This weekend I went to see Les Miserables by Contra Costa Musical Theatre in Walnut Creek. This was my third time attending CCMT’s production (Legally Blonde and Tarzan), and each time I was impressed with their professionalism. Last year I saw the national tour of Les Miserables, and I was wondering if the direction is similar (like the rowing scene by the prisoners).
I think one of their successes is being able to cast right actors for right roles. I didn’t know until during the intermission when I read the program but Noel Anthony who plays Jean Valjean and Jerry Lee who plays Javert are both equity actors, and the rest of the performers are non-equity actors who are overall very vocally talented. As for the lead roles, Mr. Anthony, to me, seemed to lack the “grits” of just-released-from-the-prison Valjean (I think this grits is essential later during the Confrontation), but the rest of the show, his born-again Valjean blanketed the stage with a deep love for humanity. Mr. Lee played the antagonist superbly against Mr. Anthony’s Valjean. “Confrontation” is one of my favorite scene/number and they matched each other so well, and I could hear their lyric clearly too. (BTW before I realized that Javert was played by Jerry Lee, I kept thinking “I’ve seen him before,” sure enough he’s from Sacramento and I saw him in Forbidden Broadway, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, and other Sacramento Theatre Company shows)
Another shout out should go to the set/projection teams (Michael Demers/Rooster Design/Kelly James Tighe). CCMT uses Lesher Center for the Art and the stage is pretty big, so they can create significant set pieces if they want to (like when they did Tarzan). They mixed the movable sets as well as the projections well to recreate 19th century France. The sewer projection was done so well, I felt like I was in the maze of the sewer.
The last, but not the least, every time I hear a good live orchestra for a regional theatre, I feel so blessed. Especially, for a sung through musical like Les Miserable, the wonderful performance by the eleven instruments orchestra needs to be acknowledged whenever we can, bravo!!
BTW I paid an attention to “On My Own” and the lyric was “without him,” not “in the darkness,” although there is “in the darkness” is used in elsewhere in the number.
One thing that I miss from the original direction is that Valjean keeps two silver candle holders that were given by the bishop throughout his life. They appear during "One day more" when he opened the luggage box, and at the end when he was praying before Cosset and Marius appear, the candle holders were on the table. I think they are important symbols and was hoping the new direction still reflects it. In both tour or CCMT productions, the candle holders don't appear after Valjean leaves the Church.
Les Miserables will be played until April 20th, you won’t disappoint!
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