Vanessa Hudgens continues to slough off her Disney tween past with the lead role in Gigi, the musical based on Colette’s novel about a woman’s resistance at being groomed for life as a courtesan.
She’s currently performing the role at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, but it has been announced that the production will upgrade to the Neil Simon theatre on Broadway, opening for previews on 19 March.
It’s a role first performed in 1951 by a then unknown Audrey Hepburn, who would go on to play similar ingenues in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Charade, Serena and more. Famous songs from the musical version, written by My Fair Lady composers Lerner and Loewe, include Thank Heaven for Little Girls and I Remember It Well. Gigi was adapted for the screen in 1958 by Vincente Minnelli, starring Leslie Caron in the title role alongside Maurice Chevalier.
The character, a young woman finding her voice amid a chauvinistic adult world, is perfect for Hudgens, who continues to graduate from her ultra-perky breakthrough role in the High School Musical series. As well as roles in action filmssuch as Sucker Punch and Machete Kills, she gained notice for her bikini-clad robber in Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers.
The new stage production is directed by Eric Schaeffer, who has previously taken on Follies and Million Dollar Quartet on Broadway.
