Not a Dream After All

I saw the Finnish/Swedish production of Les Misérables at Åbo Svenska Teater for the second time yesterday.

There's a Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. That's why the musical, even though it is performed in Turku, Finland, is sung in Swedish. A lot of the actors are Swedish and the rest are Swedish-speaking Finns. I understand only the basics of Swedish. But that didn't matter yesterday. I enjoyed the show immensely!

I had seen the show once before this. I had a really good time back then and thought it was an awesome production. But for some reason just after this time it hit me how great this production of Les Misérables actually is. (An interesting fact, by the way: Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA have also seen this show. They came to Finland to do headhunting for their upcoming Finnish/Swedish production of Kristina från Duvemåla. They could very well hire everybody in the cast!)

Now, let's go through the show, shall we? I'll leave out the parts similar to the London original and describe mostly the differences. Prepare for a long rant!

Overture to Valjean's Soliloquy: When the audience sat in the small auditorium – my seat was in the fifth row and in the middle, a great spot! – we could see there were some bridge-like structures on the sides of the stage and a leafless tree growing from the middle of the stage. The first balcony was lined by a bridge-type thing the actors could walk on during the show. Due to the theatre being quite small the Overture was not as grand as usually, but it did a fine job.
 
During the Work Song (Se ner) the convicts tried to cut the tree by pulling a chain tied around it. The cleverest point of the scene - which I hadn't noticed the previous time - came when Valjean came onstage with another prisoner: a big branch fell from the tree on the other prisoner and Valjean lifted it off him. That was such a good moment of foreshadowing!
 
This was the first time the balcony around the balcony was used, Javert entered through it and sang his first lines from the back of the auditorium. 
 
Sören Lillkung's, who has already played the role in Helsinki eleven years ago, Javert was awesome from the first minute. He made Javert's disgust of all things illegal clear from the first moment, offering Valjean his ticket of leave and dropping it to his feet at the last moment.

Alexander Lycke sang his first soliloquy (Vad har jag gjort?) really well. He was a joy to listen to through the show.

At the End of the Day to Lovely Ladies: At the End of the Day (När en dag ör förbi) begun with only the male members of the ensemble singing the first verses. I thought that sounded really great. When the show progressed, I noticed Fantine, Thérèse Karlsson, had a friend who tidied her up to get her paycheck from the foreman. Does she have a friend in the original?
 
Fantine gets fired and sings I Dreamed a Dream (Jag har en dröm). Gorgeous. I've of course heard the song dozens of times, but this time shivers ran down my spine and I almost started crying. There was something about Karlsson's performance that made the character's pain so real, something so touching...
 
Lovely Ladies (Sköna damer) was great - but noticing one of the ladies was actually a gentleman was a little distracting... Granted, the female ensemble was quite small and Cosette, Éponine and Mme Thénardier had to double in almost every big scene in the first act, but anyway...
 
Lillkung was again amazing here. When Fantine clutched to Javert's leg and prayed him to let her go his expression was so perfect, you could just see he's heard the same explanation for the past twenty years. I remember the first time I saw the show I admired the tone of Lycke's Valjean when he told Javert to let Fantine go - he was a man you can't talk back to. This time that tone wasn't quite present yet, but Valjean got his moment later...

 
Who Am I to Confrontation: Who Am I (Vem är jag?), another great-sounding Valjean soliloquy, used the balcony thing again, having jury and Javert there. 
 
Fantine's Death (Kom till mig) was very touching, and when Valjean prayed for Fantine's soul Javert entered the stage and the music prepared for Confrontation... Awesomeness! Confrontation was really good, but after it came the part one can agree or disagree with: Valjean had a gun, which he pointed at several people and in various points. Maybe it's a little out of character? Anyway, instead of shooting Valjean kicked Javert a couple of times and ran off.

Castle on a Cloud to The Waltz of Treachery: The little Cosette I saw last time was quite a lot better than this one - yesterday's little Cosette was really cute, but her voice left quite a lot to hope for. Mme Thénardier, Daniela Franzell, however, had a strong voice and was awful towards the poor little girl - just as supposed.
 
Master of the House (Herre i sitt hus) didn't get so many laughs as it gets in London. I guess there are two reasons: at least half of the audience was Finnish-speaking, and they had to rely on the subtitles on top of the stage (taken from the Finnish libretto of the show. Not so very well translated, I'm afraid – no one tells the enemy to "go to heck" in the middle of a fight, and neither does Valjean tell God to "do your job!"), so they probably missed some of the Swedish jokes, just like I did. The another thing is that Joachim Thibblin didn't play Thénardier so much for the laughs. There actually was a quite vile vibe about him. 
 
In The Waltz of Treachery the usual Colette-Cosette joke was replaced by some Cosette-Cotlette joke. Weird Swedish humour? I've no idea, I didn't understand it. But the Thénardiers were very unlikeable and horrible here, and Valjean had to flash his gun again. Then he dropped the money to Thénardiers' feet – just like Javert had dropped the ticket to his feet earlier.
 
Valjean dressed Cosette in a new costume and they took a turn around the stage. Behind the tree little Cosette changed to big Cosette, Marika Westerling. From where I was sitting I could see the change, but the previous time I sat in a seat where it seemed Cosette had magically grown, which looked nice.

Sorry for posting this picture from one of the previous posts again. 
There is something wrong with the one I had in mind, it won't download.

 
Look Down to Stars: Bad luck with the kid actors this time. Yesterday's Gavroche was also a little worse than I saw the previous time, even though the previous one was almost as tall as the ABC boys... But Look Down looked great with barrels with little fires and poor people around them. Enjolras, Marius and a couple of other students were watching the events from the balcony.

