I’ve been so pumped to see this for ages, and at long last I saw the 15:30 show on 04/03 at the Palais des Congres. So, thoughts on the French concert production:
Interesting Features
Victor Hugo is in it! He basically comes on stage at the beginning of each act and does a rather ramble-y narration of the events of that act, which I think was quite a good idea. He was a good actor. Also, he mentions that Gavroche is the Thenardier’s kid!
At the end of The Confrontation, there’s no fight choreo bc it’s just a concert. Valjean and Javert sing “I will be there, I swear it to you” and then turn and just look at eachother really intensely before it cuts to black. A pretty Valvert-y moment.
The costuming was generally a lower quality than other productions (which is understandable as they’re only running a short time) but! Eponine got the fingerless gloves she deserves!
The conductor was a lady with v short spiky hair, wearing a purple coat with a popped collar. I loved her.
I thought I’d get used to the concert aspect, but it felt disconcerting to start Act 2 and not have Les Amis come running forward yelling.
There’s a Bahorel/R hug (and by Bahorel, I mean a well-dressed male cast member I assumed to be Bahorel)
I’m gonna put the more detailed stuff abt cast and music under the cut :) But yeah, I recommend going if you have the chance! Definitely worth it.
Music
A lot (and I mean a lot) of ‘filler’ singing was cut out to fit the concert format. I’m talking like a bunch of the intro that wasn’t JVJ solo, The Runaway Cart was gone, all of Eponine’s part in Paris, ‘Every day you walk...’, ‘Death of Gavroche’. This meant that Eponine and Cosette didn’t actually appear on stage until In My Life.
The stuff that was included was done spectacularly. Seeing the orchestra on stage was awesome, and the conductor was brilliant (she had spiky hair and a purple coat with a popped collar, I mean.... just yes)
They lost a couple of the nice orchestral transitions (think JVJ’s soliloquy leading onto At The End of The Day) because they paused after almost every song for applause, which was a shame, but I’m always down for more applause.
Cast
Despite having a depressingly short amount of time on stage, this Cosette is one of the best I’ve seen. She really played the youthfully giddy happiness mixed with genuine love (for Marius and JVJ) amazingly well, I feel like this was a Cosette who thought to play beyond the stereotyped image and I’m sad I didn’t get to see more of her.
Fantine was probably the best main cast member, imo. Amazing voice and she made me cry three separate times, the sign of a good Fantine. One thing I found amusing is that there were no wigs, so for the haircutting another cast member literally just tied her hair back.
Enjolras. Okay, I know the pic of this guy circulated a while ago and yeah he’s kinda balding, but he looked way more youthful on stage? And his voice was great, I think he was a good Enjolras.
Grantaire was.... straight up old. I mean, he was good, he got the basic idea of the character (although he was a very happy Grantaire) and his voice was nice, but he looked waaay too old and that’s all I could see. He also played the Bishop, and he looked much more suited to that.
The guys playing Joly and Feuilly were great. I think Feuilly could’ve played Grantaire, tbh, he had a much better look for it.
Javert and Valjean both had great voices. Tbh, I don’t really have any other notes for them? They sounded amazing, but not much else stood out to me about them.
I liked Eponine’s look, didn’t love her On My Own, but her Little Fall of Rain was on point.
Marius was good, acted well in Little Fall of Rain especially, but looked so much older than Cosette that I found it hard to like him? I dunno.
LOVED Madame Thenardier. But they cut a whole lot of her stuff.
Thenardier himself gave a very mixed performance. Good in Master of the House, absolutely fantastic in Dog Eats Dog (he gave me the creeps) and sort-of off in Attack on Rue Plumet? He was staring at the screen by his feet, which I assume was a feed showing the conductor or something? He barely took his eyes off it for the whole song.
The child actors were wonderful, one of the best little Cosettes I’ve seen (but, to be fair, she was also older than the Cosettes you usually get in London I think)
Factory Girl was actually great? Like, she really stood out as a good actress and singer, I liked her a lot.
Why do so many people assume that liking Eponine means you want her to end up with Marius? Like, no, I want Eponine to end up with supportive parents and a nice flower garden
