A rising star breaks out amid ‘Les Mis’ bombast
Karimloo brings humanity to Valjean
LES MISÉRABLES Imperial Theatre Starring: Ramin Karimloo
Les Misérables first
NEW YORK lumbered onto the Main Stem in 1987, hardly the best of times for commercial musical theater. The success of Cats — and another Andrew Lloyd Webber show, The
Phantom of the Opera, in London — had proven there was a substantial audience craving pomp and spectacle more than wit or melodic invention.
But it was Les Mis that opened the floodgates for the bloated, self-important musicals that would pop up regularly in the following decade. Clearly, there remains a demand for such fare: Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s epic novel enjoyed a successful revival in 2006, and more recently spawned a film version starring Hugh Jackman.
The faithful will be pleased that producer Cameron Mackintosh’s new staging, which opened Sunday, offers as much bombast as ever. There are thundering performances of Schönberg ’s syrupy, repetitive score (with new orchestrations), a vast, creepy set ( by Matt Kinley) inspired by Hugo’s paintings, and a company of accomplished troupers who gamely glower and fret under Laurence Connor and James Powell’s heavy-handed direction.
For the rest of us, luckily, there is another compelling reason to check out this production: its leading man, Ramin Karimloo, whose celebrated roles on the London stage include Webber’s Phantom. In Jean Valjean, the escaped prisoner who finds redemption in serving others despite his own suffering, Karimloo has a slightly more threedimensional part, and he brings a rugged, nuanced humanity to it — not to mention a glorious baritenor that adds some resonance and dimension to Schönberg and Kretzmer’s sentimental songs.
Karimloo’s unforced majesty can, of course, underscore the mugging around him. Cliff Saunders provides overzealous comic relief as the conniving Thénardier, who threatens to reveal Valjean’s true identity. Conversely, as Enjolras, a leader of the student revolutionaries, Kyle Scatliffe sustains a face of stone right up to the bloody scene at the barricades.
Andy Mientus and Samantha Hill are appealing enough as the young lovers Marius, another student, and Cosette, whom Valjean raises after her mother, Fantine, dies. As Fantine, Caissie Levy sings powerfully; as the feisty Eponine, who loves Marius in vain, Nikki M. James sounds a bit shrill but has a winningly plucky presence.
Valjean’s nemesis, the relentless police inspector Javert, is played by Will Swenson, who conveys the right dark intensity. Like his character, though, Swenson is outmatched, by Karimloo.
Perhaps we’ll have the good fortune to see Karimloo tackle Billy Bigelow or Sweeney Todd in the future, or perform in an original musical that can more fully accommodate his robust gifts as a singer and actor. For now, this Les Misérables will have to suffice.