Review: Amelie, at the Criterion Theatre, London

Day 2 in London, just like the two-show on the Saturday was filled with stagey goodness. I started off the day by going to my very first (!!) West End Live; my friend had got tickets for the Sky VIP tent so joined him there for about an hour before we had to meet the rest of the theatre gang for our show. 

Along with the free popcorn, Pimms and many other goodies we got, we managed to catch performances from The Lion King, Pretty Woman, Pippin, Matilda, and today’s topic: Amelie. 

You may remember I have seen the show before, when it was on tour a couple of years ago - fast forward to now, it had a successful run at The Other Palace, was nominated for Olivier Awards in addition to releasing a cast album during lockdown. 

This year, it received a West End transfer at the Criterion Theatre (which is a beautiful theatre by the way; has so much history to it, serving as a studio for the BBC in WW2). 

Seeing how much more I fell in love with this show in the lockdown and well as the theatre tribe’s love for it (my friends has now seen it a whopping 18 times!), I wanted to catch it before it closed. 

For those who don’t know, Amelie is based off the French film of the same name and follows the titular young woman who starts performing random good needs for strangers. But there comes a point where she starts to neglect her own wellbeing, until charming Nino gets involved. 

I have already mentioned in my previous piece that it is an actor-musician piece. Every single person in this entire company is incredibly talented in both of these areas; plus I feel I appreciated it even more the second time around as I now know the album so well. It will be hard to see this production done any other way now. 

Once again, Audrey Bristol plays Amelie with such grace, and both respecting Audrey Tatou’s original performance in the film without carbon copying it. And for the only cast difference compared to the first time, Chris Jared had a heartfelt vulnerability as Nino. You could hear him sing When The Booth Goes Bright all day long. 

Over the past couple of years, Amelie has been gaining more and more traction; and I have been hearing from friends throughout my trip who have seen and loved it. And it is little wonder. It’s gorgeous, heartfelt, and quirky to say the least, sometimes a little bit trippy. (I had forgotten about that fig scene…) 

But ultimately the reason I think it hit more now than it did in 2019, is because Amelie is a story about connections; about reaching out to people. 

After a whole year/more in solution with little physical contact and perhaps more time being spent in our heads than we like, it hits home more in my book. You can see clearer the motto Amelie’s mother had of “there’s always halfway to go” become so incredibly damaging to her daughter’s psyche; and cheer when you see her and Nino become closer. 

I really hope this comes back - it’s a real gem that gets better the more you hear it