Post by ilovegrayshaw on Aug 13, 2009 10:12:28 GMT -5
Les Miserables
Queen’s Theatre, London
Circle Row A Seat 19 (front row centre seat)
Wednesday 12th August at 2:30pm
Being a student, and lacking money, I decided to go to London on a £28 return ticket. This meant I had to go on two specific trains that arrived and left London only minutes before and after the show. I spent the whole day running around like a headless chicken and sweating myself to death. But... I have to say, it was worth it.
When I got to the station it said my train was delayed by 6 minutes. This meant I would arrive at Piccadilly Circus at 2:27 and the show starts at 2:30. I started to panic and was going to change my ticket but the train arrived before I got the chance. It was a horrible thing. There were no tables so you couldn’t really settle down to anything. It took 3 hours to do what normally takes 90 minutes and stopped at one station to add some carriages. There was no toilet paper in the toilet and the whole thing really stank. The train wasn’t made very well either. Whenever a train came past it shook the whole thing and made a really loud noise. Going through tunnels was a nightmare on the ears and they never usually affect me. Anyway, then the train was due to get to London 2 minutes early because it picked up speed but in the end pulled in at the right time. What a kerfuffle!
The train home was similarly bad. I rushed from the theatre to the station and wolfed down my tea. Then I looked at the train signs and it said my train was leaving from Platform 10. I rushed down to the platform and jumped on the train just as it left London – early. I then realised I’d got on the wrong train but luckily they all do the same journey for a few stations after London so I got off and changed at Watford Junction. London Midland trains have their own platforms at stations so my train was the 2nd train in at the platform I arrived on. Watford Junction was a terrible little station though. Massive freight trains kept zooming through at over 100 miles an hour. It was really scary. I didn’t much like it. Luckily, I managed to get home on my reserved train in the seat I had reserved – with a table and proper facilities this time. I much better train!
Now for the part that most of you will have been waiting for.... the show review!
This was my fourth visit to Les Miserables this year, my third London visit plus I saw the schools edition in Stoke. I think the show remains just as magical no matter how many times you see it. There is something about the way the set emerges and is transformed that just amazes me. Where as the sets for Phantom look dated, having been created in 1986, the sets for Les Mis – which opened in 85 – look as modern and contemporary as those in musicals such as Wicked. It also has the same epic and grand feel that all the best musicals try to achieve. On each visit I have also noticed different things about the show – with so much going on – and seen quite a few different takes on the roles (which I will try to prioritise in a minute).
Master of the House is a very complex number with lots happening at different times. It has taken me three visits to observe everything that goes on in that scene – and I bet that if I went again I would see something else different. There are so many different gags that it remains funny every time you see it. The energy at the matinee was incredible with Martin Ball really excelling and impressing me. I guess this is why he got the part – his energy was amazing. But... in all the scenes after that he went back to how I remembered him last time. His delivery of the lines is very flat and he sings in rather a dull and bland way. He needs shaking up quite a lot of the time and is just so awkward to listen to.
Rebecca Seale was absolutely brilliant. This performance was the best I have ever seen a Fantine. She delivered all her lines perfectly. Her I Dreamed A Dream was heartbreaking and she did a great job. The only area where I would criticise her would be the death scene. She didn’t act delirious enough really. But... it was still a truly mesmerising performance and one I won’t forget in a hurry.
This was my first time seeing the lead actor playing Valjean. I was a bit nervous, having seen the excellent understudy – Jonathan Williams – twice before but David Shannon was even better. He really made Valjean a realistic person and his acting was marginally superior to Jonathan’s. He said the lines how they would be said if they weren’t being sung and I liked that. He had a great voice and was not to screechy – although he still managed to sing all the high notes. He did a really long note at the end of Bring Him Home which really amazed me even if I did feel it was a little excessive for the moment.
I really like Katie Hall when I saw her as Cosette before but she seemed to have lost her voice at this performance and her singing was as pure as it should be. She seemed to be really straining to sing the lines. I still think she’s really gorgeous and does a great job but I was a shame she didn’t match up to her previous performance.
I’ve gone off Lorraine Bruce as Madam Thenardier. She has lost a lot of the enthusiasm and eccentricity she had during her first week. She was still really good at switching from a nice caring tone to a very rough and evil one. Her twirling round in Beggars At The Feast still makes me laugh. You never know how it’s going to end – I think it really suits her.
