T
he
current show at Uncommon Theatre is 8-time Tony Award winning musical "Les
Miserables". The show is a musical composed in 1980 by French composer
Claude-Michel Schonberg with a libretto by Alain Boublil. Through-sung, it
is perhaps the most famous of all French musicals and one of the most
performed musicals world wide. The musical is based on the novel by Victor
Hugo and tells the stories of multiple characters including: a paroled
convict named Jean Valjean who, failing attempts to find work as an honest
man with his yellow ticket of leave, breaks his parole and conceals his
identity in order to live his life again; the police inspector Javert, who
becomes obsessed with finding Valjean; Fantine, the single mother of
Cosette, who is forced to become a prostitute to support her daughter;
Marius, a French student who falls in love with Valjean's adopted daughter
Cosette; Eponine, the young daughter of the Thenardiers, who is hopelessly
in love with Marius; the Thenardiers, who own an inn and exploit their
customers; and Enjolras and the other students who are working toward
freeing the oppressed lower class of France. One of the main themes of this
epic tale is the story of Javert's fall from grace by his overly obsessive
behavior and Valjean's rise from despair after having been imprisoned for
stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving child. After being
helped by the Bishop of Digne, Valjean swears a life of living up to the
Bishop's expectations of him while Javert unable to accept Valjean's heroic
behavior by not killing him during the siege at the barricade, commits
suicide. The truly tragic character in this show is Fantine who makes
difficult choices in her life but ultimately sacrifices herself so her
daughter, Cosette might have a better life. Young Cosette is left in the
care of the unscrupulous Thenardiers who mistreat her horribly and she is
eventually rescued and adopted by Valjean. Years later Marius, the rebel
student falls in love with her at first sight. He is the only one of the
students to survive the siege at the barricade. Even though M. and Madame
Thenardier are evil characters in the show, they are also the comic relief.
They own an inn and cheat their customers and he later on steals from the
dead to become a war profiteer and a rich man by the close of the show.
Their heroic daughter, Eponine who is also in love with Marius, helps
Cosette and Marius find each other by leading him to Valjean's house. She is
one of the first to die at the barricade while performing an act of heroism.
The charismatic, handsome and natural leader of the students, Enjolras leads
the students in the uprising where they meet their demise. Gavroche, a
street urchin also dies heroically in the uprising, shows his courage many
times before that. Director Christa Crewdson, musical and
orchestra director, Mary Casale and choreographers Chris Campbell-Orrock and
Meg Lowey lead their fabulous cast with their terrific voices in this
thoroughly enjoyable epic adventure which moves you to tears and to laughter
while doing so. A standing ovation at the end of the show is its reward.
Producers Kathy Dowd and Chris Lowey chose the best crew and cast members
to pull off this epic show. Christa blocks and directs her huge 53 cast
members beautifully , using many different levels for entrances and exits,
keeping action in constant motion. Christa knows how to obtain the best
performances in dramatic musicals, having reviewed her version of "Rent"
back in 2007 which was a fantastic show, too. Mary's expertise shows in
the harmonic blend of voices that soar in the group numbers, duets, trios
and quartets. The harmonic sound in these young people is astounding! Chris
choreographs some excellent fight scenes in the show especially between
Valjean and Javert. The two story unit set is by Michael Teixeira who has
stage settings slide on and off stage with ease. Michael also designed the
impressive lighting for the show with its bright red to symbolize death at
the barricade and light blues to evoke the mood while the multitude of
beautiful costumes are by Jake Zentis (who did a fabulous job as Angel in
"Rent") especially impressive are Colette's gown and wedding dress as well
as the prostitute's outfits. Darren Bunch leads the cast as Jean Valjean. He
brings depth to this multi-faceted character with a checkered past, he finds
redemption by living a life of virtue. Darren's glorious tenor voice soars
off the charts especially in "Bring Him Home" as he asks God to keep Marius
safe during the siege, and in "Who Am I?" where he confesses that he is the
real Valjean to save an innocent man's life. Also Valjean's final solo,
"Bring Me Home" before he dies will tug at your heartstrings evoking many
tears as he asks God to bring him home as the song says "To love another
person is to see the face of God''. (Also poignant is Fantine with Valjean
downstage right and Eponine and the dead school chums singing on the
upper level during this last number.) avert is excellently played by Jeff
Dietzel. Javert's strong convictions really flow with his annunciation of
every one of his lyrics. He has an incredible bass range which will knock
your socks off and then he shows off a high baritone a few notes later.
