After seeing it for the first time in 2019, I dreamed a dream that (see what I did there? Comedic genius of the highest level) I would get to see the longest-running West End musical again.
The UK and Ireland tour of Les Misérables came to Theatre Royal about a week ago and on Saturday night, my mum and I got to see the final performance of the Plymouth run.
Holy crap on the holiest of crackers.
I didn’t think it could get better.
And I was (for once) wrong.
I promise to not get to rant-y in this but I do have a couple of rant-esque points.
Point one: STOP TREATING TOURING SHOWS AS IF THEY ARE LESS THAN THE WEST END PRODUCTIONS.
I cannot tell you how much it aggravates me when people act as if a touring show/cast is ‘less than’ simply because it is not the ‘proper’ one aka, the West End productions, or shows that stay in one place.
And actually, I almost find it more aggravating when people act like this, watch the show, and then come out like “oh it was really good, for a touring show.”
Okay first of all, ‘it was really good’ should be its own sentence. Whether touring or in-house productions, I honestly believe the majority of people could never and will never understand the time, effort, energy and exertion that goes into bringing any show (but particularly one of the scale of Les Mis) to life.
.
.
Okay. I’m calm again now.
Point two: WE DO NOT APPRECIATE SWINGS/UNDERSTUDIES/STANDBYS ENOUGH
If you are a theatre fan, or even if you’re not, you should follow West End Covers on Twitter. Then you might get some idea of the role that the above people play in keeping all your favourite shows going.
Immediately post-covid, when the industry was just getting back on its feet, I would watch my timeline fill with the news that person A) was making their debut as their first cover role. Then person B) who was previously in a show, was returning for the first time in fifteen years to play their old role, just so the show could go on. Add in person C) who had two hours of rehearsal for a role they had never played before absolutely killing it to a sold-out audience, who would never know the chaos going on behind the scenes.
I have two specific examples of this, one related to the Les Misérables tour and another that I just think shows what I’m trying to say.
Exhibit A) Hannah Lowther. Hannah Lowther is part of the cast of Heathers: The Musical in the West End. She’s part of the ensemble, known as “new wave girl”. She’s also the dance captain. And cover for Heather Mcnamara. AND cover for Heather Chandler. AND AND AND she has also covered the third Heather, Heather Duke, which was not one of her assigned cover roles. Hannah has quite literally saved the show on multiple occasions by covering multiple roles, cutting the show and choreography with little to no notice, so it hides the fact that there may be people missing or roles not being played. Hannah also is (I believe, someone should fact-check me though) the only person out of any and all casts (West End, Tour, Broadway etc.) to play all three Heathers. No one has done it before.
Pretty cool right?
Now back to Les Mis.
Another example of ‘show–jumping to save the day’ is Abel Law, who I had the pleasure of watching last night. Abel is part of the ensemble. He plays roles including constable, the pimp in Lovely Ladies, a fighter at the barricade and Montparnasse, one of Thernadier’s criminal gang.
Earlier this year, in February, the West End cast found themselves scrambling for a cover.
Enter Abel Law.
Abel flew from Dublin, where the tour was, to London. West End and Tour shows often have different blockings, choreography and even musical arrangements. Abel learnt the West End version of Les Mis in ONE DAY! And then covered Montparnasse in the West End for the rest of the week, before just picking up and falling right back into tour life.
So, commitment? Tick. Effort? Tick. PURE CLASS AND TALENT? TICK TICK TICKETY TICK TICK.
He’s also incredibly kind and let me ramble at him at the stage door and was more than happy to take photos with anyone who asked, me included.
Also should shout out Will Barratt who did one of the best performances of Valjean I have seen, a role he understudies, AND Rebecca Bolton who played Cosette after only debuting the role on Friday.
The whole cast was incredible. Special thanks to Nathania Ong and Will Callan who also stopped at the stage door for autographs and photos.
On a personal note, anyone who knows me, knows how much I struggle socially, particularly with approaching people, and all the people I’ve mentioned were incredibly kind and patient.
Visually, Les Mis is probably my favourite show to watch. The costumes, set, lighting and projections are just stellar.
And probably my favourite part of the evening was watching mum enjoy it.
And it really tested my live audio-description skills.
Les Misérables? C'est Manifique!
Now to read the book. The big, big, and I cannot stress this enough, BIG book…
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