More Miserables

Ed & I had a little date last night (11/8/06) and went to see the revival of Les Miserables.

We were both really excited about it. The casting choices seemed unusual but there were so many actors I like or admire. And we love the show and had seen it before and were psyched to enjoy it again.

It was the night before opening. I love those nights. There is usually a buzz and excitement in the air. Not so last night. No hush fell over the house as the house lights dimmed. No cheers when the first scrim comes up with the name of the show.

The show started and there was Alexander Gemignani in a really bad scraggly blond wig. His acting consisted mostly of lumbering about the stage. His voice was fine to my ears. I thought he sang it nicely (Ed didn’t). But I never felt sorry for his plight and was never inspired by his nobility in rising above his circumstances. And he was hard to pick out of some of the early crowd scenes. Valjean is the heart of the show! You have to be able to pick up on that heartbeat at all times. When he got to “Bring Him Home” all I could think about was the Forbidden Broadway version: “High...this song’s too high. Bring it down. Bring it down. Change the key..." I didn't fully connect with this Valjean so I lost a big part of the show.

Then the HUGE problem for me appeared. Daphne Rubin-Vega walked out on stage as Fantine. She was my big “Huh?” when they announced the cast. Fantine is such a great role. A poor worker woman struggling to support her child and maintain some shred of dignity. She is unjustly fired and is forced into prostitution and selling her hair and meager belongings. This tragic woman sings a gorgeous song, receives Valjean’s pledge to care for her child and then dies broken but with hope for her daughter. You can’t miss, right? Sympathetic character in heart-breaking circumstances. One of the best songs in the show. How can you go wrong? With this casting, that's how.

Rubin-Vega is an unusual performer. Always has been and always will be. She looks exotic and she sounds different from anyone else. It worked when she played Rent’s Mimi, a drug addicted sex club dancer. It worked when she was Magenta in Rocky Horror, a domestic from outer space in an incestuous relationship with her butler brother. As a poor French worker struggling to support her love-child, it doesn’t for me work at all. Amidst all the sufficiently grimy and downtrodden workers and peasants, she looked like the gal who wandered in from the modern day rock show playing at the theatre next door. Then she opened her mouth. I could only suppose that she had been screaming at her agent for getting her into this mess. Because the voice was gone. She didn't speak with normal rhythms and pronunciations. Her acting consisted mainly of jutting her arms about and making jerky head movements. I was reminded of Elsa Lancaster in Bride of Frankenstein. Then she sang. Tragedy! She managed to completely blow one of the sure-fire, tearjerker scenes and songs in the Broadway canon. When she finally died, I almost clapped. Really. I was glad I caught myself because it would've been cruel, but I really wanted to applaude her death.

When Fantine’s ghost came in for Valjean’s death at the end of the show I thought, “Oh crap, didn’t they lock that alley door? That darned Rubin-Vega wandered in from next door again.” And in a long white nightgown. She not only moved like her but now also looked like the Bride of Frankenstein.

Norm Lewis. I love him. So talented, charismatic and handsome. As my buddy Mike would say, “Don’t bother to wrap him, I’ll eat him here.” He has such a strong presence and such a gorgeous voice. He sang Javert beautifully, but not angrily or as an evil man. He just came out onstage, sang pretty, and left. I love Norm, but to me he was wrong for this role. And he didn't jump off the bridge into a trapdoor! What? I thought there was a technical glitch. Nope. Different staging. Effective – surely. But I was completely distracted thinking that something was wrong because the bridge was not elevated as he prepared to jump. I was brought completely out of the moment.

Ed planted a seed in my head at intermission, and it took root during the Second Act. I was trying to picture Norm Lewis as Jean Valjean and Gemignani as Javert. I think it would work far better for me if they switched roles.

The whole show seemed smaller than I recall it. I hadn’t seen it in 15 years, but I recall being knocked out by it. The music, of course, is gorgeous. But it wasn't as grand and stirring. Cuts to the orchestra, I'm sure. It made a difference and not in a positive way. And I remember how amazing and almost scary the rising of the barricade seemed first time around. This set looked like a barricade before it moved. So when it did, it just looked like a barricade from a different angle. No gasps. No wow. They used to applaud that barricade rising!

First time around, the sheer spectacle of it and the rousing nature of some of the crowd numbers was Broadway heaven to me. I didn’t even get to Purgatory with this revival. It felt like a company that just came in off a long bus & truck and tour. Proficient and technical, but not emotionally engaging. They were all working up there, but very few were actually ‘being’ the part for me.

Gary Beach who is generally fantastic was just fine, nothing more. I actually thought he played the Master of the House scene too small. I missed some of his lyrics. It is such a showstopping number. I didn’t find it so here. The show paused momentarily (possibly to roll its eyes or grimace at itself), but it certainly did not stop. Beach brought it up to the proper level for the wedding banquet scene, but why wait until your last scene to wake up? Side note: Gary Beach in Thenardier’s tailcoat and wedding finery was looking a wee bit too close to his character Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast. I waited for his hands to burst into flames as he tried to pinch the wedding silver.

Most of the rest of the minor characters and chorus remain just that – background, filler, support for the leads. A few of them are particularly fine – Justin Bohon, Marya Grandy, Megan McGinnis, Karen Elliott, Blake Ginther. They seem like the peasants, students, whores, etc. that they play. A few others lumber about and gesticulate a bit too falsely as they “talk” amongst themselves. A few too many back pats and a bit too hammy and high schoolish. Drew Sarich (who I recall not liking in Lestat) was one of the student rebels. I just don't care for him at all. He marched about like a rock star as if he had a key part in the show. He pulled focus and actually seemed to look to the audience for approval. Bad.

The good: I liked Adam Jacobs as Marius. I liked Ali Ewoldt as Cosette. But in a second or third replacement sort of way. No huge spark of star power. Celia Keenan-Bolger (whom I adore) was fine as Eponine. A bit too tomboyish in a forced way. Like someone told her to stomp around like Renee Zellweger in Cold Mountain. She sang well enough but didn’t grab me by the throat with two of my favorite songs from the show, "On My Own" and “A Little Fall of Rain.” She died very convincingly though. Little Austyn Myers as Gavroche and Kylie Liya Goldstein as Young Cosette were appropriately adorable. The crowd loved them, especially Gavroche. And the kid got shot and died really well (they must have had a good dying coach for the show – perhaps they’re preparing for the reviews). Aaron Lazar sang Enjolras very well. But I want a big, sexy presence to follow into an ill-fated student rebellion against “the Man” in Paris. He was too willowy and light for my taste. Nothing wrong with his performance but nothing special to report other than his beautiful voice.

The great: Brit import Jenny Galloway as Madame Thenardier. She was harsh and crude in the appropriate scenes and riotous where required. What a comedienne! She put numerous little spins on the part with her movements and expressions. She made it her own and really sold it.

At intermission, we spoke to a nice older couple form Morristown that was sitting next to us. They were as disappointed as we were. You could tell they really wanted to like just as we wanted to, but were having the same trouble that we were.

I still love the music from this show, but I wish I had pulled out the cast recording instead of shelling out $111.00 to see it again. I've clouded my good memories of the show with thoughts of this inferior revival.

Sightings in the audience - Broadway actors Barrett Foa & Jose Lana (not together) but no one else. However, we left pretty quickly at the curtain and didn't give the crowd a good once over.