This is the twenty-second time I have experienced Les Miserables live. As the world’s longest running musical it adapts Victor Hugo’s novel to follow an escaped convict on his path from conversion through to death, demonstrating how he affected the lives of those around him, set against a post-Revolution French backdrop. And I was thoroughly impressed. This was definitely the most consistently brilliant cast I have seen perform the show. I saw the same production in London but a few months previously and that was my first viewing of the new sections recently added to the score. I am most in favour of them and how they give many moments for various chorus members to ‘shine’. I particularly like the section in the prologue where Jean Valjean (Daniel Koek) enters a pub pre-conversion and we see that he is no more improved as a person because of his sentence, but instead it is God, through the Bishop (Leo Roberts), who truly changes this man. This is clear in the book but less so in the original musical, and has now been rectified thanks to this new section.
Virtually the whole world knows what incredibly powerful and original musical this is so I needn’t go into the details but I would like to flit through the impressively consistent cast. Koek himself was impressive and a very good match for Tam Mutu (Javert), who seemed to grow in character and confidence as the musical progressed (as Javerts tend to, myself a prime example). His rendition of Stars was one of the highlights of the show. Na-Young Jeon (Fantine) has a truly spectacular voice but her acting did seem relatively wooden and cliched, though it is possible I am being critical – like the rest of the world – because it’s virtually impossible to live up to Anne Hathaway’s portrayal in the 2013 film. Interestingly when I saw the production a few months ago my very favourite aspect of the whole production was Adam Linstead’s Grantaire. At the time I was in the process of rehearsals for a local production of the show in which I was playing Grantaire and Linstead really demonstrated how much can be done with the role and caused me to have a lot more fun when playing it myself. I was also that time rather disappointed with Cameron Blakely’s Thenardier. Naturally then when I heard at the theatre that Linstead would be taking the role of Thenardier for this performance I got very excited, and rightly so for he was absolutely superb, and definitely level with the brilliant Alun Armstrong as my favourite portrayals of the role. Wendy Ferguson (Mme. Thenardier) was also thoroughly amusing as ever. Rob Houchen played Marius skillfully and sang beautifully, while Samantha Dorsey (Cosette) did well at making something out of a very dry and difficult role. I was also very impressed with Anton Zetterholm’s voice and loved his slow-motion flip over the back of the barricade. Finally I must admit that the reason I bought tickets for this performance was to see the beautiful Carrie Hope Fletcher as Eponine. And she did not disappoint. As a big fan of her work, talents, loyalty and originality, I was proud to recognise her in At the End of the Day, not by seeing her at all but purely by picking out her very pure voice from among the ensemble. She manages to sing superbly whilst still ‘speaking’ naturally rather than exaggerating the opera factor like so many do, that while great, unfortunately detaches from the effect of the story. Admittedly it seemed odd that, having been shot, she didn’t appear to be suffering from any pain until Marius discovers the wound himself. After that however, A Little Fall of Rain was stunning, much like On My Own and particularly her section in The Beggars (the reprise of Look Down). This whole company seemed to really gel as a family and the whole piece blended together far more smoothly than I have ever seen it done before. Having been minorly disappointed with the London cast that preceded this, I was astounded by how starkly different this one was. It restored my faith in the show and West End casting directors as a whole.
Acerbically Analytical Adolescence 