#william solo

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“Bring Him Home,” Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake City, 2007. William Solo as Jean Valjean.

In one of the first major regional productions in the US, William Solo stepped back into the role he had first played 19 years (what a fitting timespan!) earlier.

Unlike Valjean’s time in Toulon, those years don’t seem to have changed him for the worse. His unique voice sounds just as strong as it was in the 2nd National Tour of 1988, and he still gives a beautiful rendition of this song.

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“One Day More,” US 2nd National Tour, Los Angeles, 1988. William Solo as Jean Valjean, Reece Holland as Marius, Karen Fineman as Cosette, Michelle Nicastro as Éponine, Raymond Saar as Enjolras, Jeff McCarthy as Javert, Gary Beach as Thénardier and Kay Cole as Mme. Thénardier.

... a.k.a. Les Mis: ‘90s kids nostalgia edition. Michigan J. Frog as Javert, Princess Odette as Éponine, the March Hare as Marius, stage-Lumiére as Thénardier, and possibly Fievel Mousekewitz as Gavroche, though I don’t know if Philip Glasser was on at this performance or not.

It’s especially nice to hear Reece Holland’s real voice: so gorgeous, deep, and completely different from the high, nasal voice he affected in Adventures in Wonderland!

They all sound magnificent. I only wish I hadn’t been born too late to see this production!

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“The Robbery,” US 2nd National Tour, Los Angeles, 1988. Gary Beach as Thénardier, Kay Cole as Mme. Thénardier, Reece Holland as Marius, Michelle Nicastro as Éponine, William Solo as Jean Valjean, Jeff McCarthy as Javert.

The sound briefly cuts out as Thénardier is luring Valjean over to him, but only for a moment.

Gary’s Thénardier is his usual colorful self, both as the gruff street criminal and in his simpering obsequiousness on “In the absence of a victim...” Kay’s Mme. T. sounds appropriately mean.

Michelle’s Éponine continues to make a great impression too. She sounds appropriately sassy when teasing Marius, then nicely tough when ordering him to stay out of the robbery (she gives lie to the claim Lea Salonga fans sometimes make that no one played Éponine as strong or feisty until Lea did), and her “It’s Javeeeeeert!” is truly impressive. Reece’s Marius also sounds good, as usual.

Notice the thump after Marius sings “I like the way you always tease.” Presumably that’s Éponine knocking the books she just gave back to him out of his hands and onto the ground the moment he lets his guard down. I wonder why so few Éponines do that anymore? From what I gather, it was standard business for ‘80s and ‘90s Éponines, but seems to have been phased out in the 2000s. Maybe they decided it was too brash and aggressive... but this is the Thénardiers’ daughter we’re talking about! To me it seems fitting for the bold, cheeky facade she presents, in contrast to the romantic young girl underneath.

I like that we hear Karen Fineman’s Cosette scream when Thénardier shouts her name and (presumably) Montparnasse grabs her. It’s good to hear her be a living presence even when she has no lines.

Jeff’s Javert sounds as fierce and driven as ever. Just from the few clips I’ve heard, I think he was definitely one of the more aggressive, obsessive Javerts, as opposed to the more stolid variety.

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“Bring Him Home,” US 2nd National Tour, Los Angeles, 1988. William Solo as Valjean.

It used to be common in the Les Mis fandom to mock William Solo’s Feuilly on the CSR (not sure if it still is) for sounding like a grandfather. But his voice is just right for Valjean! This recording shows that the problem on the CSR is that he was miscast as a character half his age, not any lack of talent on his part.