Because we really need another review of the revival

Orestes Fasting · Because we really need another review of the revival

I know I'd posted a review of the revival before, but it was buried on the third page of someone else's thread. Also, by now I've seen the revival more times than can possibly be healthy--I don't want to admit the exact number, but it's recently broken into the double digits--and I've had time to notice a few more things than last time I posted.

This is my original review, a few posts down. Here's what I have to add since then:

I'm still impressed by Alex's belt and his ability to show Valjean's train of thought in the Soliloquy and Who Am I?, but I'm really not fond of him in the rest of the show. When he doesn't have anything to sink his teeth into, he usually defaults back into either Angry Valjean or Weepy Valjean. Angry Valjean would have worked well before the "ten years later" cutoff, but frustratingly enough, nearly all the crankiness is after this point. Valjean ought to mellow out as he ages, but Alex does the opposite; it's like he's trying to maintain the vitality of the role by keeping Valjean angry and standoffish in the latter half of the show. And as we near the end of the show we get a total overdose of Weepy Valjean. I don't think Alex was doing the trying-not-to-cry act nearly as much earlier in the run; in December I only remember seeing it in the finale. But now he does it in Bring Him Home, he does it when he surveys the carnage after the barricade falls, he does it in Every Day and Valjean's confession, and he's still doing it in the finale. It would be a lot more moving if he only picked one or two spots to do it.

Norm Lewis also impresses me less the more I see him. He has a great voice, especially near the end of Stars, but he shouts too much and a lot of his big dramatic moments are rather unconvincing. Between Alex's pissiness and Norm's shouting, I always end up gritting my teeth through the scene where Valjean lets Javert go.

Lea Salonga is, of course, utterly fantastic. I actually like her Fantine a lot more than her Eponine. Nikki Ren�e Daniels' voice is just the sliiightest bit better, but Lea just absolutely nails the acting. In IDAD she always reminds me of a fairy-tale heroine cheated out of her happy ending, and I love the way she looks at the locket again in the last verse and sobs, and ends the song nearly in tears. She gets verrrrry into character in Lovely Ladies/Fantine's Arrest; at one performance she even started swearing at Bamatabois. And of course her hallucinatory parts in Come to Me are incredible.

Celia Keenan-Bolger has grown on me; in fact, she's now one of my favorite people in the revival. It just takes so much guts to play an Eponine who isn't actually that likeable as a person.

Megan McGinnis is all right as Eponine; she doesn't have any problems performing the role, but her Eponine is such an ing�nue that it plays havoc with the dynamics of the love triangle. She's sweet, shy, a soprano, and doesn't seem to be cut out to be a street waif; she seems so much like a Cosette in tattered skirts that it really seems like "all else being equal, Marius chooses the rich bourgeoise girl." Because all else is equal. With Celia it's easy to see why Marius would keep Eponine at arm's length, but with Megan it just makes him look like a dick for ignoring her.

After talking with Eponine93 a bit about Ali, I can't listen to her anymore without noticing her tone quality. She still has a really sweet voice and portrays a refreshingly likeable Cosette, but her pronunciation has started to bug me.

Gary is still camp as a row of tents, trying too hard, and not particularly funny. Jenny is still fabulous.

Marya Grandy was on as Madame Th�nardier last time I saw the show, and I can't say I was particularly impressed--though, to be fair, Jenny is a really tough act to follow. Her delivery of her verse in Master of the House was on the mark, but she doesn't have that ability Jenny has to make the audience burst out laughing by twitching her pinky finger. Mme T is a small enough role that the show doesn't suffer unless the actress is truly horrible, which Marya isn't. But still, a really good Mme T can add so much to the show, which is why I'm going to miss Jenny when she leaves.

Aaron Lazar continues to be sex on legs. (Okay, I admit it, he's half the reason I've seen the revival as many times as I have.) But it's not the looks, or how well those pants fit him, or even his voice that makes him so awesome; it's this wonderful, reserved aura of command he has about him. He barely even has to move; Aaron nods to the left, people go left. Aaron waves his hand, people put down their guns. All he has to do to keep Marius from climbing over the barricade to fetch bullets is put his hand on his arm. It's really hot, and really remniscient of Enjolras in the book. He's very serious and very thoughtful, and though he stands on tables waving flags with the best of them, he's not a brash Michael Maguire knockoff in the least.

