The current show at Hendricken 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, takes place from 1815 to 1844 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 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 Brian Codeiro, musical director, Ritche Sylvia,
conductor, Stephanie Smith and choreographer, Teresa Pearson lead their
fabulous 55 member 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 of the show is its reward.
Brian blocks his huge cast beautifully moving them up and down a two
story unit set and obtaining excellent portrayals from these young
performers while doing so. Ritche's harmonic blend of voices soar in the
group numbers, duets, trios and quartets while Stephanie conducts a
terrific 12 piece orchestra including the topnotch percussionist, Karen
Mellor. Teresa's choreography shines in many numbers including "Lovely
Ladies", "Master of the House" and "The Wedding Chorale. (The bawdiness
in the prostitute's dance is hilarious.) The topnotch unit set is by
Brother John Kiernan which consists of tall platforms, turrets, a tall
bridge overhead as well as moveable stairways and barricade walls
and contains a cut out of the French flag where the narration of each
scene is shown including the date and place in France. He is also the
technical director with cast members moving the set pieces on and off
stage quickly, keeping the show in constant motion. The multitude
of costumes are by Jan Nagle with the most colorful ones being worn by
the leading ladies. James Patefield 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. James' 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 with
Eponine and Fantine singing behind him on two turrets while he starts to
ascend into heaven on the third one. They sing the poignant lines "To
love another person is to see the face of God".( I have reviewed James
many times including "Joseph" and "My Favorite Year") Javert is
excellently played by Christopher Maymon. He has an incredible bass
range which will knock your socks off and then he shows off a high
baritone a few notes later. Chris' 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. (I have reviewed Chris is "Music Man",
"Joseph" and "My Favorite Year" and his voice has grown and matured so
much since I first saw him). Malari Martin, pretty redhead, is excellent
as the sympathetic, Fantine. (Having seen the original show on Broadway
in 1987, Malari runs circles around the static Randy Graff in this
role.) 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 the hospital, begging Valjean
to take care of her young daughter. (This melody is used later for "On
My Own") (I reviewed Malari in "My Favorite Year" and "Peter
Pan".) Young Cosette is played by Kali Malone whose strong and
beautiful voice is heard in "Castle on a Cloud".
Casey Sheehan 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 as they appear as ghostly specters around the set, 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". Casey's voice is also heard in the group numbers "Red
and Black", "Do You Hear the People Sing?" and "One Day More". The gorgeous
ingénue, Cosette is played by Casey Cook who has a marvelous soprano
voice which soars off the charts in her duets with Casey. (She played
the Narrator in "Joseph" last year.) The harmonic blend in the reprise
of "Heart Full of Love" with Casey and James is astounding. The heroic
Eponine is wonderfully played by Tessa Ricci. 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. Tessa
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 Connor O'Rourke and Rebecca Rosenberg as M. &
Madame Thenandier. ( I reviewed both of them in "My Favorite Year" and
he played Smee in "Peter Pan") 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 the wedding scene to swindle Marius out of money during "Beggars
at the Feast". Rebecca is a hoot as she sings her verse of "Master of
the House" where she describes her husband's small love making prowess.
Another dynamic presence in the show is Alex McKhann 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".
( I first heard Alex sing the Benjamin Calypso last year in "Joseph) . One of
the biggest scene stealers in this show is Christopher Davey as Gavroche
who makes his first appearance with the street beggars, the ABC Cafe and
"Little People" where he reveals Javert is a spy. He heroically dies
trying to collect more ammunition and is shot by a sniper. Kudos also to
the chorus with their fabulous voices in all their numbers, too. So for
an fabulous rendition of this popular show be sure to catch "Les
Miserables" before time runs out. Tell them Tony sent you.
LES MISERABLES ( 27 March to 4 April, 2009)
Bishop Hendricken High School, Warwick
Avenue, Warwick, RI
