By Talia Carlisle

The wait is over. WITCH Music Theatre is back in town, bringing the candyfloss-sweet hearted magic of Amélie, our new friend at The Hannah (Hannah Playhouse) till Nov 29.

Have you ever opened your favourite childhood story book or movie and wanted to dive right in? Now is your chance to dive into Amélie’s world, which has captured the world’s child-like curiosity since the French motion picture came out in 2001, written by Guillaume Laurant, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet who also directed.

Amélie The Musical is a hop, skip and a song back to the excitement of childhood, where we meet sweet Amélie (Rachel McSweeney) – a curious, spirited 6-year-old with dreams of adventures, and earning the love of her parents (Craig Beardsworth and Gemma Hoskins).

Craig Lucas’s book, and lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Daniel Messé (who also wrote the music) lead us through Amélie’s life and adventures, quickly gaining love from our full house on opening night, with cheers, laughter and applause at the start of each act, not just at the end.

Our tickets welcome us into Amélie’s world in enchanting Paris, where musical director Hayden Taylor’s band bring Parisian street life to Wellington, introducing new friends and characters who support Amélie’s quests alongside finding a proper education, a job, and Elton John (William Duignan) who we adore.

And love? Of course! We all need more love in this world, and this show fills our hearts in every way from the story, music, costumes, set and even puppeteering (James Fisher)  just to really pull on our heartstrings.

I really fall in love with every costume by Polly Crone and Dorothe Olsen,which brings out each character, plus the set by Ben Tucker-Emerson.

The moving lights by Alex “Fish” Fisher are a character themselves that bring this Broadway show to life for us, for a limited time only. The same can be said for the props which would need a team like Courtney Ilton, Scott Maxim, Nick Lerew, Ben and Joshua Tucker-Emerson to stop them running away and help us to follow the story, mysteriously and beautifully mystifying us by the “Mysterious Man” Kevin Orlando.

Being back at Hannah playhouse feels like coming home after its reopening, surrounded by Wellington’s best talent in the audience and onstage – who love this show and pour their souls into it as WITCH always do, led by such genius of our co-directors Maya Nanda-Huff and Nick Lerew who bring a sparkle to everything they touch and everyone in their path.

Amélie takes us further than the world of Paris, to the ultimate escape and joy of childhood where anything is possible, and you should do everything possible not to miss this.

Don’t wait for Christmas, fill the stockings and your heart now with this timeless tale before your time runs out.