Tag Archives: Les Mis

RE-REVIEW: Les Misérables (Queens Theatre) – 2012

Les Mis

Let me start off by saying that, recently, I have reviewed Les Misérables TO DEATH! Ha!

This will be my last Miz for quite some time!

I’ve just come back from seeing Les Misérables at the Queens Theatre, London and have once again had a thoroughly amazing evening, made all the more poignant because this is the penultimate show that I’ll get to see before I depart the West End for a bit! (the final curtain call, will be The Phantom of the Opera on this – Tuesday – evening).

The casting team for this show are currently famed for their three-month contracts, which currently includes Phantom-extrordinare, and current West End ‘IT MAN!’,  Ramin Karimloo, as Jean Valjean (and who unfortunately does not play on a Monday or a Thursday evening); thus this review is unable to comment on the interesting though historically traditional transition that he’s made over to this other West End stalwart, nor comment on how well he takes on this monumental role.

However, Les Misérables is definitely not a one man show, and for me, I really value to get to see the understudy, as you tend to get someone without the gimmicks or biased pulling power, thus it makes it so much easier to review the performance, as you’ve got no preconceptions, and you tend to get blown away! :) Plus, in an era of such short contracts, it also affords some longevity to this review, in addition to hopefully reassuring that subset of people who oft tend to be a little hard-to-warm to the concept of seeing an understudy.

Incidentally, I also think that the character of Javert is definitely the more interesting of the two principal adult male roles, but that’s by the by, and for another day! :P

So, Monday 23rd January, and the overall performance was, as ever, FANTASTIC!

We had a rather large number of understudies on owing to Principal cast holiday/performance schedules, including Christopher Jacobsen as Jean Valjean, Zoe Doano as Cossette, and the (incredible) Shaun Dalton as Inspector Javert.

I’ll start with the good, and say that Shaun Dalton as Javert was perfect, in my opinion. It’s the one role that I look at closely in this musical, and I found Dalton to be note perfect, incredibly commanding on stage, and a real force to be reckoned with. My plumed 19th Century Inspectors hat comes off to him, and I’d love to see him in a more Principal role come the next cast change.

I was very pleased that Alexia Khadime was in tonight’s performance, as her Eponine is absolutely gorgeous, and always a pleasure to watch. I’ve also warmed a lot more to Craig Mather’s Marius, and Katy Secombe was fantastic as ever in the role of Mme Thénardier. It was my first time seeing Cameron Blakeley as Thénardier, and I thought he did a great job in the role, making it distinct from the great shaping that I felt Matt Lucas brought and added to the role immediately prior.

Christopher Jacobsen took a little while to grow on me as a plausible Valjean, and I was initially a little worried… certainly during the opening numbers, and right up until At The End Of The Day, I felt that his voice lacked the operatic depth that I’ve perhaps become spoilt and used to with previous Valjeans. Having today learnt that he is a meer 23 years old (@tobiased makes a good point in that Valjean is never this young at any point in the entire story); I feel that this explains a lot. However, the ‘older’ Valjean got, the more I found that I became comfortable with Jacobsen’s performance, with his voice becoming more resonant, and, ultimately, I think that you end up with a passable, though not authentic, Jean Valjean. Credit where due, some of the songs were sung with great emotional depth and absolutely pitch perfect.  I probably wouldn’t shy away from a Monday/Thursday performance to deliberately avoid his Valjean, were you not too fixed on definitely seeing Ramin Karimloo.

It was my first time seeing Liam Tamne in the role of Enjolras, and I have to say, as I’d expected, I wasn’t keen. On all my previous visits to the show over the last 9 months or so (and there have been quite a few!), I’ve always had Scott Garnham, and I do much prefer him in this role, if I am honest. Similarly, I still haven’t warmed to Caroline Sheen as Fantine, though, as ever, it is worth noting that the audience are usually receptive to her, and perhaps it’s just that she’s not right for my own vision of Fantine.

Overall, and it’s made harder to judge with so many understudies on this evening, I feel that the cast is fairly strong, though definitely not as strong as when it had its full June 2011 complement, and underwent the mini-re-invention.

Technically, the show was great, and I was very fortunate enough to have had a private tour of the stage a few months back, and so it was great to watch the production with more ‘technical’ eyes. The orchestra sounded brilliant, and the surround sound which was recently installed back in 2011 also did a great job during the first barricade battle scene – even when we were right at the back of the Dress Circle you felt in the thick of it! :)

As ALWAYS, I ended up having a bit of a blub at the end, it’s just such a fantastic show, story and score, and coupled with a great cast, and thus I had a really fab time.

