Background: Les Mis has always been one of my favourite shows - others have come and go in my top ten list, but Les Mis is one that has always been right at the top. I first heard the music when my parents took my sister and I to Newfoundland, and let me tell you, from Ontario to Newfoundland is one *long* car ride. :-) Someone had made my dad a copy of the OLC of Phantom and the OBC of Les Mis (it was the first time I had heard either one) and from the first notes of the Les Mis tape I was hooked. I still remember where we were when I first heard Do You Hear the People Sing (driving around Quebec City) and when I finally broke down and asked my parents who Lucifer was so I could understand Stars better. :-) The first time I saw Les Mis was in Ottawa with Robert Marien as Valjean, and I have to admit I was distinctly underwhelmed by the entire production. Then I saw it again in Toronto with Michael Burgess as Valjean, and realized that it was just an off night for the Ottawa cast I had seen, as the show was fantastic. But something had always been missing from my *complete* Les Mis experience. Colm Wilkinson has been one of my favourite performers for ten years, and although I saw him as the Phantom three times, it was always a dream of mine to see him as Valjean. So when I heard that the Mirvishes were bringing Colm to Toronto this summer for Les Mis, I literally did a dance of joy in my bedroom. And, eventually, after a lot of nagging on my part, my birthday present this year (my birthday is August 13) was tickets for myself and my family. What follows is my own personal experience of the day. I am not by any means a professional critic - I just know what I enjoy. And I *enjoy* Les Mis, and Colm Wilkinson. I'll warn you now - this review is basically a gushfest. :-)
Colm Wilkinson -- Clearly, I was expecting a lot from Mr. Wilkinson's performance, and boy did he deliver. If ever a man was born to play a role, it is this man in this role. He was as near perfection as it is possible for a human to be. He was unbelievable, everything I hoped for and more. Definitely *the* highlight of my theatrical experiences.
Todd Alan Johnson (Javert) -- I wish I could say the same here. Javert is actually my favourite character, and he gets my favourite song ("Stars"), so the performer is very important to me. Mr. Johnson did a wonderful job on "Stars", but I wasn't overly enthused with the way he sang/spoke most of the rest of his lines. I did like that he really showed how Javert was doing what he thought was right, but his lisp was a bit distracting at the beginning. (Fortunately he lost it before "Stars" - can you imagine singing that song with a lisp??????? :-)
Susan Gilmour (Fantine) -- quite possibly the best Fantine I've ever seen or heard. She has an absolutely beautiful voice - "I Dreamed a Dream" was heartbreaking. My only complaint is that the character is gone for so much of the show! I would have loved to hear Ms. Gilmour a lot more.
David Benoit (Thenardier understudy) -- the only understudy we saw (except for one swing in the chorus), and I must say I can't imagine the guy who normally plays this role being any better. Mr. Benoit was fantastic, very funny and very strong. And he had incredible chemistry with Sharon Matthew (Madame Thenardier), who was terrific as well.
Kurt Kovalenko (Enjolras) - the only major disappointment of the afternoon. He was fine, and he had his moments, but I didn't think his performance had the power and command that Enjolras needs. *I* certainly wasn't ready to get up out of my seat and follow him into rebellion. :-) And he Michael Maguired the "Let others rise" line. I could have thrown something at him. (If you don't know what I mean, check out the Les Mis TAC recording of that line, then compare it to Anthony Warlow's recording of that line on the CSR. Then you'll understand! :-)
Tim Howar (Marius) -- after Colm, the highlight of the afternoon. He was absolutely terrific - he actually made me care about Marius and understand where he was coming from, while other Mariuses haven't really affected me as much. And he sings like an angel. (And apparently he's a *really* nice guy, but you'd have to ask Stacy for details about that! :-)
Regan Thiel (Cosette) -- excellent. She gave Cosette some life and spunk (a hard thing to do! :-) and had a lovely singing voice. She's blond (so is the actress who played Eponine), which threw me for a couple of minutes, but I bounced right back. :-)
Jessica-Snow Wilson (Eponine) -- was also excellent. She was the only one in the cast who has a less "classical" voice, and it took me a few minutes to get used to it, but by the time she sang "On My Own" I was pretty firmly on her side. :-) She was heartbreaking.
