A postcard from the Palace
by Julie MeaderLes Miserables, Point Theatre, Dublin. Saturday March 20, 1999
As the cast for the matinee was exactly the same for the evening, this will be a kind of two for the price of one job!
So, the cast. Well, obviously Colm Wilkinson was playing Valjean, which was largely the purpose of our visit, just to see what he was like after all this time, and also it was our last chance! The addition of David Bardsley (Enjolras-who else?) and Matt Rawle (Marius), together with tour stalwarts Peter Corry�s Javert, Alex Sharpe�s wonderful Eponine, Carmen Cusack�s Fantine and Poppy Tierney�s Cosette, plus new Thenardiers John Kavanagh and Anita Reeves completed the picture.
Our seats for the afternoon were well-placed just 5 rows from the front, slightly to the left. The Point Theatre is a monster of a building; a converted warehouse which has surely the biggest foyer in the World! It was like an exhibition hall with stands littering the space selling popcorn, drink, Guinness! and the obligatory Les Miz merchandise. We secured our brochures and cast lists and checked out the new photos. "David Bardsley in beard shock!" We then had to pass into the numbered doors to get up to the stalls area, which was just one huge bank of seats going back a looong way. The seats themselves are just thinly-padded hard chairs with no armrests, so after the best part of 7 hours sitting, it was getting a little uncomfortable! Perhaps they should hire out cushions? But the leg room was a little better than the Palace, even though my programmes kept disappearing down the gap under the seat in front! Before we travelled, we were informed that the theatre could be a little cold, so we came prepared. I assume that the staff had had some feedback, because it got steadily hotter throughout the day, so that by the time the chain gang sang �It�s hot as Hell below� for the second time, we knew exactly what they meant.
Right, onto the show itself. Well, we�ve all heard Colm�s voice on various recordings, seen him in the TAC and very briefly at HMP, so it wasn�t as if he was a totally new person. What I was more interested in was seeing him act the part and discovering what it was he did that set him apart from the others - what had lured dozens of fans to travel hundreds of miles just to see a show?! Believe me, as that plane was roaring down the runway, I did wonder �who�s idea was this?�
The usual wave of excitement you get once the lights dim was heightened - not only because there were no understudy announcements beforehand! So, out he came, the original (English language) Jean Valjean��the very first, but would he be the best?!! Sorry, I realise �best� is entirely subjective, but I still have my own league table, and as this was in Dublin, away goals might be counting as double!!
Colm moved through the Prologue with consummate ease, his voice remarkably strong and clear. He played out the early scenes in a more angry manner, and drank very noisily from the pool! The orchestra I felt were a bit lacking, and seemed not to be able to keep up, and also left huge gaps where there needn�t be any - for instance, at the fight scene in the inn, the music is very animated, and should coincide with the punch-up, but the gap was too long, so that it didn�t seem to fit together that well. The Palace production flows along smoothly, the only gaps are for the applause, but this one seemed more stop-start. Paul Monaghan�s Bishop is a real star though - he is so serene it�s unreal!
My first impressions were good. He was coping well, but then in my heart-of-hearts, I wasn�t expecting anything less.
Carmen Cusack as Fantine was a real revelation. Yes, I�d seen her before, but she was never as good as this! She really gave it everything and her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream was wonderful. The ensemble are, as I have said many times, faultless. There is no-one who appears as if they are trying to get noticed or sing louder than the others. However, while they all acted as a competent unit, there were still one or two individual performances that stood out for the nicest reasons. One was Lynne Wilmott playing a selection of un-named characters, including hair lady, and barricade helper. Her acting during Drink with Me was incredibly touching, and the way she comforted Grantaire was a great addition to an already moving piece. Her hair-buying antics were also very well-handled, her face almost lighting up once Fantine had agreed on the price. What I wasn�t overly keen on was the missing line �Take her to the hospital�. While I didn�t think it was necessary to change this scene when the line was brought in the first time, I�d kind of got used to it and it seemed strange not to have it there. Now, during the Bamatabois sequence, there gathers a crowd and when Javert asks �Was there a witness to this?� two people step forward, one is a librarian-looking woman and the other is a man in a scarf, both of whom have stood and watched the entire incident. But for some reason, perhaps because he says his name in the next line, they seem to change their minds and sink back into the crowd. The man crosses himself when Javert states the way to please the Lord. I�ve never noticed it before, cos I�m usually watching Fantine, but it was a nice piece of work by the ensemble again.