Drew Sarich, on the other hand? Worst Enjolras I've ever seen, either live or bootlegged. Polar opposite of Aaron. Always moving, always gesticulating, always shouting, every movement exaggerated. He practically bounces. It's like ADHD Enjolras, and it's impossible to take him seriously. He wasn't acting drunk, but he definitely hadn't lost his Grantaire mannerisms. And his over-emphasized American accent annoys me to no end. To his credit, he did sound really good vocally on "they will come when we call," and he does a great dead!dangling!Enjolras. But that is not nearly enough to make up for the rest of his performance.

(I'm not ragging on Drew as an actor here; I love his Grantaire to itty bitty pieces, as off-the-wall as he can be. But this is such a prime example of hideous miscasting that whoever decided to make him the Enjolras understudy should be shot.)

I've also seen Stephen Trafton as Grantaire a few times. He plays the role much more conventionally than Drew does, and without molesting the other barricade boys; which would be all right, except that he just looks way too sweet and nice to be Grantaire. He's not the kind of boy you can easily picture being rude and abrasive.

As far as the ensemble goes, Drew Sarich, Dan Bogart, and Nehal Joshi totally steal the show. Drew is a total attention whore, and he's really funny about it; if you catch him on a good night he is absolutely side-splitting as the drunk in Master of the House. Dan is more inobtrusively awesome; he's great as Bamatabois of course, but I cracked up the first time I noticed his prissy, fastidious Traveler #1 in Master of the House (and Madame getting him drunk and starting to undress him at the end!). He also, as Combeferre, spends Drink With Me and Bring Him Home quietly reading in a corner of the barricade, which makes my inner Brick nerd squeal with delight. Nehal Joshi is just plain adorable; he plays about six different constables and guards in Act I, picks fights in Master of the House, and is the one who yells "You ass!" at Drew in Red & Black.

And I have probably rambled enough now, so I'll just shut up.

Eponine93

I'd like to have a big debate here, but I pretty much agree with everything you say. Phrases I liked: ADHD Enjolras, Aaron being sex on legs. My feelings about Drew is that he's a good enough actor that they wanted him in a bigger part, so they made him the Enjolras cover without realizing how much he would end up going on as Enjolras. I've never seen Drew, either live or bootleg, in any other show, so I'm judging him from his great Grantaire and awful Enjolras. I'm going to see him in Frankenstien in the fall if Paper Mill doesn't close, and I'm honestly quite excited to see him in another show.

Norm's shouting bugs me so much. I hate the fact he shouts the last note of his suicide. IMO, actors who do that are wimps.

I may just agree with you tonight about Alex, because right now I'm watching the TAC again and it's right in the middle of the soliloquy, and good as he is during that song, he just doesn't compare to Colm.

And Lea... she's probably one of the best Fantines ever, but did anyone expect any less from her? I'm dying to see a bootleg, I'm wondering if her portrayal will come across as much on a computer screen as it does in real life.

Orestes Fasting

The Very Angry Woman

Eponine93

Can't understand why the directors would tell Drew to act insane, and told Aaron to be completely sane.

I tend to think of Drew as Suicidal Maniac Enjolras. If I was one of the students I would be running as fast as I could in the other direction. As for Aaron's Enjolras, on the other hand... Drew's portrayal is completely the polar opposite of Aaron's Enjolras. I don't think his Enjolras would have been noted as especially horrible if he wasn't covering someone playing the role like Aaron does.

I wonder if Drew read the book. I'm fairly certain all of the leads have, from what I've seen in interviews and whatnot, but somehow I doubt Drew did.

Orestes Fasting

Eponine93

Actually, I personally thought the Grantaire/Enjolras subtext was something you almost had to look for in the musical. I barely noticed it, and I don't think my sister or my mom saw it at all. But then again, Drew's Grantaire was, in your words "molesting the other barricade boys," so I didn't notice any more particular molestation of Enjolras.

I prefer to think he put Grantaire into Google and started reading slash fanfiction. Additionally, I suppose he could have read the book, focused mainly on Grantaire, thought: "I bet I'll never need to play Enjolras, why bother?", returned to the library and then got the call to cover for Aaron. Another reason he may have made his Enjolras so awful is that he was trying to distinguish himself from Aaron and not copy him.

Have you seen Nehal Joshi as Enjolras yet, Orestes? I saw a review of him from the week in the beggining of March when Aaron was sick (the week Lea took over Fantine) at Broadwayworld.com, and from what it said, it seemed like he was better than Drew but not Aaron.

