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align=center><FONT face=Georgia><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: arial'>Mercury
</SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
color=#121212>delights in the small pleasures found in ‘</FONT></SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>Amelie</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#121212>’</FONT></SPAN></B></FONT><B
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align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT style="COLOR: " color=#222222
face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN></P>
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align=center><I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT style="COLOR: " color=#222222
face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal
style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ">Based on Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s
2001 French fairytale of a movie, the musical </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">“</SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#121212>Amelie</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">”<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> </B></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ">follows a reclusive young Parisian waitress who
bestows random acts of kindness on strangers, </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>engineers
opportunities for happiness and romance for</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "> acquaintances, and eventually finds love
herself. </SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; tab-stops: 87.85pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1"><FONT
face=Georgia>
</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></P>
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style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT face=Georgia>With a melodic score by Daniel
Messe and Nathan Tysen, and a clever, unconventional book by Craig Lucas, the
show premiered at Berkeley Rep in 2015 and opened on Broadway in 2017.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It quickly closed and was nominated for
no Tony Awards.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
face=Georgia>The reason, according to the Chicago Tribune, is that the musical
“dances on a tightrope stretched between quirk and charm.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Newsday called the work “weird.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Surreal” and “too precious” were
Variety’s critical takeaways.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And
every major review compared the stage production with the Academy
Award-nominated cult film, found it wanting, and called out the disappointing
discrepancies.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ">Mercury
Theatre’s artistic director </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial"><FONT
color=#252525>Pierre-Jacques Brault knows full well that the stage is a
different medium than the screen, and welcomes the differences.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And his company </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ">thrives
on all things quirky, charming, weird, surreal, and precious. </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ">For
more of this review, go to: <A
title=https://www.news-herald.com/things-to-do/mercury-delights-in-the-small-pleasures-found-in-amelie-theater-review/article_df45872c-e892-11eb-9e47-abc345af4ee5.html
href="https://www.news-herald.com/things-to-do/mercury-delights-in-the-small-pleasures-found-in-amelie-theater-review/article_df45872c-e892-11eb-9e47-abc345af4ee5.html">https://www.news-herald.com/things-to-do/mercury-delights-in-the-small-pleasures-found-in-amelie-theater-review/article_df45872c-e892-11eb-9e47-abc345af4ee5.html</A></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>