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[title]Australian Ballet principal artist Dimity Azoury knew she would have no problem pirouetting into Gene Kelly-style moves when she pressed pause on her celebrated 15-year career to step into the musical theatre world. She’ll share the lead role of French dancer Lise Dassin in Tony Award-winning show An American in Paris with West End and Broadway sensation Leanne Cope.
“It’s a completely different world, but you can’t underestimate ballet dancers,” Azoury says, as if anyone would doubt the ability of these astoundingly athletic artists. “We’re obsessive and will throw ourselves into any challenge.”
She’s joined in this endeavour by her Australian Ballet compatriot Cameron Holmes as GI Jerry Mulligan, who falls head over heels for Lise after the liberation of Paris at the end of WWII. He shares the role with American musical theatre legend Robert Fairchild in this new production based on the beloved movie starring Kelly and Leslie Caron that features the music of George and Ira Gershwin. A co-pro between the Australian Ballet and GWB Entertainment, it’s directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.
While Azoury has added acting and singing to her considerable achievements, it wasn’t written in the stars. “Me and my best friend auditioned for a choir when I was in primary school,” Azoury recalls of her free-wheeling upbringing in Queanbeyan. “They posted who got what on the boards, and I thought I’d read that I was in the senior choir. And I was like, ‘Wow’, I must have been so good that they’ve bumped me up.”
Not quite. “My friend was a bit of a musical genius, and she’s like, ‘Oh, Dim, no, you got into the singers’ choir. That’s for people who can’t sing.’”
A perfectionist, Azoury is currently undertaking singing lessons. “I’m not satisfied with just being OK on stage,” she says. “There’s the ballerina in me coming out.”
That includes nailing a French accent, inspired by watching Caron, and by Azoury’s favourite mountain biker, Marine Caribou. “I’ve been watching her in the World Cup, and she has a beautiful accent when she speaks English.”
While Azoury is adept at communicating with her body, acting requires a different type of storytelling. “That’s been really interesting, working with the acting, musical and dance directors, really breaking it down to create a whole character.”
As soon as you step on stage, you just remember
The cast had around six weeks to prepare for the national debut at Brisbane’s QPAC in January. Because they are alternates, she and Holmes had to learn the ensemble roles too, plus Azoury lost a week to quarantine as a close contact. She had to nail her pas de deux with Holmes over Zoom.
Then the Brisbane run got pulled forward one week. “It was a bit like, ‘you’ll be fine, sweetie, go’,” Azoury chuckles. “That was the first show back performing since July, so even though it was a bit of a shock, it was magic. As soon as you step on stage, you just remember.”
Cope has been a great support. “She’s just a beautiful, generous person who has been doing this role on and off for about eight years. She knows the character so well, though I do like to make my own discoveries. That’s what’s special about having different casts. You’ll see a slightly different interpretation of a character.”
Azoury has to remind herself to let Holmes, one of Aus Ballet’s younger recruits, lead. “Cameron and I are at opposite ends of the company, but I have just loved developing my onstage relationship with him,” she says. “He’s young and enthusiastic, but also really intelligent in the way that he partners and acts.”
Holmes joined the Australian Ballet at the unusually advanced age of 17. Funnily enough, he started out in musicals, playing the part of Small Boy in Billy Elliot the Musical at eight years old. Mary Poppins and Miracle City followed. “Then my voice broke, and I haven’t sung since,” he laughs.
His mum Donna, a Sydney-based dance teacher, is his biggest fan and comes to all his opening nights. She instilled a love of musical theatre in him. “We’ve seen hundreds now. It’s ridiculous.”
If anyone at the Aus Ballet is worried that his defection may be less than temporary, they needn’t. “The dream’s to really focus on my ballet while I’m young,” he says. “There’s a lot I want to do with the company, and I’ve just dipped my toe in the water. I did two years, then we went into two years of Covid, so I haven’t had a chance to perform properly with them.”
‘Why not both?’ is his grand plan. “Ballet is such a short career because it’s so physically demanding on the body. Hopefully I can find my way in the musical theatre world afterwards.”
Seriously, I felt like I’d gone from being a bit of a nobody to all of a sudden, ‘Wow, I feel amazing’
As with Cope and Azoury, Fairchild has been a generous guide for Holmes. “He’s such a lovely guy who reached out to help me with the chory [choreography] and any questions, but we also just hit it off personality-wise. So he’s now one of my close friends and we went on a nine-day RV trip [at the end of the Brisbane run]. He’s a role model, a true triple threat.”
When a minor injury meant Fairchild had to sit out the first preview, Holmes didn’t tell his mum – who of course was in the audience – that he was going on as Jerry. “It’s such a big role and I haven’t really done anything major like this, so it was a big shock to her system. She was very emotional. Very proud mum.”
Working side-by-side with Azoury is a dream come true. “Seriously, I felt like I’d gone from being a bit of a nobody to all of a sudden, ‘Wow, I feel amazing’. Dim is just a dream to work with. There’s a lot of mutual respect and love there.”
An American in Paris is at Arts Centre Melbourne March 18 to April 24, then Sydney’s Theatre Royal from April 29. Tickets are available now.