Les Miserables tour- Page 2

[bythesword84]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 12:06am

Actually back in the day when I was a really huge poster on the lesmis.com boards (think, twice the broadway legend on this site at LEAST) we ran into those problems. That's why a lot of us, including myself, ended up leaving the boards.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 12:06am

"Oh the PBS guy has never, ever said Enjolras correctly."

He was a local one at the San Jose, CA affiliate from what I remember. I never saw a national guy do it (although I can imagine the butchering!).

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 1:26am

Just curious, what are the approximate ages of the leads? Any hot young male things for me to sink my teeth into? J/K

Just that Les Lis doesn't seem like much of a teenybopper show.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 2:02am

Usually when people see Les Miz for the first time and develop any kind of crush on a male character (or performer), it's Enjolras or Marius. But at any rate, here's an old audition notice link...
http://forums.starsearchcasting.com/forums/showthread.php?goto=lastpost&t=5878

[VivaBohemia]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 3:18am

LMAO! Great Synopsis. Im prining it out.

Is Ma-anne Dionisio still in the show? She is AMAZING. I saw her back in April when the show came to Baltimore. One of my favorite Eponines ever. Such a strong, clear voice. How about Stephen Trewksbury? He was an awesome Javert too, VERY nice after the show. Someone gave him a little police officer bear and called it "Jabear" and Stephen was beside himself. lol Great guy.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 3:41am

NO ONE is in the show right now, seeing as it's on hiatus.

But next month, neither Ma-Anne nor Stephen will be back.

[ken8631]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 8:02am

This is my favorite musical of all time, even though I did see Boy From Oz about 30 times... Saw Les Mis 18 times in 15 years while it was on Broadway. Saw the touring production when it was in West Point, NY last year and most recently in NJ a few months ago. Thought Jean ValJean (Randall Keith) was excellent, as he was the same actor who finished the show on Broadway (also was happy to see Terrence Mann finish on Broadway since he was the original Broadway Javert - excellent!!) - rest of the cast is now just so-so.

EponineThenardier - an excellent review, had me laughing out loud over here!

I noticed that Colm Wilkinson (the original Jean Valjean) will be at Lincoln Center NY as part of "Showstoppers" on Oct 25. I'm hoping he does "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis, which he is the best at singing (I think it was written with him in mind), and I've never heard him sing it live.

[ken8631]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 8:07am

One of the other reasons it's not as good as the Broadway production was - they are using a synthesizer to replace a LARGE portion of the orchestra - NOO WAY does it sound anywhere near as good as the full orchestra at the Imperial!!!! (Dracula has the same problem - synthesizers are BAD!!!)

[AbsolutKnight]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 8:40am

hahaha I cracked up from that! Especially the part about Jean ValJean looking at Marius (a hot gay man), becuase last time I saw the show this past spring Marius was just that!

[Kris2]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 3:15pm

Hey =) Brand spankin' new to the boards. Just wanted to say Les Mis was the first show that absolutely blew me away. I loved it so much, but only saw it once on Broadway. I didn't realize they still had a tour going (well, starting up again at least). It'd be awesome to see it again. I saw it mid-2000 with J. Mark McVey, Gregg Edelmann, Jane Bodle, Nick Wyman, Fuschia, Jessica Boevers, Christopher Mark Peterson, Peter Lockyer, and Tobi Foster. With the exception of Tobi Foster as Cosette, I pretty much adored the cast.

bytheswordsword84 - I'm very curious who you saw, who your favorites are and why. Just watch, you'll hate everyone I loved. Haha. I've never followed Les Mis's cast history because I got into it so late in it's run and then I didn't see it again. I tried yahoo, but are there any comprehensive fan websites for Les Mis with castlists (mainly on Broadway)? I'm only familiar with some older cast members that I didn't see but know their work in other things like Alice Ripley, etc. I would love to familiarize myself more with the show's history. All I remember hearing is that they fired a bunch of people around 1996-1997 and recast the roles.

Also, I have a question about blind casting in Les Mis which is for anyone. Which roles have stuck to one race, which are more likely to be color blind, and which have had one or two people that have been of a different racial vein than was typically cast in the role? Was the color blind casting full-time, or were they usually understudies? Sorry if this has been asked before.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 3:26pm

I heard a recording of Ma-Anne's OMO, she is fabulous. I'm mad that she replaced Jessica Snow and becasue of that I just missed her. She is my favorite Eponine too, besides Lea.

