture starring Gene Kelly feels like a foregone conclusion held in suspension. And over half a century later, the wait was worth every minute."