It was with great joy when I learnt that they were going to do a live broadcast of the 25th anniversary concert from O2 Arena in London in selected cinemas and Newcastle Empire Cinema was one of the few. I guess big things do come to this lil' town in the edge nowhere!
In a nutshell, the concert was really a superb singing spectacle but heck I never stop decribing things just 'in a nutshell' so let's go into details. To be honest, I was a lil' disappointed. The show that night was merely the casts standing in front of a massive super-big-ass crowd singing the majority of the songs from the famed musical.
While that wasn't really a miss, I was hoping for more acting and theatricality. 90% of the songs from the musical was after all dialogues or confrontations between the characters so I found it less enjoyable when the casts stood singing facing the crowd with the microphones on the mikestands rather than interacting with each other. I found it ridiculous that such a big production celebrating the 25th anniversary of the longest-running West End musical didn't think of, or couldn't have afforded, using those microphones you clip around the collar to allow more movement and interaction between the casts. It was really funny at times especially when the casts just stood still on the stage during the battle scene against the background sound of firearms being shot. Because of that, what was suppossed to be a great story of the struggle of 'the miserables' had then became the singing spectacle of Les Magnifiques! I know it was a concert to mark the anniversary of the musical and not the musical performance per se so I shouldn't have expected more but still, it was a concert celebrating a freaking musical so it should have included both singing and acting!!!
Having said that, it was still brilliant nevertheless. I hardly know anything of Alfie Boe who played Jean Valjean and Norm Lewis who played Javert but they were such awesome singers both would almost always received standing ovasions or a deafening cheer after every solo they performed.
Lea Salonga (of the famed Kim in Miss Saigon) as Fantine performing 'I dreamed a dream' was a sure hit. The production made the right decision to call her back for this concert because she certainly did a wonderful job. Her connection with the musical in itself was something to be proud of seeing she was the first Asian to ever play both Eponine and Fantine. It was remarkable that she was chosen to be Fantine for the 25th anniversary concert when she played Eponine back in the 10th anniversary concert.
Speaking of Eponine, Samantha Barks was awesome singing 'On my own'. I knew that 'I dreamed a dream' was the signature song for the musical so I was hoping there would be another song I could like more just to be a lil' different and she made 'On my own' my favourite. Her rendition was, in my most humbled and honest opinion, a lot better than Lea's rendition 15 years ago, no disrespect meant to Salonga =P.
Matt Lucas of Little Britain and Jenny Galloway as M. and Mme. Thenardier were hillarious. Katie Hall was lovely as Cosette although Mia Jenkins as little Cosette singing 'Castle on a cloud' was definitely awesome for somebody as young and speaking of young actors, Robert Madge as Gavroche was a sure scene-stealer! I wasn't sure of how many were there watching (the arena has the capacity of 23 000) but it was unbelievable how flamboyantly relaxed he appeared playing the role of poor lil' boy living on the street with the beggars. He was extremely natural on stage for his age but then again, he is also part of the casts of the 2009 London revival of Oliver! so I guess it shouldn't be that surprising. Too bad I can't find a video of his performance on YouTube!!!
The only miss of the ensemble was, in my opinion, Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers as Marius. Like, seriously??? To be honest, he wasn't a bad singer and he was good doing solos but when he was singing a duet or together with the rest of the casts, his voice was barely audible. It was a shame really because his pretty baby face was perfect for the character of a young student torn between love and desire for a change!!!
Another song that I love from the musical is 'Do you hear the people sing'. It was such an empowering sing for those enslaved characters trying to fight against a corrupt government. It was sung by a group of students trying to push for a revolution by gathering the oppressed to stand up for their right. Maybe this kind of empowerment is what our government is soo scared of thus causing them to ban university students from taking part in politics.
Before the end, the original London casts of 1985 came up on the stage to join the recent casts for few speeches and an encore. I hardly knew any of them (I was born after their time =) ) but they were really amazing. They still had the amazing voice even after sooo many years it was uplifting to see all of them together singing 'One day more'.
It really was a brilliant night. The 25th anniversary concert might have ended that night but Les Miserables will continue one day more and more after that night. Even if I wasn't in the O2 Arena last night, to be able to catch it live was still an amazing experience amidst several tiny (it wasn't exactly tiny when the footage went wrong when Lea Salonga was singing 'I dreamed a dream'. I was thinking of asking for a refund!!!) hiccups here and there. I still, however, want to go to London to watch the real musical to enjoy the whole story properly!
Les Miserables In Concert - the 25th Anniversary closed the curtain last night to a tumultous and deafening cheer and I went home happy to be part of it.
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