I was in big trouble with The Boss over my ignorance of the phenomenon known as Alfie Boe and as for not being a Les Mis fan, it was the seventh circle under the pit for me. I knew that some serious crawling was needed. No problem, I've been crawling all my life.
How's about this for the Les Mis fan? The Les Misérables book! From Stage to Screen is packed with interviews and photographs of the cast and crew of the film, set designs and photographs, memorabilia posters, pictures of the original stage and costume designs and loads of other fascinating trivia. A chocolate box of fun for the serious Les Mis fan.
And all available for a knock-down price at CostCo. I carefully peeled off the price sticker (the old trick) and pressed it into his hot little hands. Job done, all was well with the world.
But my troubles were not yet over. I had been welcomed to the Boe fold but gently chided by some of our correspondents. Fancy not knowing about Alfie Boe and Les Mis, the poor boy needs to be enlightened.
One of them had very kindly suggested that a suitable course of treatment would be for me to get a copy of the DVD of the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables performed at the O2 Arena, purchase a nice bottle of wine, invite some friends over, crank up the volume and discover what I've been missing out on.
Now, I know that it was meant kindly but where I come from we call this being "stitched-up". Stitched-up like a kipper. Thanks.
And all available for a knock-down price at CostCo. I carefully peeled off the price sticker (the old trick) and pressed it into his hot little hands. Job done, all was well with the world.
One of them had very kindly suggested that a suitable course of treatment would be for me to get a copy of the DVD of the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables performed at the O2 Arena, purchase a nice bottle of wine, invite some friends over, crank up the volume and discover what I've been missing out on.
Now, I know that it was meant kindly but where I come from we call this being "stitched-up". Stitched-up like a kipper. Thanks.
Les Miserables, the treatment
It must be done, there's no getting away from it. I was ready to be treated, processed and re-educated and here's all the good news; Les Mis on the disk and for drinks we are having a recent discovery of mine, Aperol Spritz.
This is an irresistible mixture of Aperol aperitivo, Prosecco and soda. Such a wonderful colour. The concoction is completed with ice and a slice of orange.
As an incentive to my finishing the treatment I was threatened with something far, far more dreadful than a few hours of Les Mis. Should I fail to pay attention or display insufficient enthusiasm then there was a very special treat in store for me. Yes, an evening with Michael Ball's Christmas songs instead.
By now you may well be thinking, "what's the matter with that?" Michael Ball is an most agreeable troubadour and is much admired. All I can say is Les Mis is utterly fantastic; the very, very best ever and I thoroughly enjoyed every wonderful minute of it. How long to I have to gush for until you put that Michael Ball CD away and stop threatening me with it? I've nothing against Michael Ball as such, after all he's married to Cathy McGowan of Ready Steady Go! fame. It's just that I don't like Christmas songs out of season.
Seriously though, I did enjoy the show, the Matt Lucas performance of Thénardier was particularly good. I'd like to thank you all for bringing a little bit of pleasure to my miserable existence.
But there is a bit of an issue that we need some advice on. As you know, there is an appearance by the "Valjean Quartet" at the end; Alfie Boe, Colm Wilkinson, John Owen-Jones and Simon Bowman. We were wondering how the hard core Alfie fans rated him alongside the other tenors.
In our opinion, Simon Bowman got the thumbs down. Not that he was bad but that the others were so good. Alfie, we thought, was very good but his delivery is so powerful that it could be overwhelming. He is a bit over the top. The Boss rates the mellow tones of Colm Wilkinson and, as it well known that Welshmen are the best singers in the world, my vote went for John Owen-Jones. My family are Welsh but, as it is well known that Welshmen are very fair-minded, I can assure you that this has not influenced my judgement.
By now you may well be thinking, "what's the matter with that?" Michael Ball is an most agreeable troubadour and is much admired. All I can say is Les Mis is utterly fantastic; the very, very best ever and I thoroughly enjoyed every wonderful minute of it. How long to I have to gush for until you put that Michael Ball CD away and stop threatening me with it? I've nothing against Michael Ball as such, after all he's married to Cathy McGowan of Ready Steady Go! fame. It's just that I don't like Christmas songs out of season.
But there is a bit of an issue that we need some advice on. As you know, there is an appearance by the "Valjean Quartet" at the end; Alfie Boe, Colm Wilkinson, John Owen-Jones and Simon Bowman. We were wondering how the hard core Alfie fans rated him alongside the other tenors.
In our opinion, Simon Bowman got the thumbs down. Not that he was bad but that the others were so good. Alfie, we thought, was very good but his delivery is so powerful that it could be overwhelming. He is a bit over the top. The Boss rates the mellow tones of Colm Wilkinson and, as it well known that Welshmen are the best singers in the world, my vote went for John Owen-Jones. My family are Welsh but, as it is well known that Welshmen are very fair-minded, I can assure you that this has not influenced my judgement.
To finish, here's an incredibly dull Les Mis story. Some years ago I used to work in Manette Street, which is just up the road from the Palace Theatre in London's West End.
Occasionally, I liked to go for a quiet lunchtime drink at the downstairs bar in the theatre as all the local pubs were packed out with noisy students from Central St Martin's. One day I was chatting with the barman and he said that they'd be closed next week for redecoration as there was a new musical opening. "Oh, what is it?" says I. "Some French thing about Victor Hugo" says he. We both shook our heads and agreed, "Can't see that running for very long...."
Occasionally, I liked to go for a quiet lunchtime drink at the downstairs bar in the theatre as all the local pubs were packed out with noisy students from Central St Martin's. One day I was chatting with the barman and he said that they'd be closed next week for redecoration as there was a new musical opening. "Oh, what is it?" says I. "Some French thing about Victor Hugo" says he. We both shook our heads and agreed, "Can't see that running for very long...."
Well, at least you watched! The JVJ Quartet was the brain child of Mackintosh as was the vocal modulation that Alfie Boe did when he entered the singing with that wonderful "You can take, you can give ..." It was stunning and certainly showed off his talent well. It was mesmerizing and there were audible reactions to it during the performance! Take another listen. Alfie, by the way, never sings Bring Him Home the same way twice. Check out youtube. He sings the song with great emotion and always from his heart.
ReplyDeleteToo right. Always from the heart; made the back of me neck tingle.
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