Review: AMELIE DE MUSICAL ⭐⭐⭐ at Theater De Veste Delft!

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001), the cult-hit film tells the story of dreamy Amélie, who lives in Montmartre Paris, who tries to help the people around her, while she is in self-imposed isolation, not really participating in life. She escapes in her fantasy which is the only way she knows how to live.

The musical is this fantasy come alive. Morssinkhof Terra Theaterproducties brings us the Dutch version of the musical, directed (and translated) by Daniël Cohen.

Christanne de Bruijn plays a ballsy Amélie. Her calm and quirky presence makes a perfect Amélie. Feisty on the one hand, yet awkward on the other. Her love-interest Nino (David Schwarz) is not a stereotypical leading character, which is refreshing. Not overly present but comes in and out of her life as fleeting and random as life itself.

The young Amélie puppet is endearing to watch, to the extent that you forget the puppeteers are even present. A beautiful way to show the childhood of our heroin. There are a lot of puppets and props overall. Some benefitting the story, some redundant. The garden gnome, who travelled the world, bit of a style-clash. The less is more principle does cross your mind.

Ger Otte as Raphaël / Hipolito (amongst others) proves he's a versatile actor, flawlessly switching between characters. His Elton John act was a fun surprise.

All actors also play an instrument, from piano to cello, from horn to guitar. It's an enjoyable gimmick, but does it add something to the story? It's up for discussion since there's plenty going on - on stage- to begin with.
They remain visible on stage, most of the time, either in character or as a musician. It doesn't contribute a great deal to the story, aside from the fact that, of course, it's great to see actors play musical instruments.
But when Amélie does a solo on her cello, that's a well-balanced moment where it brings something extraordinary.

The music, for the film composed by Yann Tiersen, for the musical arranged by Ezra van Nassauw, is gorgeous. It helps create the dreamy world of Amélie, in a Parisian vibe. Same goes for the skillful translation by director Daniël Cohen, who captures the heart of the story in smart translations.

The décor is smart and fairy-tale-y but does have some challenges with visibility and sightlines from the audience. The whole right-side chimney/rooftop was out of sight. Bit of a pity, since there were multiple scenes played out there, which were heard, not seen.

In general, the moments in the story where it was just Amélie, without all the noise around her, was a must-needed breather in the endless amounts of big characters, props, and storylines. Thankfully, in the final scenes between Nino and Amélie, there's calm, which is more fitting to the character's journey.
Less of a delirium, more of a dream. With a little space to breathe.

For more info: www.ameliedemusical.nl

Photo credit: Annemieke van der Togt

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