Les Misérables is currently at the Queens Theatre, and running pretty much until forever! If you would like any more information on the show, please visit their official website!

Javert State Of Mind (Les Mis)

Haha – I love this parody from the US 25th Anniversary Touring Cast! ^_^

Javert… hawt inspector that you will dream of!

Andrew Varela (Javert in the touring production) is on twitter, as is Chasten Harmon who plays Eponine :)

Big fan of the character of Javert, possibly my absolute favourite role in musical theatre, and so it’s fab to see folk having fun with the character… hopefully this is only the beginning, can think of SO many other awesome parodies hehe!!

Les Livres et Les Tasses – my new name for Les Mis!

Les Mis

*If you are after my review of Alfie Boe and Matt Lucas, currently starring in Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre, London, please click here, thanks!*

On Saturday, Max and I decided to try for some of the on-the-day £10 standing tickets to see Les Misérables – largely because I was, as always, in dire need of yet more musical theatre action, and also as, to my horror, Max hadn’t already seen the show, nor even heard most of it before! *shock!! :o *

Now, I know what you’re thinking – standing for 3 hours, after queuing outside on the rain for an hour, sounds abysmal, right?! Well actually, it’s rather fab! We didn’t get any kind of leg-ache and it was great to be able to get in and out of the House at the end of both Acts, without having to fight our way out of seats! It makes SUCH a difference to the experience!

We were at the back of the Dress, and I’d recommend Standing to anyone who fancies seeing the show, (well, provided they’re not 100 years old or similar :P !) but who perhaps find the pricing a little out of their reach. Similarly, if you, like me, like to sing and dance along to some of the less ‘deathy’ songs, then this is PERFECT! :P

After the show, I was VERY lucky to have randomly had an invite to pop backstage for a very quick tour of the stage area. Having done this a few times in other theatres, I jumped at the opportunity, despite being a little nervous, as I always am, and before I knew it, I was donning a security pass and being signed in at stage door at the iconic Queen’s Theatre! *squee!*. (totally can’t believe my name is on the sign-in sheet forever-more hehe!)

It is perhaps one of the absolute highlights of my life that I can now say that I have been on the World famous revolve!!! (yes, it’s the simple things… heh!). Seriously, I am still SO excited that I had a spin on it hehe, thankfully I managed to contain my excitement until we were well clear of the theatre – Max bore the brunt of most of my excitement on the way home! (much less smutty than that seems to sound, heh!!).

Out of politeness, I (naturally) refrained from attempting to sing whilst on the stage… though before I die, I am determined to find someone with access to a West End theatre stage who is a tone-deaf and will let me murder some classics on it whilst they remain oblivious hehe!

We also got to check out some of the props, and so, for the benefit those Anglophiles who insist on calling ‘Les Mis’ the proverbial “Les Miserables” [pronounced as:lez mizerables] hehe – ‘Les Livres et Les Tasses’ is “The Books and Mugs” – so dubbed by myself as this  sums up nearly all of the production’s props it seems!! (used in ‘Master of the House’). Amazing how much they do, and with the wing space that they have!

I EVEN managed to exercise restraint, and didn’t sign any random programmes on the way out of the stage door once we were finished up, hehe! You may think this is an odd thing for me to say, however you would not believe how many times that I have been asked by people to sign their programmes before whilst tumbling out of the back of several theatres in the past, and of course, I am never one to disappoint people hehe!!! ;)

I cannot thank the person who arranged for me to go backstage enough for their generosity and kindness, it was genuinely thrilling, and both Max and I were buzzing afterwards! :D

All in all, I had a fantastic time on Saturday, and this blog serves more as a reminder of a life-time memory for me, and hopefully incentivises more people to consider standing at Les Mis so that perhaps an even broader/younger audience start to come through; and also that this option may appeal to people who perhaps do not want to chance the show at top prices of £85-65, but instead would be prepared to give it a go for a tenner, and no doubt will subsequently find that they love it! :D

NB: £10 Standing tickets are only available from the theatre on the day of the performance, to personal callers at the Box Office – and are subject to limited availability. Standard priced seating tickets can be purchased in advance via http://www.lesmis.com.

Les Misérables 25th anniversary concert to be covered by reelkandi.tv

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Well, blimey, I wasn’t expecting my Les Misérables at the Barbican review to be even half as popular as it turned out to be – a huge thanks to everyone who read my thoughts, offered feedback and shared their experiences of the production! :D

I am also (very thrilled) to be going to see the 25th Anniversary O2 concert, albeit at the Vue cinema screening in the West End, however a press release from the lovely people over at reelkandi.tv has just hit my mailbox, and I thought it definitely worthy of an airing, hurrah!

