643 posts
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Post by theatremiss on Sept 20, 2023 15:13:20 GMT
Saw this on Saturday night for the first time post-concert iteration. I was largely blown away. Chris Jacobsen's Valjean is honestly unreal... he moved me to tears that I couldn't keep under control. I was lucky enough to be second row and my god: he did not stop with the details from minute one. Vocally impressive and robust too, particularly having worked through the heat on the second of a two-show day, with an impeccable falsetto, healthy-sounding belt and a couple of lovely opt-ups in The Bargain scene. Can only echo what others have said recently in him surely deserving a shot at principal over the next few years. Other standouts were Stewart Clarke (seriously, seriously good in every respect. Stars brought the house down - everyone around me was talking about it during the interval - and I swear I caught a glimmer of a half-smile from him before slipping straight back to his po-faced Act 1 Javert immediately afterwards) and Nathania Ong (a shame she's leaving, her voice and characterisation were glorious). It appears in very good shape just before cast change. Was only sad to miss Lucie Jones, although seeing Natalie Chua's final scheduled Fantine and the vibes the whole cast gave her at curtain call more than made up for it. I couldn’t agree more. I used to see him at the alternate a number of years ago when he was in a previous cast. He’s absolutely sublime and one of my favourite JVJs. I spoke to him on Sat and I missed his whole week run whilst Piterman was on leave, but Mon nights will be my go to now.
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643 posts
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Post by theatremiss on Sept 20, 2023 15:20:24 GMT
Les Mis is a favourite show of mine, seen it so many times I stopped counting. However, the show isn’t in a great shape IMHO. Now I know on Sat night there were lots of swings and second covers on etc and in fairness the second cover Marius wasn’t a bad cover at all and neither was the Enjolras cover. But when did Les Mis become so shouty and angry? So many performers screamed their way through their songs. Javert (understudy and didn’t get the name) was ear splitting and I have to say Piterman seemed to struggle with some of the notes in Bring Him Home. I usually like Claire Machin as she tends to put in a good performance, but on Sat night she was like some sort of pantomime dame. I’m not usually a fan of Lucie Jones, but she was one of the better performers that evening.
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Post by David J on Sept 20, 2023 15:46:30 GMT
To be honest this whole shouting and angry stuff has gradually been taking over for the past decade I have been watching Les Mis at the Queens/Sondheim.
It feels like a combination of actor's choice, making up for limited vocals or the general direction nowadays. Trevor Nunn's touch has faded away. I watched recent interviews with Philip Quast where he describes Trevor's direction or his approach to the roles he plays (techniques the RSC teaches). And you look at Philip's performance as the ultimate Javert and performances nowadays and it's night and day.
Javert's Suicide in particular seems to be the moment the actor wants to put his stamp on it and show the pain and angst Javert's going through. There's an audio of a performance out there with David Thaxton's Javert earlier this year. For most of it I felt wow David is giving a great performance here. Wished I saw him live. Then he turns all shouty for the Suicide. Sigh
And it seems from that audio that the military officer in the Final Battle is all shouty and emoting. Obviously lifted from the Gielgud concert. And I hated that. To me he should be emotionless and commanding. Representing a indominable force that the students will not survive
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643 posts
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Post by theatremiss on Sept 20, 2023 16:32:17 GMT
To be honest this whole shouting and angry stuff has gradually been taking over for the past decade I have been watching Les Mis at the Queens/Sondheim. It feels like a combination of actor's choice, making up for limited vocals or the general direction nowadays. Trevor Nunn's touch has faded away. I watched recent interviews with Philip Quast where he describes Trevor's direction or his approach to the roles he plays (techniques the RSC teaches). And you look at Philip's performance as the ultimate Javert and performances nowadays and it's night and day. Javert's Suicide in particular seems to be the moment the actor wants to put his stamp on it and show the pain and angst Javert's going through. There's an audio of a performance out there with David Thaxton's Javert earlier this year. For most of it I felt wow David is giving a great performance here. Wished I saw him live. Then he turns all shouty for the Suicide. Sigh And it seems from that audio that the military officer in the Final Battle is all shouty and emoting. Obviously lifted from the Gielgud concert. And I hated that. To me he should be emotionless and commanding. Representing a indominable force that the students will not survive I did see Thaxton, he’s one of those performers that I always book to see. I totally get what you are saying about Nunn’s touch fading. I must be nearly approaching 100 visits over the years, but I’d say I’ve not visited much at all in the last 2 years, maybe twice. I just wish they’d sing it. I’m also peeved that the revolve has gone, never understood the reasoning behind that.
