Les Miserables at The Queen's, West End

I have had a long weekend in London but haven’t gotten around to writing my blog posts as after returning home from I jetted off (well more caught the train) to Paris for a week so apologies but I do have two more posts to write. I travelled down to London with my housemate but more importantly very good friend Emma on Friday 4th December. This is Emma’s first blog post with me so welcome. We got up early and drove down to Cockfosters. On the Friday night we went to see Les Misėrables, one of the most famous, well-known and spectacular musicals ever written; I think all would agree, but more of that in a bit. On the Friday we had a look round Covent Garden and found the most immense hot chocolate place, with free white hot chocolate. We had two shots and felt bad for having (stealing) more. I think I may have to return to get some in the New Year. We also popped along to the London Eye for a whizz round which was spectacular. Nanny Cora took me to the London Eye a while back and it was lovely to go back on. We opted for the champagne experience (why not when in the capital) and had a bit of bubbly in the waiting area and a bit of bubbly on the Eye. The scenes from the eye are gorgeous. Luckily we missed the 4 o’clock booking we had so were moved to the six o’clock time and it really is something special to see London all lit up in the dark.

 

I first saw Les Misėrables about two years ago. I absolutely love Les Mis and find it impossible to review such a show and cannot add anything to all the reviews that have been written in the crazy 30 year run on the West End (first London production in 1985). Therefore I can only describe my experience of seeing the show and the people who made it so special. I fault nothing with Alain Boubil’s (concept, book and French lyrics) and Claude-Michel Schonberg (book and music) phenomena that is Les Mis (also known for Miss Saigon which I have seen but not featured in this blog). The theatre extraordinaire Cameron Mackintosh produced Les Mis with support from Herbert Kretzmer (lyricist), Trevor Nunn (adaption and direction – I love Nunn) and John Caird (adaption and direction). If you have never seen Les Mis it is so difficult to describe how amazing it is. The staging is perfect and on point (I cannot imagine Mackintosh having anything less) and you honestly feel like you are actually seeing 1800’s France.  Thanks to costume design, by Andreane Neofitou, which is fabulous it adds so much to the characters presentation on stage. The songs are also beautiful, emotionally provoking and passionate. I love every song and actually struggle to find a favourite; my playlist known as ‘Les Mis faves’ has 14 songs (40 on the album that I have). As each one started I would say “I love this song”, which Emma often replied with “You love every song”. The lighting, by David Hersey, is incredible and to create a war zone with sound and lighting at the theatre is no easy task. However the lights really put the audience in the thick of the attacks and you worry for the young students on the battle street. Les Mis is currently at the Queen’sTheatre which is a smallish theatre but I think this adds to the beauty and sentiments of Les Mis. A bigger theatre could potentially ruin the atmosphere the Queen’s offers to the Les Mis story.

 

American Peter Lockyer is currently playing Jean Valjean and his voice is perfect for the role. This is such a hard part to play as the actor needs to portray Jean Valjean throughout his life and at different emotional states in a short space of time. Javert played by Jeremy Secomb is a pleasure to watch and listen to, his performance of ‘Stars’ was second-to-none. I feel for Secomb as he plays the somewhat mean (in the audience’s perception) Javert he often receives a ‘boo’ at the curtain call but he deserves one of the biggest cheers of the night (Les Mis is not a panto!). Fantine portrayed by Rachelle Ann Go is gorgeous and gets your tears flowing with her beautiful and melancholic performance of “I Dreamed a Dream”. I always wonder what the actress playing Fantine does between her death and return to support Valjean at the epilogue of the performance. If someone knows or has played Fantine or Ann Go herself wants to let me know, please get in touch. When I first saw Les Mis Sierra Boggess was playing Fantine and she is amazing, such a beautiful voice – if anyone has a chance to see Boggess in anything I would recommend seeing it.  Carrie Fletcher plays Eponine one of my favourite characters in Les Mis. The cast is huge and I cannot mention them all but they are all incredible. I do have to mention the comic relief of Les Mis, Thenardier played by Phil Daniels (known for loads but Emma knew him mainly from EastEnders) and Madame Thenardier played by Katy Secombe who is in the Les Mis film. These couple of charlatans really brighten up the experience of watching Les Mis as not much happiness results from the show. The Thenardier’s song sand stage presence definitely brings a smile and a laugh for the audience and Daniels and Secombe are ace at playing the mean couple.

 

I have little left to say about Les Misėrables apart from if you haven’t seen it go and see it or go and see it again. I no doubt will end up being part of the audience sometime again in the near future. I cannot believe Les Mis did not win the Olivier in 1985 for Best New Musical nor the Best Actor award for which it received two nominations (losing out all three awards to Me and My Girl). Patti LuPone won the Olivier for Best Actress for her original portrayal of Fantine. It has since won the 2012 and 2014 Olivier Audience Awards for Most Popular Show. I hope Les Mis wins more awards in the future for popular shows and so on as it whole heartedly deserves more for the original production.