Eponine, Josefine Isaksson, was surprisingly well-dressed in this production. Forget the rags she has in London, here she has a coat and all! It was very bittersweet how after Marius, Glenn Daniel Nilsson, had met Cosette he hugged Éponine just because he was so happy and so in love...
 
Stars (Guds Stjärnor) was beyond awesome. Lillkung has also sung opera roles, and you could hear that. His voice was so strong and beautiful, I could've listened to him the whole night. Worth noticing of the staging was that the stars lit up in the back of the stage, which looked good.
 
After Stars I started noticing how much the other members of the audience loved the show, too: the applause was big, and when Gavroche came in and sung his little part he got almost as big an applause, which hadn't happened the previous time.

ABC Café to Do You Hear the People Sing: This time I had the feeling there was something familiar with Marius, Glenn Nilsson. I thought about it and suddenly it hit me: he looks just like Hugh Grant! Maybe it doesn't show from the photos, but if you see him live, I bet you'll agree!
 
The scenes with the students were my absolute favourite parts of the show. They were wonderful, packed with awesome moments, like Grantaire (Tore Norrby) teasing Marius about Cosette and jokingly almost kissing him. Then the two have a mock fight, which Enjolras, Rune Sæter, stops with the most awesome solemn gaze. Nilsson's "skoja!" ("Just kidding!") adlib was so cute, it fit the moment perfectly! The students also swore a a blood oath to fight for a better world.

I love how this production lost Enjolras' vest and gave him the lovely red coat, as seen in the picture above. I've a feeling that usually, no matter how non-replica a production of Les Mis is, the vest is there, along with Valjean's beard and Javert's sideburns - the latter two were present here also.
 
Do You Hear the People Sing (Folkets Sång) was way beyond awesome, too. The guys sounded so, so good, and the female ensemble backing them from the balcony made the whole song even more beautiful. I liked how they used the French flag instead of the red one. Wonder why they chose to use the red flag in London?

Rue Plumet to One Day More: Marika Westerling's, who played the role in Helsinki eleven years ago, Cosette was the cutest thing imaginable. She was so pretty and totally adorable with her blond hair and lovely smile, and her light dress was so much better that the black lampshade they give the poor girl in London. I can't imagine a better Cosette, she had a beautiful voice and made the character really likable. It was easy to understand why Marius would love this girl!

Marius was also too adorable for words here. He climbed a tree to get to Cosette's garden, fell from it and was so embarrassed when saying "I'm doing everything all wrong" that you couldn't help but feel for him. And together Westerlind and Nilsson managed to be really, really cute without being overly sappy – I haven't seen so many Mariuses and Cosettes, but these two were definitely the best of those I've seen!
 
One Day More (Än en dag) was pure awesome, too. I loved how they showed Enjolras spreading some sort of propaganda notes to the working people and getting them join the crusade during the epic act finale. The only thing that bothered me here was how students did the march usually seen during the number, but Enjolras just stood in the front row. It was a bit silly since Valjean, Cosette, Marius and Éponine all have their parts in the counterpoint of the show, but Enjolras stood in the middle of the stage quiet...

Upon These Stones to A Little Fall of Rain: Josefine Isaksson's Éponine was lovely and had a beautiful voice. Her On My Own (För mig själv) was really pretty. Poor girl! Usually I'm not that much an Éponine fangirl, but I couldn't help but to feel for her...
 
Javert had a beanie when he disguised as a revolutionary. I don't know about me, but just the thought of Javert wearing a beanie makes me giggle a little inside. Little People worked well, with Gavroche pointing a huge gun at Javert, helped by a student who may or may not have been Combeferre.
 
A Little Fall of Rain (Ett litet stilla regn) was adorable. Marius was so sweet here, and after Eponine's death Nilsson went for the angry approach with "her name was Éponine!", as if to say "See, this revolution of yours is not so awesome after all!"
 
Valjean letting Javert go was Valjean's Moment of Awesome I mentioned before, Just because of one word. Lycke packed so much to the simple two letters of the word "gå" that I almost felt like rising from my seat and leaving – no wonder Javert did leave after being told to do so with that tone! It's odd a single word can be so impressing, but here it was!
 
During the whole second act, by the way, the little applauses in parts where there are usually none went on. About everything but Éponine's death evoked enthusiastic clapping...

What's the deal with having no barricade photos, Åbo Svenska Teater? 
Have a sad trailer screenshot of poor quality instead.

 
First Attack to Final Battle: The barricade didn't turn in this production. Instead, it was in the left side of the stage, and it was partly composed of the tree which had been lowered from the mid-stage. The audience could see the National Guard attacking from the right. Such a good add.
 
I found it really touching there was a lady on the barricade with a baby. I felt so relieved when she left after Enjolras let the women go! When the ladies were hugging the students for goodbyes Enjolras looked interestingly sad. What was it? Realization of how this isn't going to end well and how he is making his friends' girlfriends and wives widows? Or maybe longing to have someone who to hug himself? I don't know, but I love little moments like these in shows that give me something to think about.
 
Previous time one of the students was so nervous before Drink With Me (Drick med mig) that he cried a little. Not this time. I wonder why not, I loved them showing a more human side, telling the audience these guys are hardly anything more than little boys facing their death...
 
Gavroche's Death, as usual, was just horrible. The audience was so well in the story: usually there's always someone who giggles after the loud bangs, but not here. Gavroche's body left lying on a little bridge on stage right, along with a couple men of the National Guard who had died in The Second Attack.
 
The Final Battle showed the both sides of the fight again. Bodies everywhere, on the barricade and on the right side of the stage... In this version, Enjolras was actually the last to die, just as in the book! After being shot he struggled to get the French flag secured to the barricade before breathing for the last time.

More trailer.

