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Gareth as Marius in Les Mis International tour

Floz

By Floz,
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Suzie Newbie

Suzie

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I hope you do get some good seats fingers crossed for you. Your best bet is to go for a week day show as most of the weekends best seats are booked up. Hopefully as you live in manchester you will have a lot more dates for you to choose from.

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Heather Newbie

Heather

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The understudy for Fantine has been cast, according to the BBC News

She has done well.

I know I have seen Les Mis a few times but I still don't know who plays what and when :blush:

Have we the story anywhere?

Thanks for that! I see she is mentioned with Gareth. Will she be playing opposite him, as i hear he has a love interest? I know she is an understudy, but she will get a turn too.

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Heather Newbie

Heather

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you've got me very excited Chris. I really want this to happen for Gareth! :heart:

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Snowdrop Newbie

Snowdrop

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That would be lovely for Gareth's American fans, presuming they were to go near to where they are living! :laugh:

But America is a very big place, so something a bit more specific might be required. :frantics:

Obviously, Broadway would be the most prestigeous, but I suppose they will be going where there are theatres available for the dates that are required. I thought that visa restrictions made if very hard for non-US artists to go there, but it might be a bit easier if it's for part of a touring production that is just stopping off there for a portion of the run.

I know there are people in Spain and Germany who are keen for the show to go there, so fingers crossed for those people too. :wub:

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Snowdrop Newbie

Snowdrop

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Good article, thanks. I think as it contains so much important information we should have it on here to refer to. :heart:

Rehearsals for the international tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of LES MISÉRABLES begin in London

29/10/2009

After four weeks of rehearsals, this new production will open in Cardiff on 11 December with a cast led by Gareth Gates, John Owen Jones, Earl Carpenter and Madalena Alberto.

The rehearsals for the new tour production of LES MISÉRABLES began in London on Monday 26 October. This international tour will celebrate the 25th anniversary of this show based on the Victor Hugo novel that has become one of the most popular musicals ever written.

The tour will open at Cardiff´s Wales Millennium Centre on 11 December, 2009 and will run there until 16 January, 2010. The production will then stop off at Manchester (Palace Theatre, from 19 January to 13 February 2010), Norwich (Theatre Royal, from 16 February to 20 March 2010), Birmingham (Hippodrome, from 23 March to 17 April 2010), Edinburgh (Playhouse, from 20 April to15 May 2010) before crossing the Channel heading for Paris (Chatelet, from 26 May to 4 July 2010). More dates and places are to be announced soon.

The cast of this new production is led by Gareth Gates (Marius), John Owen Jones (Jean Valjean), Earl Carpenter (Javert), Madalena Alberto (Fantine), Katie Hall (Cosette), Rosalind James (Eponine), Jon Robyns (Enjolras), Ashley Artus (Thernadier) and Lynne Wilmot (Mdm. Thenadier).

Gareth Gates arrives to the tour production of LES MISÉRABLES after appearing in the West End revival of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, where he replaced Lee Mead in the main role. Gates was runner-up on the first series of ‘Pop Idol’ in’ February 2002, and in 2008 he appeared on ITV1 ‘Dancing on Ice’.

John Owen Jones gets back into the shoes of Jean Valjean, after having played the role in West End and in Broadway. In 1998, he became the youngest person ever to play the role of Jean Valjean full-time when he took over in the London production at the age of 26. Jones has also appear in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Earl Carpenter plays again Javert, a role that he already performed last season in the West End production of LES MISÉRABLES at Queen´s Theatre. Carpenter credits in London include THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Madalena Alberto will be Fantine. Born in Portugal, Madalena has recently starred in the musical OVER THE THRESHOLD at Jermyn Street Theatre in London. She has played the roles of Carmen Diaz in FAME (UK Tour), Lucy in THETHREEPENNY OPERA (Lisboa), and Hunyak in CHICAGO (Kuala Lumpur). Alberto was part of the original cast of ZORRO, THE MUSICAL in the West End, where she also covered the role of Luisa. For the last four years, Madalena has also developed a career as a composer, performing her own songs.

