#Mark Roy Luykx

[a-heart-full-of-dumb]

I just need to talk about the dynamic between Grantaire and Enjolras in the Dutch tour I saw yesterday cause holy shit it was good

I saw an understudy for Grantaire (Leon de Graaf) and the main actor for Enjolras (Mark Roy Luykx) so I am not sure if this dynamic is different with the main actor for Grantaire.

The moment we get introduced to Grantaire in red and black he's sitting at a table in the corner, already very clearly very drunk. He's joking with Bossuet, already making a mockery of the whole revolution while also desperately glancing at Enjolras.

The moment Marius comes in and starts rambling about love, Grantaire perks up, sensing there's something he can go along with to maybe get Enjolras's attention (but also cause 'finally something interesting happens' as he's definitely still a bit of an asshole at this point) and full on throws himself into Marius's arms and plants himself on his lap while Enjolras is staring daggers into his back. During the end of Grantaire's solo as his bottle gets thrown around the backroom, Enjolras catches it and Grantaire nearly stumbles over his feet coming to a stop in front of him. The look on Grantaire's face omg. I genuinely expected cartoon heart eyes to pop out if his. The man definitely admired, loved, and venerated Enjolras. During Enjolras's scolding speech to Marius, Grantaire makes a very big mockery of it, jokingly marching around the room, making funny faces, etc. But when he notices Enjolras doesn't notice it, he sits back down.

He keeps drinking and mocking and laughing loudly at everything during the remainder of the song until the point where Gavroche comes in with the news that General Lamarque had died. The moment Enjolras starts about how they will rise on the funeral day, Grantaire drops his mockery and just panics. The fear and sadness in his eyes as he looked at Enjolras omg. Enjolras, again, doesn't notice.

From this point on, Grantaire seemingly only uses his mockery as a mask and a way to get Enjolras's attention.

At the start of act 2, after the dogs will bark flees will bite part, Enjolras hands Grantaire a rifle. Grantaire gives Enjolras a surprised look and then looks at the rifle like he had never seen one before. He shakes his head, hands the rifle to one of the woman on the barricade and storms off stage. (Immediately followed by a worried looking Bossuet.) Enjolras doesn't see this either. Nor does he notice Grantaire's spiraling from that point on. All he sees is the mockery, the laughing, the pointing, he just hears how loud Grantaire will laugh at his statements. This is what Grantaire seemingly wanted him to see too.

Then drink with me happens. At the end of their solo's, Feuilly, Jehan and Joly are standing next to each other as Grantaire pushes himself through them, laughing and exclaiming loudly "drink with me!" The others laugh as well, being used to this behaviour from Grantaire. At first Enjolras just shoots a glance into his direction, but the moment Grantaire goes onto his next line, Enjolras keeps an eye on him as if intrigued by what might happen. The moment Grantaire mentions death he nearly starts a fight and sends Joly into another panic attack. Enjolras decides that that's his que to come in and climbs down the barricade.

He stops maybe a few metres in front of Grantaire, but he doesn't look mad. The expression on Enjolras's face was kind and soft and concerned. This seems to be the first time Enjolras really sees Grantaire without the mockery. He's now standing in front of an emotional and terrified man. Enjolras starts to say something (the audience doesn't hear what) but Grantaire cuts him off. Enjolras goes to pull Grantaire into a hug, but Grantaire pushes him away. Enjolras tries again, Grantaire pushes him away again and storms past him. He leans against a wall at the side of the stage, his back turned to the others and sobs. Enjolras stares at his back for a few seconds, looking sad himself before going back to the barricade. Gavroche had run after Grantaire and pulled the man into a hug as Grantaire kept sobbing.

Grantaire continues to spiral even harder from that moment on. Completely collapsing after the death of Gavroche and I genuinely thought he was gonna drink himself to oblivion.

