Les Misérables - Sondheim Theatre

[Kim_Bahorel]

Oct 7, 2017 20:01:32 GMT Kim_Bahorel said:

She is in the show today (someone posted the cast board to me). According to her Spotlight page she is u/s Factory Girl and Assistant dance captain now. Which means Jo Loxton must have left already and I assume Oli Brenin is now the Dance Captain.

Jo hasn't left they appear to have 3 female swings and 2 Asst Dance Captains at the present time. I guess until Jo does leave.

[geweena]

Does anyone know if there is a specific day that Killian doesn't perform on or if he has any holiday dates coming up? I'd like to see him in the show but I know how bad they are at letting their cast post info like this.

[stageyninja83]

Oct 11, 2017 17:28:41 GMT geweena said:

Does anyone know if there is a specific day that Killian doesn't perform on or if he has any holiday dates coming up? I'd like to see him in the show but I know how bad they are at letting their cast post info like this.

He doesn't perform Monday nights and has a week's holiday 20th November. Not sure about any other holiday dates though. Hope that helps.

[geweena]

Oct 11, 2017 19:15:31 GMT stageyninja83 said:

Oct 11, 2017 17:28:41 GMT geweena said:

Does anyone know if there is a specific day that Killian doesn't perform on or if he has any holiday dates coming up? I'd like to see him in the show but I know how bad they are at letting their cast post info like this.

He doesn't perform Monday nights and has a week's holiday 20th November. Not sure about any other holiday dates though. Hope that helps.

This is great. Thanks

[tom]

Saw the show on Saturday and was disappointed. In my opinion the current cast are one of the weakest in a long while. I like Killian Donnelly but he wasn’t right for the part of valjean. He is too young and not physically strong looking enough to be believable. He has a very good voice but his Bring Him Home was not the show stopper it should have been.
Hayden Tee was all sorts of wrong as Javert. He spoke sang and sounded hoarse.
The Male ensemble cast were generally far too young to be believable as burly prisoners/ gang members.
Marius was like 15 years old and didn’t have the vocal power needed.
Eponine needed major work on her diction, although I liked her “On My Own” on the whole. You couldn’t hear a word she said in “A Little Fall if Rain” though.
Not a fan of Cosette at all. No power. She hit notes with staccato with a very young sounding unpowerful bell like voice.
Fantine had potential. She was very quiet when speaking and during the factory scene but started “I Dreamed a Dream” very well. When it came to belting however, she was shouting in the wrong key!
The guy playing thenardier was good. A very good balance of humour and menace. He had a good voice too.
Overall, I think the score is amazing but the show is so lacklustre when the cast is not right.

[stageyninja83]

David Thaxton returning as Javert from 22nd January

[Kim_Bahorel]

Nov 5, 2017 23:46:36 GMT tom said:

The Male ensemble cast were generally far too young to be believable as burly prisoners/ gang members.

It's difficult because 8 of the 9 convicts (excluding JVJ) are all students later in the show and 6 of them also cover for leads/featured (1 JVJ, 2 Marius', 2 Enjolras', 1 Grantaire, 1 Factory Foreman, 1 Bishop & 1 Bamatabois) so most of the casts characters ages in the show vary through out. Then they are all on stage dancing at the wedding at the end. It's a short scene it wouldn't be practical to have 9 cast members that are only used for one scene. I have heard someone before say about the students looking too old. There are only 11 male ensemble parts with tracks.

[londonmzfitz]

Nov 5, 2017 23:46:36 GMT tom said:

Saw the show on Saturday and was disappointed. In my opinion the current cast are one of the weakest in a long while. I like Killian Donnelly but he wasn’t right for the part of valjean. He is too young and not physically strong looking enough to be believable. He has a very good voice but his Bring Him Home was not the show stopper it should have been.
Hayden Tee was all sorts of wrong as Javert. He spoke sang and sounded hoarse.
The Male ensemble cast were generally far too young to be believable as burly prisoners/ gang members.
Marius was like 15 years old and didn’t have the vocal power needed.
Eponine needed major work on her diction, although I liked her “On My Own” on the whole. You couldn’t hear a word she said in “A Little Fall if Rain” though.
Not a fan of Cosette at all. No power. She hit notes with staccato with a very young sounding unpowerful bell like voice.
Fantine had potential. She was very quiet when speaking and during the factory scene but started “I Dreamed a Dream” very well. When it came to belting however, she was shouting in the wrong key!
The guy playing thenardier was good. A very good balance of humour and menace. He had a good voice too.
Overall, I think the score is amazing but the show is so lacklustre when the cast is not right.

I agree, the weakest cast I've seen I think -I'm a huge fan of Killian and I think he does a great job, but, having seen it three times since the summer I've left thinking I've seen better in every part.  I may be tempted by David Thaxton, but it's been dispiriting to leave what is a favourite show of mine at the end of an evening and think that it'll be a while before I'm back.

[theatrefan77]

Sounds bad. I love les Mis but last saw it last year and thought it had a very weak cast with the exception of an excellent Valjean. The majority of the cast were so young that it made it look like an amateur production.

