MurphyMade
Les Misérables is still my favorite musical, no matter how many times I’ve seen it (in recent months). Any production of this show that comes along, I will most likely see it. It’s not hard to see why the show has been so beloved over the years, with the beautiful music and stunning vocals of the cast, playing London’s West End since 1985, Broadway from 1987 to 2003 with 6,680 performances, two Broadway revivals, and several tours and international versions. The show that is touring now, while it still retains the gorgeous score of the original with some subtle but powerful reorchestration, has been completely restaged (based on the 2010 London revival, I believe) replacing the one element — the turntable stage — that made the show special. Does this full set production turn the show into just another typical Broadway-style musical?
If you’re new to the world of Les Misérables (and I spoke to some people in the elevator at the theatre who were), the show is based on the Victor Hugo novel and spans several decades with the character Jean Valjean as its centerpiece. At the show’s prologue, Valjean has just completed serving a prison term for stealing a loaf of bread, with several escape attempts on top of that. The police officer (and later Inspector) Javert warns Valjean that he will be watching him because once a criminal, always a criminal. Because of Valjean’s status as an ex-con, finding employment and a place to live in 1815 France isn’t going to be easy. The show jumps in time to 1823 and Valjean has assumed a new identity and has become the mayor of a town and owns a factory, where he first encounters Fantine, a young woman shunned by the other women and constantly harassed by her boss to the point that a fight ensues and she’s fired, turned out into the streets with no money and a young daughter in the care of another couple, the Thénardiers (who treat her like a slave), whom she must pay so they will take care of little Cosette. Spoiler alert — Fantine has to become the woman she was accused of being in order to make ends meet, Valjean remembers her from the factory, and when she takes ill he promises to take care of Cosette, a promise he keeps when Fantine dies. And a stunning action on Valjean’s part perks up Javert’s ears and eyes, wondering if the mayor is indeed Jean Valjean. Valjean flees with Cosette but he can never get away from Javert, not even in Paris in 1832 as the Paris Uprising, an anti-monarchist insurrection, begins (a lot of people have thought this was the French Revolution, but that’s an entirely different war altogether). With Cosette now grown and suddenly in love with the first young man she bumps into on the street, will Valjean be able to escape Javert’s watchful eyes or will the tables be completely turned?
There is a lot of story to Les Misérables, but you get the gist of it. It’s sprawling, it’s epic, it’s long but it’s alway riveting. Nick Cartell takes on the role of Valjean, going from young-ish (middle aged?) to a senior citizen over the course of the show, and he pulls it off to the point that he seems like a completely different person between the 1815 prologue and the 1823 segment. Valjean is a character who is full of rage, for good reason, but also full of compassion for others, needing to prove to Javert and the world that he is not the man they all believe him to be. His past constantly nags at him, especially when another man is mistakenly identified as Valjean and faces hard labor, but he wants nothing more than to live his life and keep Cosette safe. Cartell is magnificent and pours all of his emotions into the character and the vocals. It is truly a masterful performance.
Preston Truman Boyd has a harder edged character in Javert, the authoritarian, seemingly always angry about something, always suspicious of those around him, and at one point posing as one of the rebels to bring them information about the army approaching their barricade, but planning to set them up for defeat. But for all of his gruffness, Javert actually does have a bit of a heart — or he’s just insanely trusting, the Charlie Brown to Valjean’s Lucy and her football — always coming upon his nemesis at just the moment when Valjean is desperate to help someone else but promises he will turn himself over to Javert in a couple of days. Being played like that would make a man angry, I suppose, and Boyd is also terrific at bringing all of that to life on stage with his performance and his powerful vocals. He also gets the show’s most stunning moment late in Act II that will leave you wondering how they did it.