Nancy Sullivan was really cute for the third time I have seen her as Eponine. A Little Fall of Rain was especially dramatic and the moment where she truly excels in the role. When she acts as though she is in pain you really feel it coming from her. It’s so painful to watch. I think she does it ever so well. Even the odd tear may have come down. Alistair Brammer is perfect as Marius. I can’t fault him at all. I thought he did an excellent job. His portrayal is very different from Michael Ball’s as not as romantically charged but nevertheless really fantastic and he has a great voice.
David Thaxton’s fangirls were in. They stood up at bows and screamed their lungs off. His Enjolras is OK but I have to say that when in belt he really has to use all his effort to sing the lines. It’s quite awkward to watch. Also, his line “the people’s man” was very quietly mumbled so that if you didn’t know it you probably wouldn’t have heard him. This is unforgiveable because the audience would have been left wondering who Lamarque was. Mia Jenkins was so cute as Little Cosette and had a really beautiful voice. The best one I have heard on stage. Declan Murphy-Saunders I really didn’t like. Some people laughed at his jokes but the delivery was rubbish. He was very monotonous and just totally unwatchable. The worst I have seen. Alix Gilbert was playing Little Eponine and I never realised how evil this character is – pointing at Cosette so Madam Thenardier tells her off. Really cruel for her to do that. I love the costumes these girls wear – so cute.
I had a lot of love for the ensemble at this matinee. Antony Hansen from Any Dream Will Do was the best by far. His lines were delivered excellently and he really stood out. Jonathan Williams disappointed me in the ensemble with some very dull lines. I think he really needs to be standy Valjean because he clearly doesn’t want to be in the ensemble. That was quite disappointing – although at the start I really liked him, it was just post-I Dreamed A Dream I wasn’t much for. Martin Neely was standing in for Jeff Nicholson as the Factory Foreman and really amazed me with his brilliance. He was really good. His Grantaire lacked something of Jeff’s but was more youthful. I think I liked the role played with a bit more cynicism but Martin had an amazing voice and really impressed me with his unique take on the role. Simon Shorten wasn’t very good in his various chorus roles and I just thought I was so glad he hadn’t been on as Valjean. Also sleeper 1 was completely inaudible. Her lines about “sick enough to drop” couldn’t be heard. In fact, I have only just found the lines on the internet because I didn’t know what they were yesterday. She definitely didn’t have great diction.
Gavin James is perfect as the Bishop – nothing more to say. His final note which is very long and deep I could do without but apart from that I have to say he was totally amazing. George Millar as Bamatabois was excellent and really menacing. One thing I think needs to come back into Les Mis are the lines that have been removed from this scene. Fantine says “I’ll kill you... try any of that” but Bamatabois hasn’t said anything, “It’s not for the harlot to pick or to choose or to lead me a dance”, because the lines were cut when the show was shortened. Other cut lines were very strategically done and are only noticed by people owning the Complete Symphonic Recording.
Now... this is the reason I went. Jeff Nicholson was Javert. Now I had wanted to see Jeff as understudy Javert for ages because he was really good as Grantaire last time I saw the show. I realised that front row circle centre seat was available for his last day (albeit his penultimate performance) and couldn’t resist booking. He’s quite a vain man and this came through at his entrance for One Day More when he stroked his hair into position – major LOLing at that. When he first came out it took me a while to get used to his interpretation but I really liked it in the end. He does not deliver the lines at full blast like many Javert’s but instead opts for a more natural delivery – keeping the lines at talking volume. It’s in all the little details he adds to the part that impress. His “contempt faces” are really really good and he does add a lot of menace to the role. You can tell that he loathes Valjean and is snarling at him. His suicide was the best moment of the whole show – by far. The best I have heard it too. He mixed anger with regret seamlessly. I thought his delivery was the ultimate ever and was so impressed by the way he managed to sing his lines really angrily and full of all the emotion it needs. His “How can I now allow this man to hold dominion over me” was really softly sang and “It is either Valjean or Javert” was totally opposite and really really unique. I have never heard it sung like this but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would say that it is the best part of Les Miserables I have ever seen. Stars was faultlessly and brilliantly sang too although it didn’t have the same impact as the suicide. I also felt that Jeff’s “on” when he was drowning had the sense that he was going into water – which helped to add to the imagery. In terms of favourites, I would say that after Act 1 Earl was favourite because he has a much angrier and commanding voice... but... after this brilliant suicide I definitely would say that Jeff should play Javert full time. He is brilliant.
The best performers over all would be Nancy Sullivan and Rebecca Seale and that is why I give them the Outstanding Performance award. Both delivered their lines extremely well and were consistently great – whereas other performers had good moments alongside bad. It was probably the best performance I have seen – with all the principals excelling at different moments and having their time in the spotlight.
