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REVIEW: Les Misérables, Mayflower, Southampton, until Saturday, September 11.
How fantastic for us first-timers finally to see what all the fuss is about. Les Mis warrants all the hype and more.
In its scope, its staging and its story, this is musical theatre at its absolute breathtaking best - a stunning production which takes you to another world for three mesmerising hours.
The sweep is astonishing as Les Mis recreates everything from factories to sewers, via busy towns and barricades, all in the blink of an eyelid as the night rattles on at express pace.
The whole of life is there, and on that rich tapestry the show weaves the most powerful and passionate of tales - a good man's goodness in the most turbulent of times.
John Owen Jones gives a towering performance as Jean Valjean, the man whose life is transformed by a single act of humanity.
The Bishop of Digne's magnanimity releases in Valjean a generosity of spirit masked by years spent languishing unjustly in jail - a spirit challenged by police chief Javert's relentless pursuit and by all the upheaval of the times Victor Hugo so vividly chronicles.
Earl Carpenter is superb as Javert, particularly when he too is on the receiving end of an act of almost incomprehensible mercy; Gareth Gates is similarly impressive as Marius, adding huge colour to the part of the young lover.
Linking it all, of course, is the music - and how terrific it is hear I Dreamed A Dream snatched away from La Boyle and put back in context; Valjean's Who I Am? is outstanding; Marius' Empty Chairs At Empty Tables touching in the extreme.
Put it all together, and it's a magnificent musical - ultimate proof that if you can't beat, them join them. If you've ever been bored by Les Mis aficionados droning on and on about it, just give in. Go and see the show. They've got a point.
Phil Hewitt
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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