Orestes Fasting

I haven't seen Nehal's Enjolras. I really want to, though. Do you have a link to the review?

I always end up missing the fun understudies by the slimmest of margins. Last weekend I saw the show on Saturday; Dan Bogart had been on as Marius on Friday, and Robert Hunt was Javert on Sunday. (Not that I haven't seen them before, but a little tour nostalgia never hurt anyone.) Likewise I saw it at the end of Lea's first week as Fantine, so I missed Nehal as Enjolras and Chip as Th�nardier by a hair. And even though Celia's been sick for a while, I always end up seeing Megan, never Marissa McGowan.

Drew and Aaron seem to like to fiddle with their interactions, and I've never seen them treat each other the same way twice. Some nights they ignore one another as much as they possibly can within the blocking they've set up, other times they flat-out cuddle during Drink With Me.

Eponine93

Orestes, if I were you, I wouldn't complain. How many times have you seen the show...

Anyway, here's the review: http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=928262#2920444 Warning: There's a lot of Adam hate on this thread. The review on the second page should look familar...

Do you still feel the same way about Adam?

Crapgame13

I love Lea's voice, but ever since someone pointed it out about TAC I can't help but ask if she overenunciates as Fantine (particularly hard t's)

Orestes Fasting

The show, or the revival? Laughing

I still like Adam, but I could see where lots of people wouldn't. There are things I don't like about his performance, but they are ultimately things that are easy for me to ignore if I choose to. His "Had you been there tonight, you might now how it feeeeeeeels" makes me cringe just like it makes everyone else cringe, but I'm willing to forgive him his nasal tone because of the way he plays AHFOL.

So thread full of Adam-bashing doesn't make me nearly as frothy at the mouth as a thread full of hate for Celia's Eponine or Aaron's Enjolras.

Edit:

Eponine93

No, she does not, at least not as noticably as in the TAC. I can't help but wonder if that was just for the concert though. If she does, I didn't notice it because I was too taken up in her amazing portrayal of Fantine. Her I Dreamed A Dream was breathtaking. I was leaning so far just to see every little bit of emotion in her face I almost fell out of my seat (not like it would have mattered, since I was in the house, but it would have hurt...)

The show?

Orestes Fasting

Eponine93

Really? It definitely seemed like more to me.

Anyway, that's at least nineteen more times than I've seen it... I hate being thirteen and having no source of income whatsoever...

Orestes Fasting

I'm just in the lucky position of having a job, but no bills yet. So I can see the show as many times as I jolly well please on the weekends.

Unless I'm counting wrong, I've seen the tour eight times, the revival ten times, and the London production once. So that'd make nineteen--soon to be twenty.

Eponine93

I'm dying... there are four last-minute tickets available from Broadway.com at a reduced price the day my grandparents are going to see the show, but I can't skip school. Caring about how I do in school sucks.

Orestes Fasting

Where do you live? Close enough to NYC to make a weekend trip? Greyhound has lots of reduced fares between NYC and major east-coast cities.

http://www.greyhound.com/tkg/big_apple.html

You could probably get the Chinatown bus even cheaper, but the Greyhound one spits you out literally two blocks from the theater. It's how I pull off my disturbingly regular trips to NYC to see the show.

And I'm sure you know how to get cheap tickets. Very Happy

SRO is twenty bucks and student rush is twenty-five if you can't find anything else.

Orestes Fasting

Adding on, because I saw two new understudies this weekend:

Marissa McGowan as Cosette - Very sweet; her acting is in much the same vein as Ali's, but her voice is stronger. Still a little bit thin on the high notes, but she definitely hits them, and is more audible on them than Ali. Cute as a button; not as delicate-looking, but very pretty. I feel bad that the bulk of my review of her is direct comparisons to Ali, but they really do portray similar Cosettes, differing mostly in degree.

Idara Victor as Cosette - Stronger voice than either Marissa or Ali; she sounds like she has operatic training, and doesn't shy away from the notes. This is a blessing and a curse; on the one hand, well, she has a stronger voice, but on the other, she doesn't sound quite as sweet and I was a little annoyed by her fast vibrato. Acting-wise she seemed stiffer than Ali and Marissa, less like she was embracing the revival portrayal of the character and more like Generic Broadway Cosette.

Or more concisely: Idara's old school, Marissa's new school.

To be fair to Idara, it was her first performance and she might not be as stiff if she has the opportunity to perform the role more and get comfortable in it.

