Gigi
by Claire J Rottenberg
One of my favorite movie musicals, "Gigi," was turned
into a Broadway musical in 1973, but, like "Seven
Brides for Seven Brothers," it was a flop. But this
was not Gigi's first appearance on Broadway. The
movie musical was actually based on a non-musical
Broadway play from 1951 that starred Audrey Hepburn.
All three versions were based on the 1945 novel by
Colette.
The movie musical, "Gigi," was an enormous success,
winning 9 Academy Awards in 1958, including the award
for Best Picture. It starred Leslie Caron as the
naive and lively Gigi, Louis Jourdan as the older,
romantic Gaston and the unique Maurice Chevalier as
Honore, Gaston's sophisticated, woman-chasing
uncle.
The 1973 Broadway musical of "Gigi" played first in
Los Angeles and San Francisco. It then moved to
Broadway, running for 7 previews and 103
performances. The musical numbers were staged by
award-winning choreographer Onna White. It had an
impressive cast of established Broadway and film
actors and actresses, including Alfred Drake as
Honore, Daniel Massey as Gaston, Maria Karnilova as
Mamita, and Agnes Moorehead as Aunt Alicia.
The music for both the movie and Broadway versions of
"Gigi" was written by the gifted team of Alan J.
Lerner and Frederick Loewe. All but two of the songs
from the original film were kept in the play and
Lerner and Loewe wrote 5 new songs, three of which
were sung by Gigi. One of my favorite songs, "Say a
Prayer for Me Tonight," was cut from the Broadway
play.
Although "Gigi" was a flop financially on Broadway,
it did receive 4 Tony nominations and it won the
award for Best Original Score. The Broadway version
was transferred to London's West End in 1985 where it
ran for 7 months.
Learn more about the film version of
"Gigi