Tag Archives: Lucie Jones

Review – Les Miserables, Sondheim Theatre, London, 6th February 2025

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When there are countless new productions coming up every week worthy of one’s theatre ticket budget, it might seem strange to go back to a few old favourites once in a while, just to check up on them and see how they’re getting on, like an elderly relative who’s beginning to lose the ability to look after themselves properly. Thus we decided to pay a visit to Les Miserables at the Queens’, I mean Sondheim, Theatre, to see if, forty years on, it’s still in rude health.

It’s misleading to think of it as forty years, as this is the “new” version of the show, directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell, which Mrs Chrisparkle and I were lucky to catch in swanky New York ten years ago. That performance blew our minds, having seen the original version back in 1986 and, frankly, not liking it much; I think you need to have experienced a few hardships in life to truly appreciate Les Mis. Bizarrely, we also saw it at the Leicester Curve in 2018, in a production that completely escapes my memory.onnor and Powell zipped the original up and smartened it out, creating a more vivid show; even though it still lasts just short of three hours, it’s incredibly pacey. When Marius tosses a stone at Cosette’s window she bursts forward to see him instantly, even before gravity has had time for the stone to hit the floor. There’s no hanging about here.

One might not expect a Thursday matinee in February to be full, but so packed was the Sondheim Theatre that there was hardly room for an underfed Parisien street urchin to sneak in. Steward Morley’s fantastic orchestra give the performance of their lives as they emote Claude-Michel Schönberg’s luscious score;crammed full of leitmotifs, and not a note wasted. Matt Kinley’s superb set spills out into the boxes at the side of the stage, recreating the terror of the prisoner labour ship, the grimness of the factories, the grandeur of Valjean’s house and the makeshift mess that represents the barricades. I was struck – perhaps for the first time – by how effective it is, to regularly contrast an elaborate set, such as the ship, with the simplicity of just a table with two candles, such as represents the Bishop of Digne’s humble home.

I know of no other show that can produce audience sobs out of thin air with the ease that Les Mis does. Spoiler alert, soz (but where have you been for the last forty years?) the first tremors of emotion come with Fantine on her death bed, and of course there’s always a gulp at Eponine’s On My Own. But it’s Bring Him Home that opens the floodgates, with alikely trigger at Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, and flat out wailing when the ghosts of Fantine and Eponine come to welcome the dying Valjean out of this world and into a better place. Paule Constable’s stunning lighting design and Finn Ross’ video projections also add to many of these moments, notably Javert tumbling to his death in the Seine, and that amazing second or two when Gavroche’s lifeless body is captured in a crosshair of bright light; they truly take your breath away.

Changes of cast occur from season to season, and the current cast is full of star turns. Ian McIntosh, whom I’ve only ever seen before giving brilliant supporting performances in iffy touring musical productions, portrays a Valjean of valour, nobility and the most exquisitely tender voice. It’s not just the sentiment of Bring Him Home that makes us go wobbly at the knees, it’s that purity and clarity with which he delivers those most immaculate of notes.His nemesis, Javert, is played by Stewart Clarke, whose powerful voice is put to great use, suggesting the character’s bullying and intimidating nature. I’ve seen Mr Clarke many times before on stage and he always nails those imposing, ruthless roles; but I wished for a little more light and shade in his portrayal of Javert. His face is set to one expression throughout – grimace – which only begins to soften in his final moments. You never get the sense that this Javert questions his motives or beliefs for one instant. I know; call me picky.

The three main female roles are all superbly performed. Lucie Jones’ Fantine is a terrific portrayal of decency destroyed by circumstances, giving us a delicate and almost intimate performance of the classic I Dreamed A Dream. Annabelle Aquino plays Cosette with a brightness of spirit and a heart of gold; andAmena El-Kindy pulls out all the stops as her Eponine delivers a soaring On My Own, making the best of observing Marius’ devotion to Cosette on the sidelines, just so that she can be in his company.

Jacob Dachtler’s unswervingly brave and noble Marius is a perfect match for Cosette; he nicely brings out the emotional content in his songs extremely well and is very believable in the role. Robson Broad’s Enjolras is a triumph of heroism, with an amazing stage presence and a wonderful voice which helps those powerful but brief songs, Red/Black and Do You Hear The People Sing, linger on in our minds long after curtain down.

But the secret ingredient of this current production is the inspired casting of Luke Kempner and Claire Machin as the Thénardiers. Crowd pleasers from the start, their physical comedy is outstanding, and their comic bickering is credible rather than just being pure pantomime.Along with the rest of the ensemble, their on stage activity for Master of the House is immaculately timed with hilarious shenanigans complementing the music perfectly. The audience adores them.