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Post by demelza on Sept 21, 2023 11:48:04 GMT
The slip seats are usually 69,5/72,5 and the view is quite good, and at a more moderate price than other seats. Those seats are advertised as restricted legroom, but I´m very tall and had no issues. To be fair, I was in the aisle. This show is crazy expensive, isn´t it? Slips are how much these days?! God, I remember when they used to be £25... that's nearly triple the price in a decade
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850 posts
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Post by BVM on Sept 21, 2023 12:20:26 GMT
Anyone got any advice on how you actually get to see Josh Piterman in this lol?
Have been thrice since cast change hoping to see him and all three times he's been out. Obvs I get that you pay your money and take your chances but he does seem hard to track down.
Off again last night - had even checked holidays before booking to make sure it wasn't that!
Anyway, hopefully I'll get to see the guy someday.
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Post by SuttonPeron on Sept 21, 2023 18:24:58 GMT
The slip seats are usually 69,5/72,5 and the view is quite good, and at a more moderate price than other seats. Those seats are advertised as restricted legroom, but I´m very tall and had no issues. To be fair, I was in the aisle. This show is crazy expensive, isn´t it? Slips are how much these days?! God, I remember when they used to be £25... that's nearly triple the price in a decade Slips are 89,5/99,5 now. Sometimes they´ll reduce to 72,5. Crazy! I paid £20 for them on a random weekday matinée in june 2022 when the Grand was closed. The view is good, but certainly not worth that much!
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Post by demelza on Sept 21, 2023 21:31:25 GMT
Slips are how much these days?! God, I remember when they used to be £25... that's nearly triple the price in a decade Slips are 89,5/99,5 now. Sometimes they´ll reduce to 72,5. Crazy! I paid £20 for them on a random weekday matinée in june 2022 when the Grand was closed. The view is good, but certainly not worth that much! That's absolutely eye watering! Yeah, that view is definitely not worth more than £40 with the amount of leaning forward you need to do!
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Post by BVM on Sept 21, 2023 22:14:51 GMT
Yes both Phantom and Les Mis selling incredibly well currently. Great for the shows but frustrating for anyone wanting a decent view for under 89 quid!
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Post by Mark on Sept 21, 2023 22:25:30 GMT
TKTS always has some rear stalls tix in the £40 or so range.
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2,755 posts
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Post by ceebee on Sept 25, 2023 22:08:48 GMT
An absolute joy to see Adam Pearce back on stage tonight as Bishop/Ensemble. Well done Adam - you excelled tonight and your performance was perfect.
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Post by backtothetheatre on Sept 26, 2023 9:29:40 GMT
Did anyone see the new cast last night and can report back? Any standouts?
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Post by mrbarnaby on Sept 26, 2023 9:32:11 GMT
An absolute joy to see Adam Pearce back on stage tonight as Bishop/Ensemble. Well done Adam - you excelled tonight and your performance was perfect. Will he be reading this?
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2,755 posts
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Post by ceebee on Sept 26, 2023 10:08:46 GMT
An absolute joy to see Adam Pearce back on stage tonight as Bishop/Ensemble. Well done Adam - you excelled tonight and your performance was perfect. Will he be reading this? Who knows? I wrote it on the basis that I don't have the means to contact him directly but that perhaps somebody involved with the show might see it and mention it to him. He's somebody I've always enjoyed seeing on stage, as he seems very professional and looks like he would be a great member of any company of actors. Given everything he has been through in the last year, I thought it might be nice to acknowledge his first performance on returning from illness.
