Les Misérables in Concert (Colm Wilkinson, Philip Quast)
2002 marks the fifteenth anniversary of one of the most successful musicals of all time, Les Misérables. In 1983, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg pitched their score and libretto to producer Cameron Mackintosh, and the rest is history. The show has been staged in over 33 countries in 20 different languages and has been seen by almost 9 million people in New York alone since its debut in 1987. It is currently the second longest-running production in Broadway history.
Les Misérables in Concert is an absolute must for fans, and, for some who have never seen the musical (like me), it is an invaluable glimpse of the performers who made it such a success. This particular video was made for the tenth anniversary celebration, and it is affectionately referred to as the Dream Cast version. It's an apt nickname, given the depth of the cast as they rip through almost a complete rendition of the musical (there are about a half dozen numbers left out including Gavroche's death and a lot of the barricades sequences). All the same, the piece runs a good three hours before reaching its dazzling conclusion.
Although mostly a concert format is used, the narrative can still be followed thanks to superior focus on sound (particularly during those numbers that feature many singers simultaneously). Colm Wilkinson is the troubled Jean Valjean, a man who serves 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread in order to feed his family. Wilkinson has long been considered the definitive Valjean, and it's easy to see why. He charges through songs like "Who Am I?" and "One Day More", but brings a haunting beauty to "Bring Him Home" and "Valjean's Confession". The role of the relentless inspector Javert goes to Philip Quast. His obsessed glare carries my personal favourite "Stars" into the high stratosphere. Ruthie Henshall plays the ill-fated Fantine, and her nasally rendition of "I Dreamed of Dream" is sung with conviction, but I've heard better actresses in that part. Conversely, Michael Ball was born to play the star-crossed Marius; to this day he really hasn't been offered suitable roles for his talents (Aspects of Love, anyone?). It's great to see the wonderful Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon) playing Eponine -- she provides emotional range in pivotal scenes that her counter-part Judy Kuhn (Cosette) obviously can't. Jenny Galloway and Alun Armstrong naturally get the heaviest applause for their turns as the evil Thénardiers.
I've got three different versions of Les Misérables (the Complete Symphonic, the Broadway Cast, and the London Cast), but listening to the show isn't quite the same as being able to see the original performers in their element. I can't exactly recommend this version to those who are uninitiated to the show, because there is essentially no physical movement and just a whole lot of people singing. Still, for those who have fallen under the musical's spell over the years, it is a monumental production.
Note: A bonus treat is the end of the video, when Mackintosh gets up onstage and introduces Boublil and Schönberg, as well as directors Trevor Nunn, John Caird, and 17 other Jean Valjeans from around the world in a performance of "Do You Hear the People Sing". It's really neat.
