Les Misérables Review - Lillian Grommes

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 Les Misérables Review


        I’m going to be 100% honest; I really had no prior knowledge of Les Misérables other than some songs and that it takes place in France. Despite being possibly one of the only people in the world who still hasn’t seen the infamous show, I was completely blown away. 

Les Misérables follows the story of Jean Valjean and his path to redemption after being a prisoner for 19 years. Set in the backdrop of the aftermath of the French revolution, Les Misérables is a story of tragedy, love, and reclamation.

Having an incredibly strong cast is paramount to the success of this production. The show is completely vocal and bolsters a difficult but fabulous score. Actor Nick Cartel who played Jean Valjean demonstrated his ability to nail such a role. From power belting to intimate falsetto ballads, he left the stage receiving not one but three separate ovations. Another favorite performance was by  Haley Dortch who portrayed Fantine. This role is relatively short but leaves such an impact. That is exactly what Dortch did. Despite having her mic go out during “Lovely Ladies” she projected through and could be heard from my seat on the second balcony. I will say though, Jena Burns's performance as Cosette left something to be desired. Tonight the role was an understudy performance. Out of a cast that was so talented the pitchy and strained coo of her soprano was jarring, to say the least. It made the experience stand out more because the cast was that good. 

This production used projections in lieu of drops, which I found to be a really effective and cool use of technology in theater. What you can’t get out of drops is movement, which is exactly what makes projections so effective. The dim projections brought life but didn’t take away from the overall production of the show. I would argue that they made for an enhanced experience. Apart from projections, I was impressed with the sound design. With non-stop dialogue, music and sound effects, it can be difficult to achieve balance, but I found this show to be calibrated phenomenally. In addition, I found it interesting that the production chose to add additional speakers to the audience- something I have never seen in a production at the Orpheum.

With such a well-rounded cast and production quality it is easy to see why Les Misérables continues to tour across the country. If the 2 hours 55 min run-time isn’t a deal breaker I would highly recommend going to see this iconic musical that is playing at the Orpheum until December 18th. There are fantastic seats still available and student rush for $40, so forget about the World Cup and watch Les Misérables.

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