PARIS — The opening line in Christopher Wheeldon’s 2014 musical, “An American in Paris,” currently playing here at the Théâtre du Châtelet, is directed at the audience: “When you think of Paris, what comes to mind?”
The answer is unlikely to be musicals. While one of the genre’s ancestors, the 19th-century operetta, once thrived in France, musicals have long been considered minor in this country, which prizes conceptual seriousness over entertainment onstage. Yet a string of successful English-language productions has jazz hands and fidgety feet working their way into the local parlance.
“An American in Paris,” back from a Tony Award-winning Broadway run and an international tour, is competing this month with a sparkling new revival of “Funny Girl” at the Théâtre Marigny. And the two productions share a producer who has played a major role in the wave of musicals in Paris this past decade: Jean-Luc Choplin, who directed the Théâtre du Châtelet from 2004 to 2017 and is now leading the Théâtre Marigny down a similar path.
While some production companies have translated American musicals into French in recent years, Choplin has invested in English-language productions presented with subtitles. It’s a sensible choice, because the upbeat earnestness of the genre sits awkwardly with the taste for irony that is built into French discourse.
Most musicals written in French have been derided as insubstantial and barely registered as stage offerings; two of the few exceptions were “Starmania,” in 1979 (adapted in English as “Tycoon”), and “Notre-Dame de Paris,” in 1998.
For English-speaking creative teams, there are obvious benefits to opening in Paris. The market is far less crowded than in New York or London, and star casting isn’t much of a factor, since most musical theater performers are unknown to the French audience.
“Funny Girl,” with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and a book by Isobel Lennart, relies heavily on the drawing power of its leading lady. And Christina Bianco, who plays the central role of Fanny Brice in the Paris production, probably wouldn’t even have been in the running as a headliner in America.
The original 1964 production catapulted Barbra Streisand to fame, but “Funny Girl” hasn’t been seen on Broadway since. A planned revival was scrapped in 2011 when investors pulled out, and a rumored project involving Lady Gaga and Rosie O’Donnell has yet to materialize.
While the American-born Bianco has appeared in Off Broadway and West End productions, she is better known for her uncanny impressions of other singers — not exactly the standard path to musical stardom. It’s Broadway’s loss, because much like Streisand, who won an Academy Award for the 1968 film adaptation, Bianco pours irresistible life into the role.
Bianco is arguably much too lovely to be the subject of one of the musical’s early (and most dated) songs, “If a Girl Isn’t Pretty.” But she embodies the plucky energy of the character, inspired by the real-life entertainer Fanny Brice, an unconventional comedian who found success in the 1930s and 1940s.
While Bianco can be seen mimicking Streisand on her YouTube channel, in Paris she is her own performer, warm and effervescent, with a clear, full-bodied voice. Her first rendition of “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” at the end of Act I, is pure exhilaration made song, down to her little hop of excitement as she belts out, “Get ready for me, love, ’cause I’m a comer!”
The British director Stephen Mear had already choreographed a 2008 production of “Funny Girl” in Chichester, England, and his version for the Théâtre Marigny is efficient and fast-paced.
Fanny’s faltering relationship with a charismatic gambler, Nick Arnstein, leaves her not defeated but strong and resilient, a welcome turn of events for a character initially willing to give up her career for him. And her growing success, which leads her to the Ziegfeld Follies, allows for tightly crafted revue numbers along the way.
Yet although Ashley Day — who was also part of the cast of “An American in Paris” for several years — is thoroughly believable as the increasingly frustrated Arnstein, by French standards the production feels somewhat formulaic.
The choreography is Broadway-esque to the point of impersonal. The gleeful patriotism of “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat,” a dance number featuring rifles adorned with the American flag, is far removed from local taste and prompted a few chuckles. (Not that it prevented Bianco and her colleagues from earning a standing ovation; and “Funny Girl,” which was initially scheduled to close in January, has already extended its run through March.)
Oddly enough, while no transfer is planned at this point, “Funny Girl” feels more like a ready-made Broadway product than the returning “An American in Paris,” which devotes much stage time to distinctive, leisurely dance scenes by Wheeldon, a prominent ballet choreographer. The original Théâtre du Châtelet production of “An American in Paris” was three hours long; it returns this year in the Broadway version, with 20 minutes skimmed off.
It’s a clear improvement to a lavish, sensitive adaptation, which is also helped by a long list of songs by George and Ira Gershwin, including “The Man I Love” and “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise.”
Leanne Cope returns as Lise Dassin, with the same presence and improved singing, joined by a new cast. As Jerry Mulligan, Ryan Steele is especially buoyant in the dance scenes, and Zachary Prince makes a touching Adam, Jerry’s composer friend.
With new back stories for several characters (Lise and Adam are Jewish in the stage version, a nod to World War II trauma in a tale set in Europe), Wheeldon injects postwar gloom into the happy-go-lucky Paris depicted in the classic film. It’s a positively French move on his part: Culturally, to have any depth in France, joy must come with caveats.
Yet for an unimpeachably Gallic take on musical theater, look no further than “Premature Death of a Popular Singer in His Prime” at the Théâtre de la Colline. A collaboration between the playwright and director Wajdi Mouawad and the singer-songwriter Arthur Higelin (known as Arthur H), this new production keeps teasing yet abbreviating or dodging songs.
Higelin plays an egotistic singer whose career is in decline and who decides on a whim to fake his own death to prove how fickle artistic reputations are. His plan goes awry, however: Rendered blind by the strange “Romeo and Juliet”-style potion he takes in order to appear dead, he wanders the streets with only a bubbly Canadian fan, Nancy, by his side to guide him back to sanity.
Mouawad frames the play as an epic journey of self-reinvention, and some of his outlandish twists feel like musical numbers waiting to happen, even though little singing takes place. During the interval, a student from Australia, surprised by the four-hour running time, prudently told his companion near me: “It’s like French cinema: They talk a lot.”
The production pushes Higelin out of his comfort zone, and he pulls off his unlikable character with remarkable candor. At the very end, when he finally sits down at the piano to sing a song dedicated to Nancy, the moment certainly feels earned — although for actual musical entertainment, imported musicals are still the way to go in Paris.
Funny Girl. Directed by Stephen Mear. Théâtre Marigny, through March 7.
An American in Paris. Directed by Christopher Wheeldon. Théâtre du Châtelet, through Jan. 1.
Premature Death of a Popular Singer in His Prime. Directed by Wajdi Mouawad. Théâtre de la Colline, through Dec. 29.
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