Les Miserables Tour, Birmingham 10/04/2010 Matinee
LES MIS TOUR 10/04/2010
I saw the show on 10th of April and it is now the end of May, so please bear with me if I don't remember every little detail. No doubt I will have bits to add to this later.
Let's start off with the cast:
Valjean: John Owen Jones
Javert: Earl Carpenter
Fantine: Madalena Alberto
Thenardier: Ashley Artus
Mme Thenardier: Lynne Wilmot
Eponine: Rosalind James
Cosette: Katie Hall
Enjolras: Owain Williams*
Marius: Gareth Gates
I was gutted that that Jon Robyns wasn't on as I loved his Marius and I really wanted to see his Enjolras. Then again I do like seeing understudies as well.
JOJ: He was a good Jean Valjean. Sadly, I don't quite get the hype about him being the best Valjean in recent years. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see him again and his performance went down really well, but I'm more of a Drew Sarich!Valjean person. Still, very good performance.
EC: This was the second time I saw Earl as Javert, the first time being in London in October 2008. I liked him then, but thought he paled in comparison to the more energetic Hans Peter Janssens whom I'd seen previously. I think Earl's acting has much improved since (or maybe it's the direction?). In London I found him vocally great, but far too gentlemanly, whereas here it was a bit more obvious why everybody runs when 'it's Javert'. Good job and definitely one of the best in the cast.
He got his panto boos again at the end, but he bowed and smiled and took it pretty well.
MA: That's the fourth Fantine I've seen live now (Maya Hakvoort, Joanna Ampil, Allyson Brown are the previous three). Damn you Ruthie for setting such an unattainable standard prior to me seeing the show. I keep going in expecting the perfect Fantine and I never get her! That's not to say these ladies aren't talented, there's just always that certain something that is missing. The same goes for Madalena, sadly.
Her interpretation was interesting. Most Fantines sob or somehow point to their despair. Madalena is a Fantine whose personality is changed by what she has had to go through. When she is a whore, she seems crazy/lunatic and quite bold rather than the somewhat subdued or innocent whore that Fantine tends to be.
Vocally, it's not easy to describe her. I may be the only one who heard this, but there is definitely some Pia Douwes in her belts, early Pia Douwes shall we say, but not to the same standard. Overall a decent, if somewhat different, performance.
AA: Hmmm, he definitely isn't a singer. I know a great singing voice isn't essential for Thenardier, but some of Ashley's vocals really weren't too easy on the ear. The audience found him hilarious though.
I didn't think much of MOTH, but liked Ashley a lot better in the second act, even though, again, I like my DED sung through!
LW: I hardly remember a thing about her, apart from perhaps her interaction with Cosette. She was also very popular with the audience though.
RJ: *STAR OF THE SHOW*
Now, vocally Rosalind was definitely the above. And at the same time she's the worst Eponine I've seen so far. This, however, is due to the fact that all the Eponines I've seen (Jacqueline Braun, Cassie Compton <3, Nancy Sullican) have been absolutely amazing. So I don't mean to take anything away from Rosalind.
She has a very pleasant voice and she makes Eponine's one-liners sound brilliant. It doesn't take OMO to show off her voice. Speaking of which, I enjoyed OMO very much. Yes, I prefer a classic non-RnB OMO, too. Then again it's only the middle bit that's sung RnB style. Anyway, this worked for me too, but please don't change the London version!
Rosalind seems more ghetto-streetwise than Paris sewer streetwise here, but it's all good. Definitely looking forward to the CD!
KH: Katie made a good Cosette. I prefer the London look for Cosette as that's true to the original (and it's what I'm used to), but had Cosette been blonde from the beginning, I think it could have worked just as well. Katie does look lovely as blonde Cosette, which helps.
She has a nice voice, too. Some of In My Life sounded a bit hesitant and not as fully sung as I like it, but I have no doubt that Katie has the vocal ability to sing this Judy Kuhn style.
OW*: I feel a bit ambivalent about this one, not because Jon wasn't on. I think Owain has a really nice voice and he comes across as a really youthful and likeable person as well. Which is one of two reasons why I think he'd be a better Marius (he also understudies that role). He definitely comes across as a believer, but not as a leader! He lacks the charisma of somebody who knowingly leads his followers into potential death for the greater good. His attempts at planning and convincing the others seem too spontaneous and too flustered.
