Les Misérables, Paramount Theatre

The drama! The suffering!  The humanity! The struggles of 19th century French peasants set to music, Les Misérables, is back in Seattle. It’s my absolute favorite, the show that made me fall in love with musical theater.  I have seen it many, many times. While I usually try not to be too spoilery, here I am going to assume that you are familiar with the story and the show. (If you haven’t seen the musical, what is wrong with you? Go see it now, and, no, not the movie, a stage version.)

Les Misérables refreshed its staging and music in 2019, with a key aim to shorten the show to a brisk 2 hours and 45 minutes.  I am generally resistant to change and when the show changed, I knew the old staging by heart, I was not pleased. My first couple of viewings with the new staging were tough. Why is the music so fast? Where’s the turning stage? But by my third-ish viewing of Les Mis 2.0 in 2022, I was sold. It finally clicked and I loved the performance.

The current broadway tour continues to shine. All of the performances were spectacular. The show doesn’t work without a strong Jean Valjean and a strong Javert: both delivered. Javert’s Suicide, as Javert runs the gamut of his emotions: anger, bewilderment, sadness, then anger again is everything. Valjean killed Bring Him Home,  actually making me care about Marius.  (Marius is pretty bland. But he is often paired with Enjolras. Of course he’s bland in comparison.) Fantine and Éponine were tragic, and the performers did their solos justice.   The Thénardiers were hilarious. Gavroche was cute as a button. (The performer was young, maybe the youngest Gavroche I’ve seen. I thought he was maybe five, but google says he is eight.) Bishop and Enjolras are two of my favorites and both were amazing here. All had strong voices, emoting anger, sadness, vengeance, tenderness perfectly.

The best updates in this version are with Cosette, generally my least favorite character.    The updated costuming for Cosette really helps;  I quite liked her and believed Marius fell in love at first sight. There are also a number of small lyric changes (as I’m singing along in my head, it’s very noticeable) but I think they all improve on the material. Thérnandier has some of my favorite lyric updates.  

I still don’t really enjoy the faster paced music. While I appreciate finishing earlier, Fantine’s I Dreamed A Dream, Éponine’s On My Own, as well as various death scenes, lack the emotional punch of the slowed down versions.  And at times, the characters seemed more angry than sad. They just don’t get enough time to linger and hooooold that note. Also, various scenes have been shortened here and there. If you are new to the show, you wouldn’t notice. But the cuts stand out to die hard fans. A friend was very irritated that Gavroche’s death scene was shortened and that it happens off stage. Her comment after: “I had my kleenex out ready to cry, but you don’t even see it!” I was irritated with the short shrift my boyfriend Enjolras received on his death.  Seeing his body on the back of a wheelbarrow had no where near the impact as seeing him hanging from the barricade. Both of these changes were necessary by eliminating the rotating stage. But still, dislike. I’m still on the fence with the use of digital animation, mostly because I want to see real sets! But here it was mostly used to complement physical sets, not replace them, and it works perfectly with Javert’s Suicide.

I only critique because I love. I love a whole, whole lot. I will always love Les Mis. I already can’t wait to see it again.