Sewers to Turning: The orchestrations of Sewers and Dog Eats Dog made a good impression. The orhcestra might've been small, but somehow in these scenes it struck to me they really took the most out of it!

Besides sounding good, Dog Eats Dog (Hund äter hund) was great in the acting department. Thénardier was creepy, the pulling a tooth out part was subtle but made me feel unconfortable, and it was so sad when Thénardier kicked Gavroche's body to the darkness.

Javert's Suicide (Javerts självmord)... Again, I could've listened to Lillkung the whole night! And here the suicide was done with some style: Javert climbed to a bridge-like thing quite high in the back of the stage and simply fell backwards to the darkness. So much better from the rolling onstage we see in London.

Turning, then! I have never liked this song and I've felt it's useless – before this. Here the bodies were onstage the whole time before Turning, and during the song the ladies took the dead men away and partly deconstructed the barricade. Finally the song had some meaning, finally there was some reason for it to be in the show! A huge thumbs-up for this production!

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables to Finale: Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (Tomma bord och tomme stolar) was incredibly powerful. I almost jumped from my seat when Marius hit a table with his fist and pushed down some chairs. But it was not just because of his angry actions the song was powerful, it was also due to Nilsson's singing and the wonderful ghost scene where the barricade was illuminated with green lights and the students appeared in a kind of a slow motion, looking happy and sure for their victory. Wow!

Every Day (Varje dag) in the middle of a fight showed us more Marius and Cosette cuteness. Westerling was, again, really sweet. I just loved how Cosette kindly mocked Marius by mimicing him introducing himself.

Beggars at the Feast (Ett sånt kalas) wasn't the laugh fest it usually is, neither, due to the more vile Thénardiers. The times I've seen the show in London the "this one's a queer, but what can you do" joke gets a laugh, but here no one even giggled. But after this song came the next to last surprise of the show:

The ensemble blocked the sight to the stage during the applause. When they left we saw the tree was up again, and around it sat every dead main character of the show in white versions of the costumes they died in. Including Javert. Yes. Javert was in the finale. I was yay-ing inside already, and the Finale was so beautiful... Éponine and Fantine sounded so pretty together, and when it was everyone's turn to sing the Do You Hear the People Sing reprise I wished the show would never end. I don't know if I would have put Thénardiers in the first row too during the reprise, though.

And then came the last surprise of the evening. Never, never ever have I seen an unprovoked standing ovation in a Finnish theatre (an actor announcing how happy he is to invite Stephen Schwartz onstage after Wicked's premiere counts as provocation).

But here I saw that.

First we applauded just like the principal of a school I used to go told a polite Finn applauds: no screaming, no banging the floor with feet, no standing up or dancing around. But then, when Lillkung and Lycke came onstage, some faint screams were heard. And when everyone took a bow together people started rising up.

I haven't seen a Finnish audience act this way ever before. That's the power of Les Misérables for you! And that's what this fantastic production deserves. Absolutely.

See the trailer of this amazing production:

Pictures by Robert Seger, Nana Simelius, and from the trailer.

The Son of the Phantom

Usually I'm not one to write long rants about movies, books or musicals I don't like.
I don't see any reason spending that much time with something you hate - the world is full of things you can enjoy instead!
But a little article by Jussi Tossavainen in yesterday's Helsingin Sanomat was a little too much for me.

It's a part of "Personal - A culture journalist who has seen all gets emotional" series, so it's not a real critique. But anyway... Some of what Tossavainen says about the sequel of The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, seems ridiculous to me.

In the text Tossavainen tells how much he liked the show.
"Judging by the shivers the show gave me it's almost perfect", he says. "Melodies start playing in your head right away. -- I almost cried when Sierra Boggess, playing Christine, finally sang the aria The Phantom wrote for her, Love Never Dies. -- I'm looking forward seeing if in the next ten years sir Andrew will make another sequel - titled The Son of the Phantom of the Opera, of course. I hope so!"
So far so good. I've listened to Love Never Dies, and while I think some songs are pretty but in its entirety it's nothing spectacular - not to mention the silly plot - I'm okay with someone else liking it. And I haven't seen it live, which of course might make it better.

But then comes this.
"In Britain musicals are taken more seriously than in Finland. It's still a little bit amusing that the fans of the original The Phantom of the Opera have got furious about the sequel, even though even the composer is the same. They think Christine and Raoul should've lived happily ever after. -- I'm not such a puritan myself. Vice versa: sixty years old, sir Andrew might have created the most gorgeous musical of his career."

I'd like to disagree here.
Firstly, I think that even though there might be better things to do than tell everybody how you hate Love Never Dies, the fans have every right to get mad.
You see, I like to imagine the creation of the show's plot went as follows...


Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has invited some fans of the original Phantom to his office. The fans sit a little nervously in armchairs, watching the man who has composed their favourite musical shyly.

"We're going to have a little chat today", sir Andrew tells them. "I'd like to hear your thoughts of the first Phantom so I can make the best possible sequel. Let's start: what do you think of the character of The Phantom? What do you like about him?"

"Well", starts a short blonde girl, "I love how mysterious he is. I mean, he's the opera ghost, sends the mysterious notes and drops the chandelier! He's, like, dangerous but interesting at the same time!"
"In my opinion it's really interesting how there's two sides to him: on another side, he's this mysterious, seductive and sometimes even bloodthirsty being, really ghost-like. But on the other side he's just a human, and very unsure about himself. He's not very sociable, always alone", muses a boy with curly brown hair. "He has exaggerated the deformity thing, if you see what I mean - I believe he's the one who's most horrified of his face."

