Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert

I waited for this for a very long time after the 10th Annniversary Dream Cast Concert in 1995 was shown at the Royal Albert Hall 15 years ago. When I heard about the announcement of 25th anniversary celebration last year, which will be celebrated again with another, bigger, grander concert than the 10th, I made sure that a red mark in the 2010 calendar will be x-ed in the month of October. It took a month to wait for the DVD version of the concert, though, but it's worth the wait. Now, the waiting is over. The video of the concert is finally here and there should be no thinking twice in getting a copy of the DVD and watch the concert like as if you are part of the crowd in the O2 Arena.

The concert for this 25th Anniversary was performed in London, England which featured, according to the organizers of the show, the most powerful cast after the 10th Annniversary Dream Cast Concert - Alfie Boe, Norm Lewis, Lea Salonga, Matt Lucas, Jenny Galloway, Samantha Barks, Katie Hall, Nick Jonas, Ramin Karimloo, Robert Madge, Mia Jenkins, Hadley Fraser and Earl Carpenter, among others. A special group of guests also featured the 1985 Original London Cast which includes Colm Wilkinson, Michael Ball, Rebecca Caine, Frances Ruffelle, Roger Allam. Susan Jane Tanner and Alun Armstrong. One of the highlights of the show is the encore where four of the best Valjeans, Alfie Boe, Colm Wilkinson, John-Owen Jones of the 25th Anniversary Tour Production and Simon Bowman of 2010 London Cast, sang "Bring Him Home" which I believed to be the most applauded number of the night. A powerful cast indeed seeing four casts singing altogether the signature song of Les Miserables along with a hundreds of back-up vocals and musicians, it is an extra-ordinary, mesmerizing one night worth remembering forever.

Below are the screenshots of the 25th Anniversary Concert cast who appeared in the show.

Jean Valjean is played by the English tenor Alfie Boe, whose name I have never heard in the world of theater. I was expecting to hear a voice as congenial, amicable and heart-warming as Colm Wilkinson, who immortalized the role 25 years ago; however, his attack is something very extra-ordinary and uncommon to the ears of Les Miz followers who got used to hearing dramatic tenor voices of the previous actors, i.e. Colm Wilkinson, Gary Morris, Michael Burgess, John Owen Jones, Simon Bowman, et. al., who played the role in the past productions. I liked how Alfie re-imaged Jean Valjean in this musical cast but for me, 24601 is always, and will always be Colm Wilkinson. Le Meire's heart-breaking line "God on high, hear my prayer..." is best felt with Colm, though Alfie's rendition here is equally mesmerizing as his. Two thumbs up to Alfie, he really proved that he is the star of tonight's show.

Fantine is played by, of course, one of Cameron Mackintosh's favorites - Lea Salonga, who also appeared as Eponine in the 10th Anniversary Dream Cast Concert, one of the only two Les Miz actors from the 10th to appear again in the 25th, alongside Jenny Galloway. As always and as expected, she stole the spotlight again on this night's concert and Lea made sure that she will outshine the other actors in her portrayal of the role. Her angelic mezzo-soprano voice is the epitome of "misérables" that fits the melancholy, suffering and fight-for-survival life and death of Fantine. I loved her in her lines "M'sieur, don't mock me now, I pray... It's hard enough I've lost my pride" and when she cried "I never did no wrong..." which I bet are the most heartbreaking scenes in this night's concert. I love Lea, no doubt, but her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" did not match my high expectation of her. Of all the actors who played the role - Patti LuPone, Randy Graff, Daphne-Rubin Vega, Judy Kuhn et. al., I still preferred the performance of Ruthie Henshall who, on my opinion, did not have to exert too much effort to let everyone know how painful it is to live the life she has because her voice swept it all. Lea Salonga is the best Eponine ever, but Fantine is not a character for her.

Mia Jenkins played the little, adorable Cosette. Her "Castle on a Cloud" is not as extra-ordinary as the other kids' rendition who played the role on the past performances but I salute her for her treble-full-of-love voice that perfectly fits for this orphaned character. If she switches to soprano when she grows up, she is a perfect candidate for the grown-up character. 

Jenny Galloway, one of my personal favorites, is the only actor who reprised her role as Madame Thenardier from the 10th Anniversary Dream Cast Concert. It is evident how different she attacked the same role in this cast as she is oozing with more power and justification of the character compared to her pairing with the original Thenardier, Alun Armstrong. It's been 15 years but she is still the best Madame Thenardier who has taken this role, so far. I have almost a complete collection of all Les Misérables cast recordings and I don't remember hearing anyone at par as Jenny's annoying and fun-filled portrayal of the Master of the House's spouse. Two thumbs up to her!