I did get the pleasure of seeing Stephen Trewksbury as Javert. He was incredible. Kandall Keith was out but I saw his understudy Steve Gannon, who was better than anyother Valjean I've heard. Better than the guy in London. I hope he's doing well right now, casue he was freakin amazing.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 3:40pm

Kris2: www.broadwaylesmis.com
The most colorblind character ever is probably Eponine, who is often Asian or part Asian. Lea Salonga was the pioneer of sorts and it jumped off from there.Stella Lee understudied Eponine last year on the tour. Dina Lynne Mori****a was the regular Eponine and THEN an understudy previous to Stella. For a while, I believe all the professional English-speaking productions of Les Miz had an Asian Eponine: Rona Figueroa on Broadway, Diana Kaarina on tour, Natalie Jackson Mendoza in Australia, and Joanna Ampil in London.
The tour has also had two black Fantines: Thursday Farrar and Tonya Dixon. Johmaalya Adelekan understudied Fantine a few years ago on tour.

Les Miz tends to be pretty good with its color-blind casting, but only with the female characters. Brazil had a Valjean of Japanese background, although I don't believe there has ever been an Asian American or African American male lead in Les Miz in the US. Apparently there was to be a black Valjean a few years back (his name escapes me, but he replaced Carl Anderson recently on the JCS tour), but for whatever reason ended up not doing the role.

EponineT: It's Tewksbury, not Trewksbury.
Stella Lee's page on cafemusain.com Updated On: 9/30/04 at 03:40 PM

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 5:06pm

Dina Lynne Mori****a Who?

I'm going to have to reread Eponine's synopsis. All of these names are muddling together now! (Eponine? Cosette? Javert? Who?)

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 5:13pm

Musetta you're out to get my spelling aren't you? :)

[elvenprincess971]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 5:19pm

the touring cast is going to be in the US, or at least in the NW corner (aka oregon and washington state)... unless the performances there arent touring cast. However, thats what the site boasts so im assuming it will be there at the end of nov.

Updated On: 9/30/04 at 05:19 PM

[ForTheLoveOfLea]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 5:27pm

I totally agree with all the pseudo Miz freaks, Eponine. My friend is like that too and she always compares herself to Eponine and was going to sing On My Own for play auditions last year and sang Castle on a Cloud instead. It really makes me mad. I used to like Eponine the best. Now I'm in a Mme. Thenardier stint. I love her.

I saw the tour last March with Randal, Stephen, and Ma-Anne in Philly. I was blown away. Ma-Anne is no Lea, but she did a great job.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 5:42pm

M. T is kick a$$. She must be so much fun to play. Updated On: 9/30/04 at 05:42 PM

[ForTheLoveOfLea]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 5:45pm

She is probably the one I could play the best. I'm good at being burly and obnoxious.

[NoDayButToday2]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 7:00pm

David Masenheimer is by far the best Javert in my opinion

Sorry just wanted to get that out there

I do believe I've seen an asian Eponine... It wouldnt have bothered me so much if she was good, but her 'On My Own' was screechy and waaaay too forced. In that same cast I vaguely remember Jean Valjean looking like he weighed 400 lbs and something was a little different with Marius but I don't remember what. The appearence/race of an actor doesn't bother me if they have the talent to back it up.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 7:06pm

best cast I've seen was on tour in the great city of Cupertino, CA in 1993. Dave Clemmons as JVJ, Chuck Wagner as Javert, and two amazing understudies--one named Sarah Uriarte (this was pre-Berry) covering the role of Eponine and a young fellow named Brian D'Arcy James covering the role of Enjolras. of course I was 10 at the time so I had no idea. i want to cry everytime I look at that playbill and realize I'm unable to remember most of the show.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 8:28pm

Argh, Japanese name suffixes!

M o r i s h i t a !

And any Les Miz school edition that's not adding the "school edition" to the name is breaking their contract, AFAIK. The Les Miz tour will definitely be in the Pacific NW soon.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 8:58pm

Ugg. School Edition...

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 9:11pm

My feelings exactly.

*cue PatiB*

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 9:24pm

I saw Les Mis for the first time back in April in Huntsville Alabama and it was awesome I thought that Fantina and Jean Valjean were AWESOME........it moved my teacher to tears.
I was wondering if they were using synthesizers.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 9:49pm

The composition of the orchestra depends on how long they're in a certain city. I believe for any run that's 5 weeks or longer, they have to hire some local musicians.