Randal Keith

[Derech2]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 2:20am

I have always been a fan of Colm Wilkinson's Valjean. However until about 3 months ago, I had never really heard another Valjean. Les Mis came to town and I went to see it twice, with Randal Keith as Jean Valjean.

Keith was one of the most incredible performers I have ever heard or seen. Every single note he hit with ease. Bring Him Home had me near tears (for me, that's saying something). His performance was flawless. His voice, was beautiful, clear and resonating.

Since I saw Keith as Valjean, every time I listen to Wilkinson I nearly cringe. Particularly at the end of "Who am I?" Wilkinson belts out the note (B flat?) in a yelpy vibratto, but Keith's was smooth and not harmful on the ears :P

So while I still see Colm Wilkinson as a man with incredible talent, what my point here is I cannot understand why Colm Wilkinson's performance as Valjean has been so elevated beyond anyone's throughout the years. Since I saw Keith, I've listened to several different Valjeans online and in my opinion Keith's voice is far superior.

As anyone else seen or heard Keith as Valjean? Any opinions on this?

[theatreangel]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 2:39am

I've seen a total of three Valjeans perform, and he was the last one I saw, right before Les Mis closed on Broadway. I thought his performance was the best out of all the ones that I'd seen. His "Bring Him Home" was not warbly, like a lot of other performers'. Glad you liked him.

[broadway_star_tomorrow]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 4:11am

I saw it with Keith. Definitely one of the BEST performances I have ever seen.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 9:47am

I also saw it with Keith. I thought he was AMAZING! Granted, I have only seen les miz twice but he was the best. But I still thought he was incredible compared to every show I have seen.

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:03pm

You should PM Type_A_Tiff. She got to interview him for work. :) I made her go see the show, haha!

[WhereAmIGoingTo]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:14pm

Keith is, as of now, my favorite Valjean.

The only ones I've heard other than him, though, are Colm Wilkison and Garry Morris. So I can't say I have much to compare him to. (However, I do think he blows Colm Wilkinson totally out of the water.)

I'm taking a non-mizzie who wants to know what I'm obsessed about to see it, and I REALLY hope Keith is in that night (he should be... its the first Saturday night performance in Chicago) because she's heard me rave about him and wants to see him.

*le sigh* So you saw it twice? It didn't get boring or anything, did it? Because I'm seeing it three times, and its been so long since my last Miz experience that I'm worried I won't like it anymore (kinda stupid, but whatever...).

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:24pm

I was supposed to see Keith perform a couple of years ago, but he was out. His understudy though, Steve Gannon, brought the house down! He was incredible and the best Valjean I have ever seen or heard.

[manders]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 1:35pm

I saw Keith as Valjean when Les Mis came to the Pantages. Oh. My. Goodness. He was divine. Him and Thenardier were hands down my favorite part of the show. He must have been working so hard, too, but when I met him after the show he was so gracious and friendly. I love the guy.

[Derech2]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 2:42pm

Boring?! Never! And I saw it two nights in a row. I would have gone to see it every night if I had had the money. The first night I saw it was the first time ever I had ever seen a real production of Les Mis (except a local school show, which was excellent, but just didn't really count ), so I was trying to take in every sight and sound with dropped jaw. The second night I was able to pay closer attention to things, and relish my favorite scenes even better than the first time. You'd have to be insane to get bored at that show before having seen it at least a dozen times.

The second best part of this cast I saw was Melissa Lyon's Eponine. She was an incredible actress and I swear On My Own was written for her.

However, Tonya Dixon as Fantine was dissapointing. At some points in the show, I was left with the impression that she *did* have th ability to produce nice, full sounds with her voice was refused to. Evidently later in the week, something happened to her halfway through a show and her understudy had to step in for the Finale and the several shows they had left to do. Some friends saw the understudy and said she was phenomenal; I was jealous. XD

I wish they would put Randal Keith on a recording. Why wasn't he picked for the Dream Cast Concert?! Bah!

Updated On: 1/15/05 at 02:42 PM

[zbigner]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 8:04pm

I don't think Randal appears on any Les Miz recordings, but he did recently release a solo album that includes "Bring Him Home." I've been playing tracks from the album on my Broadway radio station for a couple of months, and it is an excellent recording all the way through.

I don't think it is on Amazon yet, but you can buy it at CDBaby or his web site. Make sure to note that his web address has a dash in the middle.
randal-keith.com

Updated On: 1/15/05 at 08:04 PM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 8:06pm

I saw Keith and he cracked at the end of Who Am I?

Since, they have changed the note actually.

Nevertheless, he made up for it in Bring HIm Home and is one of my favorite Valjean's to date...

[Radford]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 1:19am

His website lists Ivan Rutherford as the understudy to Val Jean. I saw it a few years ago, and he was Val Jean and Keith was the Understudy. Did Keith just take over the role?