I also saw Nikki again and feel compelled to add that vocally, she impressed me more than Lea.

Quique

I loved your review, Orestes. I'm so excited about seeing it now (I already was excited enough but this just makes me all the more curious, hehe).

Orestes Fasting

Eponine93

I really doubt anyone would know this... but were there any understudys on at today's matinee? My grandparents went today. They said there weren't any understudies, but my grandpa doesn't know what an understudy is so I'm not sure if I trust him.

Who do you like better, Ali or Marissa?

Orestes Fasting

The Very Angry Woman

Bumping this because
(a) I finally saw the revival
(b) it doesn't deserve its own thread
(c) this will be quick 'n dirty because the revival itself doesn't merit much more than that

Alexander Gemignani was insane. I don't mean that in a good way. From his joyous cackle before "Who Am I?" to his very strange hand motions during Bring Him Home (Alex has cold hands and Adam Jacobs is a fireplace?), I couldn't concentrate on his fairly decent singing because his "acting" was so distracting.

Ben Davis was fantastic and made me sad. Because there is not nearly enough of him to rescue this cast. His Suicide was probably the best I've ever seen.

Lea Salonga: see above, with obvious modifications.

Gary Beach made me think of that line in "Comfort and Joy" from Bat Boy. "KILL HIM! SHUT UP! KILL HIM! SHUT UP!" Because I wanted to kill him and I wanted him to shut up. Totally unfunny, totally unscary, and just awful. I never thought I would feel nostalgic for JP Dougherty, but congratulations to Gary Beach -- there's a first for everything.

If Rosie O'Donnell replaces Ann Harada, it will likely be an improvement because there isn't anywhere else to go, really.

Adam Jacobs and Ali Ewoldt go together not just because they work well on stage together, but because there was something comforting about watching them. Not that they blew me away, but they're cute and can act and sing pretty (and Adam isn't doing the donky thing as badly anymore).

Max Von Essen is totally miscast but does his best.

The funny thing is, I didn't hate the show. But I did leave the theatre wondering how the show had gotten into such a state when this was supposed to be such a high-profile production -- what was supposed to be so special about it? Fine, bring Les Miz back, but also SHOW US WHY YOU DID THAT. This cast, as a whole, was not any more spectacular than any given 3NT cast I've seen in the past 12 years, and in some spots, much worse.

Edit: I forgot Mandy Bruno when I first wrote this. I think that says something.

Quique

Thanks for that.

It's sad that they have slowly been degrading this great show since the late 90's. I almost feel as if it's not the same show anymore.

The last thing I want is to see they've taken all the necessary steps to make this production visually faithful to the original but place no importance whatsoever on casting and the orchestrations - the two most important things. Those two things make the show what it is. I guess Cameron thinks we Americans only care about the sets. It's sad, really.

The best things I've heard people say about the revival is that it's visually the same show. I'd rather see the show performed on a bare stage but with a better cast and full orchestrations.

The Very Angry Woman

Orestes Fasting

Finally, something else to add to this thread. Very Happy

Drew as Valjean--Drew is good. I have my reservations about his Valjean, but anyone who could get through the show without acting like a constipated autistic five-year-old would have been an improvement on Alex. And I'd forgotten how much I hate Alex's falsetto until I heard Drew's utterly effortless Bring Him Home. Surprisingly enough, he does not look like Drew; he looks like a very tall and wiry Valjean, sometimes like Lino Ventura in the '82 miniseries, and occasionally like Jesus, but he neither looks nor acts like Drew. His acting is quite good--not exaggerated or overly angry or weird, for the most part--and he has an excellent sense of timing, and I never got the impression that he was sleeping through "minor" scenes like the letter or Valjean's confession. His voice is still 100% Drew though, which led to the singularly odd impression of hearing Drew's voice emerge from Valjean's body. His voice isn't as powerful as I'd like--though like I said, wonderful effortless falsetto--but this might just be because as Javert I saw...

Rob Hunt. I do not remember liking Rob on tour. But when I saw Rob on tour, he did not have a f**king huge booming voice like he did Saturday night--I was afraid at the end of Stars that the Broadhurst's sound system would start cracking and clipping like a crappy bootleg. When I saw Rob on tour, I thought his Javert also seriously needed to take a chill pill, which he has done, and he now straddles the line between angry!Javert and stoic!Javert without really being either. I've been trying very hard to avoid mentally comparing him to Ben Davis, because that would just be cruel to Rob and their Javerts aren't that similar anyway, but compared to Drew!Javert he is much better. They both look too young, but Rob's Javert isn't totally psychotic when he gets angry. And Rob did not scream the last note of the Suicide. Plus, well, tenor trying to sing baritone role vs. f**king huge booming voice.

