When the multi-Oscar-winning composer Michel Legrand died in January, obituaries were full of praise for his hundreds of TV and movie scores but largely ignored his two works for the stage. One of them, Amour, was a hit in Paris in 1997, but its expensive Broadway production in 2002 lasted barely a fortnight.
Amour’s West End debut is in a much smaller venue, which suits this slightly daft and whimsical tale. Based on a 1941 short story and set in 1950s Montmartre, it follows a nerdy, wimpish office clerk called Dusoleil who suddenly develops the ability to walk through walls. His ensuing career as a Robin Hood-style redistributive burglar transforms him into a folk hero and unlikely sex symbol.
Legrand and lyricist Didier van Cauwelaert composed Amour as a frothy opéra bouffe, with no spoken dialogue and a sung-through text that has been cleverly translated by Jeremy Sams. Where the Broadway production was performed in American accents, this one uses amusingly earthy British idioms, with the most entertaining roles – the prostitute, the anarchic painter, the pair of bumbling gendarmes – sung in broad Lionel Bart cockney.
Director Hannah Chissick’s zippy production ricochets around the tiny theatre, cushioned by Legrand’s well-upholstered melodies, while Adrian Gee’s minimal set design brings 1950s Paris to life using only a dozen chairs, four pushbikes, a few torches and a lamp-post. The big problem here is the everyman figure of Dusoleil who, despite an energetic performance by Gary Tushaw, is too blank and aloof to elicit much empathy. It’s a pity because – for all the witty rhyming couplets, heart-tugging chord changes and inventive staging – the show struggles to engage emotionally.
• At Charing Cross theatre, London, until 20 July.
