Les Miserables - The Staged Concert

Was in for the show this evening - fantastic to be back in a theatre again!!

Show was incredible - fabulous cast all round.

I think we have a tentative plan! We live not too far from the M1, so my husband has offered to drive to Stanmore to get on the tube and come into London with me. He might take the second Les Mis ticket if he feels like it or might just go for a wander.

Now I'm just waiting for something else to come up as a reason why that plan won't work ...

The box office will almost certainly take that other ticket off your hands if its a sell out.

Four tickets @95gbp on DMT+ for this evening's performance for anybody who is interested.

It might have taken five months and four rescheduled tickets, but I finally got there. And honestly it was worth the wait to have the current cast rather than Ball and Boe.

I’m still not sure how I feel about Bradley’s act one madness, but it certainly made a contrast with him playing it straight when he joins the students and his soliloquy was excellent.

I know some of the purists might not like Shan’s take on Eponine (and honestly, I used to be one of them but I’ve got over it in my old age). She has so little to judge in act one, but I really liked her On My Own. From the BBC performance I wasn’t sure how she and Lucie were going to present within the concert itself but IMO both their performances were a perfect mix of some more modern touches but still meshing well with the rest of the cast. Several of the principles are actors who have a history in more modern shows rather than just people who do Les Mis and Phantom, and honestly I am here for it!

I may now be stalking the website to see if I can pick up a front stalls seat at some point.

Enjoyed this today. I much prefer the concert version to the full production, not least because the sound effects and light show are quite bearable compared to the live explosions and gunshots.

I sat up in the Grand Circle. A bit distant, but a nice central view and everything is positioned so that you can see the cast. You can't see the screen at all, but that didn't make a difference to me.

There are a lot of empty seats in that level, including the row ends and an entire row behind me. I presume that's due to maximum capacity limits, although it's interesting they chose to remove seats in this way. They could fit in a lot more single seats (in place of larger groups) if they chose to do so.

The stage area is much smaller than the "All Star" version (and, I believe, with fewer people on the stage). There's a bit more cast interaction than I remember. Different ad-libs from the Thénardiers (although presumably the same every show, as the microphones are turned on at exactly the right time). Crystal clear sound. Only one time I noticed when they forgot to turn the microphone on.

Nice to see some new faces. The highlight for me was Lucie Jones, who sounds marvellous in everything she does. I've seen Bradley Jaden as Javert before and he never disappoints. Jon Robyns as Jean Valjean shows off his vocal talents too, although he uses quite a high vocal range which I'm not sure suited all the songs. Nice to see Jamie Muscato in the cast too.

I presume all the leads were on, but there's a separate side entrance for the Grand Circle and I couldn't see a cast board. Only a very short queue compared to the main entrance. And nice loos too (for the gents, I didn't see the ladies), complete with screens between the urinals to minimise contact.

No singing in the audience thankfully, although I would ask the people sat two rows behind not to bring their young song to shows like this until he's old enough to not need everything explaining to him every few minutes!

I'm booked again in August, but I may try and get back before to see some of the covers if a decently priced seat appears.

As lovely as it is to introduce children to live theatre, this is one of my pet peeves too. Kids who are too young for the shows they're seeing and parents who feel the need to talk them through every scene.

£39.50 seems to be the cheapest on the Delfont Mackintosh website for rear upper circle. Don’t know if that changes later in the run? I’d keep an eye out for dynamically priced singles on the day.

Saw it tonight and thought brilliant overall. Refreshing to see a different cast. I quite liked Bradley Jaden’s unhinged Javert and thought it made his suicide more believable. He looks too young for the role to me, but his Stars was one of the best I’ve heard in years - spine tingling stuff.

Lucie Jones has a gorgeous voice and acts the hell out of Fantine but yes, unfortunately, the plague of unnecessary riffing has finally reached I Dreamed a Dream.

Really enjoyed Shan Ako’s Eponine last time I saw the concert, but she seemed bored tonight.

Jon Robyns has a gorgeous upper register and I could listen to his vibrato belting all day long. And Jamie Muscato - what a voice!

I noticed they’ve taken out most of Matt Lucas’ adlibbing and removed the references to plagues and tier restrictions which were included in the short December run.

The middle two seats in the front row of the stalls (A15 and A16) for this show cost £67.50 - which is £25-£30 less than the other row A seats - because they are supposedly directly behind the conductor.

I can confirm from last night that the orchestra and conductor are actually positioned at the back of the stage so no restriction on view and extra legroom too.

They are still available for Thursday 2 September, unfortunately already sold for every other date I've checked.