Jeff's two solo numbers are "Stars" where he compares his relentless hunt of
Valjean and justice to the constellation order of the stars and "Soliloquy"
where he commits suicide when he realizes that Valjean is not purely evil as
he thought destroying his lifelong view of the world by shooting himself in
the head. The raven haired Elyse Lewis is excellent as the
sympathetic, Fantine. (Having seen the original show on Broadway in 1987,
Elyse runs circles around the static Randy Graff in this role why they put
her in this role after Patti Lupone did the role in London, is something I
will never understand.) She wins your heart over with her acting and singing
prowess of "I Dreamed a Dream" as she tells the audience about her
troubled past life and in "Come to Me" as she lay dying in the hospital,
begging Valjean to take care of her young daughter. (This melody is used
later for "On My Own") Young Cosette is played by Vini Delgadillo whose
strong and beautiful voice is heard in "Castle on a Cloud".
Luke Doyle as Marius has a gorgeous tenor voice which he shows off in his
solo, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", a tear jerking song about his dead
comrades, in the romantic ballad "A Heart Full of Love with Cosette and
Eponine, the quartet "In My Life", and the duet as Eponine dies called "A
Little Fall of Rain". Luke's voice is also heard in the group numbers "Red
and Black", "Do You Hear the People Sing?" and "One Day More". I have
reviewed Luke as a dancer in Hendricken shows and at LaSalle last year in
"Millie". A comic scene stealer in this show is red headed Matt Hawley
who sings a comic verse of "Red and Black" where he makes fun of Marius'
falling in love at first sight.) The gorgeous ingénue, Cosette is played
by Meg Lowey who is a lovely blonde, has a marvelous soprano voice which
soars off the charts in her duets with Luke. The harmonic blend in the
reprise of "Heart Full of Love" with Luke and Darren is astounding. The
heroic Eponine is wonderfully played by Olivia Cawley, a gorgeous brunette.
Her fantastic voice is heard in "On My Own" where she decides to stand by
Marius even though he is in love with Cosette, and after she is fatally shot
in "A Little Fall of Rain" which is a tear jerking and emotionally draining
number. Olivia gives the character a backbone with an endearing quality
which makes the audience root for her. Eponine's comic but despicable
parents are excellently played by Billy Thompson and Elle Brigida as M. &
Madame Thenandier. They are hilarious in "Master of the House" as they
swindle their customers. He is particularly loathsome as he robs the dead
bodies in "Dog Eat Dog" and comic again as they reenter dressed to the nines
in white wigs to swindle Marius out of money during "Beggars at the
Feast". Elle, a statuesque red head, is a hoot as she sings her verse
of "Master of the House" where she describes her husband's small love
making prowess. Elle stuffs silverware down the bodice of her gown and the
dance choreographed by Meg Lowey is hilarious as she jangles all the
silverware hidden there.) Another dynamic presence in the show is Matty Dowd
as Enjolras who has a glorious tenor voice which sells many of the anthems
he sings with his fellow students and Marius including "Red and Black", "Do
You Hear the People Sing?," "One Day More" and "Drink to me of Days Gone
By". Matt's voice and acting have grown better and stronger since I last
reviewed him four years ago in "Pirates of Penzance") One of the biggest
scene stealers in this show is Andrew Purdy as Gavroche who makes his first
appearance with the street beggars at the beginning of the show. He shows
off his powerful singing voice in the reprise of "Look Down", at the ABC
Cafe and in "Little People" where he reveals Javert is a spy. He heroically
dies trying to collect more ammunition and is shot by a sniper.
(Only 11 years old Andrew recently appeared as an orphan child in the
National Tour of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at PPAC.) Johnny Fullerton who has
an amazing tenor voice plays the kindly Bishop and gets to sing several solo
sections during the show as one of Marius' school chums. Johnny is also an
expert dancer having reviewed him last year as Jimmy Smith in "Thoroughly
Modern Millie". Kudos also to the talented chorus with their fabulous voices
in all their numbers, too. So for an excellent rendition of this famous
show, be sure to catch "Les Miserables" before it is too late. Tell them
Tony sent you.
LES MISERABLES ( 17 to 19 April, 2009)
Uncommon Theatre Company, Orpheum Theatre, 1
School Street, Foxboro, MA
