For Robbie Fairchild, playing the stage role of Jerry Mulligan in An American In Paris is a dream come true, and a surreal one at that. Not only did he originate the role made famous by his childhood hero Gene Kelly, but it came about when least expected. But the opportunity of a lifetime didn’t come without hard work and some years of self-discovery.
Handsome, charismatic and a triple-threat performer who only recently came out, he also established a floristry business during the Covid-19 lockdown. In fact, Fairchild’s bio so far is worthy of a stage treatment itself. His colourful life began in Utah where his father, a wildlife biologist, and mother, a dietician, had journeyed from California for a life in the great outdoors.
“In Utah if you weren’t Mormon or didn’t play football you were an outcast.”
“My parents aren’t Mormon, but very liberal,” says Fairchild.
“From age six to twelve, I went with my neighbour to the Mormon Church, because I wanted to fit in. In Utah if you weren’t Mormon or didn’t play football you were an outcast. I asked my dad if I could get baptised, because you got to do fun things in the service and he said, ‘Wait until you’re twelve’. At twelve he said to wait until I was sixteen. He kept pushing the date back! He was being generous in letting me figure out what I wanted, but also saying ‘Don’t get baptised’. As a young kid growing up there, I didn’t really fit the cookie cutter mold and wish I’d had a bit more of my dad telling me which way to go. But my parents were so open-minded, and wanted me to figure it out for myself, so much so, that I kind of went the opposite way. I wanted someone to tell me what to do. But I have the most amazing parents.”
Robbie Fairchild as Jerry Mulligan and Dimity Azoury as Lise Dassin in An American in Paris
For Fairchild, there were issues and challenges waiting to be faced. He not only held an instinctive passion to dance, but deep inside there was a gay man on the brink of coming out.
“I moved to New York City when I was sixteen, and came out when I was eighteen,” he says.
“I was gay, but a year later went back in the closet because I had so much guilt and shame.”
“At first, I dated a girl from high school who was my soon-to-be wife, but then I came out. I was gay, but a year later went back in the closet because I had so much guilt and shame from my upbringing. The window of my apartment looked out at the only Mormon temple in all of Manhattan, and I stared at it thinking, ‘What’s going on? Am I doing the wrong thing here?’ I loved hanging around my gay friends and felt like I’d met my people, but I wouldn’t let myself have that because of my internal homophobia. So, I got married and tried really hard, but it just doesn’t work that way. At thirty, I came out while in London, and now I’m thirty-four. It’s all relatively new.”
Robbie Fairchild as Jerry Mulligan and Dimity Azoury as Lise Dassin in An American in Paris
Despite the performer’s early years of questioning, the one thing he never lacked was the confidence to dance. Fairchild’s ballet in An American In Paris is simply breathtaking. His multiple accolades for the production include the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Theatre World Award and National Dance and Astaire Award. Add to that a Tony nomination. Fairchild credits the NYC Ballet for his big break.
“I grew up dancing from age four and I’m still doing it,” he says.
“I got married and tried really hard, but it just doesn’t work that way.”
“I got into the NYC Ballet at a time when positions needed filling. I was an eighteen-year-old apprentice, and our director was doing his version of Romeo and Juliet. He wanted it to be true to the story with dancers as young as they come. I was the youngest quarter-ballet member in a big rehearsal with all the top-dog principals, when the director grabbed my hand and walked me to the corner. I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m the first cast Romeo in this new production! I’m eighteen years old and I don’t know what I’m doing!’ I took ballet because I wanted to be better at jazz dancing! I wanted to do things like music videos, and here I was with everybody watching me take my first steps, and it was really intimidating. But that was my big break. I was a first-year core member. After a week of performances, the director promoted me to soloist and two years later I became the principal and danced there for twelve years.”
Robbie Fairchild as Jerry Mulligan with Ashleigh Rubenach as Milo Davenport in An American In Paris
Having also played Harry Beaton in Brigadoon, Will Parker in Oklahoma! Mike Costa in A Chorus Line and Bill Calhoun in Kiss Me Kate, it is the role of Jerry Mulligan that has launched Fairchild internationally.
While performing at a NYC Ballet gala to honor Fred Astaire, Fairchild was spotted by British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, and asked to audition for a new project – An American In Paris. Ballet dancers who can also act and sing are not common, but Fairchild ticked all three boxes.
“Leslie Caron left a note that said, ‘Gene K would have been so proud.”
“As soon as I passed the first round of auditions, they sent me a wonderful acting coach,” says Fairchild.
Robbie Fairchild as Jerry Mulligan and Dimity Azoury as Lise Dassin in An American in Paris
“She sent me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at works from Paris of the Forties and I also watched countless WWII films, including my favourite Band of Brothers. We were placing this musical much closer to the liberation of Paris and so the stakes were turned up a bit, compared to the movie.”
When it comes to the famous 1951 Oscar-winning film, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, there are the obvious comparisons. After all, Kelly’s dancing shoes are large ones to fill.
“Everyone asks what it’s like playing the role that Gene Kelly made so famous, and if I model anything off him,” says Fairchild.
