Les Miserables

[Kyanna Sturm]

Kyanna Sturm
Les Miserables

A Breath of Inspiration  
    With an extremely successful 25 years of showing and a fantastic reputation I attended Les Miserables with an inflated expectation of the well done but lengthy play. On Wednesday December 6th, Les Miserables opened at the spectacular and elegant, Orpheum theater. Our main character Jean Valjean, played by Jane Mark McVey, is an ex-convict and left to create a new existence for himself and rise above the past. Jean disguises himself and begins a fresh start with a new name and role as mayor. Jean runs into a women, Fantine, who unfortunately is in need of help. Jean ends up with her child, Cossett, as a daughter. Cossett falls in love with Marius and experience Jeans death together. This brings the tear jerking end, consisting of an emotional death thatinspired me to cherish the people in my life.
    Not only was the play emotional but had very many outstanding scenes. A scene that made an impression visually consisted of a war scene. With fantastic lighting and great sound the war was alive on stage. I feel as if there may have been a lot taking place on stage but with that it made it more real. Another scene that stood out was the death scene of Jean. With the past, present, and future on the stage all at once I looked over to my friend on the right of me, she held a look of sorrow on her face I took a double take, and noticed the tears that wet her face and filled her eyes. The past were Jeans angles, present consisted of him dyeing and the future was the couple holding each other on stage in love with one another and mourning. That emotional and outstanding scene was one that will be in my head permanently. Not only were the scenes extremely effective but without the technologic aspect in some, they would be nothing. With incorporating the projected scenery into the play the audience got a different twist on what the visual of a play can look like. I was astonished to watch actors get pulled into a black h*** that was projected and actors walk into a dark tunnel. The fresh twist payed off in the end, success.
    One thing that I thought could of been improved is the transitions and clarity from scene to scene. The aspect of time and age was a bit sketchy without clear explanation. It was hard to keep track of the play successfully when it went from a love scene to a death scene or an emotional solo to a war scene.
     With effective scenes, a talented cast and outstanding technology the play was inspiring. Actor, Mark McVey, talented musically and theatrically stood out as a performer and vital cast member. Not only was this actor phenomenal but so were many others from the cast. The solos were touching and the use of technology drew in my attention even more then it was already. I would not give one thumb up to Les Miserables, not two but if possible I would put everyones thumbs up for Les Miserables.

[Dudley Voigt]

Great structure and organization.  You do a good job of focusing on a few elements, using details to support your opinions.  I particularly liked you description of the final scene having elements of past, present and future.  Considering it was sung through, I do think the music deserved a comment, but you hit the big ones -- the look of the show and the performance of McVey. 

Your review would have benefitted from an edit, there are a lot of typos, misspellings and some awkward sentences that distract me from your content and unique perspective.  Solid Work.