AUDREY Brisson’s CV certainly boasts some impressive names on it. She’s been in films directed by Clint Eastwood and Madonna; she’s toured the world with Cirque du Soleil and performed at the National Theatre.

Now she’s to heading to Manchester in Amélie the Musical.

Based on the Oscar-nominated film, starring Audrey Tatou, Amélie the Musical is the story of a young girl who tries to bring others together through her own random acts and yet struggles to find love for herself.

The film, directed by Jean Genet, was highly stylised and Audrey acknowledges that it would be wrong to just replicate it on stage.

“The film is so specific, so very Jean Genet,” said Audrey. “You can’t recreate that on stage so a theatre version of it means you have to find your own language. In essence you have to approach it as though it is a brand new production.

“The film has a real cuteness to it which so many people loved but director Michael Fentiman wanted to bring out the sadness in the story and the message that people can’t connect with each other. We live in in a world where we are all on top of each other and yet we are all so lonely.”

Tackling such an iconic role as Amélie might be off-putting but Audrey said she had no doubts on that score.

“The only hiccup I had was that I’d seen a recording of the American version of the stage show which didn’t do so well,” she said. “With no disrespect to the American cast but I don’t think they succeeded in grasping the language and feel of the film. For our production the European-ness is back.

“We have been very fortunate with the amount of freedom we’ve been given which has allowed us to take the material and re-adapt the show.”

Audrey’s co-star on the UK tour is Danny Mac. The former Hollyoaks actor who also took part in Strictly Come Dancing, has had major success in West End musicals including Sunset Boulevard.

“Danny is just fantastic,” said Audrey. “There is so much more to him than Hollyoaks or Strictly. I’m sure there are some people who just come to see Danny Mac from TV in Amélie but they will leave with a whole new appreciation of what he’s capable of as an actor.”

Danny plays Nino, a musician, who Amélie is secretly in love with.

To film fans, Amélie has a magical quality to her but Audrey hopes that she is portraying her slightly differently.

“There is so much sadness in her,” she said. “The world of imagination that she creates around her is her way of coping. She’s in denial about the oddness of the way she sees the world .There’s this disconnect between the way she sees others and the way that she sees herself.

“She desperate to make other people connect with one another and let relationships reach their full potential and yet she’s frozen when it comes to own life.”

So are there any similarities between Audrey and the character she plays?

“The older I get the more I go towards being a glass half full kind of person because you come to realise that life is too short,” she laughed. “But I think I have a little bit of her. I’d like to think that I have a little of her imagination.”

Amélie the Musical opened in London before heading out across the country and it will stay on the road until October.

“A long tour? Tell me about it,” laughed Audrey. “ Although Danny joined us when we began the tour, the majority of us first got together when we were at the Watermill in London. There was a building attached to the theatre where we were basically together for eight weeks.

“We’d have rehearsals then go for dinner and then go back with a beer and we’d then have unofficial rehearsals. It kept us in the world of Amelie which was a very creative thing to be part of.

“The actors in the show are phenomenal. I think I’m fortunate to be surrounded by these tremendously talented people”

Audrey was last in the area when she starred in La Strada which came to The Lowry

“This will be the first time I will have been to Manchester itself,” she said. “A friend of mine sent me some photos of the Opera House showing me all the posters that have gone up for Amélie. That’s when you start to get really excited about being in a production.

“And the fact that it’s such a special production - ans this is a special one - makes it so much more exciting.”

n Amelie the Musical, Manchester Opera House, Tuesday, August 6 to Saturday, August 10. Details from www.atgtickets.com