Nine Hundred and Forty-Five Hard to Ignore

"An irresistible play! Great script, great actors! Renly Hall's performance made every minute of the production a treat, six hours is too short. Bold and brave, Delicate and profound, brilliant and grand, this is a show no one should miss."

As a top player in the industry, Alistair Smith's authority needs no words.

On the "Stage" newspaper, Alistair first made a short comment in concise language, published it on the front page of the headline, commenting on this high-profile work; On the comment page, a detailed drama commentary of nearly 3,000 words was published, expressing his love and admiration eloquently.

Any reader familiar with Alistair can deeply feel that the critic's ecstasy and engagement are really long gone, even in "Matilda" and "Jump Out of Me" in the past few years. "Heaven and Earth", has not been able to make Alistair so gaffe; let alone other drama critics in the industry?

Different from the film scoring system, the West End drama critics use a five-star rating system, and "Matilda" and "Out of My World" both received four and a half stars in Alistair's writings. Recommended; and this time the Almeida Theater version of "Les Miserables" won a five-star recommendation.

This is the only five-star Alistair since the new century.

Not on the newspapers, but when Alistair was chatting with fellow drama critics, he said, "If possible, I would give five and a half stars, and the extra half star is given to Renly. -Hall's. The only regret is that the other actors in the work still need time to be polished. Tom Holland, Charlotte Kennedy and Michelle Dockery's performances are very good, but the performance of the blue In comparison, they still look inferior."

It is the job of drama critics to strive for perfection, even to nit-picking, and they need to criticize a play in every way. There is no such thing as perfection in this world, even more so in stage plays. The level and status of different performances of the same play may be different. Every performance is challenging perfection, and every performance is beyond the previous perfection.

With just this review by Alistair, the Almeida version of "Les Miserables" has already laid the foundation for its success. In the theater circle, authoritative critics have such appeal; not to mention, This time, besides Alistair, there are not a few drama critics who agree.

Nick Morris, who has written drama reviews for The Times for many years and occasionally writes for The Stage, is another authoritative drama critic in the industry, known for his sharp style.

"Six hours, it's really long, it's like a century, so those impatient audiences, or those who want to pretend to be with a female companion, can stay away from the Almeida Theater, you will hate this for the show,

It doesn't even give you time to sleep.

If I list the flaws, I could list hundreds of them and advise every viewer to stay away from the show.

I know the artistic pursuit of John Codd, the desire to represent the era of Victor Hugo, to recreate that history, that society, those missions; but, Jesus Christ, it is now the twenty-first century , who cares about such an old story? Audiences can't stand even a two-hour art film. Who wants to sit in a dark theater for six hours?

I also know about John Codd's artistic processing. He really captured the essence of the original work and really showed the magnificent society. However, this is too dull and boring. Codd seems to have lost his ability to interpret and is just refining The original, without its own opinions and opinions, is even worse than Cameron McIntosh.

Look, flaws, flaws, flaws. This is art. Every art has a different way of interpretation. Every reader and every audience can interpret their own things in their minds. This is the greatest thing about art. So, is Almeida's version of 'Les Miserables' really that bad?

No, the opposite is true, and I think this is the best work of the millennium in the West End. none of them.

Renly Hall, this is the answer.

The twenty-two-year-old actor is a genius. He seems to be born for this stage, standing on the stage, every move, every frown and smile is natural, everything is so natural, contains huge energy, through the skin and body, really let the soul feel to shock.

Playing the role of Jean Valjean, from his youth to his old age, Hall's performance is easy and complete. Wonderful, that's the only interjection. Sure, several of Hall's monologues are at the top of the West End, but my personal favorite is a transition scene with no lines.

Towards the end of the whole play, the play reached a moment of sublimation and depth. Hall only used one stand up, one advance, and one pause, and the flowing performance extracted the weight of the whole work. The actor's performance is full of spirituality and heaviness, without any sculpting, but at the same time, it is so beautiful and dazzling.

God, I really like this actor.

Since the death of Laurence-Oliver, for many years, we have not found such a talented actor, lines, singing, body, body, expression, and even eyes, the kind of soul that bursts out from the inside out. Energy is addicting.

How many reasons do you need to like a show? For me, only one is needed. "

In his long comment, Nick gave all the praise without hesitation, and continued his usual tricky and harsh style, clearly stated his personal feelings and attitudes, and what is more interesting is that , in terms of ratings, he also gave the highest five-star rating——

Even in his longer career, Nick's five-star reviews are few and far between. However, this is not unusual, because in the comments, he has compared Renly to Lawrence Oliver.

Lawrence Oliver, the greatest Shakespeare actor in British history, is not one of them.

For Shakespeare's plays and his understanding and control of stage performances, Lawrence can be regarded as the pinnacle and a well-deserved legend. He has been in the West End of London for nearly 60 years. Later, he also entered the film field. Not only did he gain a lot of recognition above the Oscars; The performance is loved by the ****, and has been awarded three different titles of knights - the highest title has reached the baron level to express his respect.

By the way, George Hall is a baronial title.

In 1984, the highest award for British dramas and musicals was named the "Oliver Award" to honor the legendary star's status in film history; now, the British Oliver Award and the American Tony Award are tied together as the highest award in the drama industry, with a high status. Even more than the Oscars are in the film field.

Also, after Lawrence's death in 1989, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Now Nick has brought up Lawrence Oliver in his own review. Any language becomes pale, just this analogy is enough to see Nick's admiration and love.

But, this is Nick. Hate to the extreme, love to the extreme, always so ups and downs, not worried at all about the possibility of blackmailing himself and Renly.

On The Times, Nick also wrote a short review, "Unforgettable actors, feel the ultimate shock of the performance! Excellent viewing experience! God, what are you waiting for?"

The succinct words have a hint of ridicule and excitement. Familiar people can even describe Nick's roaring excited face in their minds, as if they are widening their eyes and shouting in surprise and excitement, "What are you waiting for?"

From Alistair Smith to Nick Morris, these two authoritative drama critics in the industry started from two different audience levels and spread the excellent reputation of "Les Miserables" in the first time.

Relatively speaking, the influence of "stage" newspapers is more limited to real professionals, and only stage drama lovers and art practitioners will subscribe and pay attention. However, although the audience is relatively narrow and the sales volume is not high, the circulation rate is very deep. According to the survey, after each newspaper is sold, it will be circulated in the hands of at least six audiences——

To put it simply, a drama lover bought today's "stage", and at afternoon tea, after reading it, his friends would also bring it over to read it. That number is at least six.

It can be seen that the depth of influence of the "stage" is incomparable.

The Times, on the other hand, has a wider reach, and for most of the general audience, it is one of those newspapers that must be read every morning, on the subway, at the office, at breakfast, and so on. They may just be habitually flipping through the newspapers and reading the reviews of the latest drama and getting attention.

In other words, The Times' reach is second to none.

But when the two parts of the audience cross influence, the influence of two authoritative figures, Alistair and Nick, is further revealed, and the mighty begins to unfold.

At the same time, in addition to "Stage" and "The Times", other drama critics have also sent their professional comments for the first time, in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet; With the audience who participated in the premiere, the mere 350 tickets were precious. At this moment, it was finally time to pay back——

The audience who lined up all night to grab tickets at the beginning were not only the first audience to watch the show, but also became a minority of opinion leaders on the Internet:

They were able to answer questions from other netizens, "Is the work really as good as Alistair Smith and Nick Morris say?" "What kind of experience is it to watch the show at close range? "Did Renly Hall really give top performances again?"

Answer: Yes.