Ten Little Chances to be Free (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tenlittlebullets) wrote2007-11-02 05:38 pm
tenlittlebullets) wrote2007-11-02 05:38 pm
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my Les Mis review iz pastede on yay.
Not even going into barricade boy antics for the last few shows I saw, just reviews of the ever-changing principals and understudies:
JOJ--I don't need to tell you guys that JOJ is awesome, do I? Okay, fine, JOJ is awesome. I haven't heard anyone get that much applause for BHH since Randal Keith. And JOJ paired with Rob is pretty much the most awesome Valjean/Javert combo evar, because they both have fucking huge voices and holy crap you guys Confrontation almost knocked me out of my seat. And there were many, many moments where I laughed because I was thinking "Hey,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
duva mentioned that in her London reviews!" Like the Stern Parent Voice and the sneaky look before he starts opening Cosette's mail and FLIIIIIIIIIIGHT. (I saw no eyebrow acting in the Waltz of Treachery though. Woe.) Also I think the stupid thing with Valjean shoving Javert up against the wall in the scene where he lets him go is bad direction, not bad acting, because JOJ has to do it too. Otherwise though, O HAI JOJ WE LUVZ U PLZ TO BE STAYING FOREVER.
Jeff Kready as Valjean--I like him. I like him more than Alex and Ivan, possibly more than Drew. Vocally he might not have the biggest voice on Broadway, but he's solid enough and has a nice even tone. His acting is lovely and more restrained than the other Broadway Valjeans I've seen; a lot of the time you'll see Valjean emerge from prison as a brute, but Jeff was more on the sly side. Thank god, he somehow escaped the shoddy direction that has Valjean snapping at Cosette in In My Life and shoving Javert up against the wall; in both those scenes he was more... resigned. Nice touches: you can see the wheels in his head turning before he says "Tomorrow to Calais...", and the line that really gave him pause in the letter scene wasn't "Now that I know that you love me as well," it was "it is harder to die." Awwwww. (Also? He doesn't look like Jeff with the wigs on. In fact, in the prologue he bore a startling resemblance to Inigo Montoya.)
Judy Kuhn as Fantine--Meh. First of all, I can't stand her voice. Just getting that out of the way. She would've had to have been one hell of an actress for me to like her despite that voice, but her acting is okay-not-great. Her Fantine just seems kind of... worn out. Her acting is more mature and refined than Lea's--stronger I guess you could say--but not nearly as expressive, and she didn't really sell it for me except maybe in her death scene. Also? She's too old. It wouldn't have been a problem in another production, but everyone else in the damn cast is so young that she just looks out of place.
Rona Figueroa as Fantine--Awwww! She's tiny and cute and has a tiny voice, and you just kind of want to give her a hug. I wouldn't make her principal, but I also wouldn't object to seeing her again. The thing is that she looks about fifteen years old, just way too young to have all this shit happening to her, and... yeah, want to give her a hug. And she was STINKING DRUNK all through Fantine's arrest. Not just some pansy-ass swaying for "Come on, Captain," I'm talking staggering away from Bamatabois to look at interesting spots on the floor and only paying attention to him when he attacks her. Not vocally strong enough to be principal, but so cute. And she had the best long-hair wig I've seen since Daphne left.
Leah Horowitz as Cosette--Bland. Lovely voice, but her acting is so thoroughly unremarkable that I want to cry and/or drag Ali back to the show. The worst of it is that Adam and Ali played off each other so well in AHFOL, but Leah just stands there looking pretty and Adam has to do twice the work. And now it looks exaggerated and overdone. So yeah, bad enough to have a boring Cosette, worse when she makes the Marius suck too. (Also, Adam's Marius really isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, is he? I haven't sat left orchestra in a while, so when Megan finished the first verse of ALFOR and Adam went "flowers... oh!" and you could practically see the light bulb going off, I barely stopped myself from cracking up.)
Anderson Davis as Enjolras--Pretty good, with emphasis on the pretty. Better than Max, not as good as Aaron or Don. His voice isn't hugely impressive, but it's strong enough and has the interesting quality of making all those high G sharps sound so damn easy. He totally held "until the baaaaaaaaarricades arise" for about ten years. In Act I he was sort of the student who happened to have the most lines and maybe be in charge of the whole thing, but he slipped into Leader Mode a bit more in Act II. I think he'd improve a lot if he went on more often. (I feel duty-bound to mention that he really does look that good in the Vest. Mmm, pretty blond Enjolrati.)
Becca Ayers as Madame Thénardier--Hilarious! Much better than Ann. Skinny and perpetually on her last nerve, in the style of Jennifer Butt, except Becca's Madame was completely neurotic. I love it.
