Les Misérables

Brimming with melodramatic, overstated characters and themes, it’s easier to mock LES MIZ than to laud it. But this revival on Broadway is actually engrossing and for all of the very same reasons that might otherwise make it ludicrous. In that regard, it brings to mind THE SOUND OF MUSIC. If it’s history you’re after, that singing/dancing tale about the Nazis deserves to be trashed quite the way Mel Brooks proves in THE PRODUCERS.

But the very elements that made THE SOUND OF MUSIC so exciting to theater and film goers are at work here in Cameron Mackintosh’s revival of LES MIZ. And while it involves romantic story telling and grandiosity, it also involves simplistic truths and honest morals. Love, be it young, unrequited, filial or philosophical all in epic proportions, sweep through this musical.

What makes this production exceptional is the voracity of the actors and singers. Alexander Gemignani is a convincing Jean Valjean with a sonorous voice who transforms from prisoner to aging patriarch with seamless ease. Even more unusual is Norm Lewis’ Javert, a character who we typically perceive as strictly onerous and evil; one can hardly give him any credence. But as portrayed here, we recognize Javert as a man driven by a sense of moral purpose. That certainly keeps this tale from appearing so overwhelmingly one sided.

On another note, Gary Beach and Jenny Galloway as the usurious innkeeper and his wife are as gross an incarnation of comic relief as one can imagine! And thank goodness for that. In a story so swollen with references to the divinity and accolades of faith, their disruptions are especially welcome. Of course the children in the cast are heart breaking, especially Brian D’Addario’s Gavroche. The way that little boy hurls himself at “the revolution” tell us something dreadful about the meaninglessness of their lives. LES MIZ still speaks to the wretched of the earth and the Christian values, endurance and compassion that sustain us.

The staging, characterized by the revolving stage and junk pile that serve as the barricade for the revolutionaries, appear true to the original, rendering this a faithful revival. This is a classic after all. And in an age when Broadway musicals have been mini-ized and economically reformulated, this is something of a special treat indeed, especially with the large cast and orchestra.

You’ll leave the theater cheering for love and revolution!

That’s This Week on Broadway. I’m Isa Goldberg.