Week in Review - Les Mis vs Phantom!

With Les Miserables celebrating its 25^th anniversary last year and The Phantom of the Opera celebrating the same this year, these two shows are undoubtedly the powerhouses of the West End. The ‘mum and dad of musical theatre’ (I’ll leave you to decide which is which!) are leading the way, after all; there’s a reason they have been around for a quarter of a century with no sign of their popularity waning…

So it was a good week for me as I had a little taste of both!

This past Tuesday, I finally got myself along to the Queens theatre to see the now not-so-new cast of Les Miserables. En-route however, we heard that Alfie Boe would be off that night due to illness. It’s become somewhat of a running joke that every time I go to the theatre with The Mother, the lead isn’t on; it happened the same way the first time we went along to Love Never Dies as well.

Of course, the rumblings of discourse could be heard as soon as we got to the theatre. I enjoy Boe’s voice, but having already seen his performance in the Les Mis 25^th concert and heard him sing Bring Him Home a dozen-odd times since then, I confess to not being overly disappointed at his absence – although I’m sure he would have been wonderful. Having heard many positive things about the alternate JVJ, Jonathan Williams, I was actually rather pleased to have the chance to see him for myself.

Many of you will recall the furore of a few months back, concerning the letters sent into the stage by theatre-goers who were unhappy at ‘settling’ for an understudy/alternate instead of the lead they were expecting. If you were one of those who complained, then I would suggest you take a little trip down to the Queens theatre one Monday night to see Williams’ performance; perfect example to dispel such nonsensical thinking!

Sat in the second row of the stalls, I had an up-close and personal experience of Williams’ Valjean and he quite simply blew me away. Williams possesses a powerfully emotive voice and makes for a very strong Valjean, perfectly capturing his growth from convict to man of redemption. His Bring Him Home was just outstanding… Within moments of him appearing on the stage, the inevitable comparisons to Boe were forgotten by the audience as Williams swept them up in the character and the story and if the volume and length of the standing ovation he received at the end is anything to go by, not one person in that theatre went home harbouring the intention to write off to The Stage…

This is a personal theatre blog, not a review site, so I’m not inclined to do a full blow-by-blow stripping down of the production and cast. It made a nice change to just go along and watch purely for my own enjoyment. It says something about the quality of the show and its cast actually, that I didn’t feel the usual itch to have a pen and pad in my hands. I will say though, that this is a very strong cast full of ridiculously talented people! Caroline Sheen, Lisa Anne Wood, Liam Tamne, Alexia Khadime and, of course, Matt Lucas are all brilliant additions to this iconic show and I was particularly impressed by Craig Mathers; especially with this being his first job out of MTA. I’m sure he has big things ahead of him.

For me though, the other person who stole the show along with Jonathan Williams was the ever-charismatic Hadley Fraser. He brings a menacing intensity to the character of Javert, to the point where The Mother whispered how he seemed ‘almost evil’. Fraser is a truly committed actor and absolutely commands the stage; he has perfectly tapped into the conflict that rages within Javert, between his unflinching conviction in the power of the law and his encounters with Jean Valjean. Of course, he also has an outstanding voice to back it all up - those who may only know him from his Sheytoons gigs with Ramin Karimloo will be taken aback by it. His rendition of Stars was one of the best I’ve ever heard, just stunning. Fraser has been somewhat of an underrated talent in the past, and I for one hope that now people will start to realise just how good he really is.

Don’t overlook the supporting cast either! There are some names in there that really stood out for me and I can guarantee that you’ll be seeing some of them in leading roles one day very soon…

It’s a sign of a good musical that as soon as it’s over, you want to see it again! Les Miserables is of course, a big melodramatic production – which I just love. You don’t make it 25 years without having something very special and Les Mis certainly does, but with a cast as strong as this, it just got that little bit extra special…

Two days later, it was all about The Phantom of the Opera however. No, not the production (although I am long overdue for a visit to Her Majesty’s), but A COMPLICATED LOVE: The West End Cast of The Phantom of the Opera in Cabaret. If you follow me on Twitter (@MissJulie25) then you can’t have failed to miss my endless promo tweets for this over the last month or so. The cast of Phantom came together in their 25^th year to help out the MADTrust charity, now in their 21^st year! All profits from the night went to the MADTrust Hardship Fund, helping those within the entertainment industry who are suffering from a long-term illness. If you were there, then you’ll already know just what a fantastic night it was.