Now the Runaway Cart. I don�t know why, but the touring cast always seem to make a right meal of this! �Look out, it�s a runaway cart� is now �Look out, there�s a cart loose running down the street, be careful, look at it go�. Slightly over-exaggerated, but it is a bit too much. After Fauchelevant has been rescued by our hero, Colm really got into his stride I felt. I particularly liked the way he turned his hat over and over while musing on Javerts words. Then followed a rather nice version of Who Am I, with the man filling the stage and not least the vast auditorium with his voice. Aha - the missing line had been handed in at last - right at the end of �24601� he said, or rather spat out, �You will find me at the hospital.� Why? I think the presence of the 2 nurses is a bit of a give-away.
Carmen handled Come To Me perfectly, even though Colm didn�t actually lift her onto the bed, just sort of dragged her backwards. Colm was rather fatherly towards her, and closed her eyes quite nicely after her death. Peter Corry�s appearance then set the scene for a wonderful Confrontation, with Colm springing between his feet in a crouching position, which looked a little like Spiderman! However, each voice could be heard clearly and the punch was great - very loud and most convincing!
The tour casting of the children I think has been rather better of late than the London production. Shame they don�t say who they are, it was only after Edinburgh I discovered the name of one of the girls, Daisy Chute, who joins Joanna Songhi from Southampton and now this one in a threesome of top-notch girls. The Palace recently seems to have sacrificed talent for waif-like, and while they�ve been very small and wretched-looking, their voices were un-remarkable. However, this girl, along with Daisy and Joanna, possessed a very pleasant, melodious voice, kept in tune and still managed to look the part. Now the Thenardiers! When I saw the names John Kavanagh and Anita Reeves, neither meant much to me, but on seeing John for the first time, he had the look of someone I knew. He�s got the longest bio in the programme and I�m sure you�ve all seen him in something. The pair were another couple of physical opposites, with John being the very tall and thin variety. Anita was, in my opinion, the funnier of the two, but then Madame usually is. John elected to sing in a very gravelly voice and both he and his wife did some traditional Thenardier stuff and some of their own. Master of the House, apart from the dodgy West Country accents, was up to its usual standard. Pickin� through the parkets?!!
Ahh, the meeting with Cosette in the woods. Cosette! Cosette! Cosette! He yelled. I was tempted to yell back �Oi, Oi, Oi! Taking her back to the inn, he sat her down but didn�t bid her to warm her hands. Oh dear, do not collect �200. Thenardiers were again raising a laugh here, especially the �No more than we Christians must do� followed by an elaborate and very wrong sign of the cross which the audience seemed to appreciate. The bargain was made, and Valjean swept Cosette times three off to Paris. Little Gavroche was very good too, though I thought he had a rather un-childlike voice? He was coping wonderfully with a pseudo-Cockney accent until he got to General Lamarque is dead! First glimpse of the students. Well, the beard was OK I suppose, and Matt looked very nice as Marius. I hadn�t pictured him as a Marius somehow, but he was rather dashing. Not a terribly convincing knockdown with Cosette but I�ve seen worse. Alex pleaded from the bridge, and Javert wafted in through the smoke. Peter Corry�s Javert is certainly one you wouldn�t want to mess with. I like the way he assesses the situation in 4 seconds flat, removes his hat, and sets about righting the wrongs by helping up Valjean. It is so automatic to him to assume that a well-dressed man could never be in the wrong, like he does with Fantine and Bamatabois. Though we love him dearly, he can be a real snob at times! Peter�s Stars is on a par with the best and got a rousing reception, just a shame they didn�t wait until he�d finished - dontcha just hate when they clap too early?
