Les Miserables (School Edition)

I was warmly welcomed by the Front of House Top Box Studios Crew on a lovely spring weekend evening in this lovely hall which was a new venue for me. 

Although this School Edition version of Les Mis is available from Noda Partner MTI, very few youth companies are brave enough to attempt it due to the cost of staging, costumes and the vocal acrobatics needed in order to do justice to a very well known score.  Top Box had no such problems! Firstly the set supplied by A1/Wavelength Stageco was perfect for the size of stage that the Top Box Team had to work with and that, together with the dynamic lighting and almost perfect sound (I will come back to that later), set a wonderful scene for the audience to be transported to Digne, France in 1815.

We are introduced to a strong vocal start from the Chain Gang, Jean Valjean (Dylan F) and Javert (Kieran T). Dylan immediately puts the crowd at ease as Valjean, with a strong vocal performance and throughout the production is able to portray the differing sides to the character – starting as an anguished prisoner, to strong Mayoral citizen, doting father and eventual frail older man.

Kieran as Javert has a great presence as the eternally stern, but mentally conflicted officer with Stars being one of my highlights of the evening.

The show then leads us to meeting Fantine (Ilana MS) and the factory girls.  Ilana gave a beautiful rendition of I Dreamed a Dream, another of my highlights of the evening.

We are then introduced to little Cosette (Emilia H),yet again a lovely performance which is always a shame that we only see one song from this character (Castle on a Cloud), but I’m sure we will see many more performances from Emilia in years to come.

With a fast forward in time, little Cosette is transformed to a young adult, portrayed by Elizabeth B.  Elizabeth gave an excellent performance in what is a really difficult high soprano role, that not many people could even attempt.

Another strong performance came from Isla C as Eponine, well acted and with strong vocals, really bringing out the depth and complexity of this tragic character. 

I always look toward the back of the stage to see how the general cast is performing and it was really heartening to see everyone on stage engaged, singing their hearts out and enjoying themselves, which is ultimately the whole reason why we do Musical Theatre!  Credit, then, to the Top Box creative team of Tracy, George and Georgie, who rose admirably to the challenge of inspiring their young cast, and showed great skill in managing the complexities of staging such a challenging show.

I feel I also have to give special mentions to Gavroche (Hayden T) with his excellent London accent and singing, Thenardier and Madame Thenardier (Alex B-W and Eden T) for their comical timing and physical comedy and Marius (Riley P-E) for his super stage presence and onstage rapport with Cosette, as well as Caitlin B for a stirring and strong vocal portrayal as Enjolras.

Finally, a special mention for (as promised earlier), the whole cast who were involved in the barricade scene.  There was a technical glitch when the guns went off, which led to them having to restart the scene – well done for keeping your heads and cracking on with it – live Theatre, eh!!

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