Les Misérables review - part 2

On the whole, the cast were outstanding. Gareth Gates was surprisingly good as Marius, managing to make me completely forget the boy-band image from Pop Idol days for the whole time he was on stage. John Owen-Jones as Valjean and Earl Carpenter as Javert both gave powerful performances. The only disappointing performance came from Rosalind James in the role of Éponine – her toe-curlingly exaggerated dying groans during A Little Fall Of Rain led me to wonder if she had trained at the School of Coarse Acting. Instead of being moving, her character’s demise filled me with a sense of relief.