Chip Zien, unlike Gary Beach, is actually funny. His Th�nardier is really drunk and overbearing and this has the pleasant side effect of giving Ann something to play off of, so now she doesn't suck either. Yay!

Michael Minarik, who replaced Drew as Grantaire, totally wins the universe. ♥ He helps Gavroche make his little flag during Building the Barricade, and he is just so heartbroken after the kid dies--and then in the final battle he stands up and SALUTES ENJOLRAS WITH GAVROCHE'S FLAG and starts waving it, and when Max goes down he runs up the barricade and grabs his arm and tries to pull him back up. If I hadn't been forewarned I would've bawled like a baby. And his verse in Drink With Me is 100% angsty instead of challenging, so when Max goes to tell him off, he gives him the puppy-dog eyes and they end up staring at each other for a while. It's so cute.

I like the current cast--the Broadway production has been in the doldrums ever since the first cast change where Celia and Aaron and Jenny and Norm left, but now it's perking up a little. It helps to have a cast with nobody whose performance I actively dislike, and it really helps to have Drew as Valjean. It's injected new life into the show; everyone interacts a little differently. I might have liked Alex at the beginning of the run, but by June he was so stale and his performance had gotten so weird, and the grouchiness of his Valjean really brought down the mood of the show. You walked out feeling like you'd just witnessed three hours of doom and destruction and French people dying, without really knowing why the mood was different than in other productions--and while Drew's Valjean might be a little idiosyncratic, I do think it's his performance that brings some of the beauty and grace back into the show.

Quique

I agree 100% on what you wrote about Robert Hunt and Chip. I was never a huge fan of Rob on tour, but he really impressed me last month. And yes, that BOOMING voice is really something isn't it? Hehe! It was so much stronger than I remember on tour.

LittleGavroche

Amen to all you said Orestes.

My exact thoughts.

EponineBarker

LittleGavroche

I saw Chip as well and he was hilarious... though Ann Harada wasn't too good, he definitely helped her out.

And he was such a sweetheart at the stage door. I talked to him for a few minutes and he mentioned how he's totally afraid the crazy Les Miz fans won't like him. Laughing

Orestes Fasting

Orestes Fasting

Heh, this thread always gets dragged back up when I get to see a new understudy, doesn't it?

I saw Doug Kreeger as Marius back at the end of April, but it was right after the cast change and I was paying more attention to the five new arrivals, so Doug kind of blended into the background. I recently got the chance to see him again and there's no excuse this time--he lacks stage presence. But when you do pay attention to him, you notice that he has utterly fantastic line readings. He looked adorably terrified when he first burst into the garden for AHFOL, and played really well off Ali. Was convincing when he got shot in the final battle, as opposed to Adam who sort of jumps to the ground. And then in Empty Chairs he nearly succeeded in bringing a friend of mine to tears--a friend who has seen the show 100+ times and does not generally cry during the tear-jerker songs. If Doug had more stage presence he'd be amazing.

Speaking of stage presence, I saw Don Brewer as Enjolras near the beginning of September, and he should give Max lessons in being commanding. He almost reminded me of Aaron Lazar; aside from slight physical similarity, he's got the charisma and vocal power going in a way Max just... doesn't. Don was a little stiff in the first act, but seemed more at ease as the show went on. And I liked that in Look Down he was harassing Marius to hurry up and stop dawdling with Eponine or he'd be late for the meeting. Nice touch.

Ben Crawford as Javert has a fantastic voice, remniscient of Ben Davis actually, but his acting was a tad bland. Not obtrusively boring or anything, he just didn't knock my socks off in any way except vocally.

Haviland Stillwell's the reverse: I never quite warmed to her voice, but I love her bitter take on Fantine. I've seen her a few times since February and liked her interpretation more each time, especially as a contrast to Lea.

Saw James Chip Leonard as Th�nardier way back when, in May or something, and he pwns Gary Beach in every way. His Th�nardier is really genial, but in a sleazy used car salesman kind of way. And he knows how to make the funny lines funny, thank god.

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Because we really need another review of the revival