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Walnut Street is MUST SEE!!!!
May. 17th, 2008 09:14 pmThis is seriously the best regional, like, ever. (and I've seen all but two so far) It is, in terms of sets and stage business the production we would design if we had money.
The entire cast is strong, the text is complete except for two cuts ("Oh no, I think I hear them now, and I'm not finished sweeping and scrubbing and polishing the floor . . ." and the bit after R&B is the current cut). EVERYTHING ELSE IS RESTORED. "It's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer", "Parnasse, what are you doing so far out of our patch", the DWM reprise, all of Every Day - I was starting to sob during the DWM reprise because the last time I saw that it was 2001 tour (Graham Rowat, Ben Davis, Ed Juvier, Matty Miller, Bart Shatto - talk about attachment). Started sobbing during Every Day because the interaction between Cosette and Marius was so perfect and because it, again, I hadn't seen in 7 years (Steve Patterson and Stephanie Waters).
This was my show. This is the first time I don't know how many years when I was *in the show*. I was there *for the show*, not for the cast. This production is the reason I have spent ten years following the show, half my life obsessed with the novel. The flaws are so incredibly tiny they're almost meaningless (the biggest is that Hugh Panaro has his number written on his chest, which begs the question of what Champmathieu has on his chest, and when this is your biggest problem, it's obviously a pretty bloody brilliant production).
( This is going on much longer than I originally intended, and it's all squee )
This production is so incredibly awesome that we already bought our tickets to go again. We'll be back on June 1. And possibly again later in the summer. At intermission, Kristin and I were saying that *this* is what we expected the Broadway revival to be. This is the reimagining with fidelity to the script and source that we wanted, expected, needed. I came out feeling as if I had finally seen the show again for the first time in years. and I had. Because for years, my engagement has been driven as much by the actors and my fan friends as with the show itself. The show was a medium for the display of talent. It was about the individual - Drew rocks, Gary is annoying, did you hear what Minarik did today, Matty's going on! These kinds of things. Today, it was all about the show. I've been collecting regionals, but again for cast and for general interest in how the productions will be staged. this time, I was wholly in the show. The show - not watching "my boys" or analysing performances but watching the show. This is the show I fell in love with just over ten years ago (yes, April 25, 1998, my first performance of LM after I read the novel and became obsessed). This is why I started stalking the tour in 2000. The show. The production. The people in the production were somewhat secondary because as much as I loved them, I loved LM more. Some time in 2001, the fidelity to the people took over. I'd like to blame the cuts, but I'm not entirely sure that's fair. I do know I got massive waves of nostalgia, to the point of crying, at parts I've not seen live since St Louis in 2001. I've avoided a lot of the media I have pre-cuts, somewhat for that reason. They weren't the end of the world, but my first cut show was going up to Milwaukee to see Marius understudies, and I think that, that trip solely for an actor, was when my relationship to the show changed. Partly because the show had changed, but partly because I was getting attached to individuals. And that's where I've been at least since 2002, when I helped take over the site. It was for the actors. And I haven't been able to engage with the source material in the same way since. (I was also actively, heavily, acquiring media at that time for comparative purposes, so it's a conflation of things at the same time, no real cause and effect, but I do think it dates to 2001.
This is the real thing. This is pure. This is the show I have always been in love with even when I hadn't fully realised I was no longer in love with the iterations I'd been witnessing. This is Les Mis. Thank god for regional rights being released - someone *finally* got the show right.
The entire cast is strong, the text is complete except for two cuts ("Oh no, I think I hear them now, and I'm not finished sweeping and scrubbing and polishing the floor . . ." and the bit after R&B is the current cut). EVERYTHING ELSE IS RESTORED. "It's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer", "Parnasse, what are you doing so far out of our patch", the DWM reprise, all of Every Day - I was starting to sob during the DWM reprise because the last time I saw that it was 2001 tour (Graham Rowat, Ben Davis, Ed Juvier, Matty Miller, Bart Shatto - talk about attachment). Started sobbing during Every Day because the interaction between Cosette and Marius was so perfect and because it, again, I hadn't seen in 7 years (Steve Patterson and Stephanie Waters).
This was my show. This is the first time I don't know how many years when I was *in the show*. I was there *for the show*, not for the cast. This production is the reason I have spent ten years following the show, half my life obsessed with the novel. The flaws are so incredibly tiny they're almost meaningless (the biggest is that Hugh Panaro has his number written on his chest, which begs the question of what Champmathieu has on his chest, and when this is your biggest problem, it's obviously a pretty bloody brilliant production).
( This is going on much longer than I originally intended, and it's all squee )
This production is so incredibly awesome that we already bought our tickets to go again. We'll be back on June 1. And possibly again later in the summer. At intermission, Kristin and I were saying that *this* is what we expected the Broadway revival to be. This is the reimagining with fidelity to the script and source that we wanted, expected, needed. I came out feeling as if I had finally seen the show again for the first time in years. and I had. Because for years, my engagement has been driven as much by the actors and my fan friends as with the show itself. The show was a medium for the display of talent. It was about the individual - Drew rocks, Gary is annoying, did you hear what Minarik did today, Matty's going on! These kinds of things. Today, it was all about the show. I've been collecting regionals, but again for cast and for general interest in how the productions will be staged. this time, I was wholly in the show. The show - not watching "my boys" or analysing performances but watching the show. This is the show I fell in love with just over ten years ago (yes, April 25, 1998, my first performance of LM after I read the novel and became obsessed). This is why I started stalking the tour in 2000. The show. The production. The people in the production were somewhat secondary because as much as I loved them, I loved LM more. Some time in 2001, the fidelity to the people took over. I'd like to blame the cuts, but I'm not entirely sure that's fair. I do know I got massive waves of nostalgia, to the point of crying, at parts I've not seen live since St Louis in 2001. I've avoided a lot of the media I have pre-cuts, somewhat for that reason. They weren't the end of the world, but my first cut show was going up to Milwaukee to see Marius understudies, and I think that, that trip solely for an actor, was when my relationship to the show changed. Partly because the show had changed, but partly because I was getting attached to individuals. And that's where I've been at least since 2002, when I helped take over the site. It was for the actors. And I haven't been able to engage with the source material in the same way since. (I was also actively, heavily, acquiring media at that time for comparative purposes, so it's a conflation of things at the same time, no real cause and effect, but I do think it dates to 2001.
This is the real thing. This is pure. This is the show I have always been in love with even when I hadn't fully realised I was no longer in love with the iterations I'd been witnessing. This is Les Mis. Thank god for regional rights being released - someone *finally* got the show right.