One of the most awaited characters in a Les Misérables concert is the roguish innkeeper Thenardier, who was played surprisingly by the English comedian Matt Lucas. His portrayal of the role is, I think, the most different of all who played it for 25 years. Although Matt is the only cast member who has not been in a Les Misérables show, he deserved the standing ovation for playing the role with a more wicked, vexing attack on the character. Surprisingly, his rendition became my favorite of all. I liked it when he did "Let's not haggle for darling Colette... (corrects abruptly) Cosette!"

Norm Lewis is also one of the characters in the show who gained my respect playing the role of the evil Inspector Javert. His "almost perfect" bass-baritone voice and his rendition of a greedy, evil, treacherous Javert is what I can say the closest portrayal of the character based on Victor Hugo's description of Valjean's antagonist. His "Javert's Soliloquy" will melt your heart and this is when I felt that Javert has a soul, and not just a cruel policeman in pursuit of prisoner 24601. I first heard him in the The Little Mermaid Broadway production as King Triton and I would love to hear him again in different other productions.

The street urchin Gavroche, who appeared to be Eponine's brother and the youngest son of the Thenardiers in the novel, was played by Robert Madge, who really stole the scenes with his very confident portrayal of the role which he may have initially mastered when he played Oliver! in the 2009 London Revival Cast. His whiny soprano voice was perfect for the role and I'd love to hear him sing his shelved solo track "The Little People" which was only used in the Original London Cast Recording. 

Marius Pontmercy was played by, another surprise in the cast, the pop artist Nick Jonas, who in my honest opinion is the weakest actor in the whole ensemble. His voice is not as bad as I think but his portrayal of one of the principal characters doesn't perfectly fit him. His handsome face is apt for the role of a young student who is so in-love with Cosette but his acting prowess doesn't fit perfectly as how he portrayed it. That is not the Marius that you will be expecting in the story. Having played Gavroche when he was a kid should not ultimately qualify him to take another grown-up role in this musical. I have nothing against pop artists playing such roles onstage because Gareth Gates did it perfectly fine in the 25th Anniversary Tour Production of the same role. I hope Macintosh's idea of including him in this cast is only to draw audience because this is a more acceptable alibi. 

Eponine, one of the most remarkable and favorite characters in the story, was perpetuated by Samantha Barks, a product of a talent show-themed TV series in the UK. As expected, Samantha will be compared with Lea Salonga's rendition of the role in the 10th Anniversary Dream Cast Concert. Sam, on the other hand, gave justice to her characterization of the ragged and waif Jondrette girl in this production and hers, because of her powerful voice, became one of my favorite Eponines alongside Lea Salonga; Rosalind James of the 25th Anniversary Tour Production; Margarita Marban of the Madrid Cast Recording; and the whiny, original performance of Frances Ruffelle. 

Ramin Karimloo was the one of the perfect casts as he took over the role of the charismatic leader of the ABC Cafe, Enjolras. His voice is very powerful and it was a bad idea to make him sing along with Nick Jonas because Ramin eats him up alive. Ramin is the best Enjolras voice I have ever heard for 25 years and is the only one at par with David Burt and Michael Maguire, who both played in the original London and Broadway productions. I liked him better, however, when he starred in both The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies which I think, he will appear again in the 25th Anniversary Concert of The Phantom of the Opera next year. 

The role of Cosette was given to Katie Hall, who is currently touring for the 25th Anniversary Tour Production, after Camilla Kerslake, who was originally chosen for the role, backed-out due to medical condition. I already heard Katie's performance in the 25th Anniversary Tour Cast Recording album along with Gareth Gates as Marius, but she made it quite better here in the 25th Anniversary Concert. Katie failed to meet my expectation to overthrow the ones who already played the role in the past productions but I would still give her two thumbs up for doing great in the cast.

Hadley Fraser was chosen to play Grantaire for the 25th Anniversary Concert because of his portrayal of Marius, Javert and Grantaire in the past productions. His role is not as remarkable as the others but he is a good addition to the stellar cast of these amazing talents gathered tonight.

The entire cast in One Day More (Samantha Barks is not visible from the left) - Katie Hall, Alfie Boe, Nick Jonas, Robert Madge, Ramin Karimloo, Matt Lucas and Jenny Galloway.

The original Jean Valjean - who else but, Colm Wilkinson!

The original Cosette and Marius - Rebecca Caine and Michael Ball, who I think, is the best Marius of all.

The original Eponine and the one who popularized the whiny rendition of On My Own - Frances Ruffelle. 

The original Inspector Javert - Roger Allam.

And one of the most applauded cast is the original Thenardier couple - Susan Jane Tanner and Alun Armstrong.