Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Show in Theaters! Did anyone else see it?

[slytherinbratz]

Just saw the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables at a movie theater in Kansas City last night. It was amazing! I really can't believe the amazing job the cast did! Nick Jonas as Marius blew me away. His theater voice is so much better then his "pop" voice. Norm Lewis as Javert was also increadable especially when he did "Stars", Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean is officially my second favorite Jean Valjean next to Colm Wilkinson (all time fave), Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras is my absolute favorite Enjolras of all. It was nice to see Lea Salonga take on the roll of Fantine after playing Eponine and Jenny Galloway back as Madame Thénardier was a treasure! Katie Hall as Cosette was ok... I really wish the origional girl Camilla Kerslake had been able to play her but she got sick the week of the show and couldn't talk. Matt Lucas as Thénardier was also ok. I really feel that Samantha Barks who played Eponine did an oustanding job as well. I loved the chemistry between her and Nick as they sang "A Little Fall Of Rain".

I will say I was officially brought to tears when the 1985 origional cast singing "One Day More' wow...

Did anyone else see the show at your local theater? I'm really excited for the DVD release of this now. Just wish we would get the release date for the USA. Its on sale November 29th in the UK but the DVD won't play in US dvd players.

 

[twinklesstars]

I loved it!! I can't wait to buy the DVD.

 

[ugadog99]

Yep, we were there last night. OH MY GOODNESS......how I love Les Mis! The show was stunning, and I am so hoping the US region dvd is released soon. I'm still waiting on an Atlanta date to be added to the US tour. Right now the closest cities to us are Nashville and Birmingham. Road trip, anyone????

 

[WizDoz]

Les Miz 25th concert at the O2 was outstanding... Unfortunately, I can not say the same for Nick Jonas....he should not been on the same stage with this cast...he can not act...he has no connection with the material and his voice could not handle the lower register. I have seen over 10 people play Marius professionally and mr. Jonas is not even close...I hate to say it, I don't think he would have won the role in a high school musical...
As for the rest of the cast...outstanding.... I can not wait to see the tour without Mr. Jonas....

 

[caytlyn]

I have to agree about Nick. My husband is a better judge of who is a good singer but even I could tell Nick was not up to par. I mean musically he was fine, carried a tune but there was no projection in his voice. It got lost in the music. I'm sure he's fine in a band but I don't think he has the kind of voice for stage. Other than that the show was fabulous.

 

[Deb in IA]

I'm a huge Les Mis fan, and I've seen clips of this concert.

I agree that Nick Jonas does not have the pipes for musical theater. He was by far the weakest link in the cast. I think he was only included because of his "star" status.

 

[Agri]

I saw it! Les Miserables is one of my favorite musicals.

I thought everyone did great - Nick Jonas was also the weak link for me, but I did not necessarily think he was bad. I think a few of them had problems because instinctively, they want to look at each other and act with each other, and with the microphones, they have to act with the audience and they cannot perform it as they usually do. A spotted a couple of them reflexively turning to each other and the sound going down a bit then they remembered and turned back to the mics.

Nick started out in theater.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We saw it last night and loved it! I would agree with the others about Nick Jonas. He can carry a tune, but he doesn't have the vocal strength or the acting abilities to pull off the role of Marius. He seemed to be trying so hard to get more sound out that he looked constipated most of the time. Lea Salonga is always incredible no matter what she does. I liked Valjean. He had a really strong tenor range and pulled off the role beautifully. The actor who played Javert was an interesting choice, but not the usual type of voice they usually cast in that role. I read that he's actually an opera singer and not so much used to doing musical theater. I really enjoyed his rendition of "Stars" and I liked his strong presence on the stage. Eponine was really good. Cossette was fine, but not the best I've seen. Gavroche was awesome! Enjolras and Grantaire were both good. The Thenardiers were great, but they sure did turn him into an ugly bugger with those brown teeth!

It was nice to sit in a theater with other Les Miz lovers and watch the concert on a big screen with surround-sound. DH and have seen the show many times, but our boys (15 and 12) have not. They've heard the music before, but the concert was a good introduction to the show for them. Now they both want to see the entire show so we might have to try to add a Los Angeles performance to our summer Disneyland trip next year.

 

[shellabell]

I also thought Nick Jonas was the weakest. Though I gave him points for not sounding as nasally as he does normally. Loved when Michael Ball came out; wish he would have sang Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.

 

[slytherinbratz]

I think the problem with Nick is that he only had 1 week to rehearse for the 02 concert. Mainly because of the US Camp Rock tour. A couple of friends of mine that live over in England actually saw him do the show there in June and said he was much more better on the stage show then the concert. If it wasn't for the fact that they had to stand in certain points and sing into mic's he would have done a lot better too. I like the "concerts" they do on the anniversary, but I can't wait for the movie theater/dvd show version Sir Cameron plans on releasing one day.

I agree Nick is not the best "Marius" ever... to me that is David Bryant. His voice wowed me on the Tony Awards Video on Youtube. Micheal Ball is a close second and Nick would be 3rd but for his age and the circumstances of rehearsal he still did an amazing job as Marius. With more theater training he could have done a lot better at the concert. But he was still amazing. I like his theater voice better then his Jonas Brothers concert voice.