amélie, the musical … on stage at the old vic

Moira and I went along to the Old Vic this afternoon to see Mike Fentiman’s stage musical interpretation (written by Craig Lucas, with music by Daniel Messé) of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s classic 2001 film, starring the wonderful Audrey Tautou.
You probably know the ‘story’: It features a young French girl who helps strangers find love and happiness. Amélie is a waitress in a Parisian café and she sees it as her mission in life to right wrongs and improve the lives of her customers. But she proves rather less successful at bettering her own lot…
It just so happens that the film version is perhaps my all-time favourite film – I’ve watched it LOADS of times and absolutely adore it. So, you can imagine that I had somewhat mixed emotions at the prospect of seeing it performed on the stage… excitement mixed with a fear that it could all go horribly wrong!
How would they be able capture the magic of Paris? Would there be a terrific voice-over narrator similar to the film? Surely they wouldn’t be able to recreate all the scenes (or the wonderful characters)? They CERTAINLY wouldn’t dream of changing the iconic soundtrack, would they? How on earth would they find ANYONE to match Audrey Tautou?
Well, I for one, found it absolutely wonderful.

It’s a fast-moving production – featuring 36 songs which merge into each other rather effortlessly – with a cast of 16 incredibly talented performers who all act (multi-characters), sing and play instruments. Audrey Brisson plays Amélie and Danny Mac plays Nino, her mysterious friend.

The entire production is both inventive and impressive… and the music WAS entirely different to the film score (but utterly convincing and appropriate). Given the complexity of the original film, it was clearly impossible to recreate some of the scenes quite as effectively – and, indeed, some scenes had to be cut out and/or adapted. But the stage design was quite brilliant – with pianos instantly being transformed into shop display stands, photo kiosks into confessional stalls. At times, there’s almost a sense of circus – with Amélie being effortlessly transported from the stage into her upper floor apartment by way of rope. The actors use a puppet to convey the young Amélie – and quite beautifully played it is too. There’s a wonderful scene that features the garden gnome on its return from a tour of the world… and there’s also an audacious Elton John tribute song at the end of Act 1.
Hopefully, you’re getting a sense that I really enjoyed it?

Obviously, the biggest worry for me was the ‘leading lady’. No one would be able to replace Audrey Tautou for me… and YET, Audrey Brisson was something of a revelation. I thought she was absolutely wonderful! Apparently, our daughter Hannah thought I’d probably ‘fall in love’ with Brisson… and I think she was probably right! As well as convincingly looking and dressing like the Amélie in the film, Brisson also has a wonderful singing voice, an impressive athleticism (for nimbly jumping up on to upright pianos and being transported to her upper floor apartment, as you do) and a brilliantly expressive (and beautiful) face.

The audience loved it. I loved it. The sad thing is that its brief tour run at the Old Vic finishes on Saturday (20 July)… and I’m pretty sure that most of the tickets have already been sold. BUT, if you can get yourself a ticket (even if it’s one of those ‘standing tickets’), then I urge you to go.
PS: The ONE thing that spoilt things was the woman sitting immediately in front of me. She spent the ENTIRE performance leaning towards her adult daughter(?) and commenting on EVERYTHING that was happening on stage (or simply observations that had occurred to her in passing). Believe me, I came VERY close to letting her know my feelings!! Aaargh!!