10:17am Thursday 22nd April 2010
AS THE smash-hit Broadway phenomenon reaches its 25th anniversary, Cameron Mackintosh’s superb West End interpretation of Les Misérables has been brought to York with style and pizzazz.
Bev Jones has created another breathtaking production which had the audience laughing and whooping until the very end.
The play opens in recognisable Les Misérables fashion, as Joseph Rowntree’s stage is transformed into the austere and desperate streets of tumultuous 19th-century France. The production team’s hard work is showcased through the authenticity of the prisoners’ costumes and the starkness of the props, as we are taken through the tale of Jean Valjean, who – after being imprisoned for 19 years – decides to start his life anew. Christian Lunn’s dramatic tenor voice carries the audience through Valjean’s life-affirming tale with confidence, and introduces an avuncular dimension to the role.
The pinnacle of Act One, however, is undoubtedly the tragic Fantine’s striking performance of I Dreamed A Dream. Siobhan Stanley encapsulates Fantine’s charming melancholy to full effect, and executes her dark closing scene with Valjean flawlessly.
At times it can be difficult to discern individual voices, but collective numbers, such as At The End Of The Day, are robust and powerful.
Act Two provides a platform for the stunning mezzo-soprano voice of Emily Ramsden, as she poignantly depicts Eponine’s unrequited love for Marius, who falls in love with female protagonist Cosette, the daughter of fateful prostitute Fantine.
Both the younger and older Corsette, played by Grace Brown and Beth Organ respectively, are perfectly sweet and elegant, especially when the young Corsette’s suffering is displayed at the hands of the magnificently evil Madame Thenardier. Some of the individual voices find it hard to emanate above the impressive musical score, which never wavers through the epic two-and-a-half hour performance, but Lisa Lawrence’s wonderfully grotesque interpretation of Thenardier remains intense and persuasive, culminating in the uproarious gaudiness of Master Of The House in Act One.
The orchestra’s strengths are used effectively and comically, as the prostitutes and their customers provide a bawdy backdrop to the pub’s seedy reality. Act Two also makes full use of other interesting gimmicks, such as a masked white screen during Marius’ Empty Chairs At Empty Tables number.
The finale lavishly crashes to a climax, ending in the classic Les Misérables combination of romance and tragedy, as Cosette and Marius finally marry and Valjean uncovers her history. This show was put together in only two weeks. Bev Jones and his production team should be uncommonly proud of their achievement.
Bev Jones presents Les Misérables School Edition, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until April 27, including Sunday performances. Box office: 01904 623568.
Review by Laura Connor
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