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Like most Americans, I first saw the 25th on PBS. I had read the book and seen the road show in Chicago many years before. When it first aired, I was distracted and it barely registered. But the second time, I wandered into the room as Alfie Boe began "Who Am I?" stopped dead in my tracks and didn't move for the next three hours.
Alfie Boe is magnificent, he may be the best Valjean in Les Mis' thirty year history. (That includes the movie too). His voice is angry, vengeful, baffled, pleading, commanding, tender and loving. Boe has a bright tenor voice that snarls or rings out with all the nuance of speech. Les Mis is a tough sing that would tax any tenor, but you never worry if he'll hit a high, only wonder how stunning it will be. The four minute standing ovation (cut down to one minute on the DVD) for "Bring Him Home" was completely deserved. The song is a prayer, and you feel Boe isn't singing a prayer, he's praying on stage.
The other cast members are equally impressive. Norm Lewis' Javert is all menace and malice. He despises this peasant and thief, and will wipe out the one blot on his record. Norm's baritone can be completely chilling, and "The Confrontation" is practically a duel. Another singer might have drowned against Boe, but each meeting is tense and powerful.
Lea Salonga and Samantha Barks as Fantine and Eponine are each heart breaking, doomed by fate and love. They pour themselves into "I Dreamed a Dream" and "On My Own" and bring down the house. Ramin Karimloo is a passionate, charismatic Enjorlas. Matt Lucas and Jennie Galloway seem like comic relief until you see the sinister charm behind them, very well done.
Much has been written about Nick Jonas and Katie Hall. Nick was only 17yo for the 25th, and their voices blend well. Nick can't quite keep up with the older, more powerful singers, but he makes "Empty Chairs, Empty Tables" his own. They are sweet lovers here.
A show this big deserves big encores. They bring on the Queen's Theater cast, the 25th Anniversary Touring cast, and the original 1985 cast. And the crowd goes wild, with good reason. The rewritten "Bring Him Home" for the four Valjeans (and the key change), is almost worth the price of the DVD by itself.
A huge orchestra and choir, a massive stage, spectacular lighting and effects, three screens for a crowd of 17,000, cameras everywhere, costumes, and sensitive editing. Les Miserables as it should be done.
score 10/10
laureldf-1 27 May 2014
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3023804/ |
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18-2-2021 06:05:07