Amélie Has Been Turned into a Stage Musical
Grab your garden gnome and head to Broadway.
In the whimsical 2001 film that bears her name, Parisian waitress Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) decides to devote her life to bringing happiness to others in the quirkiest, sweetest, most charming ways possible. The results earned the Jean-Pierre Jeunet-directed effort five Oscar nominations, a slew of other awards and box office success around the world, and turned the movie into everyone's favourite French flick. We know you've seen it more than once.
Now, Amélie is back — and the folks behind her latest incarnation clearly want to keep following in her footsteps by spreading joy wherever they can. No, they aren't returning prized childhood possessions, helping people find romance or taking a garden gnome around the world. However, given that they've adapted the beloved film into a stage musical, they're still achieving that aim.
The song-filled theatre production will make its way to Broadway in April 2017, with previews the month prior, following its world premiere in Berkeley, California back in 2015, and another run in Los Angeles this December. Hamilton's Tony-nominated Phillipa Soo will jump from one hot hit to what's sure to be another to play the titular role alongside a cast of veteran performers, as directed by Tony-winning Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? helmer Pam MacKinnon.
Amélie joins everything from Moulin Rouge to The Bodyguard in making the leap from the screen to the stage — and into must-see theatre lists as well. Just as it's a good time to be a film-loving TV watcher with the likes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and What We Do in the Shadows making their way to television, it is also an excellent to be a movie-obsessed musical attendee. Groundhog Day, Matilda, Singin' in the Rain, Heathers and Carrie have all also received the singing, dancing theatre treatment after all, just to name a few, with musicals of True Blood and SpongeBob SquarePants also slated in the near future.
Via Variety.