Vive La France – LMYT storm the barricades at Les Mis!
Les Misérables – School Edition
By the Lichfield Musical Youth Theatre
Lichfield Cathedral
Tuesday 9 April 2024
Review by Jono Oates
One of the best-known musicals in World theatre is Les Misérables and is so respected that it is better known by its truncated form – simply…Les Mis. It’s based on the Victor Hugo novel, published in 1862, it was adapted as a musical in France in 1980 and was first produced in the UK in 1985 and is now the longest-running musical in the West End and the second longest running musical in the world. A film adaptation, starring Hugh Jackman, was released in 2012.
Les Mis is a powerful, dramatic and, at times, harrowing, story and so was a significant challenge for the young performers of the Lichfield Musical Youth Theatre group, especially performing it in the splendid, but vast, backdrop of Lichfield Cathedral.
The play tells the story of Jean Valjean, a poor peasant who is released from jail after 19 years in prison and starts to rebuild his life. He breaks his parole period and becomes a businessman, then becomes mayor of Montreuil-sur-Met, near Calais, and is accepted as a respected member of society. He is relentlessly pursued by a police inspector called Javert who is determined to hunt him down and send him back to prison for breaking his parole, however Valjean is no longer the man that Javert remembers from his prison days, and no longer moves in the same social circles as before. Valjean encounters a number of characters on his adventures as he keeps one step ahead of Javert, including the poor, and mistreated, Fantine, her daughter Cosette and a group of young, idealistic revolutionaries who are attempting to overthrow the government in Paris. Disaster strikes at the barricades in the streets of Paris and Javert closes in on his suspect Valjean as Jean tries to protect Cosette and his friend Marius from the police and the authorities.
The young cast of LMYT provide a spirited, uplifting, infectious and professional production of Les Mis, which is adapted as a school edition. This makes some changes to the vocal chords and musical key changes to make allowances for younger performers and removes verses from some of the songs, meaning that the show is about thirty minutes shorter than the Broadway, or West End, versions.
Emerson Clarke-Selby plays the hero Jean Valjean, with a strong vocal, and acting, performance and has the honour of singing probably the most famous of the Les Mis songbook, the wonderfully emotional Bring Him Home. His adversary Javert is played by Harry Rayson, who has some of the most challenging songs in the performance but carries them off with aplomb. Superb vocal performances from Emily Rice as Cosette, Valjean’s adopted daughter, Charlotte Grubb as Fantine, and Ruby Street as Eponine, daughter of landlord Monsieur Thenardier, especially her performance on the haunting, and emotionally-charged On My Own, another of the show’s classic songs. Zephan Rowe is Enjolras, one of the revolutionaries and friend of Marius and Olly Foster and Mia Davies are both great fun as the odious, and greedy, step-parents of Cosette who try to exploit the situation when Valjean offers them money to take Cosette away from their clutches. With very realistic make-up and mannerisms Oly creates the role of the 40+ year-old innkeeper and has great fun in the role, no more so in the jaunty sing-along Master of the House, another performance highlight. The cast age of LMYT range from 11 to 21 and three of the younger performers, Zachary Duguay as Gavroche, Eliza Bullock as the young Cosette and Isabella Hamilton as the young Eponine are all fantastic, performing seemingly without any fear in front of 100s of people at Lichfield Cathedral – simply amazing and guaranteed to raise quite a few ‘awww…bless…’ from the audience!
Everyone plays their part in this performance and as usual, some of my favourite moments of any drama or musical, are the ones when everyone is on stage, and no better when they all gather at the end of Les Mis for the final epilogue, including a reprise of Bring Him Home.
Performance director is Julie Mallaband, musical director, and orchestra conductor, is Oliver Rowe, and the show’s choreography is by Jemma Tiso-Johnson. Stage manager is Matthew Garfield, atmospheric lighting by Steve Rainsford, sound by Sam Burkinshaw. Authentic costumes by Sue Broad and the set design by Proscenium, which includes the impressive barricade whish travels easily on to, and off, the stage, just like clockwork.
As the closing bars of the final song started to fade the audience were already rising to their feet for a very long, heartfelt and truly deserved standing ovation for these extremely talented young performers, on one of the most impressive stages that you will find in Staffordshire. It is a truly magnificent performance and, at times, you forget just how young, and inexperienced the team are. Make no mistake though, this is a very high-quality show and is guaranteed to receive a standing ovation at each performance. Ticket sales are already very strong and I would definitely recommend snapping up any remaining seats before it is a total sell-out. Les Misérables by the Lichfield Musical Youth Theatre group runs nightly from Wednesday 10 April to Saturday 13 April, performances start at 7.30pm, with a matinee on Saturday 13 April at 2pm. Run time is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes, including an interval. Show includes strobe lighting, imitation gun shots and some distressing scenes. Tickets start from £18.04pp and can be booked via Eventbrite at:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/lichfield-musical-youth-theatre-12883623455
