Last Friday evening we were able to participate in a live broadcast by Stage Center of a musical based on the movie Amélie. It was a palpable relief to be gathered together watching so many of our familiar favorites perform live. Liesl Cruz, Cade Ostermeyer, Cassidy Giddens, Kezia Pigford, Jared Watson, Seth Taylor: it had the feeling of being reunited with old friends after years of missing them (quarantine is in its 5th year, now, right?).

The highlight was Mary Grace Humphries as the title character. We've only seen her once before, playing Jo in the musical version of Little Women at the Emmett Hook Center, one of the very last things we saw before the shutdown. She's an incredible singer and a joyfully vibrant performer, and we dearly hope to be seeing much more of her.

We enjoyed the performance immensely, though we missed the magic of being in the same room with the performers, especially the intimate setting of the Central Artstation Engine Room. Even so, while I can see why one would want to convert Amélie into something more widely performable, I feel the author wasn't successful at finding a fully functional core of the original work to transplant. As familiar as I am with the movie, there were still a number of places of confusion and trailing plot points. For my mother, who'd never seen the movie before, and who took great pleasure in the singing and seeing familiar faces, she was well lost in regards to the story.

There's so much I miss about sitting wide eyed and smiling in a performance space, but I'm deeply grateful to Jared, Seth, and their amazing cast for reminding me how much better my life is for having them specifically, and so many others like them, as a part of it.