Les Miserables

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – Les Misérables

Playwright/s/Composer/s – Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmar, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French text by Alain Boublil & Jean-Marc Natel, additional material by James Fentoon, Adaptation by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, based on the novel by Victor Hugo.

Production Company/Theatre space – Carmen Mackintosh Inc, Executive Producers, Seth Sklar-Heyn, Trinty Wheeler, Broadway Across Canada, The John Ware Organization / Jubilee Auditorium.

Length – 2 Acts (3 hours, one intermission.)

Genre– Sold as a musical, (it is really 98% opera and 2% fantasy).

Premise – A prisoner on the run (who stole a loaf of bread) is miraculously given a chance to make his life over and raise another’s child (while being chased by a religious zealot) to restore justice against a backdrop of an armed uprising against an unjust government.

Why this play? Why now? – Ageless and (sadly) still relevant -- this is exquisite.

Curiosities – Was I the only one who thought about a contemporary USA adaptation?

Notable Moment – The moments where the audience gasps and then begins to cry.

Notable writing – Les Mis opened at the Barbican Centre in 1985 and transferred to the West End to become the 2^nd longest running musical in the world. It went to Broadway in 1987 winning multiple Tonys before being translated into 42 languages and going on to be a global phenomenon.

Notable performances – This show is a reminder of what heights the human voice can achieve. Nick Cartell (Jean Valjean), Hayden Tee (Javert), Christian Mark Gibbs (Enjolras), Lindsay Heather Pearce (Fantine) Jaedynn Latter (Éponine), are just a few of the cast of 41 that shone as bright as the stage lights. Bouffon clown Matt Crowle (Thénardier) provides the much-needed comic relief. Child actor Cree-Silver Corley struts the stage like an old pro and the girls Lillian Castner and Kayla Scola-Giampapa will break your heart.Silver Corley struts the stage like an old pro and the girls Lillian Castner and Kayla Scola-Giampapa will break your heart.

Notable design/Production – Finn Ross and Fifty-Nine Productions provide projections adding a cinematic tone and replacing older staging which included a revolve. Paul Constable’s lighting design is a shadow and light symphony.

Notable direction – Directors Laurence Connor and James Powell include beautiful symbolic moments. A Musical Stager deals with actors’ movement to music, an alternative to a Choreographer. In this capacity Geoffrey Garrat pulls it all together for a cohesive flawless look.

One reason to see this show – Everyone everywhere should at least once hear the people sing, singing a song of angry men. It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again.