Rather in-depth Les Miz 3-7 review. (Lea Salonga, etc.)- Page 2

[sanda]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 10:40pm

and Lizzie, this pop-up thing is not correct. I didnot reply every les miz post like you did. And I did not trash talk him in every les miz post as well. There are a lot of compliments about him here and I keep my silence for the most time.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 10:57pm

While we're talking about Adam Jacobs-anyone else notice how many times he would sing his lines TO the audience? "Red and Black" for example: when he sings "the color of despaaaaaaaair" he literally brought out his arms turned to the audience and looked up at the mezzanine when he sang that note. Weird.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 11:27pm

While we're talking about Adam Jacobs-anyone else notice how many times he would sing his lines TO the audience?

Oh heck yes.

[istillbelieve24601]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 7:50pm

Hate to bump this up... but I just joined the forums, so... anyway...

I saw the 3/11 matinee. It was my first time seeing Les Mis alive, so I may be biased, but I really did enjoy the revival. I got to see Aaron as Enjolras. Even though he was just recovering from the flu, he was still absolutely brilliant. However, I ended up seeing Celia Keenan Bolger's understudy, Megan McGinnis (yes, Celia probably actually was sick during the performance you saw.) I was really dissapointed with her, since she was a soprano and played Eponine was an ingenue-in-rags. It posed interesting questions over why Marius choses Eponine over Cosette, but not the best interpretation of the character.

I have a detailed review on musicals.net, I'll just copy it and post it here:

Alexander Gemegnani (Jean Valjean)- Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. I had heard a lot of very, very, very nagative things about his performance. From all the clips I saw of him (especially in the Broadway World.com trailer) I agreed with the negative reviews. When I entered the theatre, I wasn't particurally eager about seeing him and was dissapointed we weren't seeing an understudy. However, this guy blew me away.

I remember once there being a discussion somewhere on these boards about if male belters exist or not. Alex definitely qualifies as a belter. I don't usually make judgements about male voices, but he has a beautiful, beautiful voice. It was loud and powerful, without too much vibrato, but still had a nice tone. I love his voice!

I was also impresed by Alex's acting. In reality, he is far too young to be Valjean. However, keeping this in the back of my mind, he totally had me convinced that he was Valjean's age. In all of the clips, he seemed to be almost animal-ish, which is what I've heard people describe him as. However, he didn't appear like that onstage. The only part where I had problems with his acting was at his death at the very end. It was only then that I realized he was 27.

Finally, he was super-sweet at the stage door, which is always nice.

Lea Salonga (Fantine)- OMG. OMG. OMG. She. Was. Freaking. Amazing. Oh. My. God. *deep breath* She definitely gave the best performance of "I Dreamed A Dream" I've ever heard in my life. We all know she has a lovely voice. But I think her performance went far beyond the fact that she is an awesome, incredible singer.

A lot of Fantines usually seem to grow very angry as they grow louder during the climax of "I Dreamed A Dream." Even though IDAD is my favorite song of all time, I don't usually agree with that interpretation, because I feel Fantine's hopelessness and horror doesn't really translate into anger until after she becomes a prostitute. However, Lea portrayed Fantine as totally desperate, hopeless and sad during IDAD. I was sobbing by the second verse. Even though her voice grew louder during the climax, she managed to keep sounding hopeless and sad.

The rest of her performance was brilliant as well. I only had two problems with her. Fantine is just too small of a part for her. I kept looking around to see if I could find Lea in the ensemble, but I don't think she appeared in the ensemble. The other problem was the stage door was a nightmare after, crowded mainly with people who wanted Lea's autograph. I actually didn't get her autograph, because I couldn't get close enough to her. In her words, it was "like a mosh pit out here."

Now that I've given two very positive reviews, I'm going to give a pretty negative one.

Norm Lewis (Javert)- Please, get him out of this show! Norm has a nice voice, but he simply is not a good enough actor to play Javert. Someone said it seems like he's uncomfortable with the role, and I completely agree. He can do the role, but I think he's lacking in energy and confidence. There wasn't anything that visibly made me cringe but he just seemed to be there. He definitely didn't match the energy or performance levels of everyone else in the show. I also hated how he shouted the last note of his suicide. That note should be sung. Period.

