Les Misérables, Sondheim Theatre
Sep. 6th, 2024 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cjwatsonWe went to see Les Mis at the Sondheim in London yesterday, and had a thoroughly good time. I'd watched the 2012 film adaptation some years back, but hadn't had a chance to see it on stage before.
The staging was very impressive: fluid and energetic without ever feeling rushed. There were lots of towers on wheels and such, and suitable pyrotechnics for the fighting at the barricades. The moment early on where Valjean enters the court to save somebody who'd been mistaken for him had the stage suddenly opening up with light mid-song as if from a window above the judge's seat, which made me catch my breath; and in Javert's last scene they contrived to present the illusion of a 90-degree perspective flip using only convincing acting and projected river imagery at the back of the stage.
Stewart Clarke as Javert was probably the stand-out piece of casting for me: though his numbers aren't my favourites, the actor was magisterially severe and projected exactly the right sense of implacable menace. Amena El-Kindy as Éponine was a close second, drawing attention despite muted lighting on her in the garden gate scene (A Heart Full of Love) and delivering a magnificent performance of On My Own near the start of Act 2. And Milan van Waardenburg did a wonderful job with both the emotional and vocal ranges required for Valjean.
I had a few minor gripes. There were a couple of places where I felt the orchestra was rushing the singer slightly, and early in Act 1 a few pieces of sung dialogue were slightly difficult to hear (we were in the middle near the front of the Grand Circle, so the first-level balcony); but this didn't seriously detract from my enjoyment. In general I can take or leave the characters of the Thénardiers, and in this production they were played in a chirpy Cockney way which I admit I found a bit grating, but they're meant to be eminently hateable so fair enough.
There was, I strongly suspect, not a dry eye in the house through the second act.
The staging was very impressive: fluid and energetic without ever feeling rushed. There were lots of towers on wheels and such, and suitable pyrotechnics for the fighting at the barricades. The moment early on where Valjean enters the court to save somebody who'd been mistaken for him had the stage suddenly opening up with light mid-song as if from a window above the judge's seat, which made me catch my breath; and in Javert's last scene they contrived to present the illusion of a 90-degree perspective flip using only convincing acting and projected river imagery at the back of the stage.
Stewart Clarke as Javert was probably the stand-out piece of casting for me: though his numbers aren't my favourites, the actor was magisterially severe and projected exactly the right sense of implacable menace. Amena El-Kindy as Éponine was a close second, drawing attention despite muted lighting on her in the garden gate scene (A Heart Full of Love) and delivering a magnificent performance of On My Own near the start of Act 2. And Milan van Waardenburg did a wonderful job with both the emotional and vocal ranges required for Valjean.
I had a few minor gripes. There were a couple of places where I felt the orchestra was rushing the singer slightly, and early in Act 1 a few pieces of sung dialogue were slightly difficult to hear (we were in the middle near the front of the Grand Circle, so the first-level balcony); but this didn't seriously detract from my enjoyment. In general I can take or leave the characters of the Thénardiers, and in this production they were played in a chirpy Cockney way which I admit I found a bit grating, but they're meant to be eminently hateable so fair enough.
There was, I strongly suspect, not a dry eye in the house through the second act.