Katie Hall was one of the BBC show ‘I’d Do Anything’ contestants. After the reality, she was part of the cast of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Last June she joined the London production of LES MISÉRABLES as Cosette, a character that she will perfom again on this tour.

Rosalind James will play the role of Eponine. The British actress made her debut in musical theatre perfoming Bet in the West End production of OLIVER! in 1994. Her credits also include WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (Aldwych Theatre), RENT (Dublin), JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (tour) and DADDY COOL (Shaftesbury Theatre and Berlin). Last season she was part of the original cast of GONE WITH THE WIND.

Jon Robyns performed the role of Marius last season in London production of LES MISÉRABLES at Queen´s Theatre. Now, he will be his loyal friend Enjolras. Robyns was part of the company that opened AVENUE Q in the West End, playing the roles of Princeton and Rod. He also has appeared in CHESS IN CONCERT at Royal Albert Hall, and in the DICKENS UNPLUGGED tour prior to the opening of the show in the West End.

The ensemble of the tour production of LES MISÉRABLES is comprised by Jonathan Alden, Ian Caddick, Leigh Rhiannon Coggins, David Covey, Beth Davies, Victoria Farley, Christopher Jacobsen, Vanessa Leagh Hicks, Luke Kempner, David Lawrence, Adam Linstead, Rebecca McKinnis, Rhidian Marc, Carl Mullaney, James Muscato, Rosa O´Reilly, Rhiannon Sarah Porter, Laura Tebbutt and Owain Williams. Swings are Michael Baxter, Joanna Loxton, Peter Manchester, Gemma O´Duffy and Leighton Rafferty.

This new production of LES MISÉRABLES is directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell. It will have a new spectacular set design inspired by the works of Victor Hugo created by Matt Kinley.

LES MISÉRABLES originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, with direction of Trevor Nunn and John Caird. It was transferred to the Palace Theatre in the West End on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen´s Theatre on 3 April 2004. The musical celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, and it became the World’s Longest Running Musical, surpassing the record previously held by Cats in London’s West End

LES MISÉRABLES has been seen by over 56 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages. There have been 34 cast recordings of the show, including the multi-platinum London cast recording and the Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast and complete symphonic albums. The video of the 10th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall Gala Concert has sold nearly two million copies worldwide.

Produced by Cameron Mackintosh, LES MISÉRABLES is written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel and additional material by James Fenton.

It's great to see them giving Gareth a big mention at the start, but I can't understand why the bulk of Gareth's career gets ignored in these things. They don't mention that he released three albums, had multiple number ones and toured the world, not forgetting those prestigious Smash Hits awards!! :tongue: Seriously, you'd think that he went home after the PI final and didn't reappear until Dancing on Ice. :blink:

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eternal Veteran

eternal

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Heather posted this link :thumbsup: a while back - it's complicated! :unsure:

If Gareth can tackle the book I think I may need to give more attention to this story:

Les Miserables

PLOT SUMMARY

Act One

PROLOGUE: 1815, DIGNE

Jean Valjean, released on parole after 19 years on the chain gang, finds that the yellow ticket-of-leave he must, by law, display condemns him to be an outcast. Only the saintly Bishop of Digne treats him kindly and Valjean, embittered by years of hardship, repays him by stealing some silver. Valjean is caught and brought back by the police and is astonished when the Bishop lies to the police to save him, also giving him two precious candlesticks. Valjean decides to start his life anew.

1823, MONTREUIIL-SUR-MER

Eight years have passed and Valjean, having broken his parole and changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine, has risen to become both a factory owner and Mayor. One of his workers, Fantine, has a secret illegitimate child. When the other women discover this, they demand her dismissal. The foreman, whose advances she has rejected, throws her out.

Desperate for money to pay for medicines for her daughter, Fantine sells her locket, her hair, and then joins the whores in selling herself. Utterly degraded by her new trade, she gets into a fight with a prospective customer and is about to be taken to prison by Javert when "The Mayor" arrives and demands she be taken to hospital instead.

