Say, Do You Hear the Distant Drums?

“Epilogue,” 1st Australian Tour, 1989. Rob Guest as Jean Valjean, Debbie Byrne as Fantine, Marina Prior as Cosette, Peter Cousens as Marius, Silvie Paladino as Éponine.

The recording quality is a little spotty, but this is still a beautiful performance.

Rob’s Valjean has all the gentleness, tenderness and gravitas we could hope for Valjean to have in his last moments. And of course it’s always especially poignant to hear a death scene performed by an actor who has since passed away in real life – RIP.

Debbie’s Fantine is much the same as on the CSR: a voice that might not suit all tastes in the role, but still one that conveys deep feeling and motherly warmth. Marina’s Cosette and Peter’s Marius both sound lovely and appropriately urgent. Silvie’s Éponine is unfortunately drowned out by Debbie’s Fantine, but whether this was the case in person or is just a fluke of the recording I don’t know.

The final chorus is stirring just as it should be.

“Bring Him Home,” 1st Australian Tour, 1990. Rob Guest as Jean Valjean.

A star of Australia’s musical theatre, taken away too soon by a stroke in 2008 – RIP.

According to Wikipedia, for a while he held the record as the world’s longest-running Phantom of the Opera, at 2,289 performances, although his record was eventually broken by Howard McGillin.

This recording is a testament to his talent. He sings with a beautiful, elegant tenor voice (definitely a good voice for the Phantom as well as Valjean) and offers a uniquely phrased, tender and passionate rendition of the song. Some of his sudden changes in volume might seem a bit odd, but I’m sure in context, paired with his facial expressions, they all made sense. At any rate, I applaud him for making the song his own and I want to hear more of his performance.

“One Day More,” 1st Australian Tour, 1991. Rob Guest as Jean Valjean, Peter Cousens as Marius, Anita Louise Combe as Cosette, Jodie Gillies as Éponine, Rohan Tickell as Enjolras, Philip Quast as Javert, William Zappa as Thénardier, Robyn Arthur as Mme. Thénardier.

An excellent performance from the original Australian tour, which some say was one of the greatest productions of all time.

“Confrontation,” 1st Australian Tour, 1991. Rob Guest as Jean Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert.

The early Australian casts of Les Mis were known in their day as some of the greatest worldwide. Just from this clip with these two singers, I can believe it.

The late Rob Guest (RIP) has a beautiful tenor voice, distinctly and pleasantly different from the Colm Wilkinson mold (I love Colm, but variety is nice), and puts so much emotion into his singing. At the beginning he sounds so urgent and pleading, and then so full of rage and threat when his pleas are ignored. Sometimes his voice is overpowered by Javert’s, but he still shines.

As for Philip Quast, what more is there to say? The definitive Javert!

An outstanding rendition that makes me want to hear more from this performance.