Stephen Bishop (Grantaire) -- I have a "slight" obsession with the fantastic Anthony Crivello (Grantaire on the OBC and TAC), so this role is really important to me too. And this guy delivered. I knew I would like him when I read in the program that he has played the Beast. :-) He really hammed it up, but never took away from what was going on, and he got the biggest laugh of the afternoon from me (check out the "Red and Black" part of my review!).
Anyway, on to a scene by scene analysis ...
WORK SONG - I held my breath from the beginning of the overture until Valjean's first line, when I could make sure it was *him*, but this scene was very effective. I really like the lyrics of the Work Song, and all of the men had soaring voices. I wasn't convinced by Javert in this scene, but Colm had me from the first note. Of course, I was predisposed to enjoy his performance, but that's another story. :-)
PROLOGUE - I have great respect for the people who work on that stage every day - it must be incredibly hard to move on it and make it look natural. We didn't see the regular Bishop (that's David Benoit, who played Thenardier) but Greg Holt did a lovely job. I was very impressed by how quickly he changed from his Bishop's robes into his nightshirt. :-)
SOLILOQUY - Perfection. My goodness, that man can sing.
AT THE END OF THE DAY - Susan Gilmour impressed me right away, and the Factory Girl (Christine Allocca) had a *fantastic* voice. I had a hard time concentrating on this number, however, and I missed a lot of it. The people sitting two rows ahead of us were in the wrong seats, but the people who were supposed to be sitting there were late, and so didn't come in until this number started. Of course, there weren't any seats where they were supposed to be sitting, so they just *stood* in the middle of the row for a few minutes, then the usher came and fussed around getting everyone's tickets and moving the people and all kinds of nonsense. It took him from the beginning of "At the End of the Day" until midway through "Lovely Ladies" to get it all sorted out. Frankly, I would have told the people who came late that they were out of luck until intermission, but maybe I'm just too intolerant. :-)
I DREAMED A DREAM - was gorgeous. She just did a fantastic job, and broke my heart for the first time of the afternoon.
LOVELY LADIES - I don't really have any comments here, except THANK GOODNESS those people finally got settled! :-) And of course, as soon as that was over, the lady next to me decided it was time to have a mint. Some people just shouldn't be allowed in the theatre.
Stephen Bishop was a deliciously disgusting Bamatabois - very sleazy, but his voice is amazing! And I liked Javert better in this scene. Maybe he was just growing on me.
WHO AM I? - Wow. (You're going to sense a theme here when I discuss Colm's numbers. :-) He sang different lyrics than I've ever heard before at a couple of points at the beginning (Something about "without a second glance" and "I am the master of hundreds of workers .... If I speak, *they* are condemmed.") but I didn't mind. That man can sing whatever lyrics he likes! :-) (Ed. note - since I wrote this review, I've been told that there have been several changes made to Les Mis since the 10th Anniversary productions.)
COME TO ME - Susan broke my heart for the second time. I was in tears before she was even done, and when she died Colm was sobbing, which of course set me off again. CONFRONTATION was good - Javert did that sliding thing on "you wear a different chain" which was a point in his favour. He didn't do it as well as Philip Quast does, but at least he made the effort. :-) I found that Todd Alan Johnson really looked like an animal at times in the ways he moved, and especially in this scene - he really looked like a cat circling Valjean. Very effective.
CASTLE ON A CLOUD - the Young Cosette (Eleni Alexis Anderson) did a fine job, but she wasn't anything to rave about. This really is a sweet song though! And the young Eponine (Maggie Martinsen) was *so* tiny. I would have said she was about 5!
MASTER OF THE HOUSE - this is not one of my favourite songs, but David Benoit and Sharon Matthews did an excellent job of it. It is welcome comic relief, and I laughed harder at it then I normally would have, just because you need the emotional break.
THENARDIER WALTZ - once again, hilarious. I actually like this song much better than Master, and I think it's a lot funnier, because it's more subtle. They had great interaction, and got a huge laugh (from me at least) when Benoit said "Let's not haggle for darling Colette", and she corrected him. Very funny.
LOOK DOWN - Gavroche was terrific - very good. I was disappointed in Enjolras right away, but I was impressed by Marius right away, so I guess it all balances out. For a few minutes I thought Eponine was going to be too perky, but she wasn't. I really liked the way Colm avoided looking at Javert, and the way Valjean and Cosette "snuck" away.
