Les Mis at the Papermill aka - the new tour — Page 3

[Javert (Andrew Varela)] starts breaking down as soon as he sees Gavroche's body ... - I've never seen a Javert do that before and I loved it.

I, too, started breaking down when I saw Gavroche's body. To me, showing his body that way was more heartwrenching than if I had actually seen him as he was shot. Do you now agree?


p.s.

(I got lucky last night and snagged one random cancellation ticket at 10:00 in the morning)

it is almost impossible to get any kind of ticket now.

The previous two production weeks Ron Sharpe was on Saturday matinees and Sunday nights. I saw him Sunday night after snagging row Y and row Z singles on the previous Wednesday. His Jean Valjean is much more traditional and, as you say, "fiery" than Lawrence Clayton's.

Clayton, by the way, started out as if he wasn't so familiar with his own character nor with the other miserables. He has grown tremendously to become closer to traditional (although I still recall hearing at least three gospel sounding moments).

I don't know why the schedule is different, except that it's getting closer to closing night; or maybe Lawrence Clayton needed more rest (he was a bit hoarse on Sunday afternoon). [But why not one of the understudies instead of the alternate].


pps: I wonder if Ron Sharpe will travel with the tour as alternate; or will there be alternate alternates at each stop?

I've been following the reviews too. I am looking forward to covering the Philly tour stop on Jan. 5th @ the Academy, and see the changes that I am hearing about.

Tickets starting at $20 are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 215-731-3333, online at http://kimmelcenter.org/broadway

---

And Les Miz has essentially (on its own, no pun intended) grossed 87% of what all of last season grossed, given that Hairspray didn't sell very well (surprisingly). They're going to end the season with a surplus, for the first time in a long time.

^They stopped doing that the year before. Papermill shows haven't been offered there for over a year.

Closing tonight. Tour starts next week in Philadelphia.


p.s.

Tickets for this run sold very quickly. If it will be touring nearby don't put off securing your seats.

Best bet is to hang around the Box office...worked Tuesday ...good luck.

I forgot to mention I felt Clayton and Andrew Varela had absolutely no chemistry together. There was no sense of rivalry or anything adversarial between them.

And I can't believe I'm saying this (because anyone who knows me knows I love a good riff), but I just don't think riffing has a place in most of the Les Mis songs, particularly Bring Him Home.

ETA....They now have a souvenir program. Tonight was the first time I've seen them offering this. $20.

Updated On: 1/6/11 at 11:42 PM

I feel quite the opposite. I found the new staging to lack focus in many of the scenes, the performances wildly uneven, and the direction flat-out lazy. I sort of felt sorry for the people who may be experiencing the show for the first time. Especially since they did away with the titles giving you the time and place when there were major transitions in the story.

I understood the need to try something new with the staging and sometimes it was okay, but other times, it made no sense. The opening, for example. Why put the prisoners on a ship? I had a difficult time believing Javert would have this entire exchange about the release of Valjean on a ship. So...Valjean is now free. Well, when they reach port he'll be free. He can row without chains until then. Or something. The scene was different really just for the sake of doing something different.

The Thenadiers simply weren't funny. She was slightly better than him, but that's because he completely phoned in the performance. Master of the House was a mess and there was so much going on everywhere all the time, the jokes were missed. Fantine's arrest was similarly staged. The majority of the cast were all milling about upstage for no reason other than to have people on stage. It pulled focus and the scene was incredibly messy. The transition to the runaway cart was pretty much incomprehensible.

The battle at the barricade was just awful. Apparently, the only guns being fired came from a single strobe smack in the center of the barricade. And the spotlight deaths were just cheesey and silly. Each bright white spotlight pointed out every student at the barricade as they were shot and they wiggled wildly about. It looked like they were announcing the the final contestants on So You Think You Can Dance. Oh yeah...and Gavroche's death happens off-stage and is never seen.

I don't have the cast list in front of me, but Marius, Cosette and Javert were the strongest of the cast. Valjean was inconsistent throughout and Enjolras cracked a few times. Some of the chorus members were among the strongest singers in the cast.

There were a few effective moments. One Day More was very strong (though the marching looks a bit more like roller-blading), Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was quite lovely, and A Heart Full of Love worked very well.

I've seen numerous productions of the original staging since 1988 and the various cuts and changes in the material. To me, this production is a huge step back from the original, which might have been big, but it was much more sharply focused on the characters and story. This production wants to give you more visual detail to the point of obscuring the massive story while ignoring some directorial basics.

I'd give it two stars.

---

Updated On: 3/3/11 at 10:49 AM

New tour stop just announced last night, Memphis Sept 13-18.
Orephum theater web site

Thanks, "maddy"!
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/d.php?id=1956964

---