"Mysterious... Dangerous... Bloodthirsty... Unsure about himself... Unsociable..." mutters sir Andrew. "Thank you so much! Now, what do you think about Raoul?"
"I think he's not as sexy as The Phantom", giggles a red-haired girl with freckles.
"Well, yeah", says the blonde. "But I think he's quite nice. He's very charming, and most importantly, he's brave. He's ready to save Christine from The Phantom even if it means he'll kill him."
"It's cute how he's so in love with Christine", says a little dark-eyed girl in a quiet voice.

"Charming, brave, cutely in love", sir Andrew says while writing the adjectives into his notebook. "How about Christine, then?"
"I find it especially interesting how she projects something of her late father to The Phantom", the tall boy says before anyone else has the time to open their mouth. "And I think in the end she makes the right choice - after all, The Phantom is pretty much a madman."
"And in the end, Christine loves Raoul just as much as he loves her, I think", adds the blonde.
"Makes the right choice, in love, right. How about the side characters? Meg, for example?"
"She seems like a pretty simple, innocent girl. I guess Christine is her best friend and really important to her. But she's not a good singer!" the red-haired girl laughs.
"Innocent. Bad singer. Thank you so much for this, everybody! You've no idea how helpful you have been!"

When the fans leave the office, sir Andrew takes a look at the adjectives in his notebook.
"We need to find some opposites", he mutters. "Let's see... 'Dangerous', what's the opposite of that? Someone who tries to save people, I guess. 'Unsociable' is easy, the opposite is someone who is talkative and likes to have people around him. That also removes 'mysterious'..."
Sir Andrew makes a few notes and turns page.
"Well, Raoul then... 'Charming?' I think drunk people aren't charming, or wife beaters... So that's it for him. Christine... 'Makes the right choice?' Well, let's just assume her choice wasn't right after all. Meg? 'Innocent?' Hmm, how about a strip-tease artist, that's quite the opposite..."

After finishing with the notes sir Andrew takes a pile of printed fanfics from his drawer and tacks them on his noticeboard. Then he takes out three darts.
"Now, let's decide the rest of the plot", he mutters and throws the darts.
The first dart has pierced a fanfic where Meg loves the Phantom but he doesn't answer to her feelings. Another points at a story where Christine has a son with the Phantom. "These are so great", sir Andrew thinks. "How in the world I didn't think about this myself!"
The third dart has put a hole through a postcard from New York's Coney Island forgotten on the noticeboard.
"And we have the location", sir Andrew laughs. "This'll make a great show!"


In other words, I think Love Never Dies is like spitting in the face of the original's fans. It's like saying "I know what you liked about the original, and now I'm going to destroy all that!"
On top of that, the show is packed with plotholes, beginning from the time of the events. The original takes place in 1881 and the sequel in 1907 - or as Lloyd Webber put it, "roughly ten years after the end of the original."

The other thing I can't agree with or understand in Tossavainen's review is how he thinks this is Lloyd Webber's best musical.
I'm not an expert in his musicals, I haven't seen even a half of them. But Tossavainen's text makes me wonder if he's seen any... Out of the ones I've seen or heard I'd rank the original Phantom, Jesus Christ Superstar and even Cats higher than Love Never Dies.
I don't think Love Never Dies, as a score, is really bad. But I think it's mostly forgettable, and a lot more so than the other Lloyd Webber musicals I've seen. Till I Hear You Sing is beautiful, but in my opinion the title song, instead of being a tearjerker, is quite a letdown. Many of the other songs are boring and on the whole the show lacks the power and the feeling the first part has. I'd listen to the original rather than Love Never Dies, any day of the week.

I hear changes will be made to Love Never Dies. I hope they will improve the show.
And I hope Andrew Lloyd Webber decides to use his time and talent to create an original musical that respects the watchers instead of composing The Son of the Phantom of the Opera...

Happy Birthday My Olde Friend

I wrote this for my deviantART journal, but I think it's nice enough to get its place in this blog, too. It's a little birthday speech to a friend of mine.


My dear friend,

I congratulate you!
A quarter of a century! Sure, to some that's yet nothing special. But in my opinion being of your kind and having the energy to keep going on with no need to rest for 25 years is worthy an applause!

I remember the night when we met, over a year and a half ago.
It was almost by accident on that Thursday in the middle of the darkest winter, after a pretty dark day. When coming to meet you I didn't have especially high hopes. Still you did your best to cheer me up - the best way you could with your deep, even depressing thoughts.
I'm not saying I didn't appreciate the effort. I thought you were interesting, even a bit awesome. But after returning home I forgot you. Your rival in his dark cape and half-mask had stolen my heart just a couple of days before, and I'm afraid I wasn't ready for a new friend like you in the middle of that haze. But you're patient. You knew I would call for you when the moment was right.

And the next spring I finally remembered my brief meeting with you.
I contacted you to hear from you again. Soon I couldn't understand how I could have forgotten you for the previous months! Now, when I really got to know you, I truely saw how special you were. I could listen to you for hours without getting bored. You were so different from the others I knew - so dark and thoughtful but not without that glimmer of humor and hope.

Soon I started introducing you to my friends.
Having so much fun in your company I believed my friends would also have a great time with you. Unfortunately it didn't always work: I talked about you to them - a lot! - but the response wasn't always that enthusiastic. However, some did meet you, and a couple of them even enjoyed their time with you.
Still, and I'm afraid this is still true today, none of my friends could see exactly what I saw in you or understand what made you so important an acquaintance to me.

My friend!
You have inspired me countless times and been there for me when I've been happy or on the verge of tears. Yet I wonder... How can we be such good friends with such huge differences in our personalities and thoughts? Sometimes it feels to me you've hardly in touch with the real life, with your pathos and idealization! I've even felt I'll never be able to understand all of your thoughts. But then again, maybe that little bit of mystery is what makes you so interesting - not just to me, but also to your countless other friends.

