Raised by distant parents – Amélie’s (Audrey Brisson’s) “iceberg” of a father (Jez Unwin) limited his affection to a monthly medical examination conducted by a gloved hand and her “neurotic” mother (Rachel Dawson) concluded her home schooling with the sobering refrain “we are all permanently stuck, alone forever” – it is little wonder that the tenderhearted Amélie grew up to be a solitary child with commitment issues.

Dissatisfied with her lot, she runs away to the small but quaint Parisian district of Montmartre where by day she works as a waitress in the Two Windmills Café under the watchful eye of a former trapeze artist with a club foot (Kate Robson-Stuart) and by night cocoons herself in a loft apartment where through the prisms of a balcony window and a flickering screen she watches life pass her by.

That is until the discovery of a hidden treasure chest under the floorboards provokes a “dazzling idea”: to return said box with childhood contents to its rightful owner and in the spirit of the late Princess Diana, aka “the godmother of the unloved”, help mankind by pairing up lonely singletons and plugging the holes in their hearts with love.

A mission which through a twist of fate leads to a love-at-first-sight encounter with a handsome stranger (Danny Mac) whose seedy job as a purveyor of sex toys belies his romantic nature and reciprocal desire to connect. But given Amélie’s dysfunctional upbringing and guarded nature, will she pluck up the courage to express her feelings or settle for a safe but solitary life in the shadows?

Based on the five-time Oscar-nominated film of the same name, Craig Lucas’s stage adaptation, with music by Daniel Messė who co-wrote the lyrics with Nathan Tysen, is a work of great beauty and charm. Under the spellbinding direction of Michael Fentiman (The Taming of the Shrew) and graceful choreography of Tom Jackson Greaves who combine to keep the 16-strong ensemble of gifted actor-musicians in a balletic ebb and flow before Madeleine Girling’s elegant Parisian backdrop, cast, crew and creatives are in perfect harmony.

With the exception of an hilarious Elton John pastiche performed with glee by Caolan McCarthy, a nightmarish hallucination about fiendish figs and the equally out-there round-the-world-trip of a trip by a gigantic gnome sporting Union Jack boxers, the majority of the 30+ musical numbers, freshly arranged for this UK premier by Barnaby Race under the musical direction of George Francis, are subtle vignettes which as Fentiman writes in his programme notes “invite an audience into a simple, gentle, moving exploration of human loneliness and isolation and the earnest attempts to avoid it.”

We’re all falling, as the opening number The Flight Of The Blue Fly reminds us; but when we connect to family, friends and lovers, the falling feels like flying. And great credit to the wonderful Audrey Brisson in the title role whose impish charm and angelic voice lifts our spirits as we depart into the sunshine with a skip in our step and a song in our heart ready to embrace the closing words of the finale: “whatever happens”

Peter Callaghan
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