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Awesome Les Mis storms barricades
Moment of destiny: John Owen-Jones sees the light as Jean Valjean. Pictures: Michael le Poer Trench Les Misérables Birmingham Hippodrome FIFTY Six million people can't be wrong -
56,000,001 now if you include me. That's the number of people, give or take the odd
row of seats here and there, who have seen Les Misérables since it
opened at The Barbican in 1985 to less than enthusiastic reviews. OK, so the critics were wrong . . . it happens
. . . occasionally. Twenty five years on and the original in
London, now at the Queen's Theatre, is the world's longest running
musical, The Mousetrap of musicals, and a tourist attraction in its own
right while this new touring production is simply awesome. The sets are huge and spectacular, the cast
faultless and - the acid test - the show seems to last nowhere near the
three hours indicated by watches. The musical is based on Victor Hugo's novel of
the same name and tells the tale of Jean Valjean, a reformed prisoner on
the run. When Fantine, one of his workers, is sacked without his
knowledge because she has had an illegitimate child, Cosette, her life
falls apart and as she dies, Valjean full of remorse vows to bring up
her child. That is easier said than done when there is a police inspector on his tail determined to return him to jail and there is also a small matter of a revolution led by students in protest at treatment of the poor just around the corner.
Not the stuff of musicals you might think, no
hills alive there, dancing all night or corn as high as elephant's eyes
to play with but this is much closer to opera than Oklahoma where love,
tragedy and noble causes are stock in trade and the result is a
relentless piece of theatre. John Owen-Jones, from South Wales, was voted
both the best JeanValjean ever and the best Les Mis performer ever in a
worldwide poll of Les Mis fans and it is easy to see why. He has that
certain stage presence which sets some performers apart, a powerful
tenor voice and the counter tenor of an angel with Bring Him Home
on the barricades a performance which makes hairs stand up on necks. Not that he has it all his own way. Earl Carpenter as the downright nasty Inspector Javert shows a fine baritone and his suicide leap into the Seine is a spectacular special effect using the giant video screen and clever flying. The screen provides a constantly changing back
drop of prison, of cities and towns and of the sewers of Paris as
Valjean carries his future son in law Marius to safety after the short
lived revolution. Fantine's I Dreamed A Dream, was a hear a
pin drop moment with perhaps the best known song in the show, well known
and a standard long before Susan Boyle appeared on Britain's Got Talent,
while Rosalind James had a memorable voice in an equally memorable
performance as Thénardiers' daughter Éponine
The dastardly Thénardiers (right) almost
steal the show with the buxom Lynne Wilmot and the deliciously
despicable Ashley Artus - how Fagin fails to be in his CV is a mystery -
as the horrendous villains of Dickensian proportions. Artus manages it with such a light, sure touch
and impeccable comic timing that the audience would forgive him and his
wife almost anything. Gareth Gates, the first Pop Idol runner up in
2002, makes a fine Marius, (below) the idealistic young revolutionary
saved from the slaughter on the barricades by Valjean to marry
Cosette, Katie Hall. It must be a relief for him to be judged as an
actor rather than screamed at as a mere celebrity these days and his
bittersweet solo Empty Chairs at Empty Tables had some real
poignancy about it. Throughout it all is the fine orchestra under
Peter White who managed to get a good balance between singer and sound
which is not always easy. The direction by Christopher Key keeps the
action moving at a fair old lick but that is also thanks to a brilliant
set design by Mat Kinley. Whole walls and streets, broken carts,
bridges, barricades, inns, cafes, country mansions and even a red light
district glide silently into place or back into the wings or flies with
no pause with the screen at the back adding mood and atmosphere.
This a big production in every way with a
dozen 45ft artics trundling the show from venue to venue around the
countryside and the fact that the crew can unload and set the whole
thing up ready to go with lighting, scenery, props and the rest in a
strange theatre in a mere 48 hours is a remarkable achievement in
itself. Then there are some 101 cast and crew for each
performance, 392 full costumes with 1,782 items of clothing and 31 wigs
not to mention all the props carried on and off. The facts and figures are endless; the show
has been translated in 21 languages and produced in 41 countries with
more than 43,000 professional performances, 33 cast recordings and on
and on. The show started as a French concept album by
composer Claude-Michel Schönberg with a libretto by Alain Boublil
and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and was staged as a concert event at a
Paris Sports arena closing three months later when the booking ran out. Five years later after two years in development Sir Cameron Mackintosh produced the English version in 1985 and the rest is histoire as they say with last night's performance 25 years on, earning a well deserved standing ovation. From the Hippodrome Les Mis goes to Edinburgh
and then heads to its birthplace of Paris from May 26 to July 4 this
year where, in a twist of irony, it will be performed in English
with French surtitles. If 56 million people having seen the show so
far - and still counting - that is more than two million a year.
And with a General Election looming it is a sobering thought that since
the last election in 2005 more people will have seen Les Mis than voted
for Labour (9.5m), the Tories (8.8 m) or the Lib-Dems (5.9m). Les Mis rules - OK! To 17-04-10 Roger Clarke
Final word . . .
****
JUST how good is this 25th anniversary production of
Boublil & Schonberg's masterpiece musical based on the classic novel by
Victor Hugo?
I was out of the country on media night, but on my return so many
friends were raving about the sell-out show I decided to try to buy a
couple of return tickets, and eventually succeeded.
I must have seen Les Mis at least half a dozen times, including
the schools edition, and never been disappointed, so I was very
interested to see how the various changes introduced worked. Could they
add to the enjoyment, or be seen as trying to 'mend' something that was
not broken?
The black and white street scenes played on a huge screen at the
rear of the stage worked well, particularly when our hero, Jean Valjean,
was carrying the badly wounded student, Marius, away from the fighting
and to safety. A definite improvement.
The scene where single-minded cop, Javert, leaps to his death from
a river bridge, is definitely more effective, but the famous barricade
was built with so many gaps a kid with a peashooter could have
penetrated it.
And the there is a change for the better as the musical opens
with the chain gang, instead of breaking rocks, are being whipped as
they desperately row a ship in heavy seas.
John Owen-Jones, voted the best-ever Jean Valjean, is superb as
the reformed convict and I have never heard the emotional 'Bring Him
Home' sung better.
On the down side, Earl Carpenter, impressive as the cruel Javert,
doesn't quite do justice to the soliloquy before he jumps to his death,
and in the comedy role of grubby innkeeper Thenardier, Ashley Artus
never reaches the heights achieved by Alun Armstrong who was quite
brilliant in the part.
Nor did the finale match that of past productions. Nevertheless,
still a value for money show, expensive as it is. And many people in the
audience gave the show a standing ovation. Paul Marston
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