Something I was doing on the day before seeing the show was looking for lines about turning/returning/moving around in the show – because I think they are an awesome pun concerning the rotating stage:
1. “There is nowhere I can turn” – Javert’s Suicide
2. “Turning through the years” – Turning
3. “Round and round the roundabout and back where you began” – Turning
4. “What can I do that will turn you from this?” – Valjean’s Confession
5. “The circles I move in are humbler by far” – The Wedding
6. “Nowhere to turn, no one to go to” – On My Own
7. “Without me his world will go on turning” – On My Own
8. “'Ponine... she knows her way around!” – Eponine’s Errand
9. Truth is given by God to us all in our time, in our turn” – In My Life
10. “Leave her to me, don't wait around” – The Attack on Rue Plumet
11. “I've got to get Cosette away before they return!” – The Attack on Rue Plumet
12. “And each in your season returns and returns” – Stars
13. “Then I'll return, I pledge my word. Then I'll return...” – The Confrontation
14. “Cosette, it's turned so cold” – Fantine’s Death
15. “Now the wheel has turned around” – The Confrontation
16. “Here where I stand at the turning of the years?” – What Have I Done
17. “Yes, you were there, and turned aside” – Fantine’s Arrest
18. “You turn on the tears” – The Robbery
19. “’Least I give me customers some pleasure in return” – Look Down
20. “When I turned they both had gone” – The Robbery
21. “See how they turn and run!” – First Attack
22. “You can bet she's earning her keep sleeping around” – At The End of the Day
23. “Hanging round me pitch? If you're new around here, girl” – Look Down
24. “Spread around your poison” – Look Down
25. “I've seen the old fox around” – The Attack on Rue Plumet
26. “I feel his arms around me” – On My Own
27. “Without him, the world around me changes” – On My Own
28. “And that's he's sure to be returned” – The Runaway Cart
Here is a list of my favourite Les Miserables performances from the shows I have seen and the recordings too:
Jean Valjean:
Favourite Ever – David Shannon (seen live)
Best seen – David Shannon on 12th August 2009
Next best performance from Jonathan Williams on 24th June 2009
Least favourite performance from Jonathan Williams on 24th September 2008
Javert:
Favourite Ever – Philip Quast (heard on the Complete Symphonic Recording and seen on the 10th Anniversary concert DVD)
Best seen - Earl Carpenter on 24th June 2009
Next best performance from Jeff Nicholson on 12th August 2009
Least favourite performance from Earl Carpenter on 24th September 2008
Fantine:
Favourite Ever – Ruthie Henshall (seen on the 10th Anniversary concert DVD)
Best seen – Rebecca Seale on 12th August 2009
Next best performance from Rebecca Seale on 24th June 2009
Least favourite performance from Allyson Brown on 24th September 2008
Eponine:
Favourite Ever – Kaho Shimada (heard on the Complete Symphonic Recording)
Best seen – Nancy Sullivan on 24th June 2009
Next best performance from Nancy Sullivan on 12th August 2009
Least favourite performance from Nancy Sullivan on 24th September 2008
Madam Thenardier:
Favourite Ever – Gay Soper (heard on the Complete Symphonic Recording)
Best seen – Jackie Marks on 24th September 2008
Next best performance from Lorraine Bruce on 24th June 2009
Least favourite performance from Lorraine Bruce on 12th August 2009
Thenardier:
Favourite Ever – Barry James (heard on the Complete Symphonic Recording) and Cameron Sayers (seen on YouTube clips)
Best seen - Greg Castiglioni on 24th September 2008
Next best performance from Martin Ball on 12th August 2009
Least favourite performance from Martin Ball on 24th June 2009
Cosette:
Favourite Ever – Tracy Shayne (heard on the Complete Symphonic Recording)
Best seen – Leanne Dobinson on 24th September 2008
Next best performance from Katie Hall on 24th June 2009
Least favourite performance from Katie Hall on 12th August 2009
Marius:
Favourite Ever – Michael Ball (seen on the 10th Anniversary Concert DVD, heard on the Original London cast recording and heard on the Complete Symphonic Recording)
Best seen – Jon Robyns on 24th September 2008
Next best performance from Alistair Brammer on 12th August 2009
Least favourite performance from Alistair Brammer on 24th June 2009
Grantaire:
Favourite Ever – Jeff Nicholson (seen live) and Anthony Crivello (seen on the 10th Anniversary Concert DVD)
Best seen – Jeff Nicholson on 24th June 2009
Next best performance from Martin Neely on 12th August 2009
Least favourite performance from Richard Woodford on 24th September 2008
