Little Girl “Gigi” Does Not Grow Up on Broadway in a Most Delightful Way

The movie Gigi with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe and direction by Vincente Minnelli won the 1958 Oscar as best movie. That was one of nine — count ’em, 9 — Oscars handed the box-office hit. Others included best screenplay adaptation (Lerner), best song (Lerner and Loewe’s title tune), best costumes (Cecil Beaton) and best direction (Minnelli, of course). The reference to the release from Arthur Freed’s incomparable MGM unit is recorded here as preamble to the unhappy news that a woefully cheap travesty of the gloriously romantic film has now opened at the Neil Simon. I mean “cheap” figuratively, as actual money was clearly spent on the production, especially on costumer Catherine Zuber’s evocation of Paris, 1900. Zuber’s work, however, is the only more than acceptable element here, although good as she always is, she’s no Cecil Beaton in this instance. Why the numerous producers bothered is the first big question mark. Ostensibly, this Gigi could be called a revival. A previous Gigi was brought to the stage in 1973. Running for only 103 performances, it was a financial flop — and that was when Lerner, who died in 1986, and Loewe, who died in 1988, were on hand to guide the transition.