I'm due to see it in about three weeks but will have to reconsider after all your comments. It sounds like they don't care anymore about the show and the current cast are even weaker than last year's. Pity.

[peggysue]

Saw the show yesterday matinee hoping to see Killian Donnelly which was main reason why I booked but the understudy was on (Adam Bayjou who was very good). Every time I have booked a show to see Killian has been absent! I may get to see him one day. Overall the show was not the best I have seen but still really enjoyed it. Hayden Tee was okay, not the best Javert I have seen. I agree with poster above about Karis Jack as Eponine. Most of the time I couldn't hear what she was saying - thought my hearing was going! Carley Stenson was good as Fantine, better than I expected. Steven Meo was excellent as Thenardier. Thought Adam sang "Bring Him Home" brilliantly. Well deserved standing ovation at the end.

[madlainie]

We watched on Saturday 11th November...bit disappointed to be honest. I've seen it with many different casts over the years...Colm Wilkinson, Dave Willetts, Frances Ruffelle, Linzi Hateley, Michael Ball, David Burt...so a lot that stick in the mind for good reasons.

Eponine is such a strong character usually...I just found Karis a bit odd. Because she plays the character quite hunched and skulky, I lost any sympathy for her, whereas usually I find her a really loveable character. She's quite whiny too which doesn't help.

I was with a friend who's never seen the show, and at the interval she admitted she wasn't sure what was going on. The bit that baffled her was Eponine being played by a kid with blonde curls...who grew up as a black woman so she didn't connect the two. She'd missed the little girls name.

I was pleasantly surprised by Carley Stenson as Fantine, as usually tv names thrown into musicals seem to be there more for their name than their ability, but really liked her.

Killian Donnelly I really loved.

Hyoie O'Grady was another disappointing one...just wasn't feeling any 'leader' vibes. Red and Black / Do you hear the people sing are usually two of my favourite songs but I lost interest a bit at that point and started thinking about where best to stand to watch the Lord Mayor's Parade the next day. In One Day More, he was a bit too bouncy and that didn't help.

[SageStageMgr]

Saw it a few nights ago. Pretty awful. Typical of this show. It lets standards slip until things get so bad that nothing but a show-saving clearout does the trick. Last time I saw it that bad was in late 2004 when the show was weeks away from posting notices. That time, the show sacked its house creatives, MD, some crew and replaced the majority of the (bored) cast. It saved the show. (I hope John Owen Jones was paid what he was worth for that)

Seeing it this week it just felt so poor. Everyone is TOO YOUNG. Karis Jack is bored and like a moody twenty-something playing a teenager like an ethnically diverse Dawson’s Creek guest star. Killian Donnelly has a good voice but is too young - same as I said when I saw him admittedly as understudy. He looks 20 years too young.

Marius just got his first pubes, Enjolras is very green... But wow, my word isnt Hayden Tee sh*t as Javert?!

I should be getting paid a ridiculous consultancy rate for these comments, but the show will be at late Palace/2004 Queens days very soon without remedial action. Cameron knows what he’s doing though, a couple of months of bad takings in about 6 months times will ring alarm bells

[Oleanna]

Is this show in a position where bad casting can really affect ticket sales now, though?

And, are most (tourist) audiences aware of what makes a good cast and what makes a bad cast?

[daniel]

I think a bad cast can affect it, but only if they’re bad over a long enough period to affect word of mouth.

I think the show is doing just fine though. It seems to always be pretty busy, and this is the first year in a good couple of years that there hasn’t been any sort of autumn offer - in previous years there’s been Top price for £40/£45 quite well advertised. Seems to be doing fine off its own back at the moment, the odd matinee on TKTS aside.

[Kim_Bahorel]

The show pretty much sells out each night and most of the people going to the show either haven't been for quite a while, never seen the show or a lot of tourists do go an see it. I doubt that will slow.

I have been *cough cough* quite a few times in the last two years. In all honesty there are a fair number of actors in it this cast year I am not impressed by. In some cases it's the acting and in some it's the singing and some both.

Really and truthfully I am currently only going to see that show when Adam is Valjean and if Danny end up on as Bamatabois or Enjolras. And to see Oli Brenin in it when he is on (but he is a swing it's a game of swing Russian Roulette). I still want to see a couple of covers in the show. But honestly if them 3 leave at the cast change and a fair number of this cast stay. I don't think I can warrent going back to see it. I will see the new cast for sure but any more than that is... ummmm.

[stanne]

Just booked to see this in February, lured by the thought of seeing David Thaxton as Javert (especially alongside Killian Donnelly).
They'd better be good!

