Student Edition?!
Rating: 5
Les Miserables - School Edition
The Theatre in the Park
Theatre in the Park closes their production of 'Les Miserables - School Edition' tonight, but with the amount of talent on the stage it's hard to believe the cast was composed entirely of students. To be quite honest there was very little to critique.
Charlie Meredith as Jean Valjean was perfectly cast for his abilities and put on a stellar performance. Keeping in mind that he is so young, I would have liked it if they had attempted to age him a little more. I was in the very front so I can't be sure what he looked like from the back, but he could have used a hair cut and a beard if he could manage one.
David McTeer (Javier) was, in a word, brilliant. From his performance to his appearance he could not have been more suited for the role.
All bias aside, it was the women who stole the show. Gabriela Delano (Fantine) and Katie Martin (Eponine) were absolutely breathtaking. When they were on stage I couldn't take my eyes off of them. They both sang effortlessly and had amazing breath control. When I spoke to Delano after the show she was incredibly polite and humble. I was very impressed. Keep an eye on these two young women Kansas City; they are going places.
Two other impressive young ladies were Anna Hastings and Linsey Hart. Hastings had a beautiful solo as Young Cosette and Hart won the admiration of the entire audience as the little spit-fire Gavroche.
The rest of the cast was very strong, though some can still benefit from additional training. Alex Peterson (Marius) for example, clearly has a beautiful instrument, and will surely continue to land principle roles with a few more years of vocal lessons. Elise Poehling's (Cosette) soprano voice was clear and polished but her character didn't really stand out. She and some other the other minor characters will greatly improve with some acting classes.
These students are raw talent and they will most certainly get even better with age. Congrats on an amazing performance. 5 out of 5 stars.
read the review at KC Stage
I agree with some of this review. However, I take exception to the comments regarding the young lady who played the older Cossette. She had the strongest voice of all the artists. As for her acting, she was very convincing for the brief moments she was on stage.
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