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Post by BVM on Sept 26, 2023 10:24:34 GMT
An absolute joy to see Adam Pearce back on stage tonight as Bishop/Ensemble. Well done Adam - you excelled tonight and your performance was perfect. That’s great to hear :-) How were rest of new cast?! And was Josh on?!
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Post by ceebee on Sept 26, 2023 10:26:00 GMT
Did anyone see the new cast last night and can report back? Any standouts? Yes, I saw them. I thought they were excellent - Les Mis as a show can bore me quickly, but there was high energy and a nice vitality about the whole cast. Will Callan as Marius was excellent - this is a role that irritates me as often it's played as a simpering drip, but he gave a fresh interpretation and (no disrespect intended to him) he reminded me of a younger James Corden. Djavan Van De Fliert was also excellent as Enjolras - a charismatic presence. I also liked Katie Hall's Fantine and Luke Kempner's Thenardier, in which he held his own paired up with the ridiculously brilliant Claire Machin as Mme Thenardier. Adam Pearce stood out, probably because I was watching him more closely, as an empathetic Bishop and also in the barricade scenes. I'm pretty sure I saw Josh Piterman as Valjean - again, a strong performance and I just shut my eyes and bathed in the beauty of "Bring Him Home". Pitch perfect, as good as any I have heard before. Stewart Clarke as Javert was (for me) a very interesting performance as there were some real attempts at light and shade, similar to Philip Quast, and less of the flailing madness that other actors have bestowed on the role in recent times. I enjoyed him almost whispering and spitting some of his words before punching out some big notes. A nuanced interpretation and he has clearly got right under the skin of the character. Any standouts? I can't say that anybody blew me away but I was happy to see that there is a discipline and commitment to high production values that hasn't always been the case with Les Mis. Seems like both Les Mis and Phantom have really focused on squeezing the maximum value out of their revamps in recent years to attract and retain a new audience.
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Post by BVM on Sept 26, 2023 11:21:16 GMT
Did anyone see the new cast last night and can report back? Any standouts? Any standouts? I can't say that anybody blew me away but I was happy to see that there is a discipline and commitment to high production values that hasn't always been the case with Les Mis. Seems like both Les Mis and Phantom have really focused on squeezing the maximum value out of their revamps in recent years to attract and retain a new audience. Totally agree. I know CM gets a lot of flak in these parts but since the coronavirus both Phantom and Les Mis have been incredibly tight and delivering excellent quality. For such long runners, mainly attended by tourists this is no mean feat to keep both so fresh night after night. And certainly this has also translated into fantastic ticket sales with deals for either now pretty rare and total sell outs at weekends/holidays common.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 26, 2023 11:57:01 GMT
An absolute joy to see Adam Pearce back on stage tonight as Bishop/Ensemble. Well done Adam - you excelled tonight and your performance was perfect. Will he be reading this? What makes you think he won’t be?
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Post by A.Ham on Sept 26, 2023 21:39:32 GMT
Great to see some of the standouts from the recent tour cast moving into the West End production. I saw both Will Callan and Katie Hall in Southampton last spring and thought they were both excellent.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 5, 2023 11:31:03 GMT
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Post by distantcousin on Oct 5, 2023 11:55:34 GMT
Yes both Phantom and Les Mis selling incredibly well currently. Great for the shows but frustrating for anyone wanting a decent view for under 89 quid!
It's amazing how these shows just rumble on and on - I guess people are introducing their children to them, having grown up with them themselves.
I used to LOVE Les Mis back in the 90's/00's, but given what I hear of the production now, it seems SO far removed - dare I say "bastardised" version of the original production production, I would not want my memories spoiled. It's best left in the past.
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Post by A.Ham on Oct 5, 2023 12:14:40 GMT
New booking period has just gone on sale, now booking to 28th September 2024.
I'd assume that was probably planned for today/this week by DMT anyway, especially as they've released the same extension for Hamilton, but hopefully the JSO publicity will help them sell a few more tickets!
