Les Miserables Writeup

Arrival and Presentation

As we pulled up in the bus outside the Bristol Hippodrome, it was
immediately obvious that, as far as advertising went, Les Mis was
top of the list! Several huge posters and banners covered the
theatres’ face, so, at first glance, there was the galley scene to the
left; Cosette (that’s who I assume the logo of the girl represents) to
the right, and the biggest ever image of the barricades hanging over
us. We had to walk backwards a few steps to actually see the top!
Following the mad rush to get in, and the frustratingly slow tread up
the stairs to the upper circle, once I sat down and looked down at
the stage, I was surprised and pleased to see a credit to the original
writer, Victor Hugo, on the video screen which covered the stage.
Soon enough, the rhythmic music of the overture, and the words of
the prologue both boomed through the theatre, and the curtain
rose. This all made my excitement grow as I sat grinning to myself
in happy expectation of what would come next.

Acting, Lighting, and Costume

To review the entire show, every single scene and detail, I could
probably write a small book. So I shall concentrate mainly on the
special effects, which were absolutely astounding, (bested only by
those in Love Never Dies, the Phantom of the Opera sequel.)
However, before I go on to the main part on special effects, I have
to comment and say what I can on the Acting, Lighting, and
costume. At least, say what impression the costume and lighting
gave me, because I have never really worked on either.

*All names researched from the Internet, as I didn’t have a program.

Apologies if they’re wrong. *

I did think that the acting was really good. John Owen Jones did a
wonderful portrayal of Val Jean, always wronged, misunderstood,
constantly hunted by the equally brilliant Earl Carpenter as Javert
(my favourite character), so I was pleased to see him play it so well,
particularly in his rendition of “Stars”, and his soliloquy.
Katie Hall was a sweet “older Cosette”, and Gareth Gates impressed
me in his ability to switch the type of music he was singing. Pop to
musical theatre is not an easy leap!
The Thenardiers got some of the loudest applause. They earned it!
Ashley Artus and Lynne Willmot brought a humorous serving of
comedy to what could have been a rather sad and dark musical
(though always a masterpiece).

Lighting and Costume

I don’t know much about either, but from what I could see, both
were done well. These are the things I don’t think the audience
should really notice if they are done right. The lighting fitted the
scene; there were no glaring mistakes. The costumes were similar
to previous productions I had seen, which was good as this
prevented me being confused. What I did like was that with the
Thenardiers, for example, you could see the way they “aged” as
their costumes changed slightly, and become more worn down in
the later half of the show. These were good ways to show time
passing rather then just explaining it in none-too-subtle lyrics. The
only significant change was the lack of a turntable, but that should
really come under props I suppose. (On the subject of props, I’m
sure I recognised the houses from blood brothers- minus the
balcony, they’re identical!) However, the lack of the normal
turntable was actually made up for by the brilliant special effects.

Special effects
Most of the special effects were created by the addition of a thin
screen in front of or behind the actors. Then, videos and images
could be projected onto the thin layer, causing it to blend in with the
acting. There were three main uses of this clever device, and one of
them was near the beginning, as when Val Jean travels through
forest country and town to find work, the back ground shows
beautiful watercolour pictures slowly moving along with him, really
setting the scene. The second (although this comes after my
favourite, I will leave the best for last) during the march to build the
barricade, the chorus and barricade boys all march along the street,
and again the background slowly moves along and changes with
their marching. The lack of a turntable for the barricade scene was
suitably changed, and made up for with Val Jean travels with Marius
along the sewers, emerging from a secret unseen door at the back
of the stage, among swirling mist. The whole sewer sequence is
perfectly done, and you can tell when they take a turning, and when
they are nearing the end of the tunnels (and Javert) because the
light –both on the video and stage- drastically changes, and the
grating of the sewer gate looms up.
Shortly after their last meeting, Javert walks onto the stage,
confused, his world is upside down. I was exited to see how they
would pull this off, and knew it was going to be good, if what I had
seen so far was anything to go by. After pacing around, he reached
the point where he gets to the swollen river Seine, and two half’s of
the bridge zoom up and meet in the centre for him to stand on. He
reached the crescendo, flung out his arms, and…

FLEW into mid air!

Wow. He must have been wearing the wires and ropes and
harnesses under the police coat the whole time, because I never
saw anything drop down to attach it. He floundered in the air,
falling, the back screen changing to darkest blue, and whirling, and
the lights matched. I watched with a very impressed almost
sadness, as my favourite character was seemingly dragged down to
the back of the stage, and eventually out through the unseen door.

In conclusion, the whole show was very well done, as suited for the
25th anniversary, and even if I could, I still wouldn’t have changed
anything. I wouldn’t have minded seeing it a few more times
though!