Sadness and triumph will mix tomorrow, Aug 6, on the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage as the final curtain descends for what has been a remarkable experience for everyone involved in Les Misérables. 104 performances, 104 first kisses for Marius and Cosette, 104 barroom brawls for the Thenardiers, 104 lonely walks for Eponine, and 104 heartbreaking renditions of “Bring Him Home” by Jean Valjean. Though this is a usual rite of passage for performers and crew (“Another opening, another show!” as they say in Kiss Me, Kate), the phenomenal response of Vancouver crowds, the achievement it represents for our company, and the haunting resonance of the show itself will all add up to make this closing especially poignant.
A few performers will be going immediately on to other productions, Songs for a New World at Pacific Theatre will take the focus for several of the chorus members as well as Jonathan Winsby (Enjolras). John Mann (Thenardier) is off to Edmonton Folk Festival with his band Spirit of the West early on Friday morning! Some of your favourites will be returning in our new season shows, particularly Sara-Jeanne Hosie (Fantine), Jeffrey Victor (Marius) and Rejean Cornoyer (Javert) for White Christmas: The Musical. Rebecca Talbot (Epoinine) will be starting her new project of becoming a first-time mom–any day now! Of course, many of the crew including stage manager Caryn Fehr, and the lovely Nicola Lipman (Mme Thenardier) will already be hard at work on Black Comedy, which starts rehearsals Aug 18. And that’s the stuff we know about! We sincerely hope everyone else gets to rest, reflect, and recuperate.
This past Sunday, Les Miz celebrated 100 performances. Bill Millerd was on hand to mark the occasion with an enormous cake and praise for a remarkable company, “Achieving 100 performances is an incredible milestone and is testament to the amazing accomplishment of everyone involved in the Arts Club’s production of this enduring musical.” It should also be noted that this is the first show at the Arts Club to reach this milestone in a single run in our 46-year history.
We enjoyed the show thoroughly and hope you will consider doing “The Phantom” sometime in the future.
We will be sure to pass that suggestion on to Bill Millerd! (It is a favourite of one of the blog staff too.)
We celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary by attending Les Miserables. It was absolutely delightful – such great singing and staging! A wonderful memory for us. Thank you everyone for your hard work.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, we love being a part of people’s lives like that. Happy anniversary!
All the best,
Zoe
I took my 5 yr old (wasn’t planning on it, but she insisted – so hubby lost out) and she was mesmerized. She has decided she will be the young Cossette at the next time ’round! And she had her first ‘star sighting’ when she recognized the cast w/o costumes when we happened to be eating out at the same place they were, a week later. That made her day.
She’s been singing Les Mis songs every day for a month – and so my 7 yr old insisted that she see it too! Well, they both went yesterday with dad, and loved every minute of it.
Thanks for some wonderful memories for my family & I.
Sounds like you have two budding musical theatre aficionados in your house! Thanks for sharing that–we’re so glad to be part of your family’s memories.
All the best,
Zoe
Thank you Arts Club for a fantastic end to a great season. Seriously, Les Mis was a wonderful production. Thanks again for all of the hard work everyone at the Company had put in!!
My boyfriend and I enjoyed the show very much that we’re planning on watching more shows or even better…. getting some season tickets. The production is wonderful and we can’t wait for more=)!
Pingback: Weekend To-See List (Aug 7-9 2009) « Musicals in Vancouver
Tee-hee
I got one of those ” celebrating 100 performances” cast t-shirts that they’re giving out in that picture where they’re cutting the cake – my uncle was in the orchestra and he got a shirt and gave it to me because I love the show so much
I absolutely adore the shirt and the show!!
Dear Danielle;
Your uncle is clearly a great guy. It’s great to know the love for the show goes on, even now it is closed! Thanks for letting us know how much you liked it.
Yours,
Zoe
Next time you do a les miserables performance please make sure you have a live orchestra. That was the biggest disappointment for this show. Even though there were 5 or so people playing digital instruments, it might as well have been pre-recorded
Hi John,
Thanks so much for your email regarding the orchestra for Les Miz. First, let me say, how much we and the band appreciate your attention to the orchestra and the importance placed on the live music component. It is very important to us also.
Yes, the piano used in the show was indeed digital and also substituted for the string parts but the other four were indeed playing live instruments. Although the Stanley is a beautiful venue with many amazing aspects, including wonderful intimacy, it is also presents different staging challenges. We have to make numerous decisions to combat the shallow nature of the stage (it is a converted movie house, as you likely know), the lack of wing space, etc.
This feedback is important to us though as move onto other musicals and make decisions about how to allocate the space between number in the orchestra, number of performers, size of set etc.
If you do have any other questions, please let me know. And thanks for taking the time to contact us, we appreciate you attending the show.
Cheers,
Nicole