At one time the preserve of only the very best of professional talent, 'Les Miserables', possibly the world's most well-known (and best loved) musical of all time, is now open to all, no mater what age or experience. And this evening a group of young teenagers from the Youth Group of Prestwich Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society put their hearts and souls into their version of this classic at Bury's Met Theatre.
On a single composite set on two levels, the many scenes and locations were portrayed, some with more success than others. In most other productions the dates and locations of each scene are projected somewhere on the set to help the audience in their understanding of the timeline and story. Sadly that was not the case here, and I felt that if there were anyone in the audience watching this show for the first time, they would have had some difficulty in following the narrative, as the story was at times not clearly signposted enough.
These youths put everything they had into this show, and it was clear right from the start that they were enjoying bringing this classic tale of love, war, resilience, disaster and endurance to an eager and very keen audience this evening. With the exception of Cosette, Fantine and Gavroche, all on stage were tasked with portraying characters far beyond their tender years, understanding and experience. Playing flawed and complex adult characters is not an easy ask for anyone, but when those doing so are still youths without the requisite experience then it is a double-whammy! In this regard, all coped excellently and the characters were clear and understandable.
One thing which would have helped these youngers would have been to have had a live band rather than the pre-recorded backing tracks they favoured. This would have given the musical director much more opportunity to play the music in key signatures more fitting to the youngsters' voices, and also to tweak the music where necessary or to vamp and cover awkward scene changes etc. There was a conductor to the side of the stage, but I did not once see any member of the cast look at her, and even so, there was precious little she was able to do since the music was already set and unalterable.
Tackling the lead role of Jean Valjean was a confident and secure Bernard Cooper, whose subtle ageing throughout was nicely measured. Playing opposite him was his nemesis Inspector Javert, performed with unerring and singular intention by Luke Nichols. Fantine was the sweet-voiced Bethany Mansour, whilst a nice love-triangle was set up by the feisty Epomine (Thalia S Vega), the demure Cosette (Amelia Horne) and the lovestruck Marius (Luke Ratcliffe). ['A Little Fall Of Rain' was heart-wrenching!] Of course the musical is not all high drama, and comedy is provided for in abundance by the innkeeper and his wife, M et Mme Thenardier, Josh Ingham was a very youthful and sprite-like imp, a character that worked for him, although I would lose the sideburns, they were simply awful, whilst his wife was a more mature and dominant character performed with gusto by Mia Beardshall.
Smaller parts and ensemble helped to fill in the story and their chorus singing was lovely. It was a huge shame that this evening the lighting design let the show down. Faces, or indeed whole bodies, were left unlit, areas of the stage remained in darkness, cues were late or ineffective, and spots were not in the right places. This was such a shame, since the cast deserved better.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 20.3.24
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