LES MISERABLES
LES MISERABLES, Cameron Mackintosh’s new production at the Capitol Theatre, 26 March 2015. Photography by Matt Murphy, above: Trevor Ashley, Lara Mulcahy and the company; right: the company at the barricades.
According to the program statistics, Cameron Mackintosh’s take on Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer, Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel’s take on Victor Hugo’s classic novel of 1862 has been staged in 42 countries and been seen by 65 million people, as well as adapted for the cinema with an all-star not particularly musical cast; all of which partly helps explain its position as the most popular stage musical of all time.
Exactly why it is so popular is one of those mysteries that anyone (including Sir Cameron) would give a quid to solve, because if anyone knew for sure what makes a runaway success, you can be certain there wouldn’t be so many multi-million dollar turkeys flapping their last on Broadway, the West End and in theatres around the world.
Why this particular - all new and visually refashioned - version of the show that first opened in London in 1985 has proved so successful on its national Australian tour is a little more obvious: it’s a fine production and the major casting is similarly excellent.
The production is at once visually spectacular and stripped-back sophisticated featuring an atmospherically apposite projected backdrop for most major moments taken from Victor Hugo’s own paintings. (Design by Matt Kinley, projections realised by Fifty Nine Productions.) The settings are further enhanced by lighting designs that also turn the choreographed tableaux of peasants, soldiers, under-class tavern revelers and insurrectionists into fleeting realisations of canvases by Breughel, Goya and Delacroix (lighting designer Paule Constable, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowland).
The casting, where it really counts, is second to none: Simon Gleeson as Valjean and Hayden Tee as Javert lead the company as the lifelong antagonists, the wronged and finally noble Jean Valjean and his nemesis, the implacable and unforgiving government inspector Javert. They are the dramatic and dark heart of the piece and their contrasting physical presences and voices have to be right.
It’s difficult to imagine a better pairing than Simon Gleeson and Hayden Tee in these key roles. The response from the audience is tangible as the emotional momentum builds through the years of Javert’s cruel pursuit of his quarry and Valjean’s inner journey from revenge to loving enlightenment.
Balancing the melodrama and tragedy with inspired clowning and Technicolor lower class bad manners are Lara Mulcahy and Trevor Ashley as tavern keepers and petty thieves Madame et Monsieur Thenardier. These two are by Dickens out of Hogarth and the stage lights up every time they enter.
Also fine are Euan Doidge as Marius, Valjean’s protege and lover of his “daughter” Fantine. The ensemble’s women are powerful and the students, peasants and revolutionaries, led by Chris Durling as Enjolras, are also outstanding. And Eponine is stirringly played by Kerrie Anne Greenland so that when she is the first to die on the barricades, it is a heartfelt moment.
Musically the show is powered by a 16-member orchestra in the Capitol’s pit conducted and directed by Geoffrey Castles. An “off” note has to be the sound mix which has a delicate flute as loud as the more penetrating voices. A better balance of instruments and vocals – which should be behind rather than in front of the voices – would bring the sound quality up to the exceptional standard of the staging, directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell with wit and many beautiful decisions.
If you already love Les Mis, you’ll be thrilled by this new interpretation. If you weren’t born when it first opened in Australia, you’ll discover what all the fuss was about and probably become a fan too. Formidable (with a French accent, s’il vous plait.)