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Post by anthony40 on Oct 5, 2023 12:17:09 GMT
The show has been running so long now that for any up and coming actor or theatre graduate being in it as almost a right of passage and the routine, commitment and discipline required is great grounding for any future projects- be that of a lead or ensemble cast member.
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Post by toomasj on Oct 5, 2023 12:19:28 GMT
Yes both Phantom and Les Mis selling incredibly well currently. Great for the shows but frustrating for anyone wanting a decent view for under 89 quid!
It's amazing how these shows just rumble on and on - I guess people are introducing their children to them, having grown up with them themselves.
I used to LOVE Les Mis back in the 90's/00's, but given what I hear of the production now, it seems SO far removed - dare I say "bastardised" version of the original production production, I would not want my memories spoiled. It's best left in the past.
Personally, I’ve been a lifelong fan of Les Mis and saw the show last year. Frankly, it was as good as I’ve ever seen it from my perspective. It was dreadful at times in the mid 2000’s, where it looked like it was on life support. I’d go more often if it wasn’t such a hot ticket. I miss the revolve of course, but the positive changes far outweigh the negatives. My only wish is they’d slow down a bit and let moments breathe. It feels like it’s been getting faster and faster since the Palace run. Could do with a genuinely superb Javert too, as the last great one I saw was Hans-Peter Janssens and that was in 2006… I’ve seen it about 50 times since then.
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Post by solangelafitte on Oct 5, 2023 13:33:43 GMT
It's amazing how these shows just rumble on and on - I guess people are introducing their children to them, having grown up with them themselves.
I used to LOVE Les Mis back in the 90's/00's, but given what I hear of the production now, it seems SO far removed - dare I say "bastardised" version of the original production production, I would not want my memories spoiled. It's best left in the past.
Personally, I’ve been a lifelong fan of Les Mis and saw the show last year. Frankly, it was as good as I’ve ever seen it from my perspective. It was dreadful at times in the mid 2000’s, where it looked like it was on life support. I’d go more often if it wasn’t such a hot ticket. I miss the revolve of course, but the positive changes far outweigh the negatives. My only wish is they’d slow down a bit and let moments breathe. It feels like it’s been getting faster and faster since the Palace run. Could do with a genuinely superb Javert too, as the last great one I saw was Hans-Peter Janssens and that was in 2006… I’ve seen it about 50 times since then. Not enough people bring up Hans-Peter Janssens lately! He was fantastic. That 2006/2007 21st anniversary cast with him, JOJ, Tracie Bennett, Gina Beck, Simon Bailey and later Joanna Ampil remains one of my favourites. Maybe it's because I hit an age where I first had my own disposable income so saw I saw them more than most other casts and it's a fondness related to that, I don't know. But they felt like a strong cast to me. Plus David Thaxton was always very enjoyable as Bamatabois.
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Post by SuttonPeron on Oct 5, 2023 13:53:02 GMT
I saw this last week and loved it. I had already seen the show last year, but this cast took it to a whole new level. The ensamble was incredible, and in top shape vocally. Lovely to see Djavan Van der Fliert as Enjolras, he was as good as this as in Frozen. He´s got a bright future ahead of him. Same for Will Callan as Marius. Katie Hall was sublime as Fantine. Beautiful acting AND vocals (take notes, Anne Hathaway!). Stewart Clarke is a standout as Javert. Loved both his vocal and acting choices. I really felt his character arch. But the star of the show was undoubtedly Chris Jacobsen as Jean Valjean. His clear, healthy voice blew me away so many times. Very solid acting as well, with lots of emotion. He truly was born to play the role, and after over 13 years of understudying it he really deserves to be promoted to principle.
There are things of this production I will never bring myself into liking, such as the Panto-Thenardiers, some of the musical tempi and staging choices... and, of course, the loss of the turntable. I also thought the orchestra was much less poignant than when I first went a year ago. But this is still the beautiful score and heartfelt message so many people love, and it´s in very good hands hands at the Sondheim. It still feels fresh and very relevant. Hopefully it keeps inspiring people to stand up for their beliefs... (as soon as they leave the venue!) Still a solid 5-stars for me
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Post by anthony40 on Oct 5, 2023 14:25:27 GMT
Question: As it had been quite some time since I have seen this, is the adult Cosette still in the black dress? Or has it changed to blue?
