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marlalp

Les Mis US tour

Does anyone know anything more about this other than the vague information that can be found here?

I'm curious because Les Mis broadway veteran J. Mark McVey just posted on facebook that he is in London about to audition for Jean Valjean again. I can't picture that he is being considered to take over the role in London (although I suppose it's possible) so I wonder if the audition is for the rumored US tour. If anyone knows anything more about this, please share.
Orestes Fasting

This is absolute pure speculation, but it says "Summer 2010," and the last (announced) engagement for the international tour ends... what, late June, early July 2010? Maybe I was being overly pessimistic when I interpreted "international" to mean "England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and a few stops in continental Europe." So maybe the UK/international tour is going to go do a mini-tour in the US, but they already have JOJ so in that case what the heck would J. Mark McVey be auditioning for? As far as I know the only current/upcoming English-language productions are:

- London (which, as you said, is a possibility, but don't they tend to do their cast changes all at once instead of replacing people piecemeal?)
- The international tour originating in the UK, which already has JOJ signed on as Valjean, and which may or may not be the same thing as
- The US tour, which we know nothing about. But if he's auditioning for this, why in London?

If it were a regional production (which is highly unlikely--AFAIK the regional rights haven't been released in the UK, and there's a moratorium on US regionals in 2010 because of the tour), auditions would probably be local instead of in London.

So, best I can come up with is (in decreasing order of probability) David Shannon is leaving in London, JOJ is unavailable for a specific period of time in the tour and they need a temporary replacement, JOJ is leaving after the Paris engagement and they need a permanent replacement, Cammack is crazy and holding US tour auditions in London, J. Mark McVey being in London has nothing to do with J. Mark McVey auditioning for Valjean, or they have something completely new and unannounced up their sleeve.
Eppie-Sue

Oh, David Shannon IS leaving in London this October, actually, the 9th is his last show, according to his homepage. So it seems very likely that J. Mark McVey is auditioning to take over at that point, doesn't it?

(I always assumed they'd let Jonathan Williams, who has been u/s all this time and performed for Shannon every Monday in the past weeks) take over, he was doing a great job. But it seems like they want new people in the production... which is... probably the right explanation, to say the least, seeing as Jeff Nicholson posted on his twitter that they're having auditions for Javert right now, too. (which is nonsense. They should just let him be principal Javert, he is so, so good and his talent is wasted as Brujon. At least let him be Grantaire! *cries a bit*)
marlalp

Eppie-Sue wrote:
Oh, David Shannon IS leaving in London this October, actually, the birthday performance on 8th is his last show, according to his homepage. So it seems very likely that J. Mark McVey is auditioning to take over at that point, doesn't it?

Yes, that considered, it does.

Eppie-Sue wrote:

But it seems like they want new people in the production...

Well in that case, McVey is not the way to go ...the guy has performed Valjean like 3000 times or something over the years. Still he is amazing in the role and it would even perhaps be worth a trip to London for me. I'm still hoping it's the US tour after all, the website does sayLes Mis "..returns to tour North America starting Summer 2010!", but McVey's post clearly indicated that the audition is in London, which suggests it is not for that tour. To be exact, he wrote: "All prayers are welcom as I prepare to audition once again for JVJ in Les Mis on Wednesday 8/12 at 4:15 PM London time 5 hours ahead of East Coast time. I miss performing this role and delivering this compassionate message of hope and redemption."
Eppie-Sue

aww, I like that he is so enthusiastic about the part. Yeah, I didn't mean "new people to Les Mis" but "new people to the London production"...
marlalp

Eppie-Sue wrote:
aww, I like that he is so enthusiastic about the part. Yeah, I didn't mean "new people to Les Mis" but "new people to the London production"...


Do you know when the next full cast change is supposed to be?
Eppie-Sue

London Cast normally only changes in June... So, they just had one at the end of June, and, yeah - the next one will be in June 2010 then (I dare not think about it, I'm a bit in denial). But David Shannon only took over from Drew Sarich in November 2008, I think, so he has stayed one year, too...
The Very Angry Woman

Orestes Fasting wrote:
This is absolute pure speculation, but it says "Summer 2010," and the last (announced) engagement for the international tour ends... what, late June, early July 2010? Maybe I was being overly pessimistic when I interpreted "international" to mean "England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and a few stops in continental Europe." So maybe the UK/international tour is going to go do a mini-tour in the US, but they already have JOJ so in that case what the heck would J. Mark McVey be auditioning for?


Might he possibly be auditioning for a major UK regional production? (Although this doesn't seem to be quite right.)

I'm not sure if the UK tour is also touring the US in the Summer of '10 that BBO NYC would even be involved, unless they're partnering with another marketing firm in the UK. And even so, I'd think Equity would have some kind of stink over bringing over that many non-Americans to tour the US in a mega-musical which has in the past had no problem casting Americans.
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