Review: AMELIE THE MUSICAL at Östgötateatern

Opening Night of Amélie the 25th of September

The red carpet had been rolled out and the marshals were burning when we were welcomed into the Östgötateatern in Norrköping. The warm and inviting feeling accompanied us into the salon where we the orchestra were on stage as part of the fantastic scenography which was a French café and Amélie's apartment combine in one, The stage was full of, different things and the more you looked the more you noticed of all the details. The orchestra played while the audience flocked to and filled the approximately 140 seats allowed according to the restrictions. The stage bathed in a red light which together with the red chairs in the salon formed a red cozy lovely musical bubble and somewhere it already felt there that this will be a wonderful evening.

The musical Amélie is based on the film that came out in 2001 and is about Amélie (Klara Enervik) who grows up with a father (Johan Rudebeck) who has no problems with closeness and touch and a neurotic mother (Pia Ternström) who dies when Amélie is quite young. Amélie moves away from home and starts working in a café but lives a bit of her life in a bubble until she finds a box in her apartment on Princess Diana's death and happens to meet Nino (Hani Arrabi) in the Metro. Two events that will affect her life and those around her.

It starts very gripping with the young Amélie, ingeniously created as a doll, who just longs to get a hug from her dad who then puts the audience in a wonderful trance with a magnificent number before the break when Amélie watches Princess Diana's funeral and Elton John (Peter Jansson) jumps off the TV and starts singing a song to Amélie. Sounds completely crazy, but with Markus Virta's direction, it is always balanced on the right side so it will just be a big colorful explosion of joy and happiness. This intoxication of happiness remains in the entire second act, which ends with such a fine-tuned, emotionally charged love scene that is pure magic. You leave the theater with a big smile on your face and a warm feeling. A lovely escape from reality and the perfect musical right now.

But tonight it was not only the premiere of the musical itself but it was also Klara Enervik's stage debut. When I read the program, she was a big question mark for me, but it was quickly corrected into a giant exclamation mark! It felt like such an event that you will be able to say later that I was there when it happened and experienced it. Her voice, stage presence and facial expressions were so perfect and it is only to state that a new musical star has been born. Hani Arrabi matched her well, a great chemistry between the two. Throughout, it is a well-composed ensemble with, among others, Martin Redhe Nord, Sofia Jung and Stefan Clarin, who manage this wonderful musical in the best way.

Östgötateatern has shown several great musicals over the years and this one is one the top three for me together with Jekyll and Hyde and Come From Away.

If you are going to see just one musical this year, it is without a doubt this one. Well-played, colorful, wonderful music, simply a pill of luck. So hurry up and get tickets to Norrköping and / or Linköping now that more are being released.

Tickets are on sale at:

https://www.ostgotateatern.se/pa-scen/amelie

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