Terrence Mann as Inspector Javert

I never intended to see Les Mis again. After the incredible production in Toronto, starring my personal theatre god Colm Wilkinson, which was as close to perfection as I think Les Mis could be, I didn't really feel the need to see it again. I had seen it five times in three different productions, after all - I hardly needed to add to that total. But when I heard the Broadway production was closing after 16 years, I started to reconsider. I had never actually seen Les Mis on Broadway, and it was the OBC recording of Les Mis that really made me fall in love with theatre. I had been to shows before that, but this was the first obsession, the first recording I played non-stop for weeks, the first true love of the theatre for me. And then I heard that Terrence Mann, the original Broadway Javert, was returning to the production for the final weeks. I had to go, to see him in what was for me a definitive role in so many ways - Stars is my favourite musical theatre song ever, Javert is my favourite role, and Terrence is one of my top-five all time favourite actors. I knew I would never forgive myself if I missed a chance to combine the three.

Jayne Paterson as Fantine Christopher Mark Peterson as Enjolras and Kevin Kern as Marius Dave Hugo as Grantaire

Easier said than done. :-) I did get to see the show, but it was after a few tense moments, and I ended up paying full price, which is very rare for me (and it was for a seat which should *not* have been full price since I couldn't see about 1/3 of the stage - the side Terrence stands on for One Day More, no less!). However, to be in the same building as Terrence while he sang that score was worth it to me. A few general notes on the show first - while I enjoyed it very much, it really confirmed for me that I feel no need to see Les Mis again unless it's for a specific actor (I felt the same way when I saw Phantom for the last time in Toronto). The cast was excellent. I was a little disappointed when we arrived that we had an understudy for Jean Valjean, as I had heard excellent things about Randal Keith's performance, but Roger Seyer was absolutely fantastic. His voice was gorgeous, and he did a better job *acting* the role than some other Valjeans I've seen. I was pleased to see Jayne Paterson as Fantine and Diana Kaarina as Eponine, both of whom I've heard of before, and they were both lovely. I hadn't heard of very many of the rest of the cast, with the exception of Nick Wyman as Thenardier, who was absolutely hysterical, and had a very different take on the role than the last Thenardier I saw. I usually wish we could fast-forward through Thenardier's scenes, but Wyman made me pay attention. Kevin Kern and Sandra Turley as the young lovers, Marius and Cosette, were excellent as well, although I couldn't help comparing them to Tim Howar and Regan Thiel of the Toronto production, and they came up a little short. I paid special attention to Dave Hugo, as Grantaire, since he's my favourite of the students and again, he was very good, but didn't compare to Stephen Bishop of the Toronto production. The other thing that was odd about seeing Les Mis on Broadway was the cuts. I knew that a couple of years ago an effort had been made to shave about fifteen minutes off the running time, mostly by the removal of individual lines from various scenes, but it was still strange for me to be expecting something and it not be there. I'm sure it wouldn't have bothered someone who didn't know the show so well, but it threw me a couple of times. Other than that, there were a few accidental dropped lines (including the first line of the show!!!), and one obvious flub where the swing replacing Roger Seyer came racing out on stage to do the first line of Lovely Ladies and fell square on his ass. It was absolutely hilarious, although I'm sure the poor guy didn't think so!

Diana Kaarina as Eponine Kevin Kern as Marius and Sandra Turley as Cosette Diana Kaarina as Eponine and Kevin Kern as Marius

And what of Terrence? Well, I was both thrilled and disappointed, to tell the truth. When he decided to turn it on, he was absolutely breathtaking (Stars was lovely, and Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide) was worth the price of the ticket by itself!), but he seemed to be slurring his way through most of the rest of it. He made some acting choices that I absolutely loved, though - his Javert made it clear from very early on that he had his suspicions about Jean Valjean, and he was quite confrontational in the scene between the runaway cart and Who Am I?, in a way that I've never seen another Javert play that scene. He was taunting Valjean, knowing full well who he was dealing with. It was a little frustrating for me to see how brilliant he could be in instances like that, when he seemed to be bored at other times. But he still had me in tears during Javert's suicide, and I didn't think this show could move me to tears anymore. I just didn't want that number to end. It was then that it really hit me that I was actually sitting in a Broadway theatre experiencing Terrence Mann's performance as Javert - something that had sustained my love of theatre for nearly fifteen years. And that moment made it all worth it.