Please note: This is not a webcast of the concert itself – rather reelkandi.tv will be supplementing the experience by interviewing all the VIPs and providing highlights from the experience. :)

Let the excitement over the Les Mis 25th Anniversary weekend, begin! :D

Online entertainment TV network reelkandi.tv will be providing full online coverage of the celebrations taking place at the O2 Arena this Sunday, 3 October, to mark the 25th Anniversary of LES MISÉRABLES.

The legendary musical LES MISÉRABLES will celebrate its 25th birthday by making theatrical history with an international first – three different productions in London at the same time. The Original Production at the Queen’s Theatre, the New 25th Anniversary
Production at the Barbican, London and now, stars in their multitudes will gather for a celebratory concert at The O2 on Sunday 3
October, when all three productions and many of the show’s original cast will come together to celebrate this momentous occasion.

The 25th Anniversary concert at The O2 will host a company of over 300 actors and musicians, including Alfie Boe as ‘Jean Valjean’, Nick Jonas as ‘Marius’, Norm Lewis as ‘Javert’, Matt Lucas as ‘Thénardier’, Lea Salonga as ‘Fantine’, Jenny Galloway as ‘Madame Thénardier’, Katie Hall as ‘Cosette’, Samantha Barks as ‘Eponine’, Ramin Karimloo as ‘Enjolras’ and the casts of the Original Production at the Queen’s Theatre, the New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican, London and members of the Original 1985 London cast.

Reelkandi.tv will be on the red carpet to speak to the VIP guests invited to join the celebrations at the O2 Arena. We’ll be capturing the excitement inside the O2 Arena, and will be bringing every moment of the concert finale to viewers across the reelkandi.tv network.

We’ll then be chatting to the stars from the concert as well as the VIP guests at the exclusive LES MISÉRABLES after-party. No-one
will get you closer to the stars than reelkandi.tv

Audiences around the world are invited to join LES MISÉRABLES in celebrating its 25th Anniversary when the ‘people’s musical’ is
beamed live via satellite to cinemas across the globe from the O2 Arena.

The world’s longest running musical will be screened live in more than 175 cinemas nation-wide across the UK and more widely,
throughout Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. European countries joining in the big screen birthday party include Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Norway and Denmark.

NOTES
• @reelkandi will be tweeting live from the red carpet at The O2 on Sunday 3 October from 6pm BST

REVIEW: Les Misérables – Barbican Centre (25th Anniversary Tour)

les-miserables-at-the-barbican-tickets

I’m just home from seeing the 25th Anniversary touring production of the classic Boubil-Schonberg musical, Les Misérables.

Simply put, I cannot rave enough about this production – I’m at a loss as to where to even start with the review, there’s so much I would like to discuss! I had been chasing all across the UK for an invite to come and see this anniversary production (and had been doing so for over a year!) before I had a last-minute chance come up yesterday, and I am so so chuft to have finally seen it (and yes, I did get sniffly during bits of it heh!) – the wait was well worth it, and it was made even more special by getting to see it at the Barbican, where the magic all began on October 8th 1985 – exactly two months after I was born!

First off, I feel that I should put this review and production in context – considering it as is, i.e. a (just about Off) West End show, this production is totally awesome, however when taken as intended, as a piece of touring theatre, this is absolutely phenomenal. There are simply no other words for it!

Coming from Manchester originally, I’ve sat through more than my share of touring productions, and whilst they’re usually fair-to-good, they’re not even close to being comparable with the quality of this production. The money, care and attention that has been devoted to this production only serve to do the brand proud and this actually now excites me for the precedent and legacy that this hopefully establishes for other touring productions, who should see that if you get it right, you can charge those premium prices out in the regions, and really provide a top quality show to the masses!

Let’s move on to the casting for this 25th Anniversary production, and I have to hand it to casting director, James Orange, it was absolutely spot on! Flicking through the program, it transpires that nearly everyone in the cast was incredibly stage experienced, and there’s actually not one of the many principles who I’ve not already seen in at least one other show it would seem.

I’m very much inclined to agree with the New York Post who said that the casting of John Owen-Jones was second only to Colm Wilkinson, Owen-Jones was absolutely phenomenal in the role. West End stalwart Earl Carpenter’s portrayal of Javert gave me several of the vocal highlights of the night (check out his version of Stars below – I can’t rave about it enough, WOW!) and he was perfect in the role, and I’d also like to call out Rosalind James who played Eponine, as she really moved me with her hair-tingling rendition of ‘On My Own’).