So, in conclusion, let us raise our glasses in honour of our friend's 25th birthday.
I'm looking forward to our next meeting and I'm certain you will continue to inspire me in the future.
I wish the next 25 years of your life will be filled with as much prizes, recognition, happiness and excitement as the first 25 have been!

Happy birthday to the musical Les Misérables.


I wish I've the time to write something about the Swedish-Finnish Les Misérables production one day soon.

It Has The Word "Miserables" in Its Title

To get some of my hype out before seeing Les Mis live in two weeks, and to distract myself from the looming exam week's horrors, I thought about a subject I can't believe I've never properly thought about before.

Why is Les Misérables such a totally awesome musical?
How in the world is it possible I have kept obsessing over it for over a year and it still feels like an interesting subject to think about?

The first thing that springs to my mind is the music.
I just got the new Les Misérables Live! Dream the Dream (will I ever stop mocking that name? I don't think so!) CD with the 25th anniversary tour cast. And when listening to it I realised something:
I get bored, if not extremely easily, pretty fast anyway.
Cats? I destroyed it by overlistening in a couple of months.
The Phantom of the Opera? I'm so bored of it I haven't listened to it for many months.
All of ABBA's music? Did I really like that sometime? Well, yes, I did, but the effects of an overload of Mamma Mia! and iTunes' repeat feature will still take a while to wear off...

But Les Mis?
When I got to listen to the new CD the music felt so fresh and new, even though I've probably listened to it more times than Cats, PoTO, Wicked and Chicago combined.
Sure, if I listen to it a couple of times in two days, like I already did with the new CD, it can start to feel a bit old.
But after a little while, often less than a week, it feels fresh and new again.
I'm not a music expert, but I'm certain that's a sign of a perfect score.

The other things that keeps Les Mis so interesting is the scope of the story.
It spans over two decades and mentions about every feeling and theme possible - live, death, love, hate, forgiving, ideals, reality, poverty, revolution, sacrifice... By squishing the giant book into a three-hour musical the show makes sure to has no boring moments.
What I find so great about Les Mis is that even when everybody dies and everything goes wrong the watcher still leaves the theatre feeling happy. One of my biggest favourite moments of the show is when Thénardiers come to sing Beggars at the Feast and the audience, desperate for a laugh after following the failing revolution and dying for the last hour, doesn't need but to see them before giggling out loud.
And the finale with the Do You Hear the People Sing reprise... Talk about uplifting!

Also: there are so many characters to care about. This is true with a lot of musicals, like RENT and Cats, but I think it's especially true with Les Mis.
There's the main character, Valjean, of course. But if you don't like him, no worries!
Fangirls can decide if they want to drool over Javert or Enjolras, both really interesting - not to add hot - guys. There's Eponine to identify with and Fantine to feel bad for, Marius and Cosette's love story to bring some saccharine in the show and Thénardiers to laugh with. And let's not forget the cute factor of Gavroche!
It's not like the show would have three characters for you to pick your favourite of. There are so many different people to identify with, care about and even hate with passion.
And if you don't care about any of them, no worries - they're probably dead by the end of the second act anyway.

Besides... If you're a Les Mis fan long enough you inevitably reach the level of fandom where a production with Javert with no sideburns will feel like a huge deal.
And by that point every day will feel like a little Les Mis adventure.
And your friends will finally take you to see the doctor.


Thinking about this text, there is probably nothing a Les Mis fan hasn't thought about already.
But I wasted a good hour of studying time and got all the stress about French and Swedish out of my system for a while by writing it. Maybe it deserves to be released just for those reasons.

I'd end this with a YouTube clip of John Owen-Jones and Earl Carpenter singing The Confrontation better than any people I've heard before, but I can't find a proper one.

Where They Play Jazz

I just saw a version of Chicago in Tampere with a friend of mine who also loves musical theatre.

I'm a rational person and usually think things through with sense and order. I love paying attention to differences between productions and can watch the same show many times just to see all the details.
My friend, Sara, is quite different. She lives with the show, laughs and cries. If the show is good, it's easy for her to forget everything going on around her and just focus on feeling for the characters. I'm also about a dozen times more critical than Sara. We both saw the current West End Grease. I thought it was bad with its too small stage, not-so-ambitious sets and costumes, boring and too loud musical arrangements and weird acting choices. But Sara thought the music was groovy and the feeling good and enjoyed the show.

So, when we left the theatre playing Chicago and her first words were "it let a lot to hope for"... It certainly was not just me who thought there was something wrong with the show.

Part of my mood might have to do with the fact that when I had walked halfway to the train station in the morning I realised I had forgotten my aspirin at home. Of course I got a headache in the theatre. But it was not really bad, luckily. I was very much able to focus on the show. So, let's see...

The show started weirdly. If you've ever seen Chicago on Broadway – and I suppose this goes for West End, too? – you know it begins with one of the dancers walking to the centre of the stage and telling the audience they're about to see a show about all the things dear to us, like cheating, murder etc.
But here the show began with the overture. During it the actors played a little scene of how Velma murdered her sister. It was followed by a man welcoming the audience, saying the lines the show usually begins with and starting to sing All That Jazz.

I felt very confused at this point.

Usually I'm all for non-replica productions. The really different Finnish Cats started my interest in musical theatre, Finnish Mary Poppins worked greatly as a non-replica and Wicked wasn't bad, neither. And even if the adaptation doesn't quite work I still appreciate the director trying something different and showing their own vision. But messing with the script of the show from the first minute? I think this form of adaptating might be a little bit too liberal for me...