MurphyMade
Les Misérables is a show that lives or dies on the vocals of its cast, especially since there is virtually no spoken dialogue. Haley Dortch handles Fantine’s (and the show’s) signature song ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ with so much emotion, and she shines in the short time she’s on stage. Matt Crowle and Christina Rose Hall are a hoot as the Thénardiers, the show’s comic relief (although Monsieur T. does get a bit more sinister after their ‘Master of the House’ number), popping up here and there throughout the show. At our performance, Cora Jane Messer was the young Cosette, and she was terrific. It’s always stunning to see children with such amazing voices at such young ages. For that matter, Henry Kirk was also wonderful as the young Gavroche, the street urchin who becomes a key figure in the Uprising. Vivian Atencio played the young Eponine, daughter of the Thénardiers, but her time on stage is brief and she does not sing (she and Messer swap their roles so she will get to shine as Cosette at certain performances). The adult Eponine is played by Christine Heesun Hwang and she kicks off Act II with her solo ‘On My Own’, her lament that the boy she loves, Marius, is in love with Cosette. Then she and Gregory Lee Rodriguez (Marius) have their duet ‘A Little Fall of Rain’ that will require a Kleenex or three. Rodriguez is wonderful as the young man who believes in this Uprising but also wonders if just putting that aside now that he’s in love wouldn’t be the better use of his time. But fight he must and in the end he’s left to sing ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ that will also have your eyes watering (basically Act II is a complete tearjerker and I did sob silently for much of it, as I always do). Addie Morales is lovely as the grown Cosette, although she’s the one main character who doesn’t get a big solo moment. However, her vocals mesh well with the others, and she has wonderful chemistry with Rodriguez. The rest of the large cast is simply magnificent, and your heart will swell as they all join voices for the Act I finale ‘One Day More’ and again at the Act II finale. Combine all of these voices with the orchestra under the direction of Brian Eads, and it’s all very special from beginning to end. However, if I have one quibble this time around, something was just a little off with the sound or the acoustics, often making the singing hard to understand, or sometimes over-powered by the orchestra. Hopefully it was just a glitch during our performance.
Costumes, make-up and hair are all top notch and reminiscent of the original production. Where everything changes is in the production design and lighting. Whereas the original was basically an open stage with the turntable, aside from the barricade there weren’t a lot of actual sets. In this version there are sets galore, from the ship’s galley in the prologue to a factory, the Thénardiers’ inn, city streets with three story buildings, a bridge, the barricade and more. Everything glides on and off stage so quickly, sometimes in darkness as the next scene unfolds and you don’t even know where the scenery went (characters often vanish or appear as well but not from the wings of the stage). I’ve seen a lot of touring shows lately that really cheaped out on the sets, but this was on par with the massive sets for Phantom of the Opera. There was also a very cool use of motion projections, particularly in the sewer scene, that I really enjoyed. The production design was truly amazing and didn’t dim my admiration for the show in the least. But speaking of dim … this is one of the darkest shows I’ve ever seen, with almost every scene apparently taking place at night. It was certainly a choice they made, and it didn’t take anything away from the show but there were times when I wished it could have just been a tad brighter. However, the dim lighting only enhanced the signature bright white light that highlights a character when they die, and the use of that white light was truly gut-wrenching during the battle at the barricade.
Directors Laurence Connor and James Powell keep the show moving as one song leads into another, giving the audience only a few key places to deliver some applause (with the audience often cheering as well). Combine everything here — the cast, the music, the production design, costumes, lighting, the direction — and you have an epic event that everyone should see at some point. I had waited decades to see Les Misérables again and I finally had the opportunity to see it not once but twice this year, and I am happy to say that even repeat performances don’t dim the love I have for the show. This is such a perfect example of what great musical theatre is, and if the show comes to your city, don’t pass up the opportunity to see it.
NOTE: The show starts promptly at 7:30 PM (1:30 PM for the matinees) and runs about 2 hours 45 minutes with one intermission. Once the show begins, you will not be seated until after the prologue, about 15 minutes into the show. Please be mindful that your lateness disrupts the audience members already seated. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
Les Misérables runs through April 29 at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center Opera House. Other cities on the schedule include Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Portland OR, New Orleans, Memphis, Buffalo, Toronto, Atlanta, Boston and more. Visit the official website for more information. Use our Ticketmaster link below to purchase tickets.
Les Misérables – North American Tour 2023
Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
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