How are the professional regional productions in the US?

The Pirate King · How are the professional regional productions in the US?

I was just wondering if anyone's seen a major regional theatre do the show since the rights became available. I know the St. Louis Muny, for one, performed the show, with a relatively big-name cast, and I was wondering if any of the Les Mis fans here got to see it, and what they thought of it. Is the staging unique? Is there a revolve? Is it almost replica?

A major regional theatre about an hour away from here (The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, IL) is doing the show in the spring. They typically do shows in the round(er), and as it'll be my first time actually seeing the show live, I'm highly anticipating it, especially since it'll be going on throughout the course of my school production.

Overall, how have most regional productions stacked up to the tour, Broadway, and London show?

OldDeuteronomy

the one I saw in Sacramento was FABULOUS and i was most happy that they used John Cameron's orchestrations as I don't really care for the one's in the current Broadway revival the new ones don't seem to fit the score well.

The Very Angry Woman

I saw the Sacramento production twice. It was enjoyable, but I certainly wouldn't have called it fabulous.

There are reviews of both Music Circus and the Muny here (none of which are mine): http://members5.boardhost.com/lesmis3nt/index.html

There's also some info at:
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=940296
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=933066
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=918359

Orestes Fasting

I saw the North Shore Music Theatre's production of Les Mis in the round this past weekend, and it wasn't bad. On the whole I was quite pleased with the staging--they did a really good job with the sight lines (with one notable exception) and the sets, which were just as minimalist as the standard version. The only thing that bugged me was that the barricade consisted mostly of very thick pieces of wood hanging down from the ceiling, which blocked my view of those scenes.

The blocking had its ups and downs; I was impressed with the seemingly effortless way they translated it into the round, but there were times when it copied the standard version and shouldn't have, and a lot of the ensemble scenes seemed rather stiff and choreographed. They did have a turntable, but they didn't use it as often, so it lost some of the sense of perpetual motion and that could've been one reason for the perceived stiffness.

It was such a relief to hear the original orchestrations after so many times at the Broadway version! They also restored a lot of the verse cuts in Act I, so I got to hear the full versions of Come to Me, Castle on a Cloud, and In My Life. That was fun, even if Act II was more pared down. (They used all the cuts the national tour did, plus a modified version of the oboe solo after the final battle and a very, very short version of Turning.)

The costumes were the biggest disappointment. Cosette got a lovely dress for Act I, but Javert was in very drab civilian clothes through most of it, and the wedding guest dresses were hideous. They looked like old bridesmaid dresses with hoop skirts slapped under them, no petticoats, so you could see the hoops and they were much too short and generally awful. And Enjolras' vest looked like a cheap felt homemade version of the Broadway one.

The cast was generally mediocre except for Charlie Hagerty as Marius, Renee Brna as Cosette, and Charlie Brady as Enjolras. They were all excellent, but Fred Inkley had his ups and downs, Jacquelyn Piro had this really annoying belt, and both the Th�nardiers were just sort of... there. Devin Richards was incredibly Not Javert. We're talking Gay Javert. He sounded more like Javert when he was doing the BC/EFA speech than he did when he was in character. Which is disappointing, because from what I read on his blog I was really expecting to like him.

Oh wow, and now it sounds like I'm ragging on the North Shore production. It was better than I'm making it out to be, I promise! XD I really feel like the high point was the blocking and the translation to a round stage, which was pulled off gracefully and at times inventively--they had soldiers come down the aisles to attack the barricade, and when Gavroche went out to collect bullets he was nicking them off actors playing dead, not dummies. And there was this neat house thing that came up through the center of the stage, which is a little difficult to describe--the 'roof' was just part of the stage until they had it come up. Neat stuff. And they treated Cosette a lot better than the standard version: Renee has a really lovely voice, her dress was the best thing about the costuming, and they gave her back the cut verse of In My Life.

Quique

^ Ahh. That production sounds awesome! Wish I could have seen it. I saw a behind the scenes vid of it on YouTube, and the in-the-round staging looked really interesting.

The Very Angry Woman

It really sounds like North Shore did a far better job with being in the round than Sacramento Music Circus did.

