After three and a half months away from the stage (far too long, surely!), it was time to witness Sophia's return to Les Miserables, the show where she really made her name as Eponine, but now returning to play another doomed woman - Fantine.

The webmaster really must declare an interest now and say that I'm actually quite a fan of Les Mis and I'm assuming that you, dear reader, are also familiar with the twists and turns of this classic show. If not, then apologies for any spoilers below!

Not only was this Sophia's first night in her new role, it was also the first night of most of the remainder of the cast following the wholesale cast changes and there seemed to be a fair bit of nervous energy crackling away on stage which made for a tremendous show! I was really looking forward to hearing Sophia sing I Dreamed A Dream and she tackled the song beautifully well. Come To Me is a song which always pulls on my heartstrings, and Sophia's version was no exception and her moving acting and singing in the finale was just perfection. In between dying and acting all ghostly, she seemed to be having a fantastic time chasing around stage in the ensemble!

The rest of the cast helped to provide the strongest Les Mis show I've seen for a while. Phil Cavill, standing in for John Owen-Jones as Jean Valjean was excellent and I loved his Bring Him Home. Hans Peter Janssens' Javert had just the right measure of menace and once I'd got used to his "different" style of singing from previous Javerts I've seen I couldn't fault his Stars and Suicide. Sabrina Aloueche making her (grown up) West End debut as Eponine is surely a huge star in the making. Her take on the character was great, maybe a few nerves at the start of On My Own which was understandable. The way she played Eponine's death scene was very moving too. Jon Lee and Gina Beck had a great chemistry as Marius and Cosette, and Simon Bailey proved to be a strong, enigmatic Enjolras. I also liked Chris Vincent and Tracie Bennett as the Thenardiers especially their great comic moments at the wedding. I felt for the poor boy playing Gavroche (sorry, didn't check the board to find out who it was), whose voice started to crack up a bit at his big moment, revealing Javert's espionage, but he got through it very well!

Nice moment at the curtain call when Eponine's hat fell off Sabrina's head and was picked up by Hans Peter Janssens, who handed it to Sophia who just had to try it on (for old time's sake?) before throwing it back to Sabrina!

Great show - can't wait for my next time!

Iain