Theater des Westens, Berlin

This was my first time seeing Les Mis in another language, but just like with Phantom, I am *so* familiar with the score of this show, that there would be whole scenes where I would forget they were singing in German! The biggest surprise of the night for me was that they were using the cuts from Broadway! I didn't know they were going to be in the international versions as well. So I found those pretty much as annoying as I did on Broadway. :-)

I'd never heard of the guy playing Valjean, Oleh Vynnyk, before, but he really impressed me. Some people are saying that he's too young for the role, but that didn't bother me. I liked him more and more as the show went on. His "Bring Him Home" was really nice, and the ending was excellent - he brought some tears to my eyes! There were also some nice smaller moments, like the way he gave Javert a very hard look before lifting the cart.

The main reason I wanted to see this production was to see Uwe Kröger as Javert (after my failed attempts to see him in Elisabeth). In the first act, he was a pretty typical Javert, with a very structured rhythm to his verses, and a stiffness of his body. Jörn tells me that he messed up some lyrics during "Stars", but I didn't notice. ;-) At intermission we weren't quite sure what to make of his performance. But the second act was more interesting, and the suicide was really well done. Overall, I quite enjoyed him in the role!

Although Oleh's age didn't bother me, I did find the actors playing the Thénardiers to be rather young for their roles. They also really milked the comedic parts - you didn't necessarily get a sense of any underlying evil. I liked during the "Waltz of Treachery", when Valjean says "Fantine's suffering is over", and Thénardier leans over to his wife and says, "Who?" :-)

Me and Uwe Kröger

The students in general were good, and Eponine and Cosette were both very good as well. The little Gavroche was *adorable*!! Great command of the stage, and some very cute moments, like refusing a drink that Grantaire offers him, and wagging his finger at the snipers when they're trying to shoot him. Speaking of Grantaire, he was excellent as well, with lots of little unique touches. When Marius made as if to follow Eponine's body after "A Little Fall of Rain", Grantaire stood up, and I thought he was just going to stand in his way, but he grabbed him in this big hug that nearly made me cry! I also liked how he laughed through the first verse of "Drink With Me", and then sang his own verse with such passion. His confrontation with Enjolras after that was very touching as well - rather than shaking hands with him as I've seen before, Enjolras just turned his back on him, and the look on Grantaire's face was really heartbreaking. His death was really well done too.

There were a few lighting glitches in the show - the biggest one was immediately before the wedding, when the lights came up early so we could see the whole cast standing at the back of the stage ready to come on.

Overall, it was Les Mis as I've come to expect it, although I actually enjoyed it quite a bit more than I had enjoyed the production in New York that I saw earlier that year. I think it just goes to show that a good cast can still make the show interesting, no matter how many times you've seen it!