Reviews 2014
Reviews 2014
✭✭✭✭✩
by Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil, directed by Alex Mustakas
• Drayton Entertainment, Dunfield Theatre, Cambridge
June 13-August 2, 2014
• Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend
August 7-30, 2014
“Come Hear the People Sing”
As I was leaving the theatre I overheard two women behind me exclaim in pleasure and surprise, “That was much better than the one in Toronto”. They had spoken aloud what I was thinking. We had just seen Drayton Entertainment’s production of Les Misérables, the first professional regional production of the now-classic musical in Canada. The women behind me had obviously also seen Cameron Mackintosh’s 25th Anniversary Production that played in Toronto from October 2013 to February 2014 before heading to Broadway. But the small-scale Drayton production had moved them while the large-scale Toronto production had not.
The reason for this is not hard to see. The primary virtue of Mackintosh’s new version of Les Mis was in making the story clearer. Yet, at the same time, the physical production was so extravagant in terms of sets and costumes and animated projections that spectacle overwhelmed the story. Les Mis may be the most expensive and complex musical Drayton has ever produced but, unlike Mackintosh, it does not have money to waste on unnecessary stage effects. Unlike the Mackintosh version, Drayton does not have 101 cast and crew for every performance or require 392 costumes. Besides this, Drayton is staging the musical for a theatre seating only 500 as opposed to a theatre like Toronto’s Princess of Wales seating 2000 or New York’s Imperial Theatre, where Mackintosh’s Les Mis is currently playing, seating 1400.
Thus, not only does the story have more impact in a smaller venue but the incisive direction of Alex Mustakas and inventive sets by Todd Edward Ivins and handsome period costumes Rachel Berchtold, imaginatively boiled down to the essentials, tell the tale more clearly and with greater emotion than Mackintosh’s new gargantuan, overbusy production. Add to that a 26-member cast for Drayton that equals and often surpasses the Toronto cast and Drayton has created the most effective and moving production of Les Mis that I have ever seen.
Javert and Eponine, two roles ineffectively cast in Toronto, become two highlights of the Drayton production. Baritone Andrew Love*, seen just earlier this month in the opera Shelter, shows, unlike his Toronto counterpart, that Les Mis is also the tragedy of Javert. In both his key solos, “Stars” and especially “Soliloquy”, Love uses his rich voice and refined acting to make us understand Javert’s increasingly unbearable position as a man trapped by his own narrow world-view.
Drayton has pulled off a coup in casting Ma-Anne Dionisio, who created the title role in Miss Saigon in Toronto, as Eponine. Dionisio is superior in both voice and acting to her Toronto counterpart and makes us feel the pain of Eponine’s unrequited love for Marius right from the beginning. Dionisio captures all the conflicting emotions of anger, sadness and resignation in her big song “On My Own”. Dionisio’s extraordinarily moving performance is reason enough to see the Drayton production.
A further flaw with the Toronto production was Cliff Saunders’ performance as Thenardier that was allowed to go way over-the-top. For Drayton, Eddie Glen combines just the right balance of comedy and malice besides actually singing his part rather than merely speaking it to music. Kristen Peace is a perfect match for him as Madame Thenardier.
Jayme Armstrong, who was such a wonderful Mary Poppins for Drayton last year, tends to be overemphatic as Fantine though she delivers a fine account of her big number “I Dreamed a Dream”. In Toronto Mark Uhre’s Enjolras was in terms of voice and acting the most satisfying performance of the show. For Drayton, Jake Stern has a soft, sweet sound that works well in Enjolras’ calmer passages but is not capable of the heroic sound or the ringing top notes that the role requires, especially in the rallying cry of “Do You Hear the People Sing?”.
The young lovers Cosette and Marius, Anwyn Musico and David Cotton are well matched – she with an operetta-like soprano with easy high notes, he with an attractive pop music tenor. Special mention must be made of two young cast members. Brooke Bauer is quite a sympathetic Young Cosette who sings an endearing “Castle on a Cloud”. Drew Davis at only ten years old, is clearly already at home on stage and gives us a vivid and affecting portrait of the heroic street urchin Gavroche.
Unlike the overelaborate design of Mackintosh’s new production, set designer Todd Edward Ivins has come up with a clever solution to portraying the continually changing locations in the musical. He has three sets of moving roughcast panels, pierced with shuttered windows of various sizes and at various heights, that can narrow or close in various configurations. Lighting designer Kevin Fraser can instantly transform them from interior to exterior walls simply through his craft. Set pieces and platforms are easily rolled in and out, and for the famous battle scene, the back two panels part to reveal the barricades that are then pushed forward. Mustakas’ production makes reference to the original production of Les Mis that made much use of a revolve by having the barricades pushed round several times to show us both sides. The result is that Mustakas’ allows us to see Gavroche climb over the barricades to the other side where we witness him meet his death – something Mackintosh’s production does not do.
Drayton tells the story of Les Mis with such clarity and emotion that one only wishes it could have fielded a larger orchestra. The Toronto orchestra had 17 members, Drayton only seven. The music has been so well arranged the loss in richness is usually not noticeable, but with two keyboards taking the place of most of the strings, the orchestral sound is occasionally too synth heavy.
Nevertheless, the great virtue of Drayton’s production is that Mustakas has allowed the songs to speak for themselves. The sets here serve as a backdrop for human interactions rather than attracting attention away from them. Such a collection of fine performances staged in such an intimate venue only increases the power and impact of an already powerful musical. Even if you saw Les Mis just last year in Toronto, the Drayton production is one you won’t want to miss.
©Christopher Hoile
*Thom Allison takes on the role of Javert from July 2-August 2. Lee Siegel will play Javert in Grand Bend from August 7-30.
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photos: (from top) the cast of Les Misérables; David Rogers as Jean Valjean. ©2014 Hilary Gauld-Camileri.
For tickets, visit www.draytonentertainment.com.
2014-06-23
Les Misérables