I have to say, that I had a few early issues with Fantine, played by Madalena Alberto, and I somehow managed to sit through I Dreamed A Dream without feeling a shred of emotion… which was absolutely unforgivable in my opinion! Perhaps I was comparing it too much to Ruthie’s vocal, however I really didn’t get the feeling that Fantine was on the edge, had realised that she’d lost everything and had started to become so bitterly jaded. Acting wise, she was great, and in the following scene, I felt all those emotions, it’s just a pity that they didn’t seem to connect through the vocal. I should add that this isn’t any kind of criticism of the actress (after all, I am just a blogger!), however for such a high-profile song, I just think that it needs to be absolutely perfect and credible as I feel that a lot of values surrounding the whole production rest on it, and of course this may well influence the perception of others who are perhaps less-well-acquainted with the Les Mis story, and ultimately how they may judge it.

My friend, Brett, and I both agreed on the above point, and we also had a few other minor likeability issues with other characters in Act One (we’re looking at the Thénardiers here!), but these were all swiftly ironed out by Act Two and in the end, the other characters that we’d initially questioned, we found we ultimately loved a lot! :)

Of course, this production also has a certain (and yummy!) Gareth Gates in it! Whilst he’s vocally no Michael Ball, we found that in Act Two he really got into his stride with the acting and was actually rather good in the role. His portrayal did leave us with perhaps a more naive and ‘innocent’ Marius as opposed to the confident cocksure Michael Ball portrayal, however I think that this really worked with this production and helped make his character a little more likable!

Much has been made of the staging of this 25th Anniversary production, and rightly so, for it is a thing of magnificent beauty! The use of the video technology, props and all of the flats is simply remarkable and not something seen on the touring theatre circuit on this scale before. Certain moments of the production (e.g. Javert’s Soliloquy) really lend themselves to the use of this technology and the attention to detail was fantastic!

Hats off also go to Peter White and his orchestra, for it was absolutely divine to hear a full orchestra in the pit for this show (the decline of the use of which is my biggest bug-bear about the West End at the moment). I found it especially awesome when the horns kept coming in during the opening bars of At The End Of The Day, I actually got goosebumps and shivered – my favourite bit of the entire score.

Perhaps the only real ‘let-down’ for me (aside from I Dreamed A Dream) was how the end of Act One was staged – I felt that there could have been a more visually arresting display to close the act on, however this is only a very minor niggle, and certainly doesn’t impact on my over-all enjoyment of this production.

A quick note now about the Barbican itself, if I may indulge slightly, for I have never been to this venue before. I loved it! The swooshy doors at the wings of the auditorium were fantastic (I want some!), and the seating at the theatre was perfectly placed from what I could tell / experienced. We were sat in the centre at the back of the stalls, next to the tech desk, and we had a perfect view over everything. I liked that when I went to buy some water during the interval, the shopkeep asked if I would like it at room temperature or cold – I’ve never had a choice before! (FYI, cold!).

Speaking of the interval, those huge jaw like safety curtains are very scary. Also, when I went to use the bathroom during the interval, I came across something that I have *NEVER* seen happen before – all of the men that were in there using the facilities *ahem* (and there must have been about 30) were all whistling along in time to Master Of The House – heh!! Amazing! (and yes, of course I joined in, heh!).

The audience, incidentally, were the most well-behaved that I’ve ever seen an audience be – nobody got up to go to the loo halfway through the Act, there was little coughing, and no sweet paper rustling – everybody was sat captivated completely by the action on the stage, and the thunderous standing ovation that the cast received at the curtain call was, without doubt, the loudest and most enthusiastic that I have ever heard in any theatre that I’ve been in – wow!

The one production that I’d now really like to see would be the O2 25th Anniversary Gala performance on 3rd October (alas, I’ve been told there’s no way I’ll be able to get invited to see that, gah) – which looks to be absolutely epic! If you’ve got tickets to this, I am very jealous! :)

All in all, I will hands down say that seeing Les Misérables at the Barbican has been the theatrical highlight of 2010 – I cannot praise this production highly enough and would urge everyone to go and see it if presented with the opportunity!

The Les Misérables 25th Anniversary tour will end on October 2nd at the Barbican after a near-year long tour of the UK, so this really is your last chance to see it! GO!

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As an aside, earlier on, I posted a (hopefully!) fun little SMS exchange that I had with my pal Brett after seeing this, feel free to check it out :)

SPOTIFY USERS: You may be interested in the 25th Anniversary Cast Recording