Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 10, 1993 TAG: 9311100135
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The standing-room-only crowd gave every indication of being blown away by the pop opera/musical based on Victor Hugo's novel of the same name. It is a dynamite show that thoroughly earns its standing as the world's most popular musical, and this production is just about as good as it gets.
The singing, acting, costumes and staging are of a caliber rarely seen in Western Virginia. This show is so good, you'll kick yourself if you pass it by and then hear about it from friends.
Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil's synthesizer-laced adaption of Jean Valjean's story is like what Roanokers recently saw in the Opera Roanoke production of "Sweeney Todd" in that neither show is a necklace of hit songs.
"Les Miz" is, however, a river of melody from beginning to end with a score in which there is rarely a spoken word. But unlike many productions that must rely on big patches of recitative, there are almost no dry spots.
And unlike the Stephen Sondheim show, this one eschews sophisticated word play and irony and goes straight for your emotional jugular.
I came prepared to dislike the piece, because as anybody who's bought one of the several available soundtracks knows, the stage version's plot is a mere skeleton of the Hugo original. But it takes a stronger man than I to withstand the irresistible momentum of this show.
One point: This production starts promptly at 7:30 p.m., and at least 100 laggard concertgoers missed the first 17 minutes. Worse, civic center ushers chose to herd the latecomers into the hall during the best-known number in the entire show, Fantine's "I Dreamed a Dream," sung by Alice Ripley.
It was especially distracting when some late arrivals stumbled over empty cans of bubble-gum remover, which had been left in the aisles by Civic Center staff and which clattered loudly.
The title role of the unjustly imprisoned Jean Valjean was sung by Frederick C. Inkley, who filled in for Donn Cook. Cook was injured in the Cleveland production of the musical last week and may rejoin the cast for the rest of the Roanoke run. Soon, he will take over the starring role in the Broadway production.
But Inkley sang the role as if he were born for it. He is a tenor with a particularly lovely high range, and he did a convincing job of mirroring Valjean's transformation from an embittered convict to Hugo's Christlike and self-sacrificing older man.
J.P. Dougherty and Gina Ferrall stole every scene in which they appeared as the repellent but funny Monsieur and Madame Thenardier.
Angela Pupello belted out the role of Eponine with the kind of big voice that could front a rock band.
Alice Ripley managed to do a Fantine that was vulnerable and yet not sappy, and if her big moment in "I Dreamed a Dream" hadn't been marred by the stampede of late arrivals, it would have been more memorable.
Barbra Russell as the older Cosette was comparatively pallid, but enough was happening around her to take up the slack.
This is one show in which technology should be listed on the casting list. The big turntable - the one that famously failed on opening night at the Kennedy Center - functioned flawlessly and was a big factor in the cinematic flow of this show. Film techniques such as slow-motion movement lent a dream-like quality to certain scenes without looking fake.
Two huge towers to either side of the stage closed to form, at different times, the Paris slums and the barricades. No expense was spared on either scenery or costumes, and the result was an utterly convincing look. It may look better on Broadway, but I doubt it.
Seth Williamson produces feature news stories and a classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.
by CNB