I think that he looks a little emaciated in the top left picture (look at the hands), however it looks like it still would have been a fabulous production (if any of us were even daring to question how good it would be to start with!)
I have also posted a transcript of an interview that the BBC have done with the photographer, Kevin Mazur, who talks about the rehersals and how things were looking.
It has just been announced that Les Misérables is to tour to celebrate it’s 25th anniversary.
The press release is as below.
I am a little dubious about the suitability of the casting of – the ever hot - Gareth Gates (pics via link) as Marius… that said, I am sure that he is eager to break the mould and try something serious for a change, and good luck to him, especially if it gets the kids interested in this type of musical! I think that the rest of the cast announced thus far looks very strong.
They’ve not yet announced the casting of Fantine, and though I’m sure that they won’t, part of me dreads that they may try to get Susan Boyle for this… erk!
Cameron Mackintosh is delighted to announce that John Owen Jones will star as ‘Jean Valjean’, Earl Carpenter as ‘Javert’ and Gareth Gates as ‘Marius’ in the exciting new 25th anniversary production of the World’s Longest Running Musical “LES MISÉRABLES,”. The production will have spectacular new designs inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo and will embark on a major international tour commencing in the UK at the WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE CARDIFF on 11 December 2009 where it recently went on sale, breaking all box office records in the theatre’s history! Current tour schedule attached.
Broadway and West End star John Owen Jones was recently hailed by the New York Post as the best Jean Valjean since Colm Wilkinson. As well as starring in “Les Misérables” in both the West End and on Broadway he has also appeared as ‘The Phantom’ in “The Phantom of the Opera” at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Earl Carpenter who is currently playing ‘Javert’ in the West End production of “Les Misérables” has also starred as ‘The Phantom’ in West End as well as the starring role of ‘Darryl Van Horne’ in “The Witches of Eastwick” at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Gareth Gates needs no introduction. A multi million selling popstar who still has the 2nd best selling single this decade. More recently he has played the title role of ‘Joseph’ in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at the West End’s Adelphi Theatre and was a semi finalist in ‘Dancing on Ice’ 2008.
The magnificent score of “LES MISÉRABLES” includes the songs, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ (currently the world’s most popular song!), ‘On My Own’, ‘Stars’, ‘Bring Him Home’, ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’, ‘One Day More’, ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’, ‘Master Of The House’ and many more.
“LES MISÉRABLES” originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen’s Theatre on 3 April 2004 where it continues to play to packed houses. When “LES MISÉRABLES” celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the World’s Longest Running Musical, surpassing the record previously held by “Cats” in London’s West End.
Seen by over 56 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages, “LES MISÉRABLES” is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular musicals ever written, with new productions continually opening around the globe. There have been 34 cast recordings of “LES MISÉRABLES”, 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, making it one of the best-selling musical videos ever in the UK. There are over 2,000 productions of the Les Misérables School’s Edition scheduled or being performed by over 100,000 school children in the UK, US and Australia, making it the most successful musical ever produced in schools.
Cameron Mackintosh’s production of “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. The original London production of “LES MISÉRABLES” was adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird.
This new production will be directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell and designed by Matt Kinley inspired by the works of Victor Hugo and John Napier. Original costumes by Andreane Neofitou, lighting by Paule Constable and sound by Mick Potter.
Following on from last year’s post (it is really weird looking back at it), I thought that I would also recognise that today marks my second year in London – hurrah!
To be honest, I still find London as a city a poor substitute for Manchester, however I think that’s just homesickness etc talking as obviously I recognise that London has a far better transport infrastructure, amenities etc (though I think Manchester has a better standard of housing, and prefer seeing occasional streets without chicken shops on them heh!!).
I find myself saying this a lot, however it really is my friends (and obviously Greg!!) who keep me wanting to stay in London. I am very fortunate to have such a fab group of people around me, and I definitely think that they’re worth hanging around for!