Then the final battle happens. Grantaire starts it the same way he went trough all the battles so far, slumped in a corner, drinking heavily. When Marius gets shot however and falls to the ground both Grantaire and Enjolras run over to him. After checking Marius's pulse Enjolras stands up to go back to the barricade, but Grantaire just clutches and clings to him and pulls him back down. Enjolras frees himself from Grantaire's grasp and holds Grantaire's face with both hands. Grantaire says something to him we can't hear as an audience, looking completely desperate. Enjolras says something back. Again we don't hear what.

Enjolras goes back to the barricade but instead of following him, Grantaire does the only thing he can think of. He reaches for his bottle. Looking determined to drink himself to death. After one sip however, he changes his mind and rushes back to the barricade, ready to follow Enjolras this time. But he gets pushed back by the other amis. They won't allow him onto the barricade and its as if they're trying to get him to leave this place and safe himself. So Grantaire has to helplessly watch how Enjolras gets shot and killed. Grantaire is looking completely overwhelmed and desperate and sad and like he doesnt know what to do with himself anymore. However something changes in Grantaire as he sees Enjolras die. He freezes up for a few seconds, before standing up straighter than he'd done before, determined he pushes back the last remaining amis, who are still trying to get him to leave and starts climbing the barricade as the last of the students get shot. Looking more steady, determined and sober than he had done the entire musical, he reaches the top of the barricade, spreads his arms and gets shot.

[anastasiamusicalupdates]

Mathias Edenborn as Gleb, Judith Caspari as Anya, and Mark Roy Luykx as Dmitry.

mathiasedenborn: Nothing’s gonna harm you,not while i’m around! #mathiasedenborn #anastasia #dimitri #gleb #anastasiadasmusical #stuttgart #palladiumtheater #don’thurtourprincessgenossin #tuesdaypicoftheday

July 2, 2019

[ilovetheater-nl]

Les Misérables, spectaculair goed

In Koninklijk theater Carré was op zondagmiddag 5 maart de première van de vernieuwde versie van Les Misérables van De Graaf & Cornelissen Entertainment en van Lambaart Entertainment. De langstlopende musical ooit, Les Misérables, speelt sinds 18 december in een nieuw versie op West End. En vanaf nu is deze bijzondere versie in Nederland te zien. De musical gaat over vriendschap, liefde en…

[christinealtomare]

Curtain call for the Stuttgart production of “Anastasia” (Sept. 21, 2019 - x).

[nanasalt]

I believe Mark said he’s covering both Dmitry and Gleb for the put in? Which is both impressive on his part and an example of what makes understudies the real MVPs, but also a beautiful example of how truly, perfectly, wonderfully integrated this show is because I can only think of two scenes where that would actually cause issues.

I want to imagine him having to “pop” characters in Rumor and the Finale. I know that’s not how it went, but the mental image is killing me.

[anastasiamusicalfan]

Anastasia das Musical Understudies:

Anya/Anja: Alexandra-Yoana Alexandrova & Annakathrin Naderer

Lily: Carmen Danen & Susanna Panzner

Zarenmutter: Susanna Panzner & Katja Hentschel

Dmitry/Dimitri: Fabian Kaiser & Mark Roy Luykx

Gleb: Mark Roy Luykx & Kirill Zolygin

Vlad/Wlad: Jon Geoffrey Goldsworthy & Pieter Tredoux

[milanvanwaardenburg]

Today (19/01/2019) will mark the first time Annakathrin Naderer and Mark Roy Luykx take up the role of Anya and Dmitry together (credit: Annakathrin Naderer’s Instagram Story)!

[marleneoftheopera]

1400 Followers Audio Gifts!

To thank you all for following me, being so wonderful, and just surviving a pandemic, here are some gifts from me!

I know I originally said I was going to do 10, but I got a good amount of requests and wanted to add in a few extra favorite audios of mine too. So you get 20! Sorry if I did not post your request; there were many!

If any need to be taken down, do let me know!

Here is the link to all of the audios, cast info is below!