To my relief Velma came in to do the rest of the song. However, I thought there wasn't something quite right with her. I don't like critiquing people like this, but I feel this review won't be quite complete if I leave this unsaid. In my opinion, Velma is supposed to be sexy, sassy and charismatic. Even if she's not quite a teenager anymore, she's supposed to be a believable, energetic cabaret dancer.
Unfortunately Sari Siikander's Velma wasn't all of these things. This is of course just my opinion, but I just didn't feel the character through Siikander's performance, I don't think she fit the part. The horrible red hairstyle and the little bit too uncomfortably revealing and tight costumes didn't really help, looks-wise... Putting that aside, she had an alright voice, even if her dancing might had left something to hope for.

But then again, I thought Eriikka Väliahde's Roxie was great and had a lovely voice, as did Billy Flynn – whoever it might have been that played the role today since there are three opinions in the cast list and I had hard time spotting any "in the roles tonight" signs. Mama Morton and Amos weren't bad, neither.

But what I wonder the most about the casting is the addition of an MC. He started the show with his rendition of All That Jazz and he, in his clown type makeup and suit, kept popping up in various places in the show. He did all the announcements, acted as Billy Flynn's and Mama Morton's assistant and played the doctor in the beginning of the second act. He also sung more parts of other characters' songs, like the beginning of I Can't Do It Alone. It was a bit of a weird choice to me, but I think I can see what they were trying to achieve and appreciate them for that.

That wasn't the only change, though. There were other weird alternations around.

Firstly, Billy's speech about what kinds of love he cares about had been modified: the punchline about physical love not being so bad either had been left out. All That Jazz also seemed different to me: the murder scene had been somehow expanded and some lines, like Roxie's "I gotta pee", had been left out. Mama Morton's supposed lesbianism wasn't mentioned once: the "let them in, butch" line was out, for example. The mormon refrence in Cell Block Tango was cut, too.
Secondly, Mary Sunshine really was a woman. This annoyed me. I liked the character on Broadway with that gorgeous falsetto and the surprising scene in the end where he gets unmasked. But now A Little Bit of Good somewhat lost its point, even though they had inserted a dance scene featuring "the boys of the press club."
Thirdly, there wasn't any performance to Hunyak's hanging. She stood on the orchestra stand with a projection of a noose, the lights went off and it was announced she was hanged.
Fourthly, the girls didn't dance their Hot Honey Rag in the end. The scene dissolved straight from the duet part of Nowadays to the reprise of All That Jazz.

The first one of these examples could still be accepted as mistakes in the translation – if you suspend your disbelief for a bit. But the latter things make me think... If you don't have the talents necessary to do this musical, like a male singer with a good falsetto or two ladies who are able to both sing, act and dance their garters off, are you sure Chicago is the right choice for you? I really don't like the thought of making cuts because the cast isn't able to perform the show correctly. In a high school play it's okay, but with professional theatre...

The director Tiina Puumalainen's vision of this musical was another thing that didn't really make me dance with joy. Mostly because it seemed like the director of Chicago the movie's vision transformed on stage rather than her own.

During When You're Good to Mama on I realised what was going on. When I noticed they had swipped The Cell Block Tango's and Mama's song's places just like they do on the movie, and when Mama entered in a glamorous long dress accompanied by handsome men I sighed a little... It seems the director of this version loves the movie's concept where every song happens in Roxie's imagination. She tried to bring the fantasy aspect on stage, too, rather than reaching the show from the vaudeville show point of view like on Broadway.
But, in my opinion, the movie kept showing a bit too strongly in this production.

In some ways, trying to be like the movie improved the show. The sets, for example, were definitely more innovative and good-looking than their pretty much non-existant Broadway counterparts. The Cell Block Tango looked fantastic with cells in three levels and pole dancers inside them.

But on the downside... When they did They Both Reached For the Gun as a replica of the movie scene, with Roxie's really exaggerated doll-like look and a puppet stage with the journalists as marionettes – all dressed in period costumes – I just wanted to grunt. I don't love replica productions, but I'd surely rather see a replica than something trying to replicate a different form or art. Transitions from silver screen to stage don't always work that prettily! Instead, they often feel quite lazy.

A lot of the costumes reminded me strongly of the movie. Just the idea of them ripping their prison clothing off to reveal glamorous glittering costumes... Roxie's little silver dress for the song Roxie and her blue trial dress were straight from the movie. The idea of having something red in all the murderesses' costumes, except for Hunyak, seemed very movie-inspired. All He Cares About Is Love had showgirls in pink feathery costumes. The girl's white costumes and wall of light bulbs in the back of them in the finale... If they could've made it possible to make the light bulbs flash the text "Roxie and Velma" I've no doubt they would've done it.

To be fair, though, this version of Chicago had its fair share of great moments.

The Finnish Roxie was a great singer, and her speech in the beginning of the song Roxie was just hilarious - you should've seen her demonstrating Amos making love to her... I also loved the trial, especially Billy Flynn cheering the jury to make waves and whoops and his simply hilarious last scene where he left the stage dancing along the exit music and showing victory signs with both his hands.
I Can't Do It Alone, with Velma dancing along a shadow projection of her sister, was really clever.
The dancers weren't bad, neither. My only complaint with them is that there seemed to be a little too few of them and the stage seemed a bit empty at some points. But the Cell Block Tango scene was easily the greatest-looking scene of the show and it really showed off the cast's talents.
 
But somehow this musical left me feeling left down.

Maybe it's to do with the musical arrangements – Sara deemed the music foggy and some parts left me desiring more, too. When You're Good to Mama seemed way too clean, for example – or maybe with the too striking recemblance to the movie, but this version of Chicago didn't leave me feeling happy or humming the tunes, like the movie and the Broadway version did.

Luckily it's only three weeks left before I'll see a Finnish version of Les Misérables, my favourite musical.
If it's good it'll help me to forget a dozen of bad adaptations.
If it's bad it's my faith in Finnish theatres and possibly in humanity will get crushed.
No pressure, Åbo Svenska Teater! No pressure!

