Hamilton: Alexander yes

Washington: Son no

Hamilton: Notyourson yes

Company: SAY NO

“Well Scene” and “The Bargain”/ “Waltz of Treachery,” Broadway, 2001. Nick Wyman as Thénardier, Betsy Joslyn as Mme. Thénardier, Ivan Rutherford as Jean Valjean, Christiana Anbri as Young Cosette.

The uneven camerawork and partially blocked view is especially unfortunate here, as repeatedly we hear the audience laughing at stage business from the Thénardiers that we can’t see. But the sound quality is just fine and we see enough to know that this is a good performance.

Nick and Betsy earn all the laughs they get, with their craftly little gestures to each other, their facades as kind and tender-hearted foster parents, Mme. T’s fake sobbing over Fantine’s death and obvious improvising on “If... she hadn’t... so often been... ill!”, and their cackling and fighting over the money in the end. Of course that’s mostly standard Thénardier business, but they do it well.

Chanhassen Dinner Theaters, located in a suburb of Minneapolis, said the play was called off in a statement earlier this week, noting that the mostly white cast was not in lineContinue reading

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