[Raven]

Nov 5, 2017 23:46:36 GMT tom said:

Saw the show on Saturday and was disappointed. In my opinion the current cast are one of the weakest in a long while. I like Killian Donnelly but he wasn’t right for the part of valjean. He is too young and not physically strong looking enough to be believable. He has a very good voice but his Bring Him Home was not the show stopper it should have been.
Hayden Tee was all sorts of wrong as Javert. He spoke sang and sounded hoarse.
The Male ensemble cast were generally far too young to be believable as burly prisoners/ gang members.
Marius was like 15 years old and didn’t have the vocal power needed.
Eponine needed major work on her diction, although I liked her “On My Own” on the whole. You couldn’t hear a word she said in “A Little Fall if Rain” though.
Not a fan of Cosette at all. No power. She hit notes with staccato with a very young sounding unpowerful bell like voice.
Fantine had potential. She was very quiet when speaking and during the factory scene but started “I Dreamed a Dream” very well. When it came to belting however, she was shouting in the wrong key!
The guy playing thenardier was good. A very good balance of humour and menace. He had a good voice too.
Overall, I think the score is amazing but the show is so lacklustre when the cast is not right.

I have been to see the show recently and was a little disappointed too! I didn't like Karis Jack's Eponine much at all, she was just like a moody teenager. No connection between her and Marius leading to a not-so-sad "A Little Fall of Rain". Like you, I was also not crazy on Cosette either. Quite enjoyed Killian as Valjean although I see where everyone is coming from regarding his age. I did however like Carley's Fantine and Thenadier was great with the comedy.

Overall, I have seen better casts over the years and I think this is the weakest I have seen. I certainly won't be rushing back anytime soon.

[Kim_Bahorel]

Off's and illness yesterday show had a 30 min delay because Jonny was thrown on as Marius and Danny as Enjolras. They found out about half an hour before the show was due to start. Jonny only did the Marius track not the ensemble part. That was done by Oli Brenin.

[theatrefan77]

Saw the show on Tuesday. Not as terrible as I was told but in urgent need of a good shake up. The orchestra sounded weak, the tempo was extremely slow at times during Act 1 and then they started rushing for A Heart Full of Love. Three principal understudies were on: Valjean, Marius and Enjolras

[Kim_Bahorel]

Knew I should have gone Tuesday as well I had a thought Paul was off had an interest in seeing what Ciaran was like as Marius (because I knew the 1st cover John wasn't there.) But that does mean if Paul isn't there today and John is back they will have had 4 days with 4 different Marius'

[alicesprings]

I have recently seen Les Miserables (for about the 10th time!) and while I agree with most of the comments I thought Adam Bayjou was very good as Jean Valjean. Bring Him Home was excellent. Hayden Tee was very good as Javert for the most part; Stars was performed very well in my opinion but the Soliloquy in the second half not so much. Over all a good performance but have seen better.

[mollymoo]

I've seen Les Mis twice in the past 3 months and it is an intresting casting! 

In August, We had the full cast with Katie Kerr as Madame T who is insane!!!! Extremely lucky to have seen her perform again last night. The role was made for her and she stole the show! We had Emma Banks at Eponine who was pleasant in August. Last night, I saw Karis Jack at Eponine and we were all confused by her performance. The attitude was a little over the top and didn't provide any emotion from the audience during 'little full of rain' or 'on my own'. She over performed her dying soon by grabbing onto Marius so tightly, Paul Wilkins (an outstanding Marius) look terrified! She was also very mumbly which was disappointing. 

Not convinced with Adam Bayjou as Valjean initially but he became comfortable as the show went on. Kieran Donnelly is by far a stronger Valjean and more assertive, professional and consistent. 

Carley Stenson, Hughie O Grady and Charlotte Kennedy were all great in their respective roles. 

Overall for a Saturday night performance it was strong but the cast the first time round (Aug 8th) was a lot stronger and believable.

[Kim_Bahorel]

Nov 26, 2017 17:22:30 GMT mollymoo said:

I've seen Les Mis twice in the past 3 months and it is an intresting casting! 

In August, We had the full cast with Katie Kerr as Madame T who is insane!!!! Extremely lucky to have seen her perform again last night. The role was made for her and she stole the show! We had Emma Banks at Eponine who was pleasant in August. Last night, I saw Karis Jack at Eponine and we were all confused by her performance. The attitude was a little over the top and didn't provide any emotion from the audience during 'little full of rain' or 'on my own'. She over performed her dying soon by grabbing onto Marius so tightly, Paul Wilkins (an outstanding Marius) look terrified! She was also very mumbly which was disappointing. 

Not convinced with Adam Bayjou as Valjean initially but he became comfortable as the show went on. Kieran Donnelly is by far a stronger Valjean and more assertive, professional and consistent. 

Carley Stenson, Hughie O Grady and Charlotte Kennedy were all great in their respective roles. 

Overall for a Saturday night performance it was strong but the cast the first time round (Aug 8th) was a lot stronger and believable.

Who is Emma Banks? Emma Barr isn't an Eponine cover maybe it was Alice she is the 1st cover or Lauren who is 2nd cover?? Rebecca has yet to make her Eponine debut.

[danb]

Does Fantine have another track after her departure or does she just sit in her dressing room until the finale? I bet she plays a lot of Candy Crush!

[Kim_Bahorel]

Nov 26, 2017 19:15:28 GMT danb said:

Does Fantine have another track after her departure or does she just sit in her dressing room until the finale? I bet she plays a lot of Candy Crush!

She is on the barricade as a boy or an urchin. JVJ & Javert are the only two leads that don't have an ensemble track in the show.