Vanessa20
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Your favorite performance (I hope this isn't a dead horse)This is inspired by the �Best production you�ve seen? Why?� thread on the �West Side Story� board. What was the best performance of �Les Mis� you�ve ever seen?
For me it�s hard to choose, but it�s probably a tossup between the performance I saw in London, August 2004, and the first performance I saw of the Broadway revival, early in its run.
I know that Alex Gemignani and Norm Lewis were controversial as Valjean and Javert, but I loved them both when I saw them. The rest of the cast- Aaron Lazar�s great Enjolras, Celia Keenan-Bolger�s grubby anti-heroine Eponine, Adam Jacobs and Ali Ewolt�s adorable Marius and Cosette, Jenny Galloway�s classic Mme. Thenardier, and the incredible ensemble -were all at their best too. Yes, there were the problems of the orchestrations, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Gary Beach, but even they were tolerable because I enjoyed everything and everyone else so much. Maybe I was just relieved that the production wasn�t as amateurish as the reviews made it sound.
As for the London performance, there wasn�t a single weak link in it. The show had every ingredient it needs. It had a compelling Valjean (Sean Kingsley), a strong Javert with an incredible voice (Michael McCarthy), a passionate Fantine (Joanna Ampil), a pair of Thenardiers who were funny yet appropriately evil (Troy Sussman and Katy Secombe), a likeable Marius (Gary Tushaw, though he was a little too goofy sometimes), a charismatic, sexy Enjolras (Oliver Thornton), an Eponine who was sympathetic yet not syrupy (Gemma Wardle), a perfect Cosette (Lydia Griffiths), excellent child actors as Gavroche and Young Cosette (the latter may be the best I�ve ever seen, though she was a little old), a great ensemble, and, because it was 2004, the original orchestrations.
The London performer who probably stands out the most for me, believe it or not, is Lydia Griffiths as Cosette. I�d never seen a better one and I never have since. Her Cosette was kind of like a pretty version of Jane Eyre: she was a girl of her time, gentle and modest, but with a constant aura of underlying strength and humanity. I identified with her more than I ever have with Eponine. She and Gary Tushaw also did the sweetest �Every Day� I�ve ever seen. When she started singing �A heart full of love�� he burst into tears, and then she wiped them away. I�ve never forgotten that sight. (I�m a sucker for men who cry, I guess because I�ve had a feminist upbringing).
I suppose it says something about the quality of both the London and Broadway performances I left them both feeling happy and uplifted. Even though I was a teenage girl, and in spite of �Turning� and �Empty Chairs,� I actually left the theatres NOT wanting to write an Eponine angstfic or a poem about the revolutionaries� meaningless deaths, but in an uplifted, optimistic mood.
Please, if this isn�t a dead horse thread, share some details about the best performances you�ve seen of the show. The main reason why I lurk on this board in the first place is that I like reading all your stories and opinions about everything.
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Moci
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Re: Your favorite performance (I hope this isn't a dead hors | Vanessa20 wrote: |
The London performer who probably stands out the most for me, believe it or not, is Lydia Griffiths as Cosette. I�d never seen a better one and I never have since. Her Cosette was kind of like a pretty version of Jane Eyre: she was a girl of her time, gentle and modest, but with a constant aura of underlying strength and humanity. I identified with her more than I ever have with Eponine. |
I love that you've mentioned Lydia Griffiths' Cosette as she's easily my favourite Cosette as well. She brought so much life to Cosette and actually had presence- she seemed like a lead, as opposed to a supporting character. I think that you've managed to articulate perfectly what I liked about her as well, which I've been struggling to do for years.
I have to disagree with you on Oliver Thornton though, you must have seen him on a better day than me if he came across as charismatic. I remember thinking that he wasn't a bad singer, he wasn't a bad actor, but he was just so incredibly dull. It was hard to believe that he could inspire anyone to bother moving, let alone go to battle.
Another performance which I remember thinking of as great was Niklas Andersson as Marius, he seemed young and painfully in love with Cosette, whilst not being overly sweet and puppy-dog-ish as so many Mariii seem to. I also liked the way he treated Eponine- he wasn't unfriendly, but he distinctively seemed as if he just didn't want to be rude, as opposed to encouraging her presence.
Jeff Leyton as Valjean was brilliant too, lots of inner turmoil to the saintliness and a distinctive quality to his voice. I just never felt that he was cookie-cutter Valjean as there was always something different and interesting.
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Vanessa20
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I probably did see Oliver on a good day, because I remember really liking him. Or maybe I was just a horny teen thrilled by his looks. Is it usual in London for Enjolras' shirt to be open when he hangs dead from the barricade, or was that unique to him?
I wish I could have seen Jeff Leyton or Niklas Andersson some time. I've read great things about them for years. Of all the casts I've read about that I'd like to go back in time and see, two of the top ones would be the 2000 London cast with Niklas, Simon Bowman, et al, and the 2004 cast with Jeff that directly preceded the cast I saw. I've read so many raves about those casts.
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Moci
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| Vanessa20 wrote: | | Of all the casts I've read about that I'd like to go back in time and see, two of the top ones would be the 2000 London cast with Niklas, Simon Bowman, et al, and the 2004 cast with Jeff that directly preceded the cast I saw. I've read so many raves about those casts. |
I loved the 2003/4 cast, they're probably my favourites as an overall cast. I don't know if it was because the 2000/1 cast was the first time I'd seen it, so I was more impressed by the production itself, but only Niklas Andersson from that cast makes any impression in my memory. Admittedly, I saw an understudy for Simon Bowman, who is meant to be impressive, but whilst I didn't dislike any of the cast, he was the only one who stood out as being great.
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EponineMNFF
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The closing 3NT cast was definitely my favorite performance of the show. It definitely brought the most WOW factor for me. I did, though, see it on the first performance in a new location, so it might have been the excitement. I loved that cast though. <3
The original Broadway revival cast was also stupendous except for one. (Three guesses who.  ) The cast worked really well together, I thought, but this is definitely more of Orestes' expertise.
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