JOJ--I don't need to tell you guys that JOJ is awesome, do I? Okay, fine, JOJ is awesome. I haven't heard anyone get that much applause for BHH since Randal Keith. And JOJ paired with Rob is pretty much the most awesome Valjean/Javert combo evar, because they both have fucking huge voices and holy crap you guys Confrontation almost knocked me out of my seat. And there were many, many moments where I laughed because I was thinking "Hey,
duva mentioned that in her London reviews!" Like the Stern Parent Voice and the sneaky look before he starts opening Cosette's mail and FLIIIIIIIIIIGHT. (I saw no eyebrow acting in the Waltz of Treachery though. Woe.) Also I think the stupid thing with Valjean shoving Javert up against the wall in the scene where he lets him go is bad direction, not bad acting, because JOJ has to do it too. Otherwise though, O HAI JOJ WE LUVZ U PLZ TO BE STAYING FOREVER.Jeff Kready as Valjean--I like him. I like him more than Alex and Ivan, possibly more than Drew. Vocally he might not have the biggest voice on Broadway, but he's solid enough and has a nice even tone. His acting is lovely and more restrained than the other Broadway Valjeans I've seen; a lot of the time you'll see Valjean emerge from prison as a brute, but Jeff was more on the sly side. Thank god, he somehow escaped the shoddy direction that has Valjean snapping at Cosette in In My Life and shoving Javert up against the wall; in both those scenes he was more... resigned. Nice touches: you can see the wheels in his head turning before he says "Tomorrow to Calais...", and the line that really gave him pause in the letter scene wasn't "Now that I know that you love me as well," it was "it is harder to die." Awwwww. (Also? He doesn't look like Jeff with the wigs on. In fact, in the prologue he bore a startling resemblance to Inigo Montoya.)
Judy Kuhn as Fantine--Meh. First of all, I can't stand her voice. Just getting that out of the way. She would've had to have been one hell of an actress for me to like her despite that voice, but her acting is okay-not-great. Her Fantine just seems kind of... worn out. Her acting is more mature and refined than Lea's--stronger I guess you could say--but not nearly as expressive, and she didn't really sell it for me except maybe in her death scene. Also? She's too old. It wouldn't have been a problem in another production, but everyone else in the damn cast is so young that she just looks out of place.
Rona Figueroa as Fantine--Awwww! She's tiny and cute and has a tiny voice, and you just kind of want to give her a hug. I wouldn't make her principal, but I also wouldn't object to seeing her again. The thing is that she looks about fifteen years old, just way too young to have all this shit happening to her, and... yeah, want to give her a hug. And she was STINKING DRUNK all through Fantine's arrest. Not just some pansy-ass swaying for "Come on, Captain," I'm talking staggering away from Bamatabois to look at interesting spots on the floor and only paying attention to him when he attacks her. Not vocally strong enough to be principal, but so cute. And she had the best long-hair wig I've seen since Daphne left.
Leah Horowitz as Cosette--Bland. Lovely voice, but her acting is so thoroughly unremarkable that I want to cry and/or drag Ali back to the show. The worst of it is that Adam and Ali played off each other so well in AHFOL, but Leah just stands there looking pretty and Adam has to do twice the work. And now it looks exaggerated and overdone. So yeah, bad enough to have a boring Cosette, worse when she makes the Marius suck too. (Also, Adam's Marius really isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, is he? I haven't sat left orchestra in a while, so when Megan finished the first verse of ALFOR and Adam went "flowers... oh!" and you could practically see the light bulb going off, I barely stopped myself from cracking up.)
Anderson Davis as Enjolras--Pretty good, with emphasis on the pretty. Better than Max, not as good as Aaron or Don. His voice isn't hugely impressive, but it's strong enough and has the interesting quality of making all those high G sharps sound so damn easy. He totally held "until the baaaaaaaaarricades arise" for about ten years. In Act I he was sort of the student who happened to have the most lines and maybe be in charge of the whole thing, but he slipped into Leader Mode a bit more in Act II. I think he'd improve a lot if he went on more often. (I feel duty-bound to mention that he really does look that good in the Vest. Mmm, pretty blond Enjolrati.)
Becca Ayers as Madame Thénardier--Hilarious! Much better than Ann. Skinny and perpetually on her last nerve, in the style of Jennifer Butt, except Becca's Madame was completely neurotic. I love it.
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Yeah, I've been saying that since I first saw him in Nov. 2004. Except now he seems less dim. ;-)
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I would make some sort of horrible Dean Cain crack here, but I'm too tired. ;)
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HAHAHAHAH! And here I thought my reviews made no sense to people who hadn't seen the performance in question...
I want pics of pretty blond Enjolras.
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(You look very happy! Ehehehhe.)
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Except in the wedding scene where he is the waiter, and wears a white wig and little spectacles and looks, I swear to god, just like Robespierre.
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Except in the wedding scene where he is the waiter, and wears a white wig and little spectacles and looks, I swear to god, just like Robespierre.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
(I always loved it when David was Enj and got to do that; he did the best O_O face EVER at "did that puke"...)
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(Love te icon, btw.)
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That cast is kind of a cupid, isn't it? ;-)
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Agree on the Judy Kuhn bit- I've heard her singing more rock/pop type songs, and she sounds nice there, but she just isn't suited to most muscal theatre.
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Shame that you don't like Judy Kuhn - I mean, I've never seen her act but I like her voice. Though I'm so sad that I'm not going to be able to see Lea as Fantine again - I saw her twice and she made me cry at "I Dreamed a Dream" and at her death, both times. And I don't really cry. She's amazing.