All Star Les Misérables

It’s no secret that both of us love musicals. We’re trying to see as many as we can and usually have at least one booked to look forward to. So, when it was announced that Les Miserables was going to leave the Queen’s Theatre and a special sixteen-week run of a concert version of the show was going to be held in the Gielgud Theatre with several big West End and musical theatre names, we knew we had to get tickets.

When the tickets were released back in February, we joined the thousands of other musical theatre fans vying to get tickets. We managed to get tickets for the end of October and eagerly began to await the day where we would get to see some of our favourites in Les Miserables.

When someone asks me what my favourite musical is, what I answer depends on the mood I am in. However, the truth is that Les Miserables is probably my favourite because I keep going back. The All-Star Les Miserables is the third time I’ve seen Les Mis in as many years. I’ve also watched the movie and the twenty-fifth-anniversary concert more times than I can count. 

The show never fails to amaze. Seeing it as a concert is different from watching the normal show. This show was not quite a concert and not quite a musical; it was somewhere in between. The principals had radio mics but there were also a row of standing mics which they all stood at to sing. The ensemble (and a few principals) sat on the stage for most, if not the entirety, of the show. There wasn’t too much in the way of acting in between scenes. There was enough to convey the story. That’s what made it unlike a concert as well, the story was there and they performed the story of Les Miserables, just without the bigger props and stood at mics. It was still phenomenal.

Seeing some of the best musical stars belt out the songs I know so well was magical. Michael Ball as Javert was brilliant, Carrie Hope Fletcher, like all other times I’ve seen her live, was incredible, Matt Lucas and Katy Secombe as the Thenadiers were hilarious. Unfortunately, Alfie Boe was off sick but John Owen Jones as Jean Valjean raised goosebumps.

It was an ineffably good show and I know that it’s not going to be the last time I see Les Miserables in London. Maybe one day, I will go see it outside the West End, maybe Broadway. But, for now, I eagerly await my next musical in January 2020.

C🌙