Looking at this through fresh eyes, as one who has never seen the show, watched the movie, or read the book, but has been listening to the OBCR for the past several weeks on repeat, I wanted to share a few thoughts on seeing the matinee of Les Miserables on Sunday 12/01/2019. I’ve read a lot of the posts from BWW in various threads regarding the show, and tried to balance my expectations going in despite still being very excited to finally see this legendary work of literature and stage. And I think perhaps I came away somewhat disappointed. Maybe it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
During most the entire performance two thoughts kept going through my head: why is the staging so very dark (dimly lit), and (particularly in Act Two) is it over yet? This just seemed like a looooong show.
There were times the scene on stage wasn’t much brighter in its lighting than the audience area that I was sitting in. Or so it seemed. Even the backdrops and scrims were so dark I could barely, if at all, make them out. And I don’t know if it was just this performance, but I really wished there was about 60 minutes worth of dialogue to interrupt the start-to-finish non-stop singing.
Not that the singing, or the acting, was really all that bad. Several of the musical pieces were quite good and/or very enjoyable - I Dreamed A Dream (beautifully done), Lovely Ladies (good stuff lol), Master of the House (funny), The People’s Song, One Day More (loved this), Bring Him Home (gorgeous), Beggars at the Feast, and Finale. And I never thought the acting was all that bad or overly hammy, maybe a bit dramatic at times. But shouldn’t I have expected that for Les Miserables? I rather enjoyed the performances of Marius (Joshua Grosso), Enjolras (Matt Shingledecker), and the Thenardiers (Jimmy Smagula and Allison Guinn). Jean Valjean (Nick Cartell) did a fine enough job, but at times he was a little overcooked. And Jalvert (Monte J. Howell) has a tremendous voice, not much more though, and no real stage presence.
But to me there was just something off about the entire show. I think maybe the combination of the very dark staging (again, with the lack of lighting), odd use of spot lights especially during the barricade scenes, and way too many people on stage at times with the added difficulty of seeing what was going on between them (even who was doing the singing) just made me wish I had front row seats. Not that my seats were in a bad location - first balcony tier Row A center. I do think being much closer would have been better.
I ended up buying the window card (which I love), magnet, and souvenir program. The cast-signed window card at $40 was nice enough but it was signed in black marker, and it blended in way too well with the background of the image. Wish it had been done in silver.
Maybe my memories and fondness of the show will improve over time. Listening to the OBCR and seeing the show that’s still in my mind’s eye, it was an interesting experience. Different than any show I’ve ever seen. Not in a bad way. Just different. Would I see this again? No. Did I hate this? No. Would I recommend it? Maybe.
