In the venue the pit space was HUGE. The first row, where Ro and I sat, was literally like 8 rows away from the stage. It was sooo far away. The show was, eh. I was not impressed by anyone really. Not that I am biased but Randal really was the best thing on that stage. The male ensemble was pretty good. The female ensemble was eh. They don�t do much, but they did NOTHING with the little they do do. Fantine (Tonya Dixon), well, she was prob the best Fantine I�ve seen so far, but she was rather big for a Fantine. Although I didn�t notice her getting sick, or being sick, until she was being arrested by Javert and saved by JVJ. I�ve heard only rav revues about Eponine (Ma-Anne Dionisio), but she did not do it for me. I know it was hard, being used to Diana Karina�s Epoinine, b/c Ma-Anne played her like completely opposite. And with her choice, Ma-Anne never strayed and was completely believable, so although I didn�t enjoy her choice of character, I enjoyed her performance. Her voice was nice, but it didn�t fill the room. Eponine�s voice should fill your soul when she sings On My Own. Hers didn�t. Javert (James Clow), was interesting. Sometimes I really liked, sometimes I didn�t. I don�t think his character seemed �disciplined� enough. I feel like Javert should be, I guess, stiffer. Don�t know if that is exactly the word I�m looking for, but it just wasn�t �right� for me. And he always stands with his knees slightly bent with his hips sticking forward a bit, and I know it petty, but it annoyed the CRAP out of me. LOL. Although when I did meet him at the SD he is HOT and very very nice. I might have a little bit of a crush even�LOL. I did not enjoy how they took most of the comedy out of the Thenardier�s and made them more �serious�. Those scenes lacked so much. Mdme T (Cindy Benson) bored me. And I have to say, I like a big fat Mdme T. Gluttony and greed. We got to see the u/s for M T (which was James Chip Leonard) which made me happy in a way b/c I loved him as the Bishop on Bdwy. He did a great job as T. But still, same complaint�too serious and boring. Young Cossette (I think we saw Erika Kiyomi Johnson) couldn�t really sing, but she was so cute and waiflike and a good little actress, that the voice part didn�t really matter so much. Older Cossette (Amanda Huddleston) was okay. I liked her character a lot. She actually gave the character a little life, which was nice to see. Her voice was very pretty, but I prefer the more operatic/lyric sound in Cossette so as to be a complete contrast to Eponine. Marius (Josh Young) was okay. I didn�t really care for him one way or the other. I did not like the Enjolras (John-Andrew Clark) at all. He had one expression and one emotion. He was so boring and there was no light in his eyes when he got excited. Once again, I am probably spoiled from Christopher Mark Peterson on Bdwy.

After the show we found the stage door and Jenn, Ro and I were the only 3 people there (except for 2 guys who were waiting for James Clow). Randal came out and chatted with us for like 20 mintues. Its funny, I think that�ll have nothing to say to him and then I see him and we don�t shut up. LOL. Then James came over and we all chatted for like 10 minutes more. I got 3 Randal hugs! (although one was for Barb) Woo hoo. The first one was so cute � it was like friends who hadn�t seen each other in so long. Then we all said goodnight (sad part) and drove home. Rachelle and I missed our turn and lost like 20 min, but still made it home in good time.

So needless to say, Jenn and I are looking into Boston.

I heart Randal.