I can still remember the day I moved very clearly; Marc and I had to say our goodbyes (which was horrible), and then that awful (and silent!) 9 hour ride down the M6 in the front of a white van with two rather butch blokes with whom I shared nothing in common! To be fair, I wasn’t really in the mood for talking with them, what with me being so upset and apprehensive about everything. When we got to London, we came in via Willesden (I was staying in Kensal Rise originally) and it took us an hour to make a ten minute journey due to the poor driving skills down here… that was my first proper impression of London.
My first evening in London was a little scary… I was in a gorgeous apartment, with more floor space than you could imagine, however for the first time in several years, I felt so alone. Cue me logging into MSN and ending up chatting to Danny, and thus everything that has happened to date happening.
So yeah, 30th June marks a real turning point in my life. A lot happened on this day, some of it good, some of it bad, but inevitably all for the better, I’m sure.
Two years on, I am very happy with where I am, I am fortunate to have a wonderful fella in Mister Greg (whom I love lots and lots and lots) and a marvellous bunch of friends who I really enjoy spending time with. Hopefully I can build on this further in the coming year and gain a few new friends in the process (I’m lovely I am! hehe).
A great bass line on it, it’s not overly R&B sounding, and I love the lazy vocal and the raw ’stripped down’ feel to it.
Give me this over Amy Winehouse any day!
Melanie Fiona (aka. Melanie Hall) is a Canadian R&B singer (unusual?) who supported Kanye West on tour back in 2008, but is still only just finding her way as a new artist. An album, ‘The Bridge’, is forthcoming.
This song hasn’t done all that well in the charts in other countries, the best it’s seen so far is a number 11 hit in Italy; number 6 in Slovenia and a number 2 chart place in Croatia… neither the US or the Canadians warmed particularly to it.
I really hope that this does well in the UK as I love it!!
One of the best summer songs of the noughties, yeah?
I can remember that this song came out when I was working for Poptastic in the Village in Manchester back in 2003 (has it really been 6 years?!)… always used to be the song that got me in the mood once I was at work and on hearing those cheeky opening notes, without fail transformed the night from being all about work to having fun!
Bit of a treat for anyone who went to school in the early 90s! (they used it between 1989 and 1992)
This used to be the highlight of my week, especially the bit from 3 mins 30 secs. School TV rooms were the best… though looking back, those TV cabinets were eyesores!
and of course, who could forget about Spuggy and pals in ‘Geordie Racer’ ?!
Previously, I posted about plans by artist Luke Jerram to place pianos across the West End of London for the public to use.
On Wednesday night, I took Greg to see Sister Act, and when we came out of the theatre, we happened upon one of the pianos at the top of Carnaby Street. No joke, there were literally around 50 people there! It was remarkable and the ‘community spirit’ that was felt was fabulous! I never thought you could get such a reaction in London, and was very pleased to be proved wrong.
Moving down from Manchester, I’d hoped that London would all be East-End style sing-alongs on street corners, so it was great for that to finally be realised, even if it is slightly engineered heh!
We were very lucky to have a pianist who seemed to know every song every written!
Below are a few clips that I shot… I am going to sincerely apologise now, as my voice comes across rather prominently on them! This is why I report on musical theatre, and don’t appear in it heh! I’m a terrible singer, I grant you, however I am usually much better than this! It was disconcerting as the public didn’t always know the lyrics to the songs, so I had no idea where they were going with the song, plus it was rather late at night heh! Next time I encounter one, I’ll do better, I promise
And of course, we had to go for a bit of the National Anthem! How marvellous!
(if you are unable to see the above vimeos, please view the actual blog page in your broswer, otherwise they can be picked up directly on my vimeo channel; http://vimeo.com/darkaeon)
I do have a few smaller clips that I’ve not posted, some great harmonies on them and whatnot, especially on the West End songs!
All in all, absolutely fabulous experience and probably the best thing that I’ve done in London!
For my birthday, I’d just love a group of friends around a piano and a night of songs… someone please make that happen!!