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/a3xda9hu7mu3u/Gifts

The Phantom of the Opera

Michael Crawford, Rebecca Caine, Steve Barton October 10, 1987; London Listed as being Michael Crawford and Steve Barton's last before heading to New York to start rehearsals for Broadway. Beautiful soundboard audio. This is the complete version; there has previously been an incomplete one traded out. 

Eiji Akutagawa, Kyoko Suzuki, Kanji Ishimaru September 22, 1991; Osaka Always here for Japanese love.

Hans Peter Janssens, Susanne Duwe, Michael Shawn Lewis, An Lauwreins, William Lynn Dixon, Marc Meersman, Arnst van Looy, Stephanie Tscheppe June 2, 2000; Antwerp, Belgium Final show in Belgium. Very nice cast all around.

Hugh Panaro, Adrienne McEwan, John Cudia, Patricia Phillips, Jeff Keller, George Lee Andrews, Marilyn Caskey, Larry Wayne Morbitt, Heather McFadden June 16, 2003; Broadway Hugh in his second Broadway run. Adrienne has become a favorite of mine and I think she never gets the credit she deserves, especially having been in the show for so long.

Hugh Panaro, Susan Owen (u/s), Kyle Barisich February 20, 2012; Broadway A lovely audio. Susan has such a sweet, light quality to her voice.

Hugh Panaro, Samantha Hill, Kyle Barisich, Michele McConnell, Greg Mills (u/s), Tim Jerome, Nathan Patrick Morgan (u/s), Carly Blake Sebouhian (u/s) April 6, 2013; Broadway More Hugh. You can never have enough Hugh.

Peter Joback, Emmi Christensson, Anton Zetterholm, Karolina Andresson, Glenn Kjellberg, Rolf Lydhal, Sindre Postholm, Sanna Martin, Tehilla Blad, David Ingham, Samuel Jarrick, Martin Kagemark, John Martin Bengtsson February 1, 2017; Stockholm I loved this production so much.

Ben Forster, Celinde Schoenmaker, Nadim Naaman, Charlotte Vaughan (u/s, last Carlotta show), Sion Lloyd, Mark Oxtoby, Paul Ettore Tabone, Joanna Strand (u/s, last Madame Giry show), Daisy Hulbert August 31, 2017; London A few days before cast change. One of my favorite audios as of late.

Fred Johanson, Hanna Liina Vosa, John Martin Bengtsson, Hanna Leena Haapamaki, Dardan Bakraqi, David Lundqvist, Anders Wangdhal, Lana Zuzic, Gisela Sjostedt, Lars Hijertner, Marco Stella, Tobja Halsell, Peter Loguin January 26, 2018; Gotheborg From the non-replica production. With John as Raoul this time!

Scott Davies, Kelly Mathieson, Jeremy Taylor, Lara Martins, Sean Lloyd, Mark Oxtoby, Jacinta Mulcahy May 31, 2018; London This is labeled as having Ben Lewis, but if you listen it’s really Scott.

Tomas Ambt Kofod, Sibylle Glosted, Christian Lund, Martin Loft (u/s), Monsieur André, Anna Vaupel (u/s), Rasmus Jupin, Elisabeth Halling, Imogen-Lily Ash, Jesper Paasch, Kim Hammelsvang, Paul Frederiksen, Paul Frederiksen (u/s), Mia Karlsson (u/s) February 13, 2019; Copenhagen Compared to other audios, you can tell that Sibylle has really settled in the role and improved wonderfully. She sounds absolutely divine. An absolutely gorgeous cast.

Jonathan Roxmouth, Meghan Picerno, Matt Leisy September 3, 2019; Tel Aviv One of Meghan's last shows on the World Tour before she joined the Broadway company. Jonathan and Meghan sound particularly stunning on here, they keep getting better which is insane because they are already so good.

