It was my third time seeing the show, and I found it better than the second one but not as good as the first. Bias may have had some slight influence here, seeing as I was completely bowled over the first time I saw it and didn't have anything to compare it to, besides.

So. David Michael Felty, USing for Randal Keith, was everyone's favorite bread-swiping saint, and a rather nice one at that. I'm still partial to Mr. Rutherford, but this one had several good moments--the sewer scenes, the trial, and "Come to Me," to name a few. "Confrontation" and the ensuing fight, though, were a little lacking. There's a scary police officer after your blood, sir; he's not going to wait around forever till you casually smash a chair. (Don't ask how it's possible to casually smash a chair, but he managed it.)

Javert, for his part, stood politely at the other end of the stage as Valjean finished bidding goodbye to Fantine, then whipped out his nightstick and posed like a pro baseball player as the aforementioned chair was casually smashed. Other than that, the man (one Stephen Tewksbury) was splendid, and especially refreshing in contrast to last time's Schuler Hensley. He also managed to captivate the littlest Gorgon, which was fine by me.

Stephen Brian Patterson was Marius, Jessica Snow-Wilson was Eponine, Dallyn Veil Bayles was Enjolras, Erik Tolman Ward was Gavroche, Thenardier was Michael Hayward-Jones.

Fantine, played by Jayne Paterson, one of the few leading actors without three names, was good. I've never been particularly interested in Fantine's role, so that's about all I can say. Her acting was superb, though, and her singing was emotional without being overbearing, albeit a tad hard to hear at times due to overenthusiactic whores (zealous background characters were quite prevalent throughout the show). So, yes. Good Fantine. Also refreshing.

The Thenardiess--Jodi Capeless--reminded me a little of Jenny Galloway and was excellent. The same goes for Thenardier, who I initially had low expectations for because he wasn't Nick Wyman. MOTH was the best I'd ever seen, the waltz and bargain were hilarious (and contained the "Colette" bit), and the wedding was played to melodramatic perfection. M. T in the sewers was suitably scary, especially when pulling out the corpse's tooth. He also gave a cynical chuckle after DED, which I appreciated--the CSR has brainwashed me into expecting maniacal laughter every single time.

Lil' Cossie was cute. They usually are. She was not Christiana Anbri, but made up for it well enough by singing sweetly and being only eight years old. Little Eponine was a delightfully spiteful brat. Yes, they usually are, too. Leave me my generalizing.

Gavroche was ten years old and not nearly as cute or good as YC. Disappointing, to say the least. He reminded me of a Munchkin, emphasized his T's too much, and always held his arms a bit out to his sides for some reason. The kid from A Christmas Story comes to mind..."I can't put my arms down!" etc...

The brat also came in way too early before DYHTPS? and yelped "Listen!" for about five minutes (nearly drowning out the bottle rapport, for which I will never forgive him) before dully muttering the news of Lamarque's death. His own death was rushed, unconvincing, and relieving.

Marius was played by the three-named gent mentioned above, and one I'd heard some pretty interesting things about. He only sounded like Ernie once, thank heaven... It was on "I like the way you always tease," that he lapsed into muppet mode and sounded ready to follow the line up with Ernie's trademark laugh.

Now that I think about it, it might have been interesting if he actually had. Ah well.

Jessica Snow-Wilson was a lovely Eponine and young. I've no clue how old she really is, but she sounded about twelve years old at times. It seemed completely appropriate for the character, at least. Spitely and energetic, etc (though she could have been a little less spritely and energetic during ALFOR). OMO was awesome, Rue Plumet was about as good as it could be under the circumstances.

For the record, I still don't like the Plumet cuts. The robbery just pops out of nowhere and then Eppie's there screaming bloody murder before the audience can figure out just what Thenardier's whispering about. The awkwardness in this case was amplified by the fact that the slap M. T was supposed to give his daughter seemed supremely fake. Oh, and Montparnasse's fuschia shirt? Is this some ingenious new addition to the costume, of have I missed something?

Grantaire was Trent Blanton and I swear on a stack of Bricks he nodded at me. Really he did.

Sorry, had to throw that in there as a means of steeling myself to write about Cosette. If I get though this, I can yap about the Amis for as long as I like... Here goes.

Amanda Huddleston was awful. I've yet to see a live Cosette I'm fond of, so this was nothing unexpected. The girl wasn't as awful as she could have been (that spot is firmly occupied by the incomparable Tobi Foster), but at some points she was bouncing about screeching like a neurotic kitten. Cosette with a nervous disorder, oh yes. Fortunately, she was replaced in the second act (heaven knows why; possibly too much equipment was being shattered backstage) by Leslie Henstock, who was immensely better.

And now the Amis and company...

Enjolras had a Warlowesque voice and an odd nose. The former was spectacular and I'm sure no one paid much attention to the latter anyway. He died well and didn't jiggle incessantly when the barricade rotated. And he interacted very well with Grantaire.

He wasn't Paul Truckey, but he nodded at me. For real. I think it might have something to do with my staring at him too much.

But Grantaires always bear keeping an eye on, do they not?

At any rate, I liked him and would have anyway even if he hadn't nodded at me, which he did.

The "Don Juan" part was interesting; I've never seen such...zealousness, I suppose it could be called. After doing his bit with the newspaper and bottle, the man grabed Marius from behind and shook him around a bit. Unexpected and odd, but amusing as heck (and not slashy at all, no way); poor Marius yelped and even got in a retaliatory swat with the newspaper.

Barricade interactions were darling.

Shut up; I'll get mushy over suicidal drunkards if I want to, blast it.

The last time I saw Les Mis, all the Amis but Marius wandered off in disgust after the R sang his "one more lie" part in "Drink With Me." This time, the words had the opposite effect. Enjolras, who was sitting nearby, gave R a contemplative look, hesitated, then held out his hand. And they shook. And Enjolras moved as if to stand, but R grabbed his ankle and gave him a Look (decide for yourselves what kind; I'm keeping this one to myself). And he stayed. And it was adorable. So frickin' there.

When Enjolras did finally get up, evidently deciding he ought to, y'know, start leading the attack and things like that, Grantaire gazed after him, turned back towards the audience, took a swig from his bottle, and thumbed away a tear. (The little Gorgon failed to notice this, and when I attemped to explain the importance of it, laughed and said R was probably so drunk he poked himself in the eye. Brat.) He caught Enjolras's eye again once the latter was at the top of the barricade looking appropriately heroic. After a little while, R lifted his bottle and Enjolras raised his carbine in return. Very touching and so on, and I'm sure I was one of maybe five people who caught the significance of it.

Once Marius fell, the two of them immediately ran over to him and reacted as if he was the only person on the barricade to be struck down. Things got a little physical from there.

On an entirely different note, I found Matt Clemens's bio quite intriguing:

"Matt Clemens continues his hotel tour as he enters his fourth year with Les Miserables. Of the eleven roles he performs, his favorite is whichever one he is playing at the time. When he grows up, he plans to move into an apartment."

Good performance, all in all, and the family agreed. Hee.

Adieu, and Merry Christmas to all, or at least all to whom it applies. Everyone else, I hope you're having a merry winter, whatever you're up to.