STARS - Much better than I thought it was going to be. Mr. Johnson actually did a fantastic, very powerful, job. He had me worried, but he pulled it off. :-)
RED AND BLACK - First of all, when Marius came clattering down the stairs at the beginning of this scene the set was swaying all over the place, and Tim actually stopped and looked up at it at one point. It was rather frightening. :-) This song was great - very stirring. The funniest point of the entire show (for me) came in this number, too - when Enjolras sang "Who cares about your lonely life?" Grantaire put his hand up in the air and waved it around. I almost fell out of my seat laughing.
DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING? - Once Enjolras stopped singing and let the other students take over, it was fantastic. Much more stirring on stage than I've ever seen it done before - I usually find it falls a bit flat, but not this time.
IN MY LIFE - Also not one of my favourite songs, but Regan and Colm did a lovely job. Tim was a delightfully lovesick Marius, and my heart broke for the third time for Eponine. In A HEART FULL OF LOVE, I had to laugh at Cosette - when Marius sang "I'm doing everything all wrong" he turned and started to climb the fence again, and she chased after him! It was very funny.
ONE DAY MORE - Fantastic. Absolutely wonderful. There's nothing more I can say - there are no words to describe how great it was.
ON MY OWN - Jessica-Snow Wilson absolutely owned this song. She did an amazing job, and when she broke after "A world that's full of happiness that I have never known" you could have heard a pin drop in the theatre. She had the entire audience in the palm of her hand.
A LITTLE FALL OF RAIN - both Tim and Jessica-Snow broke my heart in this number, and I loved the reaction of the other students, especially Enjolras, when they realized what was happening. Beautiful.
DRINK WITH ME - I actually wasn't overly enthused by the way Stephen sang Grantaire's solo in this song. He had a lovely voice, but he had some funny pauses, and put emphasis on different parts of the song than I would have. But maybe that's why *I* am not playing the role. :-) And, of course, Tim sang Marius' solo very nicely, but I just wanted it to be over, considering I knew what was coming up next.
BRING HIM HOME
THE FINAL BATTLE - was heartbreaking, yet again. Very well done, and once again in the break between the end of the battle and the beginning of the Bring Him Home instrumental, there was dead silence in the theatre. I've never been to a show where the audience was so caught up in what was going on, and so silent. Except the lady sitting next to me, who felt the need to point out the most obvious things to her neighbour, when she wasn't opening one of the three candies she needed during the performance. :-)
DOG EATS DOG - I don't really have any comments here - just that the sewer effect was very well done. I hate this song, so I spent most of it watching Colm's inert body. It was more interesting. :-)
SOLILOQUY - I was firmly in Javert's camp by the time he finished this song. I found that he was much better when he was alone on stage than when he was interacting with others. It may just have been, for me, that Colm's presence was so overwhelming, and Javert interacts so much with Valjean, but I enjoyed Javert much more during Stars and this suicide scene than I did any other time. And Javert jumping off the bridge remains one of my favourite theatre special effects of all time.
TURNING - Lovely. I found that the chorus was exceptionally strong in this production - every single person gave a fantastic performance, regardless of how large or small their part was.
EMPTY CHAIRS AT EMPTY TABLES - broke my heart yet again. Tim did a fabulous job on this song. Definitely a highlight of the afternoon for me.
The WEDDING was very nice, and BEGGARS AT THE FEAST was tolerable - again, I don't like the song very much, but the actors certainly made it watchable.
FINALE - Colm and Susan did a lovely job, and Regan's grief was almost frighteningly real. Colm had a very good death scene - he put more into it than I remember other Valjeans doing. And of course the final full cast finale had me beyond tears once more. People were on their feet before they were done, and I have never seen a more immediate, complete standing ovation at the end of a show. I was certainly on my feet as soon as the lights went out.
So, if you couldn't figure it out from my review, Les Mis now ranks as my all-time favourite show, and this production ranks as my all-time ultimate theatrical experience. I heard last week that the production has been extended in Toronto until January, 1999, so if you are anywhere in the area or can get here before January, RUN, do not walk, to the Princess of Wales theatre and see this show. You won't regret it. Apparently, rush seats are generally available the day of the performance, if you get there early enough, or you can phone to get tickets. Either way, GO.
See pictures of my trip to Les Mis in December here
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