Afternoon all,

Since seeing Les Miserables for the very first time just yesterday, a few valuable lessons have been learned. First of which is; make sure your Valjean doesn’t sound like a suffocating sparrow. Second; meet Norm Lewis and Killian Donnelly after the show. Both were lovely guys and couldn’t be more please to autograph programmes and get pictures.

The Show Itself

After experiencing the near-perfect casting of the 25th Anniversary show of Les Miserables at the O2 – and knowing that plenty of cast members treading the boards at The Queen’s had taken part – I was expecting my first time seeing Mis to be spectacular. In some ways it didn’t disappoint but in others, I just couldn’t ‘turn that frown upside-down’ as they say.

From my seat in the Circle, I could have seen most of the stage were it not for the lower rows leaning forward. Ignoring this fact, I found the excitement increasing as the lights dimmed and the show began. Now, as performers go, in the West End, normally you would expect leads – my experience being Ramin Karimloo (POTO and LND), Alfie Boe (LM 25th) and James Loye from the musical version of The Lord of the Rings – to be strong of voice, their actions precise and their knowledge of the character to be second to none. Simon Bowman, who was playing Jean Valjean, left quite a bit to be desired.

His voice was raspy and his acting could have been mistaken for a school production of this legendary musical. So, I felt the emotion in ‘he’s like the son I might have known’ but, aside from that, the frailty – even early on, when Valjean is supposed to be a strong young man – had me wondering what on Earth I was doing there. As the story progressed and Gareth Gates appeared as a wonderful Marius – as much as the character already annoys me with his blindness – and Samantha Barks with her incredible Eponine, my feelings towards watching slowly began to change. Killian Donnelly was a super Enjolras, bringing an amazing voice to the character and another great reason for being there. Norm Lewis was an inspiring Inspector Roy Javert and, as I’d seen him in the O2 production, I knew he was going to bring plenty of much-needed ‘kick’ to the show. When both Norm and Killian were on-stage, it was difficult to see who was the better performer; they were both Alphas.

With ‘One Day More’ approaching, signifying the end of the first half, I knew only good things were to come. Samantha Barks’ ‘On My Own’, after the interval, was stunning – as it had been at the O2 – and, in the smaller theatre, when it came to Gavroche’s death, they actually played it out. I wasn’t quite prepared for the shock of it and found tears rimming my eyes throughout that small section. When the students at the barricade started up with ‘Drink With Me’, I was conditioned to seeing Ramin Karimloo and Hadley Fraser’s Enjolras and Grantaire ‘moment’ and I think it’s safe to say that Killian and Martin Neely (who played Grantaire) knew what their characters were feeling.

Also missed out in the O2 concert was Enjolras’ death scene. The guns went off and, in a last ditch effort, Killian waved the huge crimson flag and then fell forward; over the front of the barricade. I was prepared for how the scene would play out, from seeing it in the 10th Anniversary Concert, but actually seeing Killian upside-down and covered in blood, I shed a tear or two. The rest seemed to go in a blur of head-voices, a suicide, a marriage and a symbolic death.

It was an enjoyable show but I would wait for the cast change – Alfie Boe as Valjean, Matt Lucas as Thenardier and Hadley Fraser as Javert – before going a second time.

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