Back to the ABC Caf�. For me, David epitomises Enjolras. He is commanding, efficient, only slightly aloof and is also patient with Marius. He is tolerant of Grantaire�s antics up to a point, electing to hold his head in his hands when he gets a bit carried away with the bottle! His voice is also Enojlraic! Good and strong, with perfect diction an unmistakable air of �I�m in charge�. Marius, flushed with his new-found love, chose to wander among the students, telling whoever was prepared to listen. I did think that, while Matt is a great performer, he wasn�t really a typical Marius. His voice I felt was a bit too deep for a young student, and while he sang the part well, his belting was a little too mature. When he sang in a more restrained manner, he was impeccable, but it wasn�t his natural voice, and for someone to hold back is too much to ask. But as a future Enjolras, it can be only a matter of time, surely? Securing the cart, David (no strings) Bardsley engineered the initial rising of the barricades with so much conviction and authority, I was tempted to leap off my chair and join in their crusade.
Eponine�s appearance as the students run off signals one of my favourite parts of act one. Colms little chat with his daughter was very nice - he seemed genuinely concerned for her welfare. Enter Eponine and Marius. This is where it gets good!
Alex is just too wonderful for words; the way she looks, acts and sings, she�s Ponine personified. She doesn�t straighten his tie anymore, she brushes back his fringe now. Awww!!! A Heart Full of Love was beautifully enacted by all, with Matt using his restrained voice which toned in nicely with Poppy�s ever-so-slightly operatic soprano. Eponine looked completely gutted for her lines and I really felt for her - normally I can cope, but Alex drags up every ounce of commiseration from the audience. Cosette, who I�ve always been sympathetic towards, was going downhill fast! Her disobedience to her father was quite appalling!! Once Colm had come to assess the situation, twice she sneaked back to the gate behind his back. Naughty girl! And she didn�t hurry off to pack after he�d told her twice. Unlike her former foster-mother, he wasn�t going to forget to be nice, and was quietly weighing up the situation in his mind, ensuring her safety, while she was off canoodling. Self, self, self! There is nothing that hasn�t been said before about One Day More, it�s just the most rousing piece ever written. Colm�s doll-handling was beyond even my expectations. And I hadn�t noticed before that it�s Cosette that brings it out to pack. So it was she that kept it all these years. Oh, well, perhaps she�s not so bad after all. She did leave him all the work while running off again, but it was Matt Rawle, you can hardly blame her.
Act two began as always with Javert volunteering to go off and infiltrate the �enemy� when it suddenly struck me. How come Marius doesn�t recognise him? He�d seen him before, at Valjean�s attack. Answers on a postcard please!
Alex once again excelled herself with On My Own. She stood almost perfectly still for most of it, and then lurched forward towards the audience. �I love him� had an audible crack of emotion in it.
He�s back! Javerts re-entry and subsequent exposure was good, with his humiliation at the hands of Gavroche visible on his face. When Eponine tumbles over the top in her hat and coat, again, it�s time to settle down for a nice piece of work from Alex especially. Matt was trying his best to act as comforter and friend while obviously feeling utterly helpless. This time, it was left to Enjolras to comfort him and once Eponine�s body has been carried aloft, Matt does this thing where, from the lying position, he rolls up onto his knees, back to the audience, and sobs in David�s arms.
You�ve got some years behind you, sir!! Valjean�s reappearance on the barricades and subsequent release of Javert was the part of the show I felt Colm handled the most effortlessly. Though he didn�t pause on his descent when he hears the name �Javert�, the look that passed between them when they came face to face was enough. And no-one shouted �Sniper� either, so it seemed Colm was just taking pot-shots at the audience! Perhaps he�d had enough of the coughing by this time, too? Peter�s anger was self-evident but simmering just enough below the surface to make it seem like steam was about to come out of his ears. Colm took several backward glances to see if anyone could see he was letting the spy go.
Now for the other notable ensemble in Adrian Smith�s Feuilly. I was a bit horrid about his Marius before, but as Feuilly, he�s more than capable, and he�s also acquired a wife/girlfriend along the way. This makes for some very nifty acting, particularly after the second Drink With Me when Mrs. Feuilly has to go home. David partakes of the celebrations and even Gavroche gets a quick slug. Grantaire�s lines, so beautifully sung by Michael Sands, were more heartbreaking than sarcastic.
Now it�s make or break for Colm. Well, all I can say is BRAVO. I know it sounds like I�m picking holes in him - I�m not, honest! He handled it beautifully - he sings it exactly the same as on any recording and he held onto the last note for an age and deserved his applause, which again came before he�d finished.