The second reason is that his voice wasn't quite strong enough for the big Enjolras notes. You can tell he's classically trained, but he did struggle a little bit, all within reason though.
I don't mean to bash this performer at all because I'd really like to see him on stage again, but please please let it be as Marius! I think he would be brilliant and it would suit his stage personality a lot better.
GG: I have to admit I was very skeptical when I first heard about Gareth's involvement in Les Mis. I couldn't seem to stop thinking of Marius singing 'Spirit in the Sky'. Dreadful thought. I'd heard a lot of good about Gareth before seeing the show, so I was somewhat less biased.
I have to say he did a really good job. He makes a very different Marius to Jon Robyns, for instance. Gareth is a lot more shy, tentative and innocent (you could almost say his Marius is a wimp). For this very reason it does not matter that vocally he is not as strong as the average Marius, i.e. he rarely ever belts (I think the only time he got loud was in ECAET). He does have a lovely voice though and I got used to 'quiet' Marius pretty quickly. He also really looks the part.
The young Eponine/Cosette/Gavroche all did really well. The ensemble were good, but not as good as I'm used to from the London production I have to say. The only actor I really didn't rate was the Bishop. On the one hand I didn't like his voice: it was actually too classical and more fitting for an aria! Also, the way he sang his lines/the timing was really off to me, so I was glad when he stopped singing I'm ashamed to say.
A lot of people have mentioned the orchestrations. In the first scene I thought the new orchestrations worked really well and were on par with the 'old' production. They were very rhythmic and I enjoyed that, but I didn't think much of the orchestrations for some of the other songs.
Overall then, it was a nice matinee, really well received, a full house if I'm not mistaken. I'm glad I went all the way to Birmingham to see this. At the same time, however, I wasn't blown away as much as usual. It was the 4th time, so maybe it's 'dying down' a bit, but I think I just really prefer the original production. And what people say about the London cast working really well together is probably true as well as I thought the two London casts I saw were tighter. I also prefer the London costumes as I find the tour ones a bit amateur in comparison.
Still, it's great to be able to see another take on this, and some things worked really well, e.g. the beginning. We should be grateful that we can have two different versions at the same time without one replacing the other!
I saw the show on 10th of April and it is now the end of May, so please bear with me if I don't remember every little detail. No doubt I will have bits to add to this later.
Let's start off with the cast:
Valjean: John Owen Jones
Javert: Earl Carpenter
Fantine: Madalena Alberto
Thenardier: Ashley Artus
Mme Thenardier: Lynne Wilmot
Eponine: Rosalind James
Cosette: Katie Hall
Enjolras: Owain Williams*
Marius: Gareth Gates
I was gutted that that Jon Robyns wasn't on as I loved his Marius and I really wanted to see his Enjolras. Then again I do like seeing understudies as well.
JOJ: He was a good Jean Valjean. Sadly, I don't quite get the hype about him being the best Valjean in recent years. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see him again and his performance went down really well, but I'm more of a Drew Sarich!Valjean person. Still, very good performance.
EC: This was the second time I saw Earl as Javert, the first time being in London in October 2008. I liked him then, but thought he paled in comparison to the more energetic Hans Peter Janssens whom I'd seen previously. I think Earl's acting has much improved since (or maybe it's the direction?). In London I found him vocally great, but far too gentlemanly, whereas here it was a bit more obvious why everybody runs when 'it's Javert'. Good job and definitely one of the best in the cast.
He got his panto boos again at the end, but he bowed and smiled and took it pretty well.
MA: That's the fourth Fantine I've seen live now (Maya Hakvoort, Joanna Ampil, Allyson Brown are the previous three). Damn you Ruthie for setting such an unattainable standard prior to me seeing the show. I keep going in expecting the perfect Fantine and I never get her! That's not to say these ladies aren't talented, there's just always that certain something that is missing. The same goes for Madalena, sadly.
Her interpretation was interesting. Most Fantines sob or somehow point to their despair. Madalena is a Fantine whose personality is changed by what she has had to go through. When she is a whore, she seems crazy/lunatic and quite bold rather than the somewhat subdued or innocent whore that Fantine tends to be.
Vocally, it's not easy to describe her. I may be the only one who heard this, but there is definitely some Pia Douwes in her belts, early Pia Douwes shall we say, but not to the same standard. Overall a decent, if somewhat different, performance.
