Jenn, Brenda and I got tickets to Les Mis as part of our subscription series for the year, and I was happy to get to see it again. As well, Peggy and Michelle came along for their first time seeing it. We were up in the balcony, on the side, but I’d sat there for the show before, back in 1998 for the wonderful production then.
This production, though it was good, certainly didn’t live up to that one. Not that I really expected it to. 🙂 We had quite a few understudys, first and foremost for Valjean. David Michael Felty was a fine Valjean, though nothing in particular stuck out for me. I did cry in the final scene, which gets me pretty much every time. Robert Hunt was an alright Javert, though again, nothing really wowed me. Same goes for Vincent Wallace as Enjolras and Adam Jacobs as Marius.
I think that’s my feeling about pretty much all of the cast – they all did a decent job, but nothing really extraordinary or new. With the exception of Ashley Fox Linton, who did a decent job for a Cosette, which deserves more praise than the other roles, since that’s harder to do. 🙂
The cuts still catch me off guard most of the time, even though I’ve seen them a few times now. And the barricade is still impressive, no matter how many times I see it.
I know this may not sound like the most enthusiastic review, but honestly, it was a good production of the show! I guess I’m just a bit biased, since I LOVED the last Toronto production so much. So I don’t know if anything’s ever going to quite live up to it – but there were really no problems with this one either!
The cast: (in order of appearance)
| Jean Valjean | DAVID MICHAEL FELTY |
| Javert | ROBERT HUNT |
| Chain Gang | TRENT BLANTON DON BREWER ERIC BRIARLEY RANDY GLASS CHARLES HAGERTY ADAM JACOBS |
| Farmer | JASON KRAACK |
| Labourer | MATT CLEMENS |
| The Bishop of Digne | MICHAEL ST. JOHN |
| Constables | JAMES CHIP LEONARD KEVIN DAVID THOMAS |
| Fantine | JOAN ALMEDILLA |
| Foreman | RANDY GLASS |
| Workers | CHARLES HAGERTY JASON KRAACK |
| Women Workers | KAREN ELLIOT ALI EWOLDT LESLIE HENSTOCK CARRIE A. JOHNSON MARISSA McGOWAN LISA MORRIS NINA NEGRI MARNIE NICOLELLA |
| Factory Girl | KELLY McCORMICK |
| Sailors | DON BREWER ERIC BRIARLEY CHARLES HAGERTY |
| Whores | ALI EWOLDT LESLIE HENSTOCK CARRIE A. JOHNSON MELISSA LYONS KELLY McCORMICK MARISSA McGOWAN LISA MORRIS MARNIE NICOLELLA |
| Old Woman | KAREN ELLIOT |
| Crone | NINA NEGRI |
| Pimp | JAMES CHIP LEONARD |
| Bamatabois | TRENT BLANTON |
| Fauchelevant | JAMES CHIP LEONARD |
| Champmathieu | MICHAEL ST. JOHN |
| Young Cosette | RACHEL SCHIER |
| Madame Thenardier | JENNIFER BUTT |
| Thenardier | FABIO PALANCO |
| Young Eponine | MEG GUZULESCU |
| Drinker | JASON KRAACK |
| Young Couple | MATT CLEMENS MARISSA McGOWAN |
| Drunk | RYAN WILLIAMS |
| Diners | LISA MORRIS MICHAEL ST. JOHN |
| Other Drinkers | TRENT BLANTON DON BREWER CARRIE A. JOHNSON JAMES CHIP LEONARD NINA NEGRI MARNIE NICOLELLA |
| Young Man | ERIC BRIARLEY |
| Young Girls | ALI EWOLDT KELLY McCORMICK |
| Old Couple | KAREN ELLIOTT CHARLES HAGERTY |
| Travelers | RANDY GLASS KEVIN DAVID THOMAS |
| Gavroche | SEAN GILBERT |
| Old Beggar Woman | MARNIE NICOLELLA |
| Young Prostitute | CARRIE A. JOHNSON |
| Eponine | MELISSA LYONS |
| Montparnasse | MATT CLEMENS |
| Babet | KEVIN DAVID THOMAS |
| Brujon | DON BREWER |
| Claquesous | JAMES CHIP LEONARD |
| Enjolras | VICTOR WALLACE |
| Marius | ADAM JACOBS |
| Cosette | ASHLEY FOX LINTON |
| Combeferre | RANDY GLASS |
| Feuilly | ERIC BRIARLEY |
| Courfeyrac | JASON KRAACK |
| Joly | CHARLES HAGERTY |
| Grantaire | TRENT BLANTON |
| Lesgles | MICHAEL ST. JOHN |
| Jean Prouvaire | RYAN WILLIAMS |