On a happier note, he was one of the sweetest outside the stage door.

Gary Beach (Thenardier): I really enjoyed Gary's performance. He's an amazing actor who I was fortunate enough to see in The Producers when he returned this summer, and he awed me with his talent again. Vocally, he definitely wasn't the most talented in the cast. However, he was hilarious. I loved everything he did. He was also very nice outside the stage door.

Jenny Galloway (Madame Thenardier): Also amazing. You've all seen the TAC video so you all know how she does the role. And she's even better onstage. She's a wonderful performer and did a wonderful job with the role.

Adam Jacobs (Marius): First of all, let me say that this man is hot. He's not the best singer or the best actor out there. But I totally understand why Eponine liked him. His performance was solid. I happen to like his voice and enjoyed his "ECAET." He's a good actor. However, I think if he looked different he wouldn't have gotten the role. He and Ali Ewoldt made the cutest couple ever.

Ali Ewoldt (Cosette)- I had heard a lot of very positive things about her, so I expected to really enjoy her performance. I agree, she is a great actress. I loved the way she portrayed Cosette. Her acting made me actually sort of like Cosette. I really enjoyed her performance- until she opened her mouth.

I am not a fan of Ali's voice. At all. To be as nice as I can, whenever she sang I wanted to smack her. She's obviously quite trained and works very hard, but the actual tone of her voice was whiny and annoying. Her high notes were better, because the further she got into her head voice, the less annoying her voice became, but I couldn't stand any of her singing except the very high notes. She and Adam make a cute couple and she seems very sweet, but her voice makes me cringe.

Megan McGinnis (Eponine understudy): Megan was the exact opposite of Ali- great singer but not a good actress. She portrayed Eponine as shy!Eponine, instead of pushy!Eponine. I disagreed with a lot of her acting choices.

However, Megan has a lovely voice. My only complaint about her voice is that it wasn't right for Eponine. Even though she hit all of her notes, she was obviously more of a soprano than an alto. I actually think she would have been better suited for the role of Cosette. Her performance was tolerable, but not great.

And, saving the best for last, (although I know I'll be biased)

Aaron Lazar (Enjolras): This man is Enjolras. He was born to play the role. I love his voice and his acting was phenominal. I know I could probably say a lot more about him, but it will all turn out fangirly. He's amazing.

Also, he was sooooo sweet at the stage door. I talked to him for a few minutes, mainly about his blog and stuff. What I really appreciated is that I actually made a T-shirt with all quotes from the show on the front, and then all empty space on the back for the actors to sign. I also wrote: "PS, I'm an Enjolras fangirl." Aaron drew a line to it, wrote "Thanks, Love Enjolras" and then signed his name on a different part of the shirt. It was so nice of him.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:19pm

Let's just say, "this ain't your father's Les Miz".

[toomeytwopiece]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:35pm

"I was disappointed with ADAM JACOBS as Marius. I found myself thinking "Is this the best they could get?" a lot during the Marius-Cosette-Eponine sections of the show. I found myself thinking "Are all the good young pop voices in Wicked?" He seemed like just a pretty face, a decent voice, not a lot going on behind the eyes. Granted, maybe that's what Marius IS, but... I've seen a lot better. "

When casting, they wouldn't see anyone for this role unless he were of Asian heritage, more specifically, Filipino. There are plenty of guys who could sing and act the crap out of that role - but many of us were not seen. The producer likes JACOBS in the role (he played it on tour), and what Cam wants, Cam gets!

Also, someone said that "Cute dictates talent" - and I have to say that it's mostly true. There is a lot of middle man that messes up the casting situation too sometimes. Directors only see the talent that casting directors and agents arrange for them to see. Updated On: 4/4/07 at 10:35 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:40pm

Heh, somehow that doesn't surprise me. But they really should've held an open call in Daly City, then...