I genuinely had no idea I was going to enjoy this show again as much as I did. If you’ve never seen it, what are you waiting for? And if you have, you’ll be delighted to know it’s as great as ever.

 

 

Five Alive, Let Theatre Thrive!

Review – The Baker’s Wife, Menier Chocolate Factory, London, 1st September 2024

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Apologies for being late to the party with The Baker’s Wife, as Edinburgh Fringe duties kept me away. One of Stephen Schwartz’s more obscure musicals, it’s based on a 1938 film, La Femme du Boulanger; and, to be honest, I knew nothing about either the original film or the 1976 musical. The Baker’s Wife never made it to Broadway nor did it reach the West End until a lukewarm production in 1988 directed by Trevor Nunn. Re-invigorated with a new production by Gordon Greenberg, can the Menier succeed with this show where others failed to make the mark?

We’re in a Provençal village in 1935, where the baker has died four weeks ago and the village is bereft of bread. Can you imagine a French village with no bread? It would be like Hemel Hempstead without the roundabouts. Fear not, mes amis, because a new baker, Aimable, is ready to move into the boulangerie with his wife. His beautiful young wife, that is; Genevieve. He’s hopelessly in love with her; she’s in love with being in love, having a married name, desperate to please him. But does she actually love him? Hein, c’est ça le rub, n’est ce pas? When she leaves him for the Marquis’ besotted assistant, Dominique, all the rise goes out of Aimable’s dough and he loses the will to bake. But will the other villagers put up with that? Absolument pas!

You’ve heard of the old phrase, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? Here’s one of those times where the cover is immaculate, but the book is nondescript. Paul Farnsworth has truly gone to town to recreate a French village in the heart of Southwark Street. Boules in the square, French road names, café tables with coffee and cognac, accordions gently playing; you couldn’t wish for a more idyllic Provençal setting. To increase that sense of la vie française for theatregoers, some seating is at cabaret tables, in the heart of the action; we sat at Table J and although there are a few scenes where some of the action on stage is blocked, that sense of being a villager more than makes up for it.

And there’s a cast of West End stars to take your breath away. Clive Rowe plays Aimable and his rich, sensitive voice delivers his songs with a genuine sincerity and power. Opposite him, the wonderful Lucie Jones brings energy and cheekiness to her songs, including a brilliant epiphany moment in Meadowlark. The delightfully squabbling couple of Denise and Claude who own the café are brought to life with the always amazing Josefina Gabrielle and the comic genius of Norman Pace; they are matched by the problem pairing of Liam Tamne’s brutal and critical Barnaby and Finty Williams’ submissiveHortense – the underlying sense of domestic violence is delicately but clearly portrayed in these two excellent performances. With Joaquin Pedro Valdes’ persistent Dominique, Matthew Seadon-Young’s pious priest, Michael Matus’ bombastic Marquis and Sutara Gayle’s perpetually offended Therese, as well as a superb wider ensemble, you’ll be hard pushed to find a better-performed show in the whole of London. And let’s not forget Dustin Conrad’s terrific band who play Schwartz’s score with a true feel for its romantic French style.

Such a shame, then, that the story is so slight and unadventurous, and the music is so forgettable. Yes, there are a few numbers that stand out; the opening song If It Wasn’t For You is an amusing introduction to the characters of the villagers, Bread is an entertaining homage to that irresistible smell and taste of fresh bread, and the epiphanic Meadowlark is a powerful cry of assertiveness. But so many of the songs and tunes are immediately forgettable, sadly. And whilst the story does have interesting observations about the nature of forgiveness, both between an unfaithful couple and decades-long family feuds, you can’t help but feel that the show has a very narrow and blinkered vision; other than to make us feel ever-so-French, which it does immaculately.

Despite its faults, there’s no doubt that, in terms of production and performance values, this is one of the best that the Menier has ever hosted; and it’s 100% worth going to see for the spectacle and atmosphere alone. Just don’t expect to remember any of the songs.

 

3-starsThree-sy Does It!

P. S. Sitting in seat J1 had its perks. As the audience were taking their seats, not only did Ms Gabrielle ask me most politely to slightly move my chair so that her entrances and exits could be more gracefully executed, but also Mr Pace (in full character as Claude) said to me bonjour monsieur, to which I replied, bonjour monsieur, comment ça va? To which he replied Ah, vous parlez français, monsieur? And I came back with Oui, monsieur, comme un anglais, to which he replied, Ah, moi aussi! You had to be there.

