Let’s hear it for Peter Mark Roget and his Thesaurus. Last night I had to consult his tome to find synonyms for ‘joyous’. Each applies to this production of Amélie. The show was exuberant, jubilant, upbeat, merry, wonderful and heartwarming. Roget could have added ‘outstanding’ for this was musical theatre at its very best. I’ve asked this before but where and how has Cambridge attracted so much theatrical talent? Whatever the answer, much of it was on the stage of the ADC last night.

I won’t bother you with the absurdist plot of Amélie. Suffice to say that the eponymous Parisian ingénue journeys from lonely isolation to true love via surreal episodes involving a photo booth, singing vegetables, a lost photo album and a neighbour with bones like glass. The adaptation of the famous movie has so many songs and musical ensembles that it is practically sung-through. It requires actors who can play instruments, a note-perfect Greek-style chorus forever punctuating the action, and some, yes, outstanding solo performances. This show had it all including beautifully fluid scene changes involving the large cast in a series of balletic movements created by Frances Sayer. The scenes moved effortlessly from Amélie’s bedsit to a veg shop or Parisian café all thanks to the well-drilled ensemble who never looked out of character.

Among the many superlative (thanks again Roget) performances, I must highlight Ellie Baldwin in the lead role. Apart from a lovely singing voice, she perfectly caught Amélie’s conflicted emotions of shy vulnerability mixed with impish determination to do right in the world. She dominated the stage (hardly ever off it) and gave a commanding reading of this fragile heroine.

It's unfair to pick out other individual performers here as the whole ensemble shone with talent (and what’s more seemed perfectly cast). Never once did any lose energy, perfect expression or an ability to create a kaleidoscope of ever-changing stage pictures. My only slight niggle is that the faux French accents (in most cases) made the dialogue and lyrics a bit hard to follow. But that didn’t seem to matter as there was never-ending visual and musical interest in the show. The songs are very distinctive – catchy and suitably quirky - and the band ably led by James Harvey provided a happy and cheerful (Roget) accompaniment throughout.

Director Cat Nicol is to be heartily congratulated for creating a show that was utterly, well, yes, in Roget’s word, ‘joyous’.