Hey everyone. Here is Les Miserables as promised! I went to see it in August 2011 I think (I seriously couldn't believe it was that long ago when I was trying to think when I saw it whilst writing this!). It was at the Queen's Theatre and we had the understudy Javert for the performance.
So, we had a bit of unbelievable luck when we went to see Les Mis, as since we had booked the tickets so far in advance, we had no idea who was going to be in it. As it turned out, Alfie Boe would be playing Jean Valjean and Matt Lucas was in the part of Thenardier and thank goodness, they were both there on the night! We had heard a lot about Alfie Boe and had listened to some of his performances online so we were quite excited, especially my Mum as she had been waiting to see Les Mis for a long time and by now was a big Alfie Boe fan and still is today. We had never gone due to the expense of the tickets and not really knowing the plot line. It is quite confusing but I had done it at college the year before, so we all knew the plot by now, well my Dad had some idea! Also, it is quite long so we had been holding off until we knew my sister would be able to cope and she was old enough to understand the plot. It helped her by seeing my show first as she knew the basics, we talked about it, and she was able to tell you basically all the different plot lines if you asked her after she had seen it and still knows it today!
Les Miserables is the longest running musical in London, reaching 30 years this year, so again, as a theatre fan I did feel as though I had to see it, but I had been wanting to for quite a while. To be honest I had been struggling to understand the plot from reading things online and I wasn't up for reading the novel, so I am glad we did it at school and I learnt it! It is based on the historical novel by Victor Hugo, which was originally published in 1862, the first English translation was done in the same year. It was turned into a musical by Alain Boubill and Claude-Michel Schonberg. There have been many adaptions and interpretations since, most notably the 2012 film, but beware of Russel Crowe's singing if you intend to watch this, otherwise, everyone else is pretty good!
In case you don't know, the musical follows the story of Jean Valjean. It begins in 1815 with him finishing prison time and this is also where we meet Javert a guard/police officer. We then follow the hardship Valjean endures due to him being a convict, before due to kindness of a bishop, he decides and is able to go and set a new life up for himself. It then skips ahead to 1823, where he has a new life and we are introduced to new key characters such as Cossette. We also get more confrontation between Valjean and Javert and their conflicting points of views. It then skips forward again to 1832 in Paris, where we see the popular unrest, led by Enjolas and meet the final characters such as Marius. This is where the love story between Marius and Cosette is set up. Through the second act, we see the struggles of the students, the pursuit of Valjean by Javert and the more comical side of things from the Thenardiers!
Oddly, I don't have a favourtie character in this musical. It does alternate between Valjean, Javert and Enjolras, depending on which song is my favourite at the time. I like Valjean as it is his story we are following and you can see how unfairly he was treated. Then again, Javert is only really trying to do his job. Then I like Enjolras as he is the revolutionist, with so much passion for his cause and he starts off some of the most inspiring songs in the musical!
I'll start with the cast. Alfie Boe was as amazing as I expected him to be, from start to finish he was outstanding as Valjean. His voice was spot on in every song, showing his power in the Confrontation, but also how he could perform the softer songs such as Bring him home. This is my favourite song, so to see it being sung live and done with such emotion was a real treat and one of my fondest memories of a west end show. I obviously don't have anyone to compare him to directly as it is the only time I have seen it live so far, but I can compare him to Hugh Jackman in the film and clips of others on Youtube. Regarding Hugh, I thought he was quite good, but his vibrato got a bit annoying and they should have cast Alfie really as he was the most current popular Valjean and he would have performed much better vocally. I know that lots of people like the original Valjean, Colm Wilkinson, but to be honest I don't really like his singing voice as it has an odd tone to me and I much prefer the singing voices of other Vajeans that I have heard. Matt Lucas was as funny as I expected as well, I wasn't a huge fan of Little Britain when I was younger, but I do like him in certain roles and interviews etc. I had no idea how he would be in a musical, but he had the perfect role. He performed Master of the House with Madame Thenardier brilliantly and had everyone in the room laughing. They seemed to worked really well together as their chemistry on stage was really good, they played off each others reactions and little facial expressions brilliantly. I really liked the actors playing the students, as they had strong voices and showed the passion that the students should have. The kids were good as well, we saw Daniel who ended up playing Gavroche in the film and the young lady playing Cossette was pitch perfect as well.