Robbie Fairchild and the Australian cast of An American In Paris
“I think that because he’s the one who inspired me to be a dancer, I have innately adopted his isms as I’ve grown as a dancer, so it’s not a conscious thing. I feel if he was in the room coaching me, he’d be like, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ So, I gave myself that liberty to find my own version of him. I think they wanted Jerry to be a bit more PTSD in the first workshop phases, but saw I was this kind of eternal optimist, and so they wrote him that way. (Laughing) It feels very me!”
“During the breaks, Judi Dench would teach me Shakespeare sonnets.”
Gene Kelly was undoubtably one of the greatest dancers of the Twentieth Century, starring in countless musicals. He worked alongside the likes of Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Olivia Newton John who once pointed out how incredibly hard working he was. Talented and beloved by his many Hollywood peers, it’s of no surprise Kelly inspired new generations of dancers like Fairchild.
Robbie Fairchild as Jerry Mulligan and Dimity Azoury as Lise Dassin in An American in Paris
“Here’s a crazy story,” says Fairchild.
“When I was three months into the Broadway show my mum called me and said, ‘You’re never going to believe what we just found!’ She had been cleaning the basement and discovered an essay I wrote in the fourth grade called My Special Place. It said ‘My special place is on Broadway because there’s this guy named Gene Kelly who’s a dancer like me. I want to be just like him and dance on Broadway someday, and I also want to be in a movie.’ I realised that no one else has played Jerry Mulligan besides Gene Kelly and now me. How much closer can you get to your idol? That’s really wild!”
Robbie Fairchild and his Bouquet business partner Adam Perry
While Gene Kelly may be long gone, in 2016 his An American In Paris co-star Leslie Caron, now 90, made a surprise appearance at the Broadway production.
“She came up on stage and I presented her with flowers,” says Fairchild.
“It was so wild to dance with somebody that Gene Kelly had danced with. In London she left a bottle of champagne in my dressing room with a note that said ‘Gene K would have been so proud. Love Leslie’. I framed it! That is just the coolest thing in the world to me.”
Robbie Fairchild enjoying some vacation time in Far North Queensland Australia
As envisioned in his childhood essay, Fairchild has also now made his film debut, playing the role of Munkustrap in the infamous 2019 Cats movie.
“Whenever I think about Cats, I remember my time with Judi Dench, he says.
“Her eyesight’s not very good, so I held her hand and guided her along the sets. During the breaks she would teach me Shakespeare sonnets and … oh, I miss her! She had me over to her house and fed my dog loads of chicken. I remember that first day when all the big heavy hitters were on set, and the only people not in the shot were me, Judi and Ian McKellen. We sat in this corner they had called the ‘naughty step’ which I guess in England is like the ‘time out’ corner. We were playing word games while wearing our unitards with CGI dots, and I kept thinking, ‘How absolutely bizarre and random is this moment in time?’
Robbie Fairchild
At 34, Fairchild has achieved a great deal. Talent, passion, determination, and luck have all played their part. But is the Dance for everyone?
“If you want to pursue dance as a career, as in a life’s work, then there’s not really an option, you’re just chosen,” says Fairchild.
“It’s something you just feel, and it requires so much hard work and mental discipline. You don’t get to scream, swear, or make an ugly face, but you do pretend you’re in pure bliss and that requires an emotional and mental strength. Yes, it’s mentally grueling and physically challenging, but it’s high risk with high reward. There’s so much joy that comes from dancing.”
That said, there are many who wonder what it’s like to pirouette in the air. Is there a feeling of euphoria?
“As a dancer, you want to achieve weightlessness as though you’re flying. There are certain moments where you do feel like you’re flying, and it’s amazing. There’s a euphoric moment when everything just clicks. When the coordination and tempo are right, it launches you into the jump, and there are moments of bliss. But the zero gravity doesn’t come without hard work and effort.”
Myself with Robbie when we caught up in Melbourne
Outside of performing Fairchild has set up Bouquet, a flower distributing service, with his business partner and fellow performer Adam Perry (Wicked, Frozen), and is in the process of opening a London store. He recently played Troy in the Netflix drama Soundtrack and is looking to explore film and television further – he’s a huge fan of Euphoria!
But the theatrical working-trip to Australia has also made an impression on Fairchild. Apart from touring the major cities, the American in Oz took time out to visit the tropical delights of Far North Queensland.
“When Perth and Adelaide got rescheduled, we had six weeks off,” he says.
“We could go home or stay, and I thought why leave Australia during the summer? So, with two buddies from the show, we got an RV and drove from Brisbane to Cairns. I ended up on a week-long scuba-diving trip in the middle of the coral sea, between Australia and Papua New Guinea. It was the best time!”
For Fairchild, those best times are part of the high reward. It was Gene Kelly who once said, ‘You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams’. Robbie Fairchild is doing just that!
Follow Robbie on Instagram @robbiefairchild
An American in Paris is playing at the Theatre Royal Sydney until 12 June, before moving to Perth and Adelaide
For more: americaninparis.com.au
