Showing posts with label Utah Festival Opera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Utah Festival Opera. Show all posts

Friday, August 1, 2014

Utah Festival Opera's Les Miserables

When I was in high school I watched a documentary on PBS about the making of a new musical called Les Miserables.  I fell in love with the story, the music, the costumes, and the staging.  I bought the original Broadway recording (on vinyl) and listened to it over and over.  My greatest wish was to see this show!  I knew that I would be spending some time in London while I was studying abroad in France so I tried to get tickets.  Every show was sold out and I was devastated!  My Dad gave me an article about the West End in London from the travel section of the newspaper which said you could sometimes get tickets to sold out shows at kiosks throughout the city on the day of the show.  I decided to try it.  There were four tickets available but I would have to buy all four.  Such was my mania to see this show that I bought them (I couldn't really afford one ticket, let alone four).   When I got back to my hotel, I asked another student if she knew of anyone in our group who would like to go.  A man staying at the hotel overheard me and offered to buy the three tickets for himself, his wife, and his daughter.  He let me ride in the cab with them, bought me a program, and bought me a drink at intermission.  Hearing those opening notes was the biggest thrill of my life!  I have now seen Les Miserables at least twenty times (that would be a conservative estimate) and I still get goosebumps when I hear those opening notes!  Yesterday my friend Mel and I drove to Logan to see Utah Festival Opera's production of Les Miserables (I literally just saw this show six weeks ago in West Yellowstone but I never get tired of it) and we both loved it.  The Utah Festival Opera did a lovely job of staging this amazing story of one man's redemption with a very innovative set.  I was very impressed with the actor playing Jean Valjean (Patrick Miller).  He had an incredibly beautiful voice and his emotional rendition of "Bring Him Home" was very moving.  At first I thought Daniel Cilli looked much too young to play Inspector Javert but his powerful performance of "Stars" definitely won me over!  Ever since I saw Eddie Redmayne's tour de force performance as Marius in the movie version, I judge every actor who plays the role against him.  Patrick Massey held his own in "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables."  Finally, I have always judged every production by Eponine's performance of "On My Own" (my favorite song in the show).  Tyler Olshansky made me cry!  I thoroughly enjoyed watching my favorite musical...again and I had a lovely day with my friend Mel!

Note:  The Utah Festival Opera continues through Aug. 9.  They are also performing Oklahoma, Vanessa, and The Student Prince.  Go here for more information.
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