AA: Hmmm, he definitely isn't a singer. I know a great singing voice isn't essential for Thenardier, but some of Ashley's vocals really weren't too easy on the ear. The audience found him hilarious though.
I didn't think much of MOTH, but liked Ashley a lot better in the second act, even though, again, I like my DED sung through!
LW: I hardly remember a thing about her, apart from perhaps her interaction with Cosette. She was also very popular with the audience though.
RJ: *STAR OF THE SHOW*
Now, vocally Rosalind was definitely the above. And at the same time she's the worst Eponine I've seen so far. This, however, is due to the fact that all the Eponines I've seen (Jacqueline Braun, Cassie Compton <3, Nancy Sullican) have been absolutely amazing. So I don't mean to take anything away from Rosalind.
She has a very pleasant voice and she makes Eponine's one-liners sound brilliant. It doesn't take OMO to show off her voice. Speaking of which, I enjoyed OMO very much. Yes, I prefer a classic non-RnB OMO, too. Then again it's only the middle bit that's sung RnB style. Anyway, this worked for me too, but please don't change the London version!
Rosalind seems more ghetto-streetwise than Paris sewer streetwise here, but it's all good. Definitely looking forward to the CD!
KH: Katie made a good Cosette. I prefer the London look for Cosette as that's true to the original (and it's what I'm used to), but had Cosette been blonde from the beginning, I think it could have worked just as well. Katie does look lovely as blonde Cosette, which helps.
She has a nice voice, too. Some of In My Life sounded a bit hesitant and not as fully sung as I like it, but I have no doubt that Katie has the vocal ability to sing this Judy Kuhn style.
OW*: I feel a bit ambivalent about this one, not because Jon wasn't on. I think Owain has a really nice voice and he comes across as a really youthful and likeable person as well. Which is one of two reasons why I think he'd be a better Marius (he also understudies that role). He definitely comes across as a believer, but not as a leader! He lacks the charisma of somebody who knowingly leads his followers into potential death for the greater good. His attempts at planning and convincing the others seem too spontaneous and too flustered.
The second reason is that his voice wasn't quite strong enough for the big Enjolras notes. You can tell he's classically trained, but he did struggle a little bit, all within reason though.
I don't mean to bash this performer at all because I'd really like to see him on stage again, but please please let it be as Marius! I think he would be brilliant and it would suit his stage personality a lot better.
GG: I have to admit I was very skeptical when I first heard about Gareth's involvement in Les Mis. I couldn't seem to stop thinking of Marius singing 'Spirit in the Sky'. Dreadful thought. I'd heard a lot of good about Gareth before seeing the show, so I was somewhat less biased.
I have to say he did a really good job. He makes a very different Marius to Jon Robyns, for instance. Gareth is a lot more shy, tentative and innocent (you could almost say his Marius is a wimp). For this very reason it does not matter that vocally he is not as strong as the average Marius, i.e. he rarely ever belts (I think the only time he got loud was in ECAET). He does have a lovely voice though and I got used to 'quiet' Marius pretty quickly. He also really looks the part.
The young Eponine/Cosette/Gavroche all did really well. The ensemble were good, but not as good as I'm used to from the London production I have to say. The only actor I really didn't rate was the Bishop. On the one hand I didn't like his voice: it was actually too classical and more fitting for an aria! Also, the way he sang his lines/the timing was really off to me, so I was glad when he stopped singing I'm ashamed to say.
A lot of people have mentioned the orchestrations. In the first scene I thought the new orchestrations worked really well and were on par with the 'old' production. They were very rhythmic and I enjoyed that, but I didn't think much of the orchestrations for some of the other songs.
Overall then, it was a nice matinee, really well received, a full house if I'm not mistaken. I'm glad I went all the way to Birmingham to see this. At the same time, however, I wasn't blown away as much as usual. It was the 4th time, so maybe it's 'dying down' a bit, but I think I just really prefer the original production. And what people say about the London cast working really well together is probably true as well as I thought the two London casts I saw were tighter. I also prefer the London costumes as I find the tour ones a bit amateur in comparison.
Still, it's great to be able to see another take on this, and some things worked really well, e.g. the beginning. We should be grateful that we can have two different versions at the same time without one replacing the other!