Pictures by Petri Kovalainen / Tampereen Työväen Teatteri.

Critics Gonna Criticize

I went to see the Finnish version of Wicked two days ago and had lots of fun. The music was, as usual, very grand and catchy with big orchestrations and talented singers, and the visuals amazed me more than once. Not a boring moment!

Today Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's biggest newspaper, released their critic Suna Vuori's review of the show.

As I guessed when picking the paper from the mailbox, the critique hardly found anything good with the show.
The story is a "quickly forgettable mess", the themes of the piece are "the most ordinary", the music is "unmoving and disposable", the dancing is "fast food, self-evident filler", the political references "slip to the state of incomprehensibleness", the moral is "unclear from the beginning", there are "dead moments" all along the show and even the characters lose all their charm during second act. At least, and as her only positive words, Vuori mentions how the leading ladies did a great job and how the visuals save some of the dead scenes.
In her comment she adds that it's odd how Elphaba doesn't mourn and Nessa's death and how even her 11 years old kid got bored in the theatre.

This review made my blood pressure go up by several notches.
Sure! The story of Wicked might not be on the same level as the classics like Jesus Christ Superstar or Les Misérables!
Sure! The music of Wicked doesn't quite live up to Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd!
Sure! The dancing is worse than in freaking Swan Lake!
But seriously, I hope there's never enough cynicism and hate towards life in me to become a newspaper critic.

Firstly, Wicked's target group is teenage girls, not middle aged women. I went to the premiere with my friend, who, just like me, happens to be a 17 years old girl. She had never seen the show or heard the songs before. Let's see what she has to say about the show:
"The singers had strong and emotionally rich voices - especially Elphaba's voice was lovely. There was great dancing with smooth movements, beautiful costumes and sets and epic music! Also, I thought the story wasn't predictable. As a whole, the show inspired me!"

Secondly, let's take a closer look at Vuori's opinions and try to anwer to them, one by one.

The story was a quickly forgettable mess.
I admit I can see Vuori's point here, even though I don't compeletly agree. Especially considering The Wizard of Oz isn't a tale every kid is familiar with in Finland, the story can seem a bit difficult to Finns. As I've noticed before, the whole Animal rights subplot seemed rushed to me.
Despite that, I really wouldn't claim the story forgettable! Am I wrong, or aren't there thousands of people who have indentified with Elphaba and found her story touching?

The themes of the piece are the most ordinary.
As the themes, Vuori mentions good, evil, being different and friendship.
Let's think about some other classic pieces of musical theatre. West Side Story: being different. Sweeney Todd: evil. Les Misérables: good, evil. The Phantom of the Opera: being different. RENT: being different, friendship.
Yep. Wicked's themes seem to be the most ordinary. But if we start hating these themes we also have to start hating about every musical out there! In my opinion, this thought could be turned upside down: it's admirable how Wicked manages to be entertaining and feel fresh when tackling with such common - or actually, not common, but universal - issues.

The music is unmoving and disposable.
CD Universe all time sales rank for Wicked's original Broadway cast recording: #19.
Amazon.com bestsellers rank: #60 in all music, #5 in Broadway Vocalists.
Amazon.co.uk bestsellers rank: #158 in all music, #2 in Musicals.
Tower.com sales rank: #40 in all music, #6 in soundtrack.
Maybe this tiny peek at the CD sales tell something about how unmoving and disposable people think the music is.
And as my own opinion, I can say Defying Gravity is one of the about four songs that have ever made me cry, and hearing Maria Ylipää's "The Wizard and I" live two days ago made shivers run down my spine. Maybe the music isn't all perfect, but I think it's wrong to claim it unmoving. In my opinion, it's packed with strong feelings!

The dancing is fast food, self-evident filler.
Both me and my friend missed Elphaba's entrance to the Ozdust Ballroom because we were enchanted by Fiyero's (Tuukka Leppänen) dancing.

The political references slip to the state of incomprehensibleness.
For this version of Wicked, I pretty much have to agree here. First, I feel so embarrassed that until reading Vuori's review I didn't realise the Finnish Wizard is meant to be a Stalin look-a-like (see a picture here) - now, when looking at the picture, it's so obvious!
But yes, if you look at "Wonderful" as Stalin singing about his wonderfulness, I can see you can get confused, offended and annoyed. I think the allegory between the Wizard and Stalin doesn't work that well. I don't know if I would put it as harshly as Vuori did, claiming "the director Hans Berndtsson's vision of history stuns me with its stupidity", though...
However, I think this will fly over the heads of a lot of the audience, at least the youngest part of it.

The moral is unclear from the beginning.
Granted, the Animals subplot could be more visible, but it's not the only part of the story's moral Vuori critiques. She also doesn't get "what moral is included into good's transformation to evil and evil's transformation to good". "Is the messy story's moral, perhaps, that people will transform into what others think they are", she questions. "Or that it's dangerous to get all you want?"
Let me tell you: yes, the moral of the story has to do with becoming what others think you are. You could argue that's the main point of the story, Elphaba becoming evil because everybody keeps going on about how wicked she is. Glad you got it, even though it seemed so unclear to you!

There are dead moments.
Where? I didn't notice any, I thought they were all well alive and kicking.

The characters lose all their charm during second act.
Vuori thinks "Elphaba's bitterness and isolation makes her boring and grumpy, while Glinda's character loses its shine and becomes a cardboard cutout". If so, it has to do with Baum's original book, since the second act brings the characters closer to the originals.
I think especially Glinda doesn't become boring: she shows she can be a strong leader and probably feels secretly sad for the rest of her life because of Elphaba's death and Fiyero's disappearance, even though she can never show that to anyone. I think that's far from cardboard! And as for Elphaba, she sure becomes angrier - but that's kind of the point of being a bad witch, huh?

