Les Mis reports - Manchester

[dorral]

I went to the matinee perfomance today, Thursday with ValR .We had fantastic seats row B in the circle,although we took binoculars to spot Gareth in extra roles there was no need we could see everything. Gareth played 4 extra parts,1st he was on the front row of the boat as a prisoner,a farmer with a pitchfork,he had a big floppy hat on so it was a good diguise.He was guard for Fantine, had a big triangular hat on,the 4th role was a factory worker(no diguise),he did his best not to be recognised, he stood right at the back of the stage,when the others moved forward he turned to have his back to the audience then he slipped in amongst a crowd of workers.

As before all the cast were fantastic,it's unfair to single anyone out.JOJ he's the best,you can see from the curtain call that Gareth has a lot of respect for him.

Laura Tebbutt was on as Fantine,I thought she was much better than Madalena Alberto who I'd seen in Cardiff.

Gareth he's so comfortable in the role of Marius,his acting and voice have got so much stronger,he is perfect. :heart:

It was raining when we came out of the theatre,decided not to wait for Gareth, but as we were walking from the theatre we spotted Suzanne,she smiled as she recognised us,so we stopped and had a lovely chat. Suzanne, had Missy in her pram with her,also Nicola with Mia in her pram.Both Missy and Mia are beautiful. :heart:

I had a lovely afternoon ,can't wait for Saturday when I go again. :hyper:

[Khelda]

Dorral what a great report, and thanks for telling us all the other parts Gareth is playing. Makes it easier for us to spot him.

And how lovely that Susanne recognised you and you managed to have a little chat, and seen what Missy looks like now. (and ofcourse Mia too).

[Floz]

Thanks Dorral. I love the idea of playing 'spot Gareth' in the early bits of the performance.

How lovely to run into Suzanne and Nicola and the babies too.

[Yorksheather]

Thanks Doris for posting your report from Thursday's matinee show, sounds like you had a great time, I'm looking forward to this Saturday 's matinee show :smile:

[Snowdrop]

Thank you so much Doris. It's lovely to hear a first hand report, especially with all of the extra bits! :heart:

[Val4Gareth]

What a great report Doris and brilliant observation. It will make it so much easier next time knowing exactly where Gareth is and what he'll be wearing in those other parts. Its going to make the first half hour so much more interesting.

What better way to make up for not seeing Gareth after the show than to have seen Suzanne and Nicola with Missy and Mia. You were so lucky and I'm so pleased to hear Suzanne is able to get along to see the show sometimes.

Thankyou for telling us about your day.

[Khelda]

Thanks Doris for posting your report from Thursday's matinee show, sounds like you had a great time, I'm looking forward to this Saturday 's matinee show :smile:

Have fun tomorrow Heather, and I am looking forward to your report.

[Khelda]

rosieplummer

@gareth_gates saw the show on tuesday night, haven't been able to stop thinking/talking about how incredible it was you're fab! about 9 hours ago from mobile web

[BrowneyesChantel]

Love your report thanks a lot for posting up glad you enjoyed the show and thanks for pointing out what all he will be wearing and playing will have keep a look out in feb when see it next. :smile: Wonders did Suzanne and Nicola go and see it then or just where visiting Gareth as see on the offical Les Mis facebook page that Nicola has posted that she will be seeing it for first time on Saturday maybe she couldnt wait that long after all :smile: .

[Khelda]

I think if they had the babies with them, they might just have come to pick Gareth up. :smile:

[ValR]

I spotted Gareth in one more role, must've forgotten to nudge Doris at the time! He was one of the judges when Jean Valjean went to the court to admit to who he was and get the wrong prisoner released. Gareth was left hand side in purple! I must admit it was a releif when he finally came on as Marius, at least then I could concentrate on the story instead of Gareth watching! The seats that we had were brilliant, so able to see him very easily, thanks for booking it Doris.

We had another brilliant day, it's amazing to think of all the lovely people I've met through Gareth and it was such a treat to see Suzanne and Nicola with the babies.

Looking forward to seeing it again next week, Thursday evening with my sister and the last night with Doris.

[Khelda]

Thanks ValR for telling us that Gareth is in another role to the ones mentioned. I really cant wait to see the show, but I am not booked until April 3.

Love all the reports coming in though.