Tim Howar, Amy Manford (alt), Jeremy Taylor, Ross Dawes, Alan Vicary, Kimberly Blake, Paul Ettore Tabone, Jacinta Mulcahy, Georgia Ware September 7, 2019; London Amy Manford's last show, the last matinee for the 2018/19 cast. Just to be clear, this audio is different from the other that is NFT. Pretty nice quality too!

Love Never Dies

Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen, Niahm Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid-Quarrell June 2, 2010; London A gift for all my Rierra/LND London fans out there.

Tomas Ambt Kofod, Louise Fribo, Christian Berg, Oscar Diez January 18, 2013; Copenhagen, Denmark This is an overlooked and gorgeous production. Also, after 'Love Never Dies' someone in the audience shouts "wow" and I think that captures it perfectly.

Evita

Emma Kingston (Eva), Ramin Karimloo (Che), Robert Finlayson (Peron), Anton Luiting (Magaldi), Isabella Jane (Mistress) July 4, 2018; Tokyo Emma as Eva and Ramin as Che. Some great casting there.

Anastasia

Annakathrin Naderer (u/s Anya), Thomas Hohler (Dimitry), Thorsten Tinney (Vlad), Mark Roy Luykx (u/s Gleb), Theresa Holter (Young Anastasia), Patricia Nessy (Lily Malevsky-Malevitch), Masha Karrell (Dowager Empress Maria), Katja Hentschel (u/s Tsarina Alexandra), Kirill Zolygin (Tsar Nicholas II/Count Ipolitov), Helena Thordal Christenson (Olga Romanov), Alexandra Yoana-Alexandrovna (u/s Tatiana Romanov/Dunya), Laura Robinson (u/s Maria Romanov/Marfa), Mariana Hidemi (Anastasia, age 17/Paulina) August 10, 2019; Stuttgart I have yet to listen to this one yet, but I always love spreading love for foreign productions of shows.

Les Miserables

Kyle Jean-Baptiste (u/s Valjean), Earl Carpenter (Javert), Erika Henningsen (Fantine), Chris McCarrell (Marius), Samantha Hill (Cosette), Brennyn Lark (Eponine), Max Quinlan (u/s Enjolras), Gavin Lee (Monsieur Thenardier), and Rachel Izen (Madame Thenardier) August 13, 2015; Broadway A really great cast and Kyle deserves to be heard. He was brilliant and it is such a shame he passed so early on in his life.

John Owen-Jones (Jean Valjean), Michael Ball (Javert), Carrie Hope Fletcher (Fantine), Matt Lucas (Thenardier), Katy Secombe (Thenardier), Bradley Jaden (Enjolras), Craig Mather (Marius u/s), Shan Ako (Eponine), Lily Kerhoas (Cosette) Earl Carpenter (Bishop/Bamatabois) October 16, 2019; Staged Concert, Gielguld Theatre Gorgeous.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Sheridan Smith (Narrator), Jason Donovan (Pharaoh), Jac Yarrow (Joseph), Femi Akinfolarin (Brother), Casey  Al-Shaqsy (Wife), J.R. Ballantyne (Brother), Thalia Burt (Wife), Richard Carson (Reuben), Michael Cortez (Guard), Vanessa Fisher (Wife), Matt Krzan (Guard), Kelsie-Rae Marshall (Wife), Emily Ann Potter (Wife), Georgina Parkinson (Wife), Michael Pickering (Simeon), Harriet Samuel-Gray (Wife), Carl Spencer (Brother), Joshua Steel (Brother), Jack Wilcox (Brother), Blythe Jandoo (s/w Wife), Hannah Taylor (s/w Wife) July 17, 2019; London Jason coming back to the show as Pharaoh this time!

[hergrandplan]

Rank Dima’s?

DIMA RANKING YES LET’S FUCKING GO

(will only include Dima’s I have seen/heard bc unfair to rank people I have heard nothing about)

1. Milan van Waardenburg. Hope this doesn’t surprise anyone, otherwise??? where have you been okay. Yeah, Milan is just such a young Dima, really plays the role with a spunk and his voice is >>>>>>>>

2. Derek Klena. Got to hand it to the OBC, they really set the bar high with that one, and Derek could not have been cast more perfectly.