And maybe the weird obsession about the shoes was Elphaba's way to mourn? Nessa is one of the people she mentions in No Good Deed, motivating her decision to stop trying to do good. I'm sure Elphaba did mourn her - but adding a scene with her crying about it wouldn't have added enough to the plot, so it was better left undone.

The people who comment on the theatre's homepage are backing me up with this: there are already many comments about the too strong and unfair "critiquefying" of Wicked.
It seems Finnish audiences love the show - too bad the newspaper managed to find a hater and paid for her to bring her hate to everybody's breakfast table.

Wicked isn't the deepest or the most thought-provoking show out there. But it's one of the sweetest eye and ear candies in the world of musical theatre, not completely without its share of touching moments! If you haven't swallowed a lemon whole before entering the theatre, I bet you'll have a really fun evening filled with songs you're going to hum along the whole next week!

See my long review of the show at this link. Pictures here from Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri's site.

"A New Musical from an Enchanted Land"

As I predicted, a writer's block struck me almost immediately after writing the last post and I've been cruelly neglecting this little blog for weeks. But today, upon finding out that at least one people has read my writings, I'm full with new hope and confidence! A special thank you for that!

And now, to the actual subject of this post: I'm starting to get very excited about the upcoming Finnish premiere of Wicked. The first non-replica production in the world, I might add!
Wicked's not one of my absolute top favourite musicals, though. I've seen it live once but due to the very sad news I'd heard just before the show I was in a really wrong mood to enjoy it. I like the cast recording, however.
But what really excites me here is the idea of a non-replica production.

I don't particularly like the idea of replica productions.
Of course, I'm biased since I've had the chance to see shows on both Broadway and West End and don't need the opportunity to see copies of them. But something about a show being the same in every place around the globe doesn't appeal to me. Partly because I think directors should get the chance to put their own vision of the material onstage and shouldn't be stuck supervising a new production of someone else's concept. And partly because some replica productions get so expensive no theatre in Finland has the chance to do them. The Phantom of the Opera, for example, isn't likely to get a Finnish version with such a cost.

But this new version of Wicked certainly is interesting! It's got my favourite Finnish actor, Tuukka Leppänen, as Fiyero, and the new designs and costumes seem intriguing.
The theatre doing Wicked hasn't made it possible for other people than reporters to get their press photos, though. I hate when they do that - what harm could be done giving the pictures to everybody so they can blog about your show? I'd still very much like to say a couple of things about what I've got to see so far in their online magazine - it has a realistic page turning gadget that's really fun to play with, I might add.
So, let's click that link and have a look!

First, let's talk about the cover - or actually, let's talk about their photos and marketing strategy in general.
I've been frustrated with a couple of things with this.
Firstly, I don't understand how hard it can be to do the green makeup for the actress playing Elphaba for the photoshoots. Let's take the logo they're using in all their ads for example. It can be seen at here. Talk about horrible photoshopping... Were they consiciously going for the plastic feeling or were they just unfortunate to have some intern do their artwork? Whatever the case, now this photoshop disaster can be seen all around Helsinki, often in gigantic size.
Actually, their marketing is pretty messed altogether. The Wizard of Oz isn't that known in Finland, and I get the feeling they're trying to avoid the subject. Their press release only mentioned Gregory Maguire's Wicked, there wasn't a word about the whole thing being based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!
The intro on the theatre's homepage isn't better in any way. Well, it does mention Baum's book, but otherwise it's a horribly written mess. It's done by a journalist who was apparently having a really bad day - it's hard to find any facts or even sense in the article. I'm afraid no one who doesn't know about the musical already will have the slightest idea what it's about after reading it.
The tagline, "A new musical from an enchanted world", says nothing about anything.

But back to the pictures. The cover of the web magazine is already a lot better and doesn't scream "Photoshop!" so loudly anymore, if we manage to ignore Elphaba's lips. And, turning to the first page, we get a little sneak peek of As Long As You're Mine. I believe the tattoo on Fiyero's neck is a new idea, and I like it! Also, Elphaba's lips are finally red on stage, not only in posters!
Turning page again we get more photos. At least my gaze went straight to Elphaba's dress. And I think it looks lovely, the red stripes and the slight transparency on the sleeves are interesting details. And the quite heavy-looking boots fits her character perfectly, at least in my opinion! Fiyero's costume, then again, is pretty dull, but that's understandable - we wouldn't want the supporting romantic interest to outshine our heroine!
Higher on the page we see Glinda in her bubble. I've a feeling this one won't blow soap bubbles as it floats around, but I like the design. Much more bubble-like than the original, I think.
Turning the page, we see Glinda in the dress she was wearing in the bubble, apparently. Quite different from the original, there's not such a strong movie influence here. I'm not sure if I like this one or not... The colour isn't one of my favourites, but then again, I should see the whole thing before saying anything.
But what confuses me is that Dorothy seems to be hanging out in the background. What? Have they found a place in the musical for her? Very weird, I can't wait to see what's that about!
Turning page yet again we see Madame Morrible, I guess. Very interesting hairdo, I'd say, but not in a bad way! No more pictures here, though, and that's the end of the Wicked part of the magazine.

Anyway, the text on the Madame Morrible page deserves a mention before I finish my own writing for tonight.
It says that Stephen Schwartz will be attending the Finnish premiere. And guess who is also going to that premiere! Schwartz isn't my favourite composer, but still, I don't think any musical fan can handle the prospect of seeing a famous musical composer/lyricist live without feeling excited!
Of course, it's not too likely I'd really get to meet him in the lobby of the theatre, but I'm already figuring out ways to ask for an autograph...