[Val4Gareth]

Not really a report, but it was posted on Facebook under the new CD post. Obviously someone who doesn't know Gareth has his own Website

Robyn Bell Gareth u should have ur own fanclub every1 loves u hun

I think that is rather lovely :heart:

[BrowneyesChantel]

Never thought of the little ones when I posted that :smile: Thanks Vair added to my Gareth spotting for tuesday glad you both had a lovely time on thursday. :smile:

[Maggiemags]

Thanks for those reports Dorral and ValR - l;ovely to read. So glad you had such an exciting time

[flower]

I am happy that we had a good time on Les Miserables.

[Snowdrop]

On twitter: jdhowens

In Manchester, ready to go and see the afternoon production of 'Les Misérables'.

about 4 hours ago from txt

Just out from 'Les Misérables', which was fantastic. Better, I think, than when I saw it in London a few years ago.

14 minutes ago from txt

[Gazfan]

Thanks everyone for their reports and all the snippets and reviews. They really are great to read

[dorral]

Please move pics if they don't belong here.

I went to see Les Mis again yesterday afternoon,I'd arranged to meet friends outside the theatre at 1-15pm, as their train was arriving at 1-09pm.Whilst there I received a text to say the train was delayed 20mins, so as my sister was with me(she's not a Gareth fan) we passed the time chatting.Just before 1-30 I spotted Gareth walking down the street,shoulders hunched head down and his phone at the side of his head.When he passed me he looked, smiled and spoke to me(He wasn't on the Phone) (rofl)

I said to him I'd seen the Show Thursday and that he was fantastic,I hoped he was reading all the reviews from Manchester .I told him I'd spoken to Suzanne on Thursday who had had Missy with her, I thought she was beautiful.He smiled so proud and went off towards the stage door.

The show as usual was fantastic,I will say though that the other 2 times I've been,I've been at the front of the Circle,I thought the sound was much better there than in the stalls.It seemed as if the roof of the circle above muffled the sound.

My sister said after the show she loved it,Gareth was great,she thought he was much better suited to Musical Theatre than a Pop Star.

She rang me last night to say her Husband who had gone out with friends.After he'd told them where she'd gone,they said they had seen the show earliar in the week,it was fantastic,but what they thought was GG was unrecognisable to the pop idol Gareth,he was superb. :jump4joy: He's now trying to book for the Lowry now,I can't believe it. :grin:

I posted pics from the souvenir brochure I got at Cardiff with rehersal pics in,here are a FEW from the new souvenir brochure.

[Val4Gareth]

Thank you so much Doris. Those pictures are fantastic. So much better than the ones in the Cardiff souvenir brochure. I just love them

Bet you're glad your friends train was late arriving. Laugh at Gareth pretending to be on the phone :laugh:

That's interesting you thought the sound wasn't quite so good in the Stalls. I think we've booked all our others visits for the stalls, thinking we'd be able to see Gareth''s face better, but perhaps we should have stuck with the Circle. I suppose it may be different in other theatres though.

[ValR]

Lucky you Doris seeing Gareth, I'm so pleased you had a chance for a quick chat with him.

The photos are fantastic - I would say to anyone going to the show that it is well worth the 5 pounds for the brochure, there are so many brilliant photos.

[Khelda]

Love the photos Doris, and a big thanks for your report. So pleased you managed to see Gareth and that your sister loved it too. Even more pleased that her husband now wants to see the show too.

[Snowdrop]

Lovely report Doris - it's so intersting to see people being shocked. In some ways it is lovely, but at the same time I don't think Gareth has changed that much. We all recognise him and saw this talent, although I suppose some people will prefer to think they were right and he was rubbish, but now he's good. It's easier than admitting that they were wrong before, although I do place the blame firmly at the hands of Gareth's management for promoting him all wrong, and the media for picking on what they saw as an easy target.

It's great to have the photos in here with the report Doris, but it would also be fantastic if you could pop a copy of them into the Gallery Gates forum so they are nice and easy to find.

[jenjo]

Lovely report Doris. Thanks for posting. Looking forward to going again next week when I can try and spot Gareth in all the other roles that I missed. I think they only had the other programme for sale on the first night at Manchester - not the souvenir programme - unless I missed that too!! I'll certainly be buying that with all those lovely pics!

It is great to hear all the reports of people recognising Gareth for the talent he is - just a shame it took so long.

[Snowdrop]

We almost missed the souvenir programme as it wasn't offered when originally asking for programmes. It was only on the way out I spotted them for sale.