4. Kyle Brown. He’s probably my favourite Dima understudy ever. Might have to do with the tanktop. But also his voice is just so warm and soothing and i love him.

5. Zach Adkins. I love him. Used to hate him, but now i just love him so much. He’s a bit more feisty than other Dimas, and also I saw him live so -. No but really, he may not be the best but his voice is lovely and idk i just love him

6. People are gonna *shoot* me for this but…… Cody Simpson. He’s def not the best Dima but I’m giving him points for improvement over time. 

7. Stephen Brower. Quite possibly my least favourite Dima. He just doesn’t appeal to me and neither his acting or singing makes up for anything. 

Honorary mentions aka people I have heard but not enough to form a solid opinion on them: Colby Dezelick, Matt Rosell, Mark Roy Luykx, Iñigo Etayo

[christinealtomare]

photodoux: @markroyl and @judith.caspari #backstage @anastasiadasmusical #backstagephotography #costumes #musical #anastasia

[a-heart-full-of-dumb]

So I said I'd give an update after I went to see them, but never did so here I am doing that now. Same order + Marius

Valjean: Okay so Milan was amazing, but my age issue was valid. He did look very young even when Valjean was already supposed to be an old man. The only moment where I went oh yes old man was during the finale. Acting and singing wise he was absolutely amazing though.

Javert: 10/10 as expected. Freek Bartels did not let me down. He did such an amazing job and was the perfect amount of unhinged and wndhsjbsbs.

Enjolras: Mark Roy Luykx, I am so sorry I was so mean, you did great. He really had such brick!Enjolras vibes and his interactions with the other amis were just so good. Sure, there were definitely moments where I would have loved to see some more stage presence and fire, but it was already so much better than in those early clips. And considering I did see it less than a week after the premiere, I have confidence he's grown into the role even more since.

Éponine: She's played by Vajen van den Bosch, she was great. She made me cry. She was amazing.

Cosette: Now I did not get to see Sem Gerritsma as Cosette when I went to see the show, but from some filmed les mis performances the cast has done, she looks like she's an amazing Cosette. Plus she's been close friends with our Marius actor for years so they have a lot chemistry together. Something the U/S lacked with Marius.

Fantine: Channah Hewitt did better than I expected ngl. She made me cry. However she did sound more poppy in some places than I'm used to. I was not as bothered by it as I had expected to be when I saw it on stage, but it's not my favourite rendition. Other than that, she did great.

Madame Thénardier: Oh yeah, she was great. Her acting choices were amazing too.

Now, in the last post I went on a whole rant about why Marius had not been cast yet despite all the other main cast members had already been cast. Well for some reason they decided to make a bigger thing out of it with a whole "who will be Marius??" post before the reveal, so let's talk about him.

Marius: Michael Muyderman might very well go on my list of favourite Marius's. Maybe I'm biased cause he's the one I saw live, but holy shit he was amazing. Despite brick!Marius being quite different from musical!Marius, he still managed to have some brick energy and he was the right amount of socially awkward and so in love and just so Marius, I don't even know how else to describe it. He was just so good.

I already made an entire post about Grantaire (though that was based more on his dynamic with Enjolras so I might make a separate post for him anyway), but if you want to know my opinion about any of the other characters or actors let me know :)

I have a lot of feelings about the casting for the new Dutch Les Mis production next year. Or well at least about my first impressions about those who are already casted. So imma make a post about it whether you like it or not.