Review – Legally Blonde, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 16th October 2017

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It’s been the best part of eight years since I started writing this blog and imparting my words of wisdom (winky emoji) about all the shows we’re lucky to see. And the very first one that I had a crack at was the new (at the time) production of Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre with Sheridan Smith as Elle. We enjoyed it a lot.

All these years later and we’ve now seen it a second time last night at the Royal and Derngate as the current touring production makes its way to Northampton for a week. Ohmygodyouguys you could feel the excited vibe in the packed audience. We’ve still not seen the film, and if you haven’t either, then let me explain: basically this is the story of pink bimbo Elle, who looks squeakily divine, knows every fashion trick under the sun and lives life like an article in a woman’s magazine. Long term boyfriend Warner has ambitions to become a Big Name in The Law, and plans to go to Harvard Law School to realise his dream. However, Elle is the archetypal pretty vacant girlie, and she’s the wrong image for his ambitious plans; ergo, ditched. To win him back, Elle vows to get accepted at Harvard Law School too. Warner’s horrified to find she’s followed him there – especially as she discovers he’s now going out with serious student and certified bitch Vivienne. Will any of them take it lying down? And does Elle have what it takes to become a successful lawyer, or is her brain as windswept as an aircraft hangar? You’ll have to see it to find out!

Having loved the original production, I had high hopes for this new version; and I confess that I was a little disappointed in it. There’s no doubt that this is a good musical, but last night’s show was beset by quite a few problems that I hope get ironed out before any more performances take place. Up until the interval the sound quality was frankly poor. The performers and the orchestra were way over-amplified, resulting in vibrating booming from the pit and unintelligible lyrics from the singers and dancers. This is a real shame, because I remember that the lyrics and book are very witty; but at least half of it came over as garbled and very hard to follow. Some technical whizzkid obviously worked wonders during the interval and the second act was much more pleasing on the ear. Even so, there were still a few rather embarrassing moments, like seeing stagehands run in at the back to hold part of the set in place, having the restaurant scene and one of the hairdresser scenes take place on wobbly platforms, a stagehand smoothing out the edge of the big Irish flag that descended onto the stage, dancers colliding during one of the numbers and a swing boy getting tangled up in the skipping rope during a dance routine. I’m wondering if they were late getting installed because it didn’t feel like they’d done any kind of run through in the new theatre.

Whilst I’m in grumpy mood, we both thought the production looked a little cheap. I’m sure the idea behind the set designs was to create a kind of childish environment – rather than going for reality, they go for full-on cutesy, to reflect the personality of Elle and her UCLA cheerleaders. Accordingly, the library at the Harvard Law School and the court room both have a quirky, slightly fairy tale appearance, as though they’d just evicted the old woman who lived in a shoe. Fair enough I guess; but I didn’t at all like the backdrop they used to suggest the gardens – it was painted in a very lifeless and amateurish style. All it lacked was the pantomime horse.

Let’s concentrate on some good things. Once you can actually hear what’s being said and sung, it is a very well-written and funny show, with some great set routines and scenes; such as the party where Elle turns up as a bunny girl, and the whole courtroom, bend and snap, gay or European routine. The audience, who clearly didn’t see it coming, were gobsmacked at the private scene between Elle and Callahan, which has been brought into sharp relevance with the recent Harvey Weinstein allegations.

There are also some very good performances, in particular Lucie Jones as Elle. You might call me biased, gentle reader, but I really admire the fact that her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK is listed as the top achievement in her programme bio. So many other actors who have performed at Eurovision erase it from their history (Samantha Womack take note). Lucie has a tremendous voice, full of colour and emotion, and she sings the whole show sensationally. She also brings out all the humour to give an excellent comic performance too.

David Barrett is also excellent as Emmett, selflessly helping Elle to make the most of her opportunities, coming out of his shell in his sharp suit (which got an ooh from the audience) and showing that the ugly duckling can sometimes go to the ball (if that’s not mixing my metaphorical fairy tales). I was also very impressed with Laura Harrison as Vivienne, deliciously revelling in Elle’s misery until she sees the error of her ways, and Helen Petrovna as both fitness queen Brooke and Vivienne’s catty friend Whitney. There were also a few performances that I didn’t really rate, partly explained by some surprisingly dull choreography, but I’ll leave it there.

I really wanted to enjoy this show so much, but for me there was too much that wasn’t quite right that stopped it from soaring. Still, I expect it will be way better in a couple of days’ time. Its lengthy tour continues all over the country, right round to next June, so there are plenty of opportunities to catch it.