During the battle scenes, I felt the orchestra again to be too slow, when Marius volunteers to go and get the bullets, there was too long a gap between Enjolras� pleading not to go and Colm stepping-in that it seemed stilted. Good job Gavroche was on the ball. This was another great performance by the little person and he really gave a nice yelp after the second bullet found his leg. Oh, and the throw for the matinee performance was brilliant - it scooped up over the middle of the barricade and David, ever the true leader, caught the strap with the end of his rifle, pinned it to the front of the barricade and manoeuvred it up into his safe hands, even managing a smile along the way. The evening throw wasn�t anywhere near, missing the barricade by a mile.
Revolving round again, David, with the bag (matinee only) looked suitably helpless, but suddenly snapped out of it, and decided to fight ahead as planned. Grantaire�s sidelong lunge for his legs when he goes over the top was also very good. Once the battle is over, Colm comes round and immediately rallies himself. His first words are Marius? Marius? And then he finds him. He looks round and sees the carnage and a few cries of Oh, Jesus then follow. Sinking down into the sewers, with Javert making his way to head him off, enter Mr. Thenardier.
Still with his throaty rasp, Thenardier put some more bits and pieces into Dog Eat Dog. Colm waking again, decided to check on Marius� heartbeat first, before carrying him to the open. The position changes were lame to say the least, all they did was swap sides, but I hadn�t really expected Colm to be actually carrying him in 5 different ways. Letting them go, Javerts� nicely simmering turmoil was now allowed to boil over into one of the greatest suicides. I don�t know how he managed to moderate his voice, but he started �reprieved� way back and brought it up to a powerful finale. Nice stresses on the words too, the way he admitted that his heart was stone. And then he was gone, disappearing under the bubbling Seine.
Turning was sung well by the girls, setting the scene for Marius� big number. Of course, he managed it superbly! The song is more suited to his voice than A Heart Full of Love, and he soared away into it with conviction. Now my favourite favourite part! I�m glad to report it was handled wonderfully, even though Colm only sang 2 Let it be�s and the last one was just a Be in the same tune? He repeated everything else three times, I was a little baffled?!! But the confession to his soon-to-be son-in-law was great - he really was obviously worried Cosette was going to be tainted by his past, so that when Marius agreed to cover up for him, he said �Bless you, monsieur� before walking off to his exile. Nice.
The Wedding was in turns hilarious and touching, with the Thenardiers adding some nice comedic moments - Anita�s operatics and John�s wig, again, a work of art, even higher than before, and laden with powder. Beggar at the Feast almost got the audience clapping along. The day that actually does happen, I hope I�m not there, cos it�s one of my pet hates. That and sock suspenders!! Still, they were funny and got a good send-off.
Now the Finale. Colm was very emotional here, I felt, and even though he still called out everyone�s names three times as they appeared by his side, it didn�t matter much by then. He seemed to produce the confession from nowhere, and Carmen and Alex perfectly complemented each other. By the time the ensemble were signing up another house full of members for their crusade, a quick look round confirmed my suspicion that all eyes were not only shining, but glued to the stage. The final notes were drowned in an almost deafening applause. The curtain calls were wonderful, each group getting louder and louder, and Peter�s swish of his coat-tails was nice! Colm of course had those who weren�t already up suddenly springing to their feet and they came back 3 times.
So, in all, of course, it was a fantastic show, and even though the posters outside hail Colm as the Star, he can only do that with the support of the others. And in this cast, he is most ably supported and the way he glanced about him at the end, confirmed that he�d be the first to admit it. While I enjoyed his performance immensely, he hasn�t leapt into my top four, but I doubt very much it matters. It was an historic occasion, and I was very glad I was there - and I would urge anyone considering going to book up NOW! We couldn�t wait to see it again, which was just as well, cos we only had a couple of hours to kill before we could! It runs until May 15th, by which time the security guards might have got a life and instead of chucking everyone out, you might be able to make the stage door to express your appreciation. So I will have to do it here and hope they get it: Thank you, EVERYONE involved, from the person with the least lines to the most, you ALL make a difference and you�re all the best.
Any comments? Julie would be glad to hear from you.
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