OK, so I was in two minds as to whether or not to do a post… there is so much already on the internet about this tragic event that I really have very little information to add to what has already been said. Friends who know me ’in the real world’ will also know that there are other periferal aspects that I am unable to comment on at present. However I reasoned that this is such a huge event, and something I am sure to look back on in later life, and so I’ve decided to say a few words for the purpose of my blog.
I saw mention of something being wrong come up on twitter around 21:30 and at first wrote it off as a rumour; after all, I’d not heard of TMZ, and Sky News are hardly a reliable news source in my opinion. However it soon became apparent that there was some weight to the rumour and I was quick to switch on to BBC News 24, and I stayed there until around 3:30 this morning watching this all unfolding.
On the note of BBC News, I thought that their coverage was occasionally disgusting (referring specifically the male anchor chap who was on around midnight GMT when they confirmed Jackson’s death). I don’t see why, less than 5 minutes after announcing death, they went and did a hatchet-job character assassination on him! Why skirt the issue for hours and then, as soon as he dies, absolutely slate him and bring people on the phone to try and portray him badly? Not what people wanted to hear at that time, surely? I can’t believe that when they went back to Uri Gellar, the male anchor said “Uri, your friend is dead”, and said it completely deadpan and without compassion. What a twat.
Truly this was the first time that twitter has broken a story for me, and it has been ‘interesting’ to read the reports of the roles of social media in this instance. I just wish that the subject matter had been a happier one.
I think I understand why a lot of people feel confused about all of this. I never met the chap, never saw him, and only really knew him through his music (which I adored and has landmarked key moments of my life thus far); however I feel a strange feeling of loss and sadness. My family is small, so I don’t really have too much experience of death and so I do feel at a bit of a loss as to how I am feeling, how I’m supposed to feel, and why I do. I’m still slowly getting used to the idea of ‘he’s really not with us any more’.
I sincerely don’t think that we will ever see such an immense public reaction as this again, and I think that it really did come straight out of left-field… I mean, he was only 50 years old! It really does make you appreciate the fragility of life. I am still struggling to comprehend all of this I think… perhaps when the media hype quietens down, I’ll be able to process my thoughts a little more clearly. I hasten to add that I am not one of these die-hard-I love you Michael-kind of fans, moreover I am a lover of music, and I think that Jackson truly was the master of his craft!
My favourite song of his (and one of my all-time favourites) has to be ‘Beat It’:
So many of my memories include Jacko songs, especially some great nights out back in the Village in Manchester – with most of them revolving around this song.
Back in the day when I was at college and all of my friends were getting into thrash metal, and I wasn’t(!), they used to tease me that the music that I listened to was manufactured rubbish (in fairness, at the time, it largely was heh!). However the next day, I came in and put on ‘Beat It’ and we all rocked out to Van Halen’s guitar riff, danced around the common room and agreed that even though Jacko wasn’t thrash metal, he certainly was very, very cool!
I really don’t think his success will ever be matched, and I would say that I think we’ve genuinely lost *the* biggest star that we will ever produce in our generation. Through his music, and the decades/generations to follow, I am sure he will live on. Certainly, when I am old and half-dead, you can bet I’ll still be skipping along paving stones to ‘Billy Jean’ and contemplating how I can fit ‘Thriller’ and myself as a zombie into my funeral to give everyone a fright heh.
“Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world.
Through it — my music, I know I will live forever.” Michael Jackson.
For those unable to see the above vimeo clip, please click to http://vimeo.com/darkaeon to view the clip in your browser.
Despite trying my hardest, I waffled quite a bit and tried a number of different ‘takes’ before I got tired of repeating myself and went to make some lunch – this one was the best of a (very) bad bunch heh.
This clip has also been submitted for consideration as part of the below:
This year’s London Pride parade takes place on Saturday July 4th 2009 – with the theme “Come out to play”.
HOMOVISION is working with Pride to produce a number of short videos about people’s coming out stories which will be featured on the site. A selection will also be shown on the screens at Trafalgar Square on Pride Day.
So if you’ve got a coming out story to tell – whether it’s a horror story, comedy knockers or just plain inspirational – and want to be part of this Pride project, let us know.
