Writing Feedback / Concert Report for Les Miserables at Ellen Eccles Theater [3]

Les Miserables
I went to Les Miserables, the high school edition, at the Ellen Eccles Theater on September 15, 2012. It was the last night for the performance and I think the students did a phenomenal job.

In the beginning, I heard a small orchestra in the pit that contained of a piano, violin, cello, flute, bass, clarinet and percussion. The music was singing accompanied by the small orchestra. The singing was mostly solo with occasional chorus and this continued throughout the entire performance. The overall performance had good text painting. When the person acting was supposed to be sad, the music was sad and when the group was supposed to be happy and energetic, the music was happy and energetic.

The music had a lot of fragmentation. Throughout the whole performance in most of the songs there were pieces of the "main" songs, like "One Day More". There was also a lot of repetition in the melodies depending on the person. For example, even though Javert sang different words and similar, but different, music every time he sang, I could still tell it was him because of the basic melodic repetition.

Mostly, everything was homophonic. There were some parts that were polyphonic like when Enjolras, Marius, and the students sang "Red and Black". There were snippets of monophony, but they were small because the orchestra was accompanying. The texture of the music was both major and minor throughout the piece.

I thoroughly enjoyed the performance because there was such a good use of dynamics in the music that made me feel the emotions that they were trying to convey. I was sad when the music was sad and I was happy when the music was happy. The dynamics also helped me to understand what was going on, because even when I couldn't understand what they were saying, I still knew what was happening depending on whether the music was loud or soft, or fast or slow. I really liked when the poor and the factory workers sang "At the End of the Day" because I really enjoyed the harmonizing.

In the finale the chorus sang "One Day More.". I thought it was really well done other than the fact that I thought it dragged on a little bit towards the end. The dynamics were loud and mostly polyphonic. The lead performers of the musical sang their solos while the chorus sang "One Day More." The end was harmonious, loud, and powerful; very good ending to a fantastic performance.