Les Misérables: A resounding artistic success that rips at your heart!
les Miserables
It was the opening night in Ottawa of this newest 2017 version of Les Misérables. The original French text of the stage presentation first appeared in 1987 ( Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel). Later adapted for the English language stage by James Fenton , Trevor Nunn and John Caird,) both musical versions have been seen at the NAC. The production is under the general direction of Laurence Connor and James Powell.
With the passing of time, this show has become a contemporary opera with dramatic and complex musical compositions and beautiful melodies (music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer) with new orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke this time under the direction of Brian Eads, as well as a spoken text that is constantly set to music. It demands moments of intense acting, monologues that reveal the deepest truths of each character, a level of staging that assures the perfect fluidity of crowds, of video images and shifting space in time.
It recreates an explosive world of the 19th Century Parisian working class that is unforgiving, cruel, and plunged deeply in a near mystical relationship with Catholicism and with social progress although it is pre-Zola! .Still the musical has captured the spirit of Victor Hugo’s work published in 1862.
The opening scene of the prisoners rowing on the chain gang howling their misery, as the music booms out their hate , their despair, the terror of the sea, echoed a truly Romantic link between the poet and his surroundings, thanks to the music, the set and image design by Matt Kinley and lighting by Paule Constable that brought out all the drama of nature responding to man’s torment. The wild storm, the dark angry clouds , a roaring nature echoes the misery that dominated French society in spite of the end of the revolution and the coming of Bonaparte (1799-1815) and the new Monarchy of July (1830-1848)Under the roi Louis Philippe. This new aristocratic regime still caused profound personal suffering and the political effervescence of the period incites the students, intellectuals and a limited number of starving sympathizers to rise up in Paris in a very short lived but violent revolt (1832) against the the monarchy. This revolt, even though it only lasted a few days and was limited to Paris, is the heart-beat of the show.
Such an event might seem strange for a musical but this goes far beyond anything that we have ever seen before and not the usual fare that comes from the United States or even in Great Britain (where the show originated) True, Cats emerged one night on the London stage this musical comes out of a crisscross of forms, a culture of opera , of political violence in the street, extreme nationalism of anti -aristocratic anger , of street people performing in the market places . There is no tradition of American-style musical theatre in France so the references are quite astounding unless you include the dancing interludes for Louis XIV in Molière’s comédie ballet written in the 17th century, or Musical interludes of Offenbach’s lighter fluffier forms of opera that were not popular performances.
This musical staging by Michael Ashcroft and Geoffrey Garratt with their sound and visual team was all under the general direction of Laurence Connor and James Powell . It turned out to be a rich feast of visual inventiveness that plunged us into the back streets of Paris, into the murky passages of the rat-infested Parisian sewers, into the dens of drunken thieves where the Thénardier held court and preyed on anyone who landed within their grasp. This most theatrical of couples was played by a most exciting Allison Guinn with the wild raspy voice and Anthony Crane with the fascinating slickness of a sly old pirate. They were the guardians of the Parisian underworld who robbed corpses, stole anything they could get their hands on and betrayed each other to the end. Two viciously funny figures from a grotesque world of popular theatre showing the hyper -realistic revelry and anger, against a backdrop of what could have been Victor Hugo’s own prints and paintings revealing a somber exacerbated romanticism that were larger than life on the front of stage curtain at the opening of the show .
There is also the revolt of 1832, the confrontation between the soldiers and the students seen from behind the famous barricade on the side of the rebels. That huge abstract near contemporary construction of bits and pieces piled high, created an acting space where each rebel swore allegiance to the movement , where Gavroche the youngest rebel , stirred them all on and where the marching of the people to the music of “the People’s song” was one of the most uplifting moments in the play, even if it meant going to battle. As the canons blasted, the lights flashed, bullets whistled all around us, bodies collapsed the world then suddenly stood still : there was Valjean singing his beautiful hymn ‘Bring Him Home” as he watches Marius dying on the barricade and pleading that the life of this young man be spared because Marius and Valjean’s own daughter Cosette love each other. How romantic!
And yet this story is essentially about the transformation of Jean Valjean, with Nick Cartell in the main role on opening night. His powerful performance set the tone for the events that followed the prologue where the hardened and hateful former convict Valjean roars his anger at the French Monarchy and its justice system that lets its people starve, seeming to incarnate the despairing voice of Hugo himself,.
His chance meeting with Fantine, a sadly delicate tough young survivor whose voice (Melissa Mitchell) tugs at our heart strings as she pleads for her daughter when the police take her away. This factory worker asks Valjean to save her starving child Cosette and this vow determines his fate for the rest of the show. Thus he becomes a Christ-like figure seeking redemption, whose only desire is to right all the wrong and help those who have shown him some kindness because he too has been forced to flee and hide his identity. His soliloquy “Who am I” becomes the knawing question. It also shows how , Javert, the police captain (sung by Josh Davis ) assumes the role of Valjean’s evil alter ego vowing to hunt Valjean down and bring him back to prison. However When Davis sings his Soliloquy on the bridge overlooking the Seine , explaining his twisted obsession about upholding the law at all costs, maintaining his principles of righteousness, and capturing Valjean the fugitive , we almost have pity on this individual who has been transformed by harsh religious principles imposed by an evil system through no fault of his own. Davis’ performance brought out the helpless nature of his character and it was beautiful. The roles are nuanced, the narratives are complex, and the voices were moments of great beauty.
Both these men become the dramatic and musical poles of this production and both male performers upheld all expectations. I must also mention the girl who sang the little Cosette on opening night as well as Julian Butler who made grown Cosette vibrate with her beautiful voice, Mike Schwitter who was a fine Marius the young revolutionary who loves Cosette and whose despair behind the barricade is well represented by the gentle and lovelorn pleading in his voice. I was impressed as well by Danielle J. Summons as Eponine, the daughter of the Thénardier couple but whose love for Marius transforms her into a figure ready to give her life for the young couple’s happiness. Summons had a very strong stage presence although her voice felt she was forcing the high notes and perhaps not too at ease with the musical demands of the role.
Nevertheless. All these spine-chilling performances literally brought tears to many eyes, proving that the show could very well be a model for a performance of a more current form of popular revolt that some artistic team might want to bring to the stage someday! I can almost see it now……..!!!
Les Miserables, Plays at the NAC from February 13 to 18 at the NAC
Produced by Broadway Across Canada.
A musical based on the novel by Victor Hugo
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer
Original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel
Additional material by James Fenton
Adaptation by Trevor Nunn and John Caird
Original orchestration John Cameron
New Orchestration by Christopher Jahnke, Stephen Metcalfe and Stephen Brooker.
Musical Staging by Michael Ashcroft and Geoffrey Garratt
Projections realized by Fifty-nine productions
Sound by Mick Potter
Lighting by Paule Constable.
Costume Design by Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowland
Set and Image design by Matt Kinley inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo.
Directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell
,