I actually headed to the Delfont Rooms in the afternoon for the dress rehearsal – which is to say, I sat eating M&Ms with fellow MADTrusters, Christian and Jane, as a makeshift audience while the Phantom cast did all the work! We did do some actual work back in the MADtrust office afterwards though. J

The whole team for the night arrived back at the Delfont Rooms during the second act of Mamma Mia to set everything up for cabaret. We had a branding board, a table chock-full of MADTrust flyers, pins and programmes (and a donation bucket of course) and a whole book of raffle tickets to sell, which I and my friend Anna mercilessly proceeded to do. Perhaps it was my impressive selling technique that persuaded people to dip into their pockets, but more likely it was the chance to win themselves either two tickets to West End Bares (3^rd), two tickets to the Garden Party (2^nd) or a framed Phantom poster, signed by the whole cast (1^st). I did enjoy being the ‘promo-girl’ during the draw though, smiling winsomely and gesturing towards the prizes displayed in my hands… everyone’s done that at some point right?

On a serious note, it was wonderful to see so many people turning up to support the cast and the charity, including the soon-to-be alternate Phantom, Simon Shorten and a couple of Les Misers (Matt Lucas, Scott Garnham, Carl Mullaney, Craig Mathers) – although I’m sure they were just there to check out the cabaret competition, right guys?

Having already had my sneak peek at the dress rehearsal, I already knew that this was going to be a brilliant night for all involved. There was a great mix of material in there, from hilarious ‘character’ songs to beautiful ballads, all taken from an array of musicals. It was nice to see they weren’t all the usual obvious choices too. Us MADTrusters were laughing our heads off at We’re Just Friends (I Love You Because), What Am I Doing (Closer Than Ever) and Runaround Sue, but the funniest one of the night had to be Wendy Ferguson with To Keep My Love Alive (A Connecticut Yankee). Just brilliant… The heart-rending duet Touch My Soul (Bare) was another highlight of the night, as was the HOT El Tango De Roxanne (Moulin Rouge), which of course included some very steamy moves from some of the ballet chorus of Phantom. The all-female first half closer, You’re My World/All I See Is You and the all-male second half opener, And So It Goes were simply sumptuous;  truly music to the ears.  We also had an original number, written by two of the Phantom cast, Will Barratt and Nadim Naaman: Complicated Love, featuring all the cast members was wonderfully written; both beautiful and wittily amusing. A fabulous effort.

The whole night was a huge success. Everyone there went home with a smile on their faces, including us MADTrusters. The MADTrust cause is a deeply important and meaningful one, but when we can raise much-needed funds for our cause in such a fun and enjoyable manner, it’s a great thing. And really, it’s just what The Make A Difference Trust is all about. Some give to charity because they feel obliged, some do it out of guilt (of course, some do it because they genuinely want to help, I’m not altogether cynical!) – how nice it is to give to a charity, knowing that not only are you supporting them, but getting a great day/night in return for it… J

So a huge thank you to all of the cast members of The Phantom of the Opera who gave so much of their time to us and did such a phantastic job with it. I genuinely love being a part of MADTrust and I feel so lucky to be able to involve myself in nights such as these. A lot goes on behind the scenes with every MADTrust event, and it’s always lovely to see the fruits of your labour pay off so abundantly.  

With Les Miserables and the Phantom cabaret, it really has been a pretty good week for me; for both those reasons and more. In August, there’s only more good things ahead too! There is of course, the MADTrust Garden Party on the 21^st and who could forget the SimG Productions SUMMER WITH…. cabaret season? Kicking off with Annalene Beechey and Rebecca Lock on the 14^th, it moves onto ‘The Composers’ night, with Dougal Irvine, Lawrence Mark Wythe, Tim Sutton and Grant Olding and featuring guests Samantha Barks, George Ure and Stephen Ashfield on the 21^st and wrapping up with Jack Shalloo and Friends, of whom he has gathered Beth Morrissey, Jonathan Eio, Spesh Maloney and Gina Beck on the 28^th.

I will be at all of these and I sincerely hope some of you will be too! So get your tickets and join me for a wonderful Summer of Fun!

Remember…create, love, inspire!

Miss Julie

Take a look at the MADTrust website for details of the Garden Party and our other events coming up this year.

To book tickets for one or all of the SimG Production’s SUMMER WITH… cabarets, click HERE – you can book all three for £30, saving yourself £7.50 (which you could put towards a ticket for a MADTrust event?) J