‘An American in Paris’ may be Reagle’s best ever

By Rich Fahey

BOSTON – Since Rachel Bertone became artistic director of the Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston in 2022, she has made it a point to challenge herself and her casts, winning plaudits and awards along the way.

As a director and choreographer, she has taken on shows that feature iconic choreography – such as Agnes DeMille’s in “Oklahoma!” and the work of Jerome Robbins in “West Side Story” – and made them her own, winning a Norton Award for Choreography for “Oklahoma!”

Her latest challenge for her own considerable talents is directing and choreographing a work that is already emblazoned in many minds thanks to an iconic 1951 film starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron that eventually found its way to the stage, winning four Tony Awards in 2015.

She’s done it again. The RMT production of “An American in Paris” is at once both sumptuous and elegant, a fully-realized theatrical spectacle of the first order that will also please fans of the movie.

Of course, any musical that features the music of George and Ira Gershwin starts on second base. This is a rapturous re-telling in song and dance of some of Ira and George Gershwin’s finest work. It   features several four-star members of the Great American Songbook: “I’ve Got Rhythm,” “The Man I Love,” “’S Wonderful,” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” are just some of the numbers. “I’ve Got Rhythm” gets the musical off to a sizzling start, a breathtaking sequence of song and dance that had theater-goers roaring.

Add to the score the strong book by Craig Lucas, and a wonderful cast that is able to stage lavish production numbers in their full glory, and the atmosphere was electric at a recent performance.

Reagle has pulled out all the stops in staging the work. There is a cast of 32, including swings, and an orchestra led by Dan Rodriguez with 20  pieces  that does full justice to the score.  The other various production values – effective scenic design by Cameron McEachern, including an Eiffel Tower backdrop under a starlit sky – Franklin Meissner Jr.’s lighting, costumes by Johnny Cagno and Brian Simons of Emerald City Theatrical, sound by Sebastian Nixon — all contribute to the success of the production.

It is 1945 Paris, after the end of World War II, and Jack Mullen is the Gene Kelly part of Jerry Mulligan, an American soldier who decides to stay in Paris after the war and pursue a career in art. Mullen, a Norton winner for his work in RMT’s “Oklahoma!” has a fine voice and stage presence and is also an excellent dancer.

Samantha Barnes is just as solid in the part of Lise Dassin, the mysterious French ballerina who attracts the attention of not only Mulligan, but another American expatriate. Adam Hochberg (Jared Troilo) is a former Army corporal left with a bad leg from a war injury, but it hasn’t derailed his career as a pianist and composer; he is our narrator who brings us into the story and also sees himself as a possible match for Lise.

The third part of the equation is Henri Baurel (Christopher Lewis), a member of a prominent French family who becomes engaged to Lise – there’s a backstory involving World War II – but harbors a secret dream to become a cabaret/nightclub singer, a desire he dare not disclose to his staid, traditional mother (Carolyn Saxon) and father (Jean-Alfred Chavrier). Henri may not be completely honest with both himself and others about his sexuality, which complicates matters.

Rebekah Rae Robles’ Milo Davenport is a wealthy American patron of the arts who befriends Jerry and wants to be more than just a friend.

There are jaunty production numbers such as “Fidgety Feet,” where Jerry leads a cadre of dancers, or Henri in his role as an aspiring nightclub singer in “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise.”

Bertone is very comfortable choreographing traditional production numbers but she truly excels in balletic sequences, such as the signature dance number in Act II, “An American in Paris,” in which both Mullen and Barnes are superb.

It is one of the most recognizable pieces of music in film or theatrical history, so well-recognized when you hear it you instantly know the show it came from, and the ballet number associated with it. Just as the dancing of Kelly and Caron lit up the 17-minute show-within-a-show sequence in the movie, this stage production has its own 13-minute ballet number built around the music, as Lise imagines herself dancing with – and then actually dancing with – Jerry in a romantic pas de deux that allows the characters to communicate through their movement: no dialogue needed. Dustienne Miller is credited as associate director and choreographer.

If the show slows briefly in Act II, it’s in those moments when Lucas’s book descends into melodrama as Lise’s would-be suitors fall by the wayside. In this case, falters can be interpreted to mean a momentary interruption in the almost unabated delights that Bertone and her cast have in store for the audience.

Given our treasured memories of the movie, the musical adaptation of “An American in Paris” promises a lot; the good news is that RMT delivers on all counts. Unfortunately, there are only five more chances to see it, starting with the Wednesday matinee at 2 p.m. Don’t miss a chance to see what may be – in this critic’s opinion, at least  – the finest work Reagle has ever done.

The Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston production of “An American in Paris.” Music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. Book by Craig Lucas. Produced by Jay Pension. Directed and Choreographed by Rachel Bertone. At the Robinson Theatre through Aug. 18. Tickets By Phone: 781-891-5600 or online at reaglemusictheatre.org/tickets.