The score includes more choral “oohs” than any show since the moony “Bridges of Madison County,” along with a lot of sprightly “bum-da-bum-bums.” Only occasionally does it open up to allow Ms. Messé and Nathan Tysen) have an agreeable flow, the score proceeds in a smooth pastel stream that suggests pink Champagne gone a bit flat. (The musical staging and choreography are by Sam Pinkleton.) That the show’s creators are aware of the potential dangers of cloying cuteness probably accounts for its seeming so subdued, even as frolicsome puppets (by Amanda Villalobos) take the stage.Īlthough the lyrics (by Mr. That delicate balance teeters when it’s rendered via swelling song and skipping dance. Jeunet’s inventive, cinema-infatuated mise-en-scène is steeped in a sort of “so it goes” (or “ça va”) drollery, sentimentality plus cynicism being the quintessential French equation. The film’s preciousness is balanced, to some degree, by the philosophical resignation of its unseen narrator. (Once more, don’t ask.)Īs you have surely gathered by now, “Amélie” is aggressively cute and quirky. If you haven’t realized Amélie has found her soul mate, the ensemble is there to cue you by opening suitcases to reveal sparkling hearts.īut how does a young woman untrained in social communication finally connect with another human being? Dufayel (Tony Sheldon), a twinkly old artist in the apartment across the way, gently pushes her toward her destiny, with the visual aid of a Renoir painting he spends his days copying again and again. He works as a clerk in a porn shop, but his life’s obsession is collecting strips of pictures that are thrown away at photo booths. In the course of her acts of voyeuristic virtue, Amélie sets eyes on the equally fanciful Nino (Adam Chanler-Berat). ![]() And the gnome in this version, unlike the one in the movie, becomes an animated, singing character. But she must do so on her terms, which means invisibly and, needless to say, most whimsically.Īn eavesdropper on the lives of others, she anonymously restores lost property, arranges romances and mobilizes her stagnating widowed father into activity, by stealing a garden gnome from a shrine he built to his dead wife. Inspired by the noble image of Princess Diana, whose life and death are a subject of much discussion at the cafe where Amélie works as a waitress, she decides to do good in the world. (During her childhood, her mom was killed before her eyes by a large man who jumped from the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral.) ![]() Soo of 1997, which happens 10 minutes or so into the show, and moves to Paris on her own, she continues to use her carefully composed fantasies to insulate herself from harsh and hurtful life. The show’s very clever designers - including David Zinn (set and costumes), Jane Cox and Mark Barton (lighting), and Peter Nigrini (the delightful projections) - and its 13-member, multiple-cast ensemble dutifully transform dreams into flesh (and fabric, wood, paper and plastic).įor even after the Amélie of the early 1980s grows up to become the beautiful Ms. Now she comes to the stage in an inventive and captivating new musical directed by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon ( Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Clybourne Park), with a book by three-time Tony Award nominee Craig Lucas ( An American in Paris), music by Daniel Messé ( Hem), lyrics by Nathan Tysen ( Tuck Everlasting) and Daniel Messé, and musical staging and choreography by Sam Pinkleton.“I can see the world I’m dreaming all around me,” sings Young Amélie (a charmingly poker-faced Savvy Crawford), the isolated daughter of overprotective but unloving parents (Manoel Felciano and Alison Cimmet). After discovering a mysterious photo album and meeting a handsome stranger, Amélie realizes that helping others is easier than participating in a romantic story of her own.Īmélie captured our hearts in the five-time Academy Award-nominated 2001 French film. The musical follows the mesmerizing journey of the inquisitive and charmingly shy Amélie who turns the streets of Montmartre into a world of her own imagining, while secretly orchestrating moments of joy for those around her. Tony Award nominee Phillipa Soo ( Hamilton, Natasha Pierre) stars as the title character in the Broadway musical adaptation of Amélie.
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