Amélie Takes Vancouver

The musical adaptation of the internationally beloved French film is playing at Magenta Theater.

BY ERIC ASH

It’s fitting there would be a musical adaptation of a film whose full title is a near-perfect rhyme: Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain

Better known as simply Amélie, the 2001 Jean-Pierre Jeunet film starring Audrey Tautou garnered major prizes throughout Europe: the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, two BAFTA Film Awards, three César Awards, and four European Film Awards.

In 2015, a new musical adaptation of the film premiered at California’s Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Craig Lucas wrote the play along with lyricists Daniel Messé (of the band Hem) and Nathan Tysen.

Now, Amélie (The Musical) is playing at Magenta Theater in Vancouver’s city center. As the show started, director Erin Knittle suggested that if any audience members stepped outside during the performance, they might get swept up in the rush of cast and crew in the halls and be expected to perform in the next scene. This joking threat made sense as several cast members, between scenes, wheeled out doorways and signboards through the exits.

The stage design for this play proved versatile. There were two levels: an upper walkway which could act as one of Paris’ many bridges,