Les Miserables (Wednesday June 26th 2013)

Les Miserables

Between Les Mis and Wicked, I spent around a total of around six hours in a theatre on Wednesday the 26th. It wasn't the great and wonderful day that I expected, but nonetheless I do love seeing my favourite musicals.

The Cast of Les Miserables at West
End Live 2013

I saw the brand new cast of Les Mis; not even two weeks old at this point. I love Les Mis, and I expected it to maybe not be as good as last time, since the cast was so new, but to be an entertaining show nonetheless. While it did have it's entertaining moments, overall, I didn't enjoy this performance very much (and Les Mis has dropped to number three on my list of favourite musicals). I had a lot of issues with the new cast, but I will try to keep it brief (and civil). I sincerely hope I don't end up sounding too critical.

My biggest issue was with Fantine, Na-Young Jeon. I do not want to sound racist or stereotypical, but the way she played Fantine reminded me of the female characters in the Asian Drama TV shows my friend is always watching. It was unrealistic, unnatural, and overacted. The facial expressions and body movement were all over the place; it was impossible to make sense of the character, and I started cheering in my head when she died, because I wouldn't have to see any more of that. I don't want to say that she's a bad actress, but I don't like the character choices that she made. Fantine is a hard character to care about, and the truly brilliant Fantines (like Celinde Schoenmaker) can make you care about Fantine, and cry when she dies. I was a little too happy when this particular Fantine died. I also wasn't too fond of her voice; technically I'm sure it was fine, but it was much too deep much too often for my liking. I swear I Dreamed a Dream is not supposed to be that deep. Anyway, in this case, I'm glad Fantine is only on stage for a short period. 

Rob Houchen as Marius and Carrie
Hope Fletcher as Eponine

The other main issue I had was with the new Marius, Rob Houchen. Marius is definitely not a character I particularly like in general, but usually I can say that the actor did a decent job at portraying an unlikeable character. In this case, I did not like the portrayal at all. I got the sense that Marius cared only for Cosette, and not for any of his 'friends' that died on the Barricade (which made Empty Chairs at Empty Tables a hollow song, although he sang it well), nor for Eponine. He actually pulled away when Eponine reached up to kiss him at the end; it took me a second to close my mouth, as I'd never seen nor expected a Marius to do that. The only thought that went through my head at that moment was something to the effect of, to paraphrase Molly Weasley, "MARIUS PONTMERCY! HOW DARE YOU PULL AWAY FROM EPONINE! SHE IS ABOUT TO FREAKING DIE AND YOU'RE BEING A word-I-will-not-use. I HOPE YOUR ALMOST-DEATH IS PARTICULARLY PAINFUL." Ahem... can you tell I'm team Eponine? Anyway, I thought that really detracted from his character. I liked the portrayal up until that moment. The one thing I will say is that I feel that Rob Houchen can - and probably will - improve with time. He'll get to know the character more, and hopefully become a bit more likeable. 

I also had a slight issue with accents during this performance; Anton Zetterholm as Enjolras was hard to understand in the second act, and to me seemed to be a 'background Enjolras'. I was paying more attention to Grantaire than I was to Enjolras. I have seen Geronimo Rauch three times now, but his accent was quite bad this time. Almost the entire show, he was dropping words and letters, to the point that it became quite garbled at points. Given that this hadn't been a problem the last two shows, I'll attribute that to just having an off day. For Anton as well, I think he will improve with time and practice. 

Tam  Mutu as Javert

Now for some positive comments; Samantha Dorsey has leaned how to keep her eyes inside her head, and her voice has become more powerful and less shrill. Overall, I quite like her Cosette now. I think she's improved a lot, and I look forward to seeing even more improvement from her in the future. Tam Mutu as Javert was, of course, phenomenal. I love his Javert, and he kills Stars and Javert's Suicide every time I see him. Carrie Hope Fletcher as Eponine was a standout of the show. While she did suffer a bit from what I call Penguin-Syndrome (flapping arms; most Eponines start out with having either Penguin-Syndrome or Koala-Syndrome), I thought her voice was incredible, and she really made me believe Eponine. I didn't like her more angry and bitter take on On My Own (I prefer a more devastated take), but it was very well done regardless, and I didn't dislike the angrier approach as much as I thought I would. Carrie is someone whom I'd love to see playing Elphaba some day; her voice is just so powerful and strong, and I can see her really owning songs like No Good Deed or Defying Gravity. Carrie was, undoubtedly, my favourite new cast member, and my favourite part of this performance. The ensemble was quite strong in this show, which was nice. I'd love to see the understudy Fantine and see if I like her any more. 

I'm not too sure when I'll go see this again; I might wait until the new year, when the cast has had more time to work on their performances. I'll only be able to fit in two shows in October, and I think that'll be Phantom and Wicked. Nevertheless, I do suggest going to see this at some point; I like seeing different performances, even if I decide that I don't like them.

Wicked review coming soon; stay tuned!