New Stage Musical Version of Amélie to Premiere This Summer

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has announced plans to open its 2015-16 season with a world-premiere production of Amélie, based on the Academy Award-nominated film. Tony winner Pam MacKinnon will direct the production, which is scheduled to open this August.

Amélie is written by Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss) and features a score by Daniel Messé, of the acclaimed band Hem, and lyrics by Nathan Tysen (The Burnt Part Boys) and Messé. As with the five-time Academy Award nominated film, Amélie follows an "inquisitive and charmingly shy" young woman as she "turns the streets of Montmartre into a world of her own imagining, while secretly orchestrating moments of joy for those around her."

The newly announced season will also include Chicago theater company The Hypocrites with their high-energy staging of Pirates of Penzance (October 2015), Kimberly Senior's Broadway prodcution of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar (November 2015), Macbeth, directed by Tony and Obie Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan (February 2016), Julia Cho's Aubergine, helmed by Berkeley Rep’s Associate Director Liesl Tommy (February 2016), and Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman's co-production with Lookingglass Theatre Company of Treasure Island (April 2016).

The season will also include one additional production that will be announced at a later date.