#william pennington

[deadgayturtles]

i’ve been shot

[starlesscastellation]

hey town crying again. what do you mean joejolras and willtaire kissed today on West End during final battle. hey what. sorry guys what.

[lesmiserabelles]

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hey for no reason in particular, here's an audio of abc café/red & black and do you hear the people sing? from the les mis 40th anniversary gala, featuring jordan shaw as enjolras

cast: killian donnelly (jean valjean), bradley jaden (javert), katie hall (fantine), beatrice penny-touré (cosette), jac yarrow (marius), shan ako (éponine), adam gillen (thénardier), jordan shaw (enjolras), marina prior (madame thénardier), cian bhalla (gavroche), maya sharma (little cosette), anmei zhao (young éponine), adam pearce (brujon/the bishop of digne), william pennington (grantaire/pimp), nicholas carter (combeferre), ollie llewelyn-williams (feuilly), matthew mcconnell (courfeyrac), lewis renninson (joly), jordan simon pollard (lesgles/bamatabois), noah thallon (jean prouvaire), seán keany (montparnasse/factory foreman), irfan damani (babet), chris kiely (claquesous), jessica johns-parsons (factory girl/wig maker), georgia tapp (old woman), lila falce-bass (madame), ella may carter (factory worker), mia lamb (factory worker), aaron-jade morgan (factory worker), danielle rose (factory worker), imaan victoria (factory worker)

[sundaywriterandfan]

Les Miz West end show 28/10/25- 40th anniversary

So ... I finally saw Les Miz at Sondheim Theatre two days ago and I dont know if I will ever recover from that experience.

First things first, the show was absolutely great ! The sets look so goood and you can see that everyone involved works very hard to put on an amazing performance every night. A little surprise for me was that the first act ended with "One Day more" and not "Do you hear the people sing".

Now for the details, I was lucky enough to see the 40th anniversary cast and let me tell you : they delivered !

Jean Valjean : listen, at first I was a little disappointed when I realised than it wasn't Killian Donnelly and then Ian McIntosh started to sing... His voice is truly beautiful, powerfull and steady, he makes it all sound so easy while perfectly conveying the emotions. Every time he oppened his mouth the whole theater was holding their breath. He got the greastest ovation after "Who am I?" and "Bring him home". Also, he looks great ( i cannot stress this point enough) as Jean Valjean, especially in his mayor era. Definitelty one of my favorite Valjean, if not the number one.

Bonus point : he was very sweet to me and my friends when we meet him at the stage door and he has the nicest signature.

Javert : to be perfectly honest, until then I didn't really care for our dear Inspector. I liked his songs (especially in French) but that was it. Well Bradley Jaden changed that. You can see that he loves playing Javert because his performance his everything. His presence on stage is incredible and all of his appearances are so dramatic i love it ! Never before have I been on the verge of tears during the soliloquy. He went from yelling like a mad man to singing the most beautifull notes. He looked so heartbroken at the "and the stars are black and cold" that I felt so sorry for him. Bradley changed my vision of the character and I'll be forever gratefull for that. He is definitely my new favorite Javert.

→Their duo in the confrontation is everything, the choreo was perfect and their voice go very well together. They didn't overpower eachother, they each had their moment.

Fantine : as a 25th anniversary fan I was delighted to see Katie Hall as Fantine. Her voice is so pretty it's almost absurd. Her performance in "Lovely ladies" is something else, she goes from a sad whisper to the most incredible belt in addition to looking angelical.

Enjolras : Jordan Shaw is really great as Enjolras, so much energy, a beautiful voice and very nive enjoltaire moments (I will talk about that in another post). His Enjolras is so hopeful and sweet. Also he was having so much fun at the wedding ! It surprised me but is body fall of the barricade and is revealed a little later in a cart (heartbreaking).

Marius : Thiago Phillip Felizardo is the incarnation of Marius, sweet, ( just like in person ) passionate, with the voice of an angel. His "Empty Chairs" made everyone cry in the theatre. The way his voice broke on the last verse will haunt me for a while. Also the staging of that part is great with the candles and the shadows.

Cosette : Beatrice Penny-Touré has the voice of an angel wich suits Cosette very well. She sounds so sweet and earnest. All her songs and appearances are lovely. Thiago and her were adorable as Marius and Cosette, their "A Heart full of love" is really delightful.

Eponine : Shan Ako was a great Eponine ! First she sounds amazing , the ovation she got for "On my Own" is proof enough. But she also plays Eponine's longing for Marius so well. As usual, "A little fall of rain" was devastating.

Grantaire : my favorite character and let me tell you that William Pennington knows what he is doing ! His R is everything you might want. He is sweet and funny in Musain, supportive during "Do you hear the people sing" and absolutely terrified at the barricade. He handles Gavroche with so much care it's truly adorable. Like the only time he goes near the barricade is when Gavroche goes for bullets and the entire time he looked so worried that other sudents come to confort him. His verse in "Drink with me" is simply gut-wrenching. I wont go in details about enjoltaire because I have another post coming but as I said, he delivered !

