Les Miz 11/22 evening show review

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 10:41am

So. I saw Les Miz last night!! Let me preface this with how I LOVE Les Miz! So when they said if you loved it this time, you'll love it again, that was true.

Overall, I thought the production was great...but like any shows, some people are better than others.

The highlight for me was Aaron Lazar as Enjolras. OMG he was just FABULOUS. i'm seriously sooooo madly in love with him (i saw him in light in the piazza and found him so hot then too haha)....but yeah, he was just so connected to his text and he was just SOO incredible. His voice is to die for. A Tony nomination better be there for him.

But as much as I LOVED him, I equally HATED Daphne Rubin-Vega as Fantine. I'm not a big Rent fan (sorry don't shoot me), so I don't know if maybe her voice worked for that, but it sure didn't work for Les Miz. It was like she had half lisp, half Carol Channing type voice. It was so weird and I sat there groaning during her songs. She wasn't out of tune, but her tone was just so bad for me. I also didn't really feel connected when she was singing....her acting didn't stand out for me.

I thought both JVJ and Javert were great....especially Norm Lewis as Javert....I do see what they are saying how JVj is too young because he's only 27 in real life.

I'm not gonna lie. Celia Keenan-Bolger was a bit of a disappointment as Eponine (DON'T SHOOT ME!!). I did see her in Spelling Bee and I think vocally she was much more suited for that part as well as age wise. She has a very juvenile way of acting and it just seemed like Cosette was a lot older than Eponine (and it wasn't because of the height difference....how short is Celia anyway??)...she has a very young way of acting. It worked in Spelling Bee because she was supposed to be a kid. So I didn't HATE her or anything. I just wasn't overwhelmed.

Ali Elowlt (sry spelling) was good as Cosette, but she was a little shrill at points. The part is just really not that big. She and Marius were good together, though.

I thought Gary Beach was absolutely hillarious as Mr. Thenardier...my only problem was that he was so much better than Jenn Galloway that I felt that they weren't exactly a pair....

I don't know if the reason the women didn't stand out to me was because the women weren't as good or because the women don't do as much as the men, but I definitely would Tony nominate a lot of the men and not really so many of the women.

It's so hard with revivals because we always ask how true to the original production should the revival be and how "original" should the revival be. It's hard to find the happy medium. I know that I was a little frustrated in a show like Sweet Charity how there was very little Fosse choreography, but this was the exact opposite of course since it was the same lighting and staging with the revolving stage and everything.....so I don't know what the answer is. In a way I would have liked something A LITTLE different, but then again.....I loved the staging and for someone when it's their first time seeing Les Miz, they'd be overwhelmed by how beautiful the staging is. What does everyone think about that? Should it be exactly the same? I'm just curious what people think....

Les Miz is beautiful and never should have left Bway in the first place!

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 11:08am

Thank you for the review Glad you loved it and it seems- aside your feelings towards Celia- you fall into the major majority of the reviews and fans

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 1:08pm

Ewoldt.

Easy to look up.

http://lesmiz.lohudblogs.com/author/aewoldt/

[WSS2]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 3:49pm

When is Daphne out of there?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 3:59pm

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=917743

[NJRae]

Posted: 11/23/06 at 4:39pm

"When is Daphne out of there?"

Supposedly late January/early February. Last I heard Daphne herself is not sure of the dates. Someone in another thread (supplied in above post by Lizzie) said that whoever replaces her is due to start on Feb 20th.