The Pirate King	How are the professional regional productions in the US? I was just wondering if anyone's seen a major regional theatre do the show since the rights became available. I know the St. Louis Muny, for one, performed the show, with a relatively big-name cast, and I was wondering if any of the Les Mis fans here got to see it, and what they thought of it. Is the staging unique? Is there a revolve? Is it almost replica? A major regional theatre about an hour away from here (The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, IL) is doing the show in the spring. They typically do shows in the round(er), and as it'll be my first time actually seeing the show live, I'm highly anticipating it, especially since it'll be going on throughout the course of my school production. Overall, how have most regional productions stacked up to the tour, Broadway, and London show?
OldDeuteronomy	the one I saw in Sacramento was FABULOUS and i was most happy that they used John Cameron's orchestrations as I don't really care for the one's in the current Broadway revival the new ones don't seem to fit the score well.
The Very Angry Woman	I saw the Sacramento production twice. It was enjoyable, but I certainly wouldn't have called it fabulous. There are reviews of both Music Circus and the Muny here (none of which are mine): http://members5.boardhost.com/lesmis3nt/index.html There's also some info at: http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=940296 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=933066 http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=918359
Orestes Fasting	I saw the North Shore Music Theatre's production of Les Mis in the round this past weekend, and it wasn't bad. On the whole I was quite pleased with the staging--they did a really good job with the sight lines (with one notable exception) and the sets, which were just as minimalist as the standard version. The only thing that bugged me was that the barricade consisted mostly of very thick pieces of wood hanging down from the ceiling, which blocked my view of those scenes. The blocking had its ups and downs; I was impressed with the seemingly effortless way they translated it into the round, but there were times when it copied the standard version and shouldn't have, and a lot of the ensemble scenes seemed rather stiff and choreographed. They did have a turntable, but they didn't use it as often, so it lost some of the sense of perpetual motion and that could've been one reason for the perceived stiffness. It was such a relief to hear the original orchestrations after so many times at the Broadway version! They also restored a lot of the verse cuts in Act I, so I got to hear the full versions of Come to Me, Castle on a Cloud, and In My Life. That was fun, even if Act II was more pared down. (They used all the cuts the national tour did, plus a modified version of the oboe solo after the final battle and a very, very short version of Turning.) The costumes were the biggest disappointment. Cosette got a lovely dress for Act I, but Javert was in very drab civilian clothes through most of it, and the wedding guest dresses were hideous. They looked like old bridesmaid dresses with hoop skirts slapped under them, no petticoats, so you could see the hoops and they were much too short and generally awful. And Enjolras' vest looked like a cheap felt homemade version of the Broadway one. The cast was generally mediocre except for Charlie Hagerty as Marius, Renee Brna as Cosette, and Charlie Brady as Enjolras. They were all excellent, but Fred Inkley had his ups and downs, Jacquelyn Piro had this really annoying belt, and both the Th�nardiers were just sort of... there. Devin Richards was incredibly Not Javert. We're talking Gay Javert. He sounded more like Javert when he was doing the BC/EFA speech than he did when he was in character. Which is disappointing, because from what I read on his blog I was really expecting to like him. Oh wow, and now it sounds like I'm ragging on the North Shore production. It was better than I'm making it out to be, I promise! XD I really feel like the high point was the blocking and the translation to a round stage, which was pulled off gracefully and at times inventively--they had soldiers come down the aisles to attack the barricade, and when Gavroche went out to collect bullets he was nicking them off actors playing dead, not dummies. And there was this neat house thing that came up through the center of the stage, which is a little difficult to describe--the 'roof' was just part of the stage until they had it come up. Neat stuff. And they treated Cosette a lot better than the standard version: Renee has a really lovely voice, her dress was the best thing about the costuming, and they gave her back the cut verse of In My Life.
Quique	^ Ahh. That production sounds awesome! Wish I could have seen it. I saw a behind the scenes vid of it on YouTube, and the in-the-round staging looked really interesting.
The Very Angry Woman	It really sounds like North Shore did a far better job with being in the round than Sacramento Music Circus did.

	Musicals.Net Forums -> Les Miserables
Page 1 of 1

The Resource For Musicals

How are the professional regional productions in the US?