I have to admit (anyone who has watched Les Mis with me knows I hate this!) that I really don't like the Cosette/Marius love story. I much prefer watching Valjean vs. Javert and the political side of the musical via the students. I get really bored in love story scenes, especially when they have quite boring songs. The actor and actress playing those roles were fine, I just don't think that I personally paid that much attention as I always zone out a bit in love story parts. The part I hate the most in Les Mis is the incredibly high note sung by Cosette at the end of A Heart full of Love. I think this problem arose for me due to when we did it at school the girl playing Cosette could never hit it, and I also really hate high pitch female singing, so it isn't really the actresses fault but the composers for putting it in there, but obviously this is only my opinion and I know some people really like it.
The music is arguably the most important part of the show as it is sung-though musical (one that is sung the whole way through with no dialogue). The score overall is known to be amazing with so many strengths it is impossible to mention them all. As I mentioned before, my favourite song is Bring Him Home, as it is very emotional and a brilliant solo song for Valjean. I think the same also applies for Javert's Stars which is a nice song as well when sung properly! The most rousing song has to be Do you hear the people sing as it really makes you want to join in. It does help when the actors playing the students really do portray their anger and passion whilst singing and as I mentioned before, the actors we had were all really good (lots of them feature in the 25th anniversary concert, lots of clips are on youtube, in case you are interested).
SPOLIER ALERT!!! One of my favourite moments is the Confrontation as it really shows off the powerful voices of the two actors playing Valjean and Javert, but I also like the music and how their two different singing parts interact. It is also the only part where we learn a bit more about Javert really. The saddest moment is the death of Gavroche as building up to it isn't that dramatic but the tension when he is over the barricade is unreal, the whole audience was completely silent and motionless as though people thought if we did something it would harm him or his chances of surviving. The build up of the music after his death also helps to signify the importance of his death and how devastating it really is. The funniest moment has to go to Beggars at the Feast and how the row between the Thenardiers begins and then the song begins. I guess this is just a funny moment anyway, but the actors we had made it that little bit more special I think with their chemistry and perfect comic timings.
The sets are also incredible and I will always remember seeing the barricade for the first time. I had been really looking forward to seeing the barricade as we built a pretty good one at school so I was looking forward to seeing the real thing. As we were in the circle we could see everything from above and the barricade looked really good. I imagine from the stalls it looks huge and you can imagine yourself standing in front of it or feel as though you are behind it with the students at certain points. I like how the set moves, it sort of goes in a circle, which as I have spoken about in previous posts, aids with scene changes, but looks good visually as well. The inn is quite a nice set as well as although it is one of the smaller sets, it does the job perfectly for setting the scene. The costumes were as expected, lots of white for Cosette and the ghosts at the end, nice military costumes for Javert and some of the students and lots of dark, poor looking clothing for most of the rest of the cast. Lots of dirt make up as well! I do remember Valjean has some odd thick make up lines on at the end acting as wrinkles to make him look older, but I always think they look a bit over the top in every photo I have seen them in. Shout out to Javert's sideburns which are incredible!
I don't remember any sound issues at all, which is a bonus. The balance between the orchestra and the singing was also spot on which is good as sometimes when you have a large band, the balance can go off a bit. The lighting is nice, obviously lots of it is quite dark, but this does help to get you in the mood, I particularly like the opening scene where the sound effects are really powerful, along with the music and dark lighting to set the mood, showing you the struggle Valjean was facing. The theatre itself is a really nice one and was in a good condition when we went. We sat in the front row of the circle where there was limited leg room so jsut be warned if you are quite tall, our family is all quite small so we were OK!
I am so glad that I did see Les Mis and it is one that I would like to return to in the future, but I am not dying to see it again as I am with some others, some of the lighter ones. I still have lots of memories that I want to hold onto. My Mum loved it, but also isn't that fussed about seeing it in the near future as she loved seeing Alfie Boe that much she is worried no one will ever match him. I know this could seem a bit silly to some people, but I get what she means, I don't really mind not seeing it for a long time again as I was so happy with the performance I saw and it was really unique and special, if I went again and it wasn't as good as I remembered, would I be disappointed? It is really long and quite a heavy one, I am not rushing to see it again as I am with some others I have enjoyed like Matilda as I think I could slip back into that one quite easily, have a laugh and remember that performance in its own right. I can't help thinking with Les Mis that I would keep comparing it to my first time with Alfie and Matt and not enjoy it as much as I could. We've also had the film since I went so I wonder if that satisfied my need to go again or I got sick of it for a bit when everyone was singing the songs for ages. If I leave it a few more years then I think my desire to see it again will reappear at some point.
If you have the opportunity then please do go and see it. It is quite expensive if you want a decent seat so get saving. If you are unsure about the plot then watch the film first and/or read sparknotes, and/or go along to a school production or local production as they sometimes leave some bits out to make it shorter and at least it gives you a sense of what is going on!
As always, here the website link: http://www.lesmis.com/uk/
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