Thoughts From The Director's Chair
Welcome to AMELIE! This is the first production in our “Fairytales and Fantasy” 2019-2020 theatre season. I first encountered this musical a year ago while perusing scripts at the International Thespian Festival. I bought the script and carried it around for a month before one of my students encouraged me to listen to one of the songs. I fell in love with the music instantly and am excited to share the beautiful story and delightful score with you. AMELIE! is the freshest musical Millard West has ever staged. The run of this Broadway show concluded only a short time ago in May of 2017.
Based on the Academy Award-nominated film of the same name, Amelie explores the line between fantasy and reality. The story follows young Amelie, who must invent fantasy and fairytale worlds to escape the isolation and loneliness of her childhood. She grows up into someone who lives within her own imaginative mind until she is eventually jolted by reality and the prospect of falling in love. Amelie and the story unfolds as she both adapts to the reality of her adult life, while also imposing her imaginative will on the world around her.
The story is charming, quirky, naive, and full of eccentric characters. But Amelie’s journey is not simply comedy. The story is about fear, love, and trust. Amelie must choose between lonely but rich fantasy life or the excitement and potential danger of love. She must answer the question: what good is a dream if there’s no one to share it with?
We share a lot with Amelie. We find ourselves more isolated from one another and less comfortable with human interaction. Some of us, like Amelie, put more effort into doing random acts of kindness for others, and forget to be kind to ourselves. We find trusting others difficult, and holding onto self doubt easy. We often choose silence over the risk of something awkward, instead of embracing risk as an opportunity for growth, or love. But, in this play, Amelie learns how to overcome the fear she has been built to maintain, lean into the risk of love and trust others will help her on her way. We can all do the same.
Please enjoy this delightful journey, this sweet collection of quirk and art. The cast, crew, directing team and all involved have sure enjoyed every minute of putting it together. Thank you to everyone who has given something to this production.
“What happens when tomorrow comes and there’s nothing that we can do?... I don’t know, but whatever happens, here we go” (Amelie, Nino).
Thank you for supporting Millard West Performing Arts.
Enjoy the show.
-Brooke Phillips, Director
