Les Miserables- the story that started with a loaf of bread. As ludicrous
as it sounds, it's the truth. However, on a more serious note, Les Mis is a
timeless musical that always brings the audience to their feet (after they've
just cried their eyes out 6 times). Recently, it has been of popular demand
after the 25th anniversary, the movie, and of course- the revival.
I did the show during my freshman year of high school and being in the
production truly made me realize how beautiful the story is. I mean it's got
everything- love, loss, family, enemies, war, etcetera. Sure it might be a
little lengthy and the fact that it's an operetta might agitate you, but in
summary, Les Mis is a beautiful constructed show and being in it was an honor.
That being said, until I had the chance to see the revival I had never actually
seen a professional production of the show. I had seen my own and the
anniversaries and some stuff on YouTube, but to experience it live (and first
row) was something extraordinary.
Rush tickets are really such a wonderful concept. The people around my roommate and I (whom shared the experience with me) probably thought we paid hundreds of dollars for our seats in row AA, when in reality, we paid only $37 and had the same experience as they did. If you live in New York or somewhere near by and have the opportunity to rush a show, I strongly recommend you act upon it.
Even from the sound of the overture, you get chills. The thing about Les Mis is that from the first note of the first song, you know you're in for something special. The music is so menacing and dark and it's so intriguing. One thing about Les Mis that always interested me was that it was a huge book made into a revolutionary musical. The music and the lyrics were all written around the text. I know a lot of modern musicals and plays are like this (eg- Spring Awakening, Curious Incident, etc), but what's so special about Les Mis is that it's an operetta which means that there is no dialogue. They had to incorporate the text into the music which is probably super hard but they obviously did an excellent job.
Let me start by saying the acting was amazing. A lot of the times in Broadway revivals, actors try their best to impersonate the actors that previously played the role before them. In this show, that was not the case. Each actor played their role wonderfully with the exception of one: Nikki M. James. I always hate saying that an actor is horrible, but I really thought James was terrible. She has a truly beautiful voice; however, it is not an Eponine voice. It has nothing to do with the way she sounds or looks, but it was her acting that really destroyed her performance for me. Eponine is a poor girl that's hopelessly in love with a boy who doesn't lover her back. She goes through hell just to be with him- breaks rules, goes against her will, and ends up dying because she wanted to fight with him. So why would Nikki M. James play the role so.. flirty? That's really the only word that I could give her performance. She played Eponine like a modern day girl flirting with a guy. I understand that in context, Eponine is trying to win Marius over. But she isn't trying to have sex with him right then and there. She's not seducing him! And of course, there was On My Own- one of the most iconic songs in all of Broadway history (also one of the most overdone and mundane songs, but still holds the title). So many people have mastered performing the song in both singing and acting, when Nikki M. James couldn't even do both. Okay, that's a little harmful. She sang the song fine and hit all of the notes, but it was just boring. Like, there was nothing there besides a voice. The staging was so monotonous. She literally just stood on the stage a sang. She didn't move one bit. I don't know if that was her idea or the directors, but I thought it was awful. And the acting was just.. nothing. There was nothing there. She held a straight face and sang the song. Moreover, all I'm saying is that when it was announced that she was leaving the show, I was not surprised nor unhappy.
The thing I loved the most was that this revival truly stayed true to the original script. It's very common for revivals to take certain things out and even make new additions, for example Side Show added a bunch of new music for the 2014 revival (I'll review that one soon). But as someone who happens to know Les Mis extraordinarily well, everything was there where it was supposed to be which was truly wonderful.
Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoyed this production of Les Mis. It was both heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time, just like it was supposed to be. It was everything I thought it would be and more. Even with Nikki M. James, I still managed to enjoy the show and I still manage to cry. Victor Hugo would've been proud.
4 out of 5 rikdastars.
Until next time!
-Rikki
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