āWell Sceneā/āWaltz of Treachery,ā Broadway, 2007. Drew Sarich as Jean Valjean, Chip Zien as ThĆ©nardier, Becca Ayers as Mme. ThĆ©nardier, unknown Young Cosette (possibly Kaylie Rubinaccio).
I remember seeing this very cast (albeit with the regular Mme. ThƩnardier, Ann Harada) within the same month that this was filmed.
Drew Sarich does look and sound a bit young for Valjean and his voice is very different from the classic Colm Wilkinson model. (I still remember going across the street to Sardiās after seeing the show and the bartender laughing when he overhead me say that Drewās voice was āa little too Jesus Christ Superstarā for the role.) But itās still a beautiful voice and he does a good job in this scene, as a Valjean who knows heās being conned but has to play along for Cosetteās sake. I like the way he stealthily whispers āLet us seek out some friendlier skyā to Cosette. And (backtracking a little), speaking of Jesus Christ, he looks quite a bit like the traditional image of Jesus: not unfitting for a character whose name essentially means āEcce homo.ā
Of all the times I know of when a ānameā actor has been cast as ThĆ©nardier, I think Chip Zienās casting was one of the more successful. He strikes an excellent balance between funny and slimy: slightly larger than life, but not obnoxious... or rather, obnoxious, but in an in-character way. I like the fact that even though his wife is such an imposing, feisty lady about a foot taller than he is, heās still clearly āthe brains of the outfit,ā gesturing to tell her when to cry, when to stop crying, when to stop lamenting about Cosetteās expensive medicine so as not to sound begrudging, etc. It feels very true to the book, more so than other productions (and the 2012 movie) where ThĆ©nardier is more of a doofus and his wife becomes the one who wears the pants.
I canāt wait to revisit more scenes from this performance. It was definitely one of the best Les Mis casts Iāve seen live.
