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Brooklyn Eagle interview with Daniel Messé, Amelie composer, lyricist, HEM band founder

April 7, 2017 By Peter Stamelman Special to Brooklyn Eagle
Daniel Messé. Photo courtesy of Daniel Messé
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A spoonful of whimsy seemed the perfect antidote to the cold and rain of a recent Saturday night. So, it was fortuitous that I was headed to the Walter Kerr Theatre to see the new musical “Amélie,” based on the wildly successful 2001 French film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurent that made an international star of Audrey Tautou, who was only 23 at the time. A hint of the capriciousness to come was signaled by the hopping rabbits and fluttering butterflies projected on the Walter Kerr stage curtain before the musical even began.

The film was a hyperactive, romantic confection set in 1997 Paris (we know this because Princess Diana’s death is a touchstone) that didn’t bear much resemblance to the real city. (But, then, no less an authority than Ernst Lubitsch once said “I’ve been to Paris, France and to Paris Paramount. I prefer Paris Paramount.”) The film was filled with Tautou’s adorable fourth-wall-breaking mugging. That, plus her Louise Brooks bob, chipmunk cheeks and rosebud mouth, made her completely irresistible.

Phillipa Soo, who plays Amélie in the stage version, has all of these attributes plus a gorgeous soprano voice. Naturally, the play cannot duplicate the hyper-kinetic cinematic shenanigans of the film, but it does retain the movie’s swooning sense of romance. The composer/co-lyricist Daniel Messé, who was the founder and principal songwriter of the Brooklyn band Hem, has co-written with Nathan Tysen a clever, enchanting score.

Messé, a child of the Midwest, has been living in Brooklyn since 1991. As he told me in a recent telephone conversation, he adores the borough.

The following are excerpts from our conversation:

Brooklyn Eagle: What were the particular challenges of writing an original Broadway score for a much-beloved French film from more than 25 years ago?

Daniel Messé: When I was asked by Craig Lucas [who wrote the book for the play] what film I would most want to adapt into a Broadway musical, without hesitation I answered, “Amélie.” The themes that run through the film — how do we get over our past?, how do we connect with other people?, what are the pitfalls and perils of isolation? — all resonated for me. At the beginning, I wasn’t at all sure that “Amélie” was adaptable — there would be a lot of heavy lifting — but I was sure it was something I had to do.

 

Eagle: By my count there are 24 original songs in “Amélie.” That’s certainly heavy-lifting!

DM: (Laughing) Actually, I wrote 76 songs. And it was very difficult to have to choose what stayed and what went. Because some of the songs that didn’t make it into the show are among the best I’ve written.

 

Eagle: What about using some of them for Hem or in some other way?

DM: Yes, the songs that broke my heart to cut from “Amélie” will definitely go on to have some kind of life outside the show. We’ve been discussing the possibility of an album full of these out-takes as well as alternative versions of the songs that did make it into the show. This idea is certainly appealing to me. I’ve always loved hearing songs and shows in “process,” whether it’s reading Sondheim’s “Finishing the Hat” and “Look, I Made a Hat” or listening to Marvin Hamlisch sing demos that never made it into “A Chorus Line.” For me, songs are never truly finished, and given the opportunity I would continue working on songs that remain in the show, let alone the ones we cut.

 

Eagle: Growing up in Michigan, did you listen to Broadway cast albums and movie-musical soundtracks?

DM: Yes, I did. As a kid, I loved the songs and score from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Mary Poppins” — all those Disney musicals. I also loved the sets, how they were imbued with this magical hyper-reality. For example, the London street scenes in “Mary Poppins.” You knew those weren’t really how London streets looked, but that was how they should look for a fantasy like “Marry Poppins.”

Eagle: Aside from the Disney musicals, what else did you watch and listen to?

DM: “All That Jazz” was definitely one of the movie-musicals that captured my imagination. I distinctly remember my grandmother taking me to see it as a very young boy and then trying to get me to leave halfway through when she realized it was not a movie for kids. (Laughing) I didn’t budge of course! I also remember the first time I saw “That’s Entertainment” on TV and being completely mesmerized by it. Of course, movies such as “Grease” and “Fame” were also influences. But even more than those films, it was catching older films on cable — “Oklahoma,” “South Pacific,” “My Fair Lady” and “Brigadoon,” to name just a few.

 

Eagle: Did you also continue to listen to Broadway cast recordings?

DM: Oh, most definitely. Even more than with movie-musicals, I think I developed my own particular sensibility just by listening to all the Broadway cast recordings that my mom collected: “Gypsy,” “Camelot,” “A Little Night Music.” If you noticed, “Amélie” is mostly sung-thru, and I think this form is a result of my discovering those great classics of that form through listening over and over to the albums.

Eagle: Living closer to New York than you did — and being, unfortunately, older — I remember my parents taking me to see “The Pajama Game.” It amazed me to see, in the finale, John Raitt and Carol Haney and the full company in only tops for the women and bottoms for the men. If this was what Broadway shows were like, I was all in! Of course, then they took me to see “The Sound of Music” and I had a rude awakening. From pajamas to nun’s habits.

DM: Living in Michigan I had to wait for the movie versions.

 

Eagle: Where exactly in Michigan did you grow up?

DM: East Lansing. It’s a lovely Big Ten college town, the home of Michigan State University.

 

Eagle: Yes, I know East Lansing because I went to the University of Wisconsin and actually attended a couple of games between the Badgers and the Spartans in East Lansing. You guys always kicked our butts. Anyway, what was it like for you coming to New York? When did you move to Brooklyn?

DM: I moved to Brooklyn as soon as I arrived in 1991. Carroll Gardens. And I still live there! Once I was in New York my musical education continued. I listened obsessively to Jonathan Schwartz on 1560 AM, WQEW (“the high spot on your AM dial.”) His show was where I really learned the craft of songwriting. It wasn’t just that I heard all the great standards from the Great American Songbook, but [Schwartz] also would explain how these songs related to one another, how song forms grew and changed over time and how this tradition was still playing out in contemporary songs. The whole station was really an extended masterclass in songwriting.

Eagle: Getting back to Carroll Gardens, since you’ve been living there for 26 years, I gather you like Brooklyn.

DM: I love Brooklyn. Talk about hyper-reality [and] idealized city scenes. The patrician, stately brownstones in Brooklyn, for me, represent what the perfect urban landscape should look like. Manhattan skyscrapers and high-rises don’t give me that same feeling. In Brooklyn, there’s a palpable sense of community, of stability. Daily interactions that contribute to the tapestry of city life: the barista at my local coffee shop, the woman at the dry cleaners, the guys at the corner deli — they’ve been there for years and they remember their customers. Neighbors out taking their children to school or walking their dogs, familiar faces. All the old, regal trees — certainly more trees that you see in Manhattan!

 

Eagle: The way you rhapsodize Brooklyn, if you ever decide to quit your day job, you can go to work for Borough President Eric Adams or for the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce — I’m sure they’d love to have you!


“Amélie” opened April 3 for an indefinite run at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

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