“Theatre of the highest quality – beautifully played music, tear-jerking performance, slick scene changes: spectacular.” Performed by Leeds Amateur Operatic Society.
There is an oft-quoted adage in music that the amateur practises to get it right and the professional
practises never to get it wrong. Whilst, on the face of it, this truism might not seem to make them
so different, in practice it sets them a world apart. That said, when perfection is finally achieved, on
the face of the amateur, all the hard work leaves scope for the far broader smile. Essentially, as
ever, they remain much the happier at their work.
Imagine the breadth of that smile were the talented amateur to be transplanted from the customary makeshift adequacy of a community hall’s scaled-down version to a fully-fledged world-class production at one of the County’s most prestigious theatres. Why, then they would surely beam like the spotlight that beckons them.
Cameron Mackintosh, the producer of the first U.K. adaptation of Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les
Misérables at the Barbican Centre in 1985 explains how the opportunity came about: “The world’s
longest-running musical was first made available to students under 19 (in an edited schools’ edition)
in 2002, to mark the bicentennial of Victor Hugo’s birth. As we approach the extraordinary landmark
of the 40th record-breaking year of the iconic musical’s London run, alongside countless productions
around the world, we are delighted to invite 11 of our leading amateur companies in the UK to
stage, for the first time, the entire show in their own productions. This will involve many hundreds
of amateur performers around the country, becoming part of our yearlong celebrations.”
Leeds Amateur Operatic Society duly received a call that set Project 25 – Les Misérables: Let the People Sing! in motion. Over the past year, following over 400 auditions, Yorkshire’s largest-ever cast has been assembled, featuring two principal teams, an onstage chorus and an off-stage choir. Judging by the sounds they make – raucous, sinister stopped and muted trills from the brass, delicate, ethereal high passage-work from the strings and multi-tongued atmospherics from the winds – the orchestra of 17 are of a professional standard. Their number alone would make them the envy of the West End.
The quality of the (blue team) vocalists is similarly impressive. (See footnote.)
The production cannot go seriously wrong with a central hero as sound as Nick Walton‘s Jean Valjean. He gets full marks for sheer stamina alone, being there both at the beginning and at the close. Hardly a moment goes by in any of the three storyline threads – Javert’s obsessive quest to hunt him down, the love triangle of Cosette, Marius and Eponine, and the street protests of the student revolutionaries – when he is not either integrally involved or happens judiciously upon the scene. Vocally, he can switch between the dark and menacing to the warm and genial. Both his solo numbers and his interaction with everyone else go splendidly.
Maddie Care, as the grown-up Cosette, Valjean’s adopted daughter, sings with a remarkable silvered
delivery, though glittering soprano occasionally projects at the expense of perfectly clear diction. There is a tenderness, purity and steadiness upon which she can build. Part of Cosette’s problem in Lez Miz lies with the composer, who does not provide nearly enough solo material by which she may shine. Anouk Uttley, who plays little Cosette, sings with an engaging sweetness and simple innocence.
Malachy Bray, who has just gained a place at the Guildford School Of Acting, takes the role of Marius, suitably young, idealistic and lean-voiced. His one uninterrupted solo venture, “Empty Chairs At Empty Tables” comes late in the drama, signalling a swift transition from youth to man, a brusque awakening to the horrors of warfare and the loss of friends. It is one of the true highlights of the show.
Marius’ infatuation with Cosette plays out utterly blinkered to the amorous attentions of Leah Spence‘s Eponine, who, selflessly, dies for love as many an operatic heroine before her. She imbues her character with life and earnestness, her ensemble pieces and particularly the achingly troubled solo, “On My Own”, are elegantly plaintive in their delivery.
The light-hearted relief is provided by Rich Billings and Susan Wilcock as the Thenardiers, ostensibly an inn-keeping couple fronting a prostitution and pickpocketing racket. They steal the accolades in terms of seamless timing and comic characterisation, but they strike just the right balance between an almost appealingly cheeky opportunism of just filching from the dead drunk and the moral outrage of filching from the just dead. It is theatre of the very highest quality.
Javert is the villain of the piece, but Luke Wilby works wonders in investing the part with such a sense of tragic waste in a life dedicated to the dogged pursuit of a wronged man that he has our full sympathy at his ultimate end. I would not be surprised if, in future, an audience member shouts out to try to talk him out of it. Cruel and sour as he is in his exchanges with Valjean, his Act II Soliloquy brings us almost to tears.
Javert’s leap from the bridge and his cinematic slow descent to the Seine is one of the most spectacular pieces of theatre I have ever seen and is typical of a production super-charged with the latest theatrical technology. The scene changes, most rapid in the earliest part of the drama, are some of the slickest I have witnessed. The technical rehearsals would have been an entertaining education in themselves.
Behind this absorbing narrative of the impulsive impatience of love and the righting of social injustice lies the steadying, sure direction of conductor Jim Lunt. All vocalising has chance to breathe and communicate fully, the orchestral contribution is lively and beautifully played, high cello and plaintive English horn being particularly memorable.
Sung in English, amplified to obviate the need for surtitles.
Main image: Caitlin-Magee-as-Eponine-Harvey-Dewhurst-as-Marius-James-Pegg-as-Enjolras-Emma-Burke-as-Cosette-Rob-Durkin-as-Jean-Valjean-with-Ensemble.
