Amélie musical UK premiere to star Audrey Brisson
© Michael Wharley
Casting has been announced for the UK premiere of the musical Amélie, which opens in Newbury in April.
Audrey Brisson, who has previously starred in Pinocchio at the National Theatre as well as the UK tours of La Strada and The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, will play the titular role in the show, with further casting to be announced.
Based on the five-time Oscar-nominated 2001 film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant which starred Audrey Tautou, the musical was first staged in California in 2015 before running on Broadway. It tells the story of Amélie Poulain, a Parisian woman who improvises small acts of kindness and falls for a strange man.
Brisson said: "Bonjour, je m'appelle Audrey Brisson et c'est avec un immense plaisir que je
m'apprête à jouer le rôle d'Amelie Poulain. That is to say, I am really looking forward to sharing this journey filled with imagination and quirkiness that Amélie will concoct for us. Until then, à bientôt. (Have a raspberry on me!)"
The new touring production will be directed by Michael Fentiman (who previously directed Brisson in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in Kensington Gardens in 2012), with design by Madeleine Girling, choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves, orchestrations and arrangements by Barnaby Race, musical supervision and direction by George Francis, lighting design by Elliot Griggs and sound design by Tom Marshall.
The tour will open at the Watermill Theatre, where it runs from 11 April to 18 May, before visiting Wimbledon, Dublin, Exeter, Wycombe, Oxford, Edinburgh, Bradford, Leicester, Manchester (with tickets on sale soon), Birmingham, Malvern, Bournemouth, Glasgow, Woking, Eastbourne and Inverness.
Following the conclusion of the UK and Ireland tour, the show will embark on an international tour with dates to be announced.