The new Dutch production is just as in the West End the new production and apparently Mackintosh was very closely involved (hurray /s)

Let's start with Valjean: honestly my first impression of the actor was "Oh he'd make a great Dmitri in Anastasia." (Turned out he did play Dmitri in the Dutch run of Anastasia so I was right about that.) I don't know his voice well enough to say anything about whether he can sing Valjean's songs and I am not sure if he's classically trained. But he does have a pretty good voice from what I could find so far. My main issue is though, that he looks younger than Enjolras. This is more an issue with the Enjolras casting but I'll touch onto that later. I'd have to see him in costume before I can make any final judgements about him looking young being an issue, but it's a bit worrying. He's reading the brick though

Javert: honestly this is a casting I'm exited for. Freek Bartels was a pretty great Enjolras during the Dutch 2008 run and I feel like he would make a great Javert too. At first I wasn't too sure if he could get the unhinged vibes Javert has, but now I think about it more, I am pretty sure he can and will. He has been in a lot of shows including several classic shows and, like I mentioned, Les Mis before. So Freek, don't let me down

Enjolras: where do I even start.. not to say that Enjolras has to he played by the hottest actors out there, but Enjolras is supposed to have a certain charm around him. This actor has none of that. He's the most generic looking man I have ever seen (absolutely no offence), he looks honestly a bit too old and from the few clips of him I could find, it didn't look like he has the most stage presence, which I think is quite an important thing for Enjolras to have. You have to believe everyone wants to follow this man, you have to believe and understand why Grantaire looks up to this man so much. You have to believe him in his role and in his passion. Maybe Mark (the actor) will end up surprising me, but I don't have much hope. However, credit where credit is due, he does have a pretty good voice and looking at where he studied and his former roles he is probably classically trained or at least has been in several classical musicals before. So at least he can bring the opera sound to the performance that it's supposed to have.

Éponine: this is a casting that doesn't suprise me. A few days before I knew they were gonna bring Les Mis back I was literally thinking about how, if they were gonna bring les mis back, Vajèn van den Bosch would be cast as either Éponine or Cosette. This is mostly because she's Vajèn cause she's just kinda everywhere, but also because she is a very good actress and singer. She has been in several classical musicals and she absolutely has the voice for the role of Éponine.

Cosette: I am pretty sure the actress just graduated. And this seems to be her first big musical so all I can say is that I'm exited for her. I am sure she'll do great.

Fantine: ah yes, Channah. I've seen her in a show before as older Nala in the Lion King. This was a long time ago though and I don't remeber much of her performance. The only other role I could find was that she apparently played Tina in the German run of the Tina Turner musical and that she makes (Christian) pop music now. Honestly she can sing, but I am really worried she's just gonna sound like a popsinger instead of bringing the classical sound she's supposed to have in the role.

And last for now, Madame Thénardier: apparently Mackintosh was insanely enthusiastic about her casting but idk if that's even good anymore. Personally I don't know her and I could find that many clips of her so all I can say is that she looks very similar to most actresses cast in this role.

I am still confused about the fact that they already casted Madame Thénardier but not Marius?? Nor Thénardier himself?? There was this "les mis in a nutshell" thing the new cast did, and obviously Marius was mentioned several times. However, because there was no actor playing Marius yet, he couldn't give his side of the story so if you didn't know anything about the show you have absolutely no idea who this random Marius dude they're talking about is.

They also keep saying they've casted all the main characters, but then where's Marius?? Is Madame Thénardier a main character? And not her husband who has more to do? I am confused.

[christinealtomare]

pietertredoux: I am so proud of being part of the #cast of @anastasiadasmusical , winner of @officialbroadwayworld ‘s #regionalawards2019 #bestmusicaloftheyearcommercial, and @judith.caspari , our #leadinglady , who won #bestactressinamusical . #anastasia #anastasiadasmusical Congratulations!

[christinealtomare]

From Judith Caspari’s Instagram story (Oct. 13, 2019).

[christinealtomare]

From Pieter Tredoux’s Instagram story (Oct. 13, 2019).

[christinealtomare]

jacqbraun: By popular demand, backstage @anastasiadasmusical #backstage #anastasiadasmusical #anastasiastuttgart