Gavroche : I can't remember the name of the kid who played Gavroche but he stole the show everytime he was on stage, but especially when he confronted Javert ! His relationship with Grantaire is everything and the hug he gives him after "Drink with me" had me in tears.

The Thénardier : Adam Gillen and Marina Prior did an amazing job ! Awful but so funny that it's impossible to hate them. Their entire routine is perfect.

Patron-minette : each time they appeared they made me die of laugther with how they were behaving . 10/10 no notes.

Finally the ensemble was amazing, I got chills everytime they all sang together. "At the end of the day" and the finale are some of my favorites.

We got to meet Ian, Bradley, Jordan, Thiago and Shan at the stage door and they were all very lovely !

Here you go ! I hope I haven't forgotten anything if you have questions about the show feel free to ask !

I will definitely go back to the West end to see this masterpiece again !

[ohgodthatcandlesmellsbad]

I saw Les Mis on Friday (west end) and it was SO GOOD! I have made extensive notes on everything. I was lucky enough to see the 40th anniversary cast, so everyone was just amazing.

The Thenardiers were hilarious. Adam Gillen had just the right amount of "dodgy but trust me anyway" energy and Marina Prior's 'life. long. shit.' was perfect. Also, shout out to "If she hadn't so often been ill - die!" Awful in the very best way.

Katie Hall's I dreamed a dream gave me actual shivers. She KILLED me when she died and the way she loses hope after she is fired, and realises that the world will never be on her side.

Killian Donnelly has the most beautiful voice, and his bring him home was just brilliant. The way he slowly regains his humanity after he leaves the chain gang gives me all the feels.

He and Javert had the most sexually charged confrontation I've ever seen in my life.

Speaking of which: Bradley Jaden. My god. Absolutely sensational acting, from the cruelty to the apathy to the madness. His singing voice is the best thing that has ever graced my ears. No notes, ten out of ten. (also really fucking hot)

Also, the costuming and wigs for Javert made everything even better. The way he became less and less put together was perfect.

The suicide scene! Insanely done, broke me. I will dream about Stars.

Gavroche (D'vante Hart) was amazing. Adorable, such a good voice for a kid, his death destroyed me.

Also, Grantaire, William Pennington, was so good. The longing glances he and Enjolras (Jordan Shaw) shot each other... and he and Gavroche were just always together. When Gavroche died he sobbed over the body for too long for me to bear. In the final battle he just threw himself up the barricade like he had nothing left to live for. It was awful and amazing.

Shan Ako had such a resigned vibe for eponine it was perfect.

Beatrice Penny-Touré and Jac Yarrow made such a cute couple. Some of my favourite token straights.

Basically everything was superb and I am still thinking about it.

[deadgayturtles]

soo i finally got to watch the full staging of les mis for the very first time🥹 and of course i have thoughts — a very very will pennington grantaire focused list of notes

i went the matinee after royal variety, so lots of understudies were on (jordan as the bishop, noah as marius, ella as cosette, danielle as fantine)

les mis west end 20 nov matinee

ian mcintosh as valjean: a decent valjean that gets the job done imo! has a very pretty sounding bring him home which my ability to remember thinking this must count for something as some time after drink with me my brain short circuited and deleted everything that came before

sam oladeinde as javert: another decent casting that didn’t particularly stand out to me! i think it’s interesting how he’s a little more pensive and reserved, but i do wish he gets a little more batshit at derailment

^^ both of them have such weird pacing. i do think it might have been the conductor’s fault? can’t imagine that they both just randomly have the same issue… but it’s like they forget to break at the rests in the music and the lines thus crash into each other. couple of missed words here and there as a result too!!

danielle rose as fantine: a very beautiful fantine! she has such an put together air about her that i love, and her voice is absolutely beautiful! i think she could stand to let herself be a bit more wrecked and desperate as the story progresses so that it’s more believable that what happens happens against her will

it doesn’t help that they’ve given the “come on, captain” line to a different prostitute. that line is the first time fantine decides to sell herself so i don’t know why they would make this change? a really missed opportunity as well because danielle could have made use of the line to show that unwillingness!!!

excellent thenardiers, funny when they need to be and menacing when they need to be.

my favourite will plays the blind man that gets conned in moth and i of course was excited haha

noah thallon as marius: guys i was expecting to see thiago’s amazing marius so the cards were STACKED against poor noah. HOWEVER he was such a lovely marius! very suave and awkwardly charming, and he has a lovely lovely voice. his chemistry with cosette was adorable as well!