The Mayor then rescues a man pinned down by a runaway cart. Javert is reminded of the abnormal strength of convict 24601 Jean Valjean, a parole-breaker whom he has been tracking for years but who, he says, has just been recaptured. Valjean, unable to see an innocent man go to prison in his place, confesses to the court that he is prisoner 24601.

At the hospital, Valjean promises the dying Fantine to find and

look after her daughter Cosette. Javert arrives to arrest him, but Valjean escapes.

1823, MONTFERMEIL

Cosette has been lodged for five years with the Thenardiers who run an inn, horribly abusing the little girl whom they use as a skivvy while indulging their own daughter, Eponine. Valjean finds Cosette fetching water in the dark. He pays the Thenardiers to let him take Cosette away and takes her to Paris. But Javert is still on his tail...

1832. PARIS

Nine years later, there is great unrest in the city because of the likely demise of the popular leader General Lamarque, the only man left in the Government who shows any feeling for the poor. The urchin Gavroche is in his element mixing with the whores and beggars of the capital. Among the street-gangs is one led by Thenardier and his wife which sets upon Jean Valjean and Cosette. They are rescued by Javert, who does not recognise Valjean until he has made good his escape. The Thenardiers' daughter Eponine, who is secretly in love with the student Marius, reluctantly agrees to help him find Cosette, with whom he has fallen in love.

At a political meeting in a small cafe, a group of idealistic students prepare for the revolution they are sure will erupt on the death of General Lamarque. When Gavroche brings news of the General's death, the students, led by Enjolras, stream out into the streets to whip up popular support. Only Marius is distracted by thoughts of the mysterious Cosette.

Cosette is consumed by thoughts of Marius, with whom she has fallen in love. Valjean realises that his "daughter" is changing very quickly but refuses to tell her anything of her past. In spite of her own feelings for Marius, Eponine sadly brings him to Cosette and then prevents an attempt by her father's gang to rob Valjean's house. Valjean, convinced it was Javert who was lurking outside his house, tells Cosette they must prepare to flee the country. On the eve of the revolution, the students and Javert see the situation from their different viewpoints; Cosette and Marius part in despair Of ever meeting again; Eponine mourns the loss of Marius; and Valjean looks forward to the security of exile. The Thenardiers, Meanwhile, dream of rich pickings underground from the chaos to come.

Act Two

The students prepare to build the barricade. Marius, noticing that Eponine has joined the insurrection, sends her with a letter to Cosette, which is intercepted at the Rue Plumet by Valjean. Eponine decides, despite what he has said to her, to rejoin Marius at the barricade.

The barricade is built and the revolutionaries defy an army warning that they must give up or die. Gavroche exposes Javert as a police spy. In trying to return to the barricade, Eponine is shot and killed. Valjean arrives at the barricades in search of Marius. He is given the chance to kill Javert but instead lets him go.

The students settle down for a night on the barricade and in the quiet of the night, Valjean prays to God to save Marius from the onslaught which is to come. The next day, with ammunition running low, Gavroche runs. out to collect more and is shot. The rebels are all killed including their leader Enjolras.

Valjean escapes into the sewers with the unconscious Marius. After meeting Thenardier, who is robbing the corpses of the rebels, he emerges into the light only to meet Javert once more. He pleads for time to deliver the young man to hospital. Javert decides to let him go and, his unbending principles of justice having been shattered by Valjean's own mercy, he kills himself by throwing himself into the swollen River Seine.

A number of Parisian women come to terms with the failed insurrection and its victims. Unaware of the identity of his rescuer, Marius recovers in Cosette's care. Valjean confesses the truth of his past to Marius and insists after the young couple are married, he must go away rather than taint the sanctity and safety of their union. At Marius and Cosette's wedding, the Thenardiers try to blackmail Marius. Thenardier says Cosette's "father" is a murderer and as proof produces a ring which he stole from the corpse in the sewers the night the barricades fell. It is Marius' own ring and he realises it was Valjean who rescued him that night. He and Cosette go to Valjean where Cosette learns for the first time of her own history before the old man dies, joining the spirits of Fantine, Eponine and all those who died on the barricades.

You're right, it is complicated. Thanks for the links

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