SUPAS’ Amélie – Sheffield University Drama Studio, 11 December 2024
Review by Jacob Bush.
Based on the cult classic film, Amélie tells the story of a young woman living in Paris who only seeks to do good but also likes to remain a mystery to those whom she’s helping. Craig Lucas’ book is quirky and funny, in line with the style of the film, and the music and lyrics from Daniel Messé and Nathan Tysen are truly beautiful.
Alfie Cowgill directs SUPAS’ production of the challenging musical and does a fantastic job. He keeps the show moving at a good pace, despite the many scene transitions and set changes. Dylan Phelps’ set design is very elaborate for a student production, filling the space well. Lucy Thickett’s choreography for full company numbers is good, but her movement really shines when the production leans into the more surreal storytelling style. It would have been nice to see it lean into some of these more to have a more consistent style throughout – it jumps from naturalistic and surreal quite often rather than choosing one lane to stick in.
The band under the direction of Charlie Harmer sound stunning, executing the lovely orchestrations really well. Harmer also makes sure the harmonies always sound tight – they are always delivered to perfection.
Orlaith Day leads the company as Amélie Poulain – she is utterly perfect in this role. Her vocals are consistently sublime. She holds command over the stage and she is warm and likeable, winning the audience over instantly. She completely understands the show’s style of humour, landing every witty punchline exactly as it needs to be. Jess Hamilton gives a lovely performance as Young Amélie, with beautiful vocals. The puppet she uses is very small though, meaning a lot of the time the puppet is just floating around rather than being manipulated to make the puppet the character rather than Hamilton as the puppeteer.
Will Merritt is great opposite Day’s Amélie, playing Nino Quincampoix. He gives some powerful vocals and characterises the role wonderfully, with a perfect amount of warmth to match Day. Merritt and Day develop a lovely chemistry as the show progresses.
Ellie Potter, Eve Catanach and Maddy Hicks are all a joy to watch as Suzanne, Gina and Georgette respectively. They each have wonderful rapports with each other and their other co-stars. Nathan Cook is a wonderful addition to the café scenes as Joseph, with his dry comedy getting a good number of laughs. His rapport with Hicks is great fun to watch develop. Cook also blows the roof off with very strong vocals in the Act 1 finale as he gives his best Elton John impression.
Ben Jowett is wonderful as Amélie’s heartbroken father Raphael and Grace Fryer gives a strong performance as Amandine, Amélie’s mother, despite more limited stage time. Both sing wonderfully, their songs being treats to listen to. Holly Atkin characterises the old frail Julian Dufayel to perfection, with her rendition of The Girl with the Glass being delightful despite it being originally written for a male voice. Evan Donninger also sings wonderfully as Dominique Bretodeau.
Amélie is a beautifully quaint musical and SUPAS have done a lovely job at bringing it to life – definitely worth a watch if you can get there.