Les Mis
As a surprise for Manon’s Birthday, I bought tickets for the new Dutch production of Les Misérables. To me it’s the most beautiful musical ever, closely followed by (or perhaps joined first place with) Wicked.
I saw Les Mis about 40 times over the period 1986-1992. In Holland as well as in London. I know the CD by heart, every word, every note. I know exactly where there’s a pause, or where the singers take a breath. In short, it’s like a second skin.
For the new production the composers worked on a modernisation of the score, they took out the ’80s sound effects’ and changed the feel of it all, so it would fit in this time and age. To emphasize that, they weren’t looking for ‘classical’ voices at the Dutch auditions, but rather more ‘pop’ voices. I have to say, it worked for some characters, but not for all, although I have to add that I must give it another chance. Knowing the previous productions so well, I wasn’t really willing to accept the modernisation… so I will be mild 🙂
In all… it was beautiful. I laughed, I cried, I had goosebumps and went through many emotions.
Jamai Loman (former winner Dutch Idols) is perfect as Marius. “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” always does it for me and I had to grab a tissue this time as well.
Jamai’s voice blends well together with Suzan‘s, who was offered the rol of Cosette after she came second in the TV-Show “Search for Evita”. I am sooo glad she didn’t win the part of Evita, 1) it is one of the few musicals I don’t like, 2) Cosette fits her like a glove, 3) Les Mis is the musical of musicals, no better place to be!
A standing ovation from me for Wim van den Driessche – he IS Javert, obsessed and scary, but vulnerable as well. “Stars” made me cry, powerful voice and a beautiful song.
Céline Purcell is a great Eponine, different from the ones I’ve heard before, but just as wonderful. Of course I cried when she sang “On my own” as did many others! When we met her briefly after the show and I told her she made me cry, she replied with a big smile: “Oooh how wonderful!” And I can only agree; goosebumps, being moved to tears, is a way for me to know if something’s good 🙂
When I heard René van Kooten would be Jean Valjean I had my doubts. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of René and he was amazing in the shows I saw him in, but he is a ‘popsinger’ and Valjean asks for something more, IMHO. I was pleasantly surprised by his performance though, he sang really well, obviously studied hard, but his “Bring me home” didn’t move me to tears, as it usually does. If I’ll be lucky enough to see this Les Mis a second time, I hope he’ll have grown into the role. As we saw a try-out (the show was stopped for 10 min after “Valjean’s Soliloquy”, because of a technical problem with the revolving floor) the actors are doing exactly what the profession does, acting – and not yet living the part. So I’m sure the show will only get better given time.
Nurlaila Karim was the perfect Dorothy in The Wiz (reminded me of a very young Diana Ross – but more beautiful 🙂 ). She’s not my choice of Fantine though. Maybe it’s the change of the score, I don’t know, but “I dreamed a dream” was not the moving experience which it should be. I kept noticing differences and Nurlaila’s voice is definitely ‘pop’. It was disappointing to me – but she got a big applause, so I’ll take the blame for not liking her version of Fantine.
The Thénardiers were extraordinary! Ruthless but with the right amount of humor. It’s very easy to ‘overplay’ these roles. Although their scenes are meant to be the ‘uplifting’ moments in a very dark musical, it’s not supposed to turn into a comedy – I hope I’m making sense here :p It’s hard to explain what I mean. Carlo Boszhard and Marjolein Algera, hats off to you both!!
I never saw Freek Bartels perform before, it’s nice to see a new face in the theatre business. He has a great voice, the youth and ‘drive’ needed for the part of Enjolras and he’s a very nice guy as well!
After the show we waited at the stagedoor and – excuse the language – it was bloody cold! The people we met were all very friendly. Although they must have been tired, they posed for pictures and were happy about the positive comments from the fans.
All in all, it was a moving and wonderful theatre experience and I really hope to see it again…. *making notes* must save money!
Credits: Pictures © musicals.nl
Press presentation of the cast – at YouTube