ella may carter as cosette: ella. may. carter. you guys. ella needs to be promoted asap because she is probably as of now my favourite cosette! she has the sweetest aura, and such a pretty voice. even though it sometimes goes sharp, i’ll say it is of all our recent cosettes the best by far! she sounds like a cross between snow white and cinderella guyssss

best part about ella is she really tries to show the nuances of cosette’s scenes 🥹 like actually reacting with worry which she then obviously swallows to try and give hope to marius post-barricades, and grief and concern when she finds valjean dying at the end, but also the worried anger when he tells her they are once again uprooting their lives

obsessed with the trio during in my life — ep and marius run toward the gate when cos and valjean are still arguing, and marius the dumbo of course presses his face against the gate to look at cosette before being sharply pushed behind the pillar by eponine haha

amena’s eponine i like a little more than i thought i would initially. i just can’t help but wish she was a little fiercer? to me eponine refuses to be a victim of her circumstances and pushes back but amena just has a very soft demeanour… lovely lovely energy that makes me think she’d be better at playing cosette ngl

joe’s enjolras: wasn’t a big fan on tour and still wasn’t a big fan here :( wish he would interact with the amis and people™️ more and be a little more lighthearted when the situation allows it. his enjolras unfortunately reads as a little above everyone…

since my mind decided to blank out i didn’t cry at all until the epilogue where i dunno all the emotions came rushing back and i sobbed like a baby! i guess partly bc the cosette emotions were so well done, you really feel for her in the moment. ian, danielle and amena also sing beautifully and you feel so happy for valjean to be finding peace. the perfect blend of bittersweet basically!!

i did like the set more than i thought i would, they reuse pieces and tracks pretty cleverly? it all looks very nice. the tracks however just make me think how easy it could be to not have the stupid wheelbarrow. and it did totally look as stupid as i thought it would in real life 😔

okok now that’s all out of the way, i can gush about william pennington as grantaire. my gods what a grantaire!!!!

he’s just such a fun grantaire!! interacts with the other amis so much, just randomly in the background, which is so so important for his reasons for getting angry and upset later when death starts becoming a closer and closer reality!

the amis snatch his bottle from him during red and black and he runs around trying to get it back, he shouted “hey i paid good money for that bottle!” haha

initial reaction to lamarque’s death felt very much like an fml, is this actually happening? with his arms outstretched and as if trying to get enj’s attention. enjolras is, however too wrapped up in the idea brewing in his head to pay him any mind so R goes to find gav instead.

super interestingly: when he sees all the amis rallying, he actually becomes the most excited one on the surface! think jumping around and helping to rally people — we love an R who doesn’t believe in the cause but wants to support his friends in whatever they do regardless. gosh just contrast this with the R that actively breaks morale in drink with me

grantaire pats marius on the shoulders in dyhtps. this is correct grantairius behaviour

javert’s reveal: instead of the usual R going up to first protect then hype up gav, he hangs back watching with a proud dad smile, then when gav points the middle finger at javert, R runs over sheepishly to collect him and says the “bravo little gavroche” line haha a very cute version of that interaction!!!

all the amis leave the stage before eponine’s death, and the way that they trickle in one by one slowly as she dies is imo so powerful. the shock and grief that comes with having to confront that they might all actually die here really really sticks with you

gavroche runs out first of course, and R is second only because he’s running after gavroche. grantaire sees gav’s reaction and immediately tucks gav into his side

enj is last to arrive, at which point will immediately starts staring at him, in both a little bit of anger and a little bit of fear

i feel like, will played R a lot more angry and low energy in act two post alfor than usual. at valjean’s arrival R is usually jumping around on the bench but this show he just slowly walks around where javert is tied up, and he growls/spits his lines

he of course hides when the shooting starts, but even that felt more scared/less comical than usual!

weirdly enough for the “and so the battle was won” line, they played it as R being relieved and enj chiding him for speaking too soon? kinda a weird choice haha

drink with me: will goes to hold marius’ hand and pat his shoulder before his solo 🥹

this dwm feels more of like R was genuinely trying to give a nice toast but gets tied up in his fears midway through, his voice starts breaking and he pushes an ami away before enj comes over. he has no reaction to enjolras putting a hand on his shoulder, as if he can’t hold back the words

he steps away after and turns around and puts his hands up like a “am i wrong?” kind of way

and then enj tries to reach for him again, a little more gently this time. and will catches his hand and pushes it away before ducking away. then they just stand there and stare at eo before both turn away and R stumbles to the corner and presses his face into the wall. until gav comes over and gives him a hug, and then they both just kinda crumple to the floor…

gav’s death: he. looked. so. wrecked. i mean, the devastation on his face 😭 it really looked like he was already dead inside. and ofc before gav dies when the first shot rings out, two amis are there comforting R. and when gav’s dead body falls, enj catches him and R slowly reaches up for it like he’s in disbelief.

he stays arranging gav’s body until marius gets hurt at which point both R and enj run over to check on marius.

they look at each other and then enj gives him a hug (i still find this decision very bizarre bc nothing really happens to work up to this moment before this but anyway) R practically falls into his enjolras’ arms — i mean, when the man you love offers a hug, you just take it i guess. no matter how bizarre

enjolras was the first ami to die???

but the most important thing is: GRANTAIRE FREAKING DIED IN THE ICONIC ENJOLRAS DEATH POSE!!!! AS IN HE HUNG UPSIDE DOWN WITH SAME ARM AND LEG POSITION ETC I SWEAR!!!! THEY ARE JOINED IN DEATH EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!

[deadgayturtles]

THEY PUT HIM IN A WIG

[deadgayturtles]

man idk anything about the new grantaire but just based on these two photos i approve