From my perspective I enjoyed the whole thing much more than last time, without being able to put my finger on why. The smaller ensemble only just created enough volume, but that’s always the problem in the provinces
they keep it thin! Bbut John Owen-Jones as Valjean is PHENOMENAL! 
Apparently he has been voted best Valjean ever in an “online worldwide poll of Les Mis fans”, and you can see why. He takes the character from relative youth in prison, through to his death in old age with powerful and emotional acting. His voice displays an equally amazing range ; how he can manage such perfect quality and tone and with nuance when he has to sing such an enormous range (and quantity) is beyond me. If you get a chance to hear his Valjean then GO!We enjoyed Earl Carpenter’s Javert, and Rosalind James as Eponine. We felt Jon Robyns, playing Enjolras, (instead of his previous normal role as Marius in London) has more stage presence than Gareth Gates' Marius. Gareth’s voice was lovely, but could have done with more volume at times, and his acting didn’t project to us (in the Gods!) all the time.
The young Cosette sang Castle on a Cloud beautifully
If anyone knows who Gavroche was on Saturday night then please pass on our congratulations. He had humour, stage presence, an excellent speaking voice and singing voice and looked totally confident on that stage. Very talented I suspect he’s being playing the role for a while, maybe just back from Paris?This was a sell out performance (we got our tickets in Feb and had to settle for the last but one row in the Gods!), and it earned a standing ovation. I’m sure the Barbican performances are nearly sold out, but do go if you can get a ticket. It will be interesting to see if some of the changes make it through to the permanent London show.
Thanks again 
cheaper option.