Having just seen Sean Foley’s ghastly sledgehammer approach to Molière’s The Miser at Garrick Theatre, it was particularly pleasing to see Patrick Marber’s Don Juan in Soho at Wyndham’s. Marber’s witty and vulgar modern take on Molière’s heartless seducer is excellently acted by the charismatic David Tennant. “Please don’t be charmed, he’s not a loveable rogue,” pleads Don Juan’s servant (Adrian Scarborough, exemplary). All in vain: the audience loves Tennant and is charmed.
Christopher Wheeldon both directs and choreographs George and Ira Gershwin’s An American in Paris at Dominion Theatre. The musical is dance-led. Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope, who created the roles on Broadway, are primarily classical dancers: he with New York Ballet, and she with the Royal Ballet. Fairchild has star quality: he can dance, act and sing, and he has bags of easy grace. The score is full of well-known classics, including I’ve Got Rhythm, ’S Wonderful and rarities such as Fidgety Feet. A high spot is the big showbiz number I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise, with the chorus boys in top hat, tails and canes and the chorus girls with ostrich feathers. Designer Bob Crowley provides gorgeous colour and marvellous sets. It’s perfect family entertainment.
