French Kissing

AMELIE The Musical

The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, Monday 22^nd July, 2019

 

Based on the acclaimed French film of 2001, this new musical (and English) version with its romanticised vision of Paris is in Birmingham this week.  Although the story includes historical details (mainly concerning the Princess of Wales) this Paris is a highly stylised, mythical place, where anything (including singing goldfish and giant fig men) can and does happen.  Our protagonist is Amélie, a young woman whose sheltered upbringing has made it nigh on impossible to form a loving relationship with a bloke.  She devotes her life to helping others anonymously and it all goes rather well until handsome Nino enters the mix…

Madeleine Girling’s elegantly versatile two-tier set is the backdrop for the action: a ticket office serves as a confessional, the pianos become café display cabinets, and so on, with Amélie repeatedly ascending to her flat on the upper level, Mary Poppins-like with the aid of a lampshade.  The stage is populated by the other characters – the cast all double roles and play musical instruments, to the extent that at some points the main action is crowded out by the hustle and bustle of the musicians.  It all sounds great, the playing and the singing are fine, I just wish some of them would clear off every once in a while to give the story more space, and to give certain scenes sharper focus.

In the title role, Audrey Brisson gives a phenomenal performance, augmenting Amélie ’s otherness with her physicality.  Movements and gestures are sharp and precise, her timing is immaculate, and her singing is strong and sweet.  Her native French accent is not as pronounced as the phoney French accents of the  rest of the cast; I would have preferred English accents, like a dubbed version of the film – the musical arrangements and the art deco scenery are more than enough to ground the story in Parisienne colour.

Danny Mac is perfectly dreamy as Nino.  Mac is steadily becoming one of our most dependable musical theatre stars.  His singing has warmth and range, and he makes a charismatic figure, but there are a few moments when the accent intrudes a little.

The main action of the story takes a while to get going: the first act is heavy with back-story and exposition, and so this lightweight story with folk-tale elements suffers from a running time that feels overlong, and while I find the staging inventive and charming on the whole, director Michael Fentiman keeps his stage too busy for me to engage with the action completely.  There is a strong Emma Rice feel to the proceedings with the onstage actor-musicians and the delightful puppetry, yet the show’s most powerful moment takes place in complete silence.

A confection of a show, where the whimsicality of the story is offset by the wistfulness of the score, Amélie the Musical is perhaps not for all tastes.  I find it a little cluttered but its heart is definitely in the right place.

Charming: Audrey Brisson and Danny Mac (Pamela Raith Photography)

Street Life

LA STRADA

The REP, Birmingham, Monday 8^th May, 2017

 

A young girl from a poor family is sold by her mother to an itinerant circus strongman.  He is a brute who beats his new assistant until, gradually, her own talents emerge.  Together they join a circus but rivalry with another performer leads to tragedy…

That’s the plot in a nutshell.  Based on the Oscar-winning Fellini film, this touring production is a slick and stylised slice of storytelling.  It begins in a style reminiscent of ancient Greek theatre, with a chorus and a lone actor working in unison but as the story unfolds the show develops into a piece that could have come from Emma Rice’s back catalogue.  The performance style screams ‘Kneehigh’, with its onstage musicians underscoring the action, the movement sequences and the mythic quality of the narrative.  This is not a bad thing, being a Kneehigh tribute act – the plot and performers are engaging and the original music (by Benji Bower) infuses the whole affair with melancholy as well as Italian colour.

Audrey Brisson is excellent as the young Gelsomina, a deadpan little thing, Chaplinesque in her portrayal.  Stuart Goodwin’s bluff and brutish Zampano, a man led by his appetites, is an imposing figure but human rather than monstrous.  Bart Soroczynski amazes as the Fool, playing a mean accordion while riding a unicycle.

The whole ensemble switches from symbolic action to direct characterisations so seamlessly you don’t see the changes of costume happen – director Sally Cookson keeps us tightly focussed on the main action and makes the most of clever ideas with which to tell the story: a spot of rain is cleverly depicted, and slow-motion action highlights key moments.  It’s a romanticised, nostalgic view of life on the road and poverty yet at its heart is the humanity of the characters.

The entire piece is beautifully theatrical, bittersweet and touching, an intricate music box that fascinates and delights.

Highly recommended.

Audrey Brisson as Gelsomina (Photo: Robert Day)