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Post by SuttonPeron on Oct 5, 2023 14:54:57 GMT
I don´t think the black dress exists anymore, sadly. Another change I do miss.
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Post by tom on Oct 5, 2023 21:52:29 GMT
Personally, I’ve been a lifelong fan of Les Mis and saw the show last year. Frankly, it was as good as I’ve ever seen it from my perspective. It was dreadful at times in the mid 2000’s, where it looked like it was on life support. I’d go more often if it wasn’t such a hot ticket. I miss the revolve of course, but the positive changes far outweigh the negatives. My only wish is they’d slow down a bit and let moments breathe. It feels like it’s been getting faster and faster since the Palace run. Could do with a genuinely superb Javert too, as the last great one I saw was Hans-Peter Janssens and that was in 2006… I’ve seen it about 50 times since then. Not enough people bring up Hans-Peter Janssens lately! He was fantastic. That 2006/2007 21st anniversary cast with him, JOJ, Tracie Bennett, Gina Beck, Simon Bailey and later Joanna Ampil remains one of my favourites. Maybe it's because I hit an age where I first had my own disposable income so saw I saw them more than most other casts and it's a fondness related to that, I don't know. But they felt like a strong cast to me. Plus David Thaxton was always very enjoyable as Bamatabois. That cast was the first I saw but with thaxton as enjolras. Great cast
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Post by toomasj on Oct 6, 2023 7:59:47 GMT
Personally, I’ve been a lifelong fan of Les Mis and saw the show last year. Frankly, it was as good as I’ve ever seen it from my perspective. It was dreadful at times in the mid 2000’s, where it looked like it was on life support. I’d go more often if it wasn’t such a hot ticket. I miss the revolve of course, but the positive changes far outweigh the negatives. My only wish is they’d slow down a bit and let moments breathe. It feels like it’s been getting faster and faster since the Palace run. Could do with a genuinely superb Javert too, as the last great one I saw was Hans-Peter Janssens and that was in 2006… I’ve seen it about 50 times since then. Not enough people bring up Hans-Peter Janssens lately! He was fantastic. That 2006/2007 21st anniversary cast with him, JOJ, Tracie Bennett, Gina Beck, Simon Bailey and later Joanna Ampil remains one of my favourites. Maybe it's because I hit an age where I first had my own disposable income so saw I saw them more than most other casts and it's a fondness related to that, I don't know. But they felt like a strong cast to me. Plus David Thaxton was always very enjoyable as Bamatabois. That cast was the absolute best I ever saw, completely agree. Became a lifelong fan of Gina Beck off the back of her absolutely sublime Cosette, usually such a thankless role. In fact, with John Owen-Jones being my favourite Valjean, Janssens being my favourite Javert plus Beck and Tracie Bennett absolutely tearing it up as Mme. Thénardier, that’s four of my favourite ever pieces of Les Mis casting in one single cast. The show was electric at that time. Thaxton was also very powerful as Enjolras when he came in as tom rightly points out. It’s also worth mentioning that the show was in the pits prior to the massive clear out in 2005. They replaced practically the entire ensemble plus all the leads, bringing in fresh blood like Cornell John and completely resetting the show. Prior to this, it was doing terribly (50% houses) and there was real talk of closure. Without being rude about the cast, there were performers cast (often promoted) well above their ability and it showed. And there were cast who had simply been there far too long and looked very bored. In my view, the show right now (I saw the previous cast last year with the superb Chris Jacobsen on as Valjean) is in fantastic nick. I miss the revolve, some of the costumes and “moments”, and feel it is performed too fast - but the positives far outweigh the negatives. I can’t wait to go back with finances allow. One of the few shows that even at full price is worth every penny when it’s “tight”.
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