MISERY LOVES COMPANY
Beloved Victor Hugo classic and Arts Club milestone play Les Misérables makes a return to the Stanley’s planks.
Les Misérables July 2 to Aug. 16 | Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
Tickets and info: from $39 at artsclub.com
In 2009, the Arts Club celebrated the 100th performance of its production of Les Misérables. The performance was a milestone in the company’s then 46-year history — the first show to reach 100 performances in a single run.
Now the theatre company is bringing back the production.
“There are other shows we’ve brought back, and going way back in time, there were shows like Ain’t Misbehavin’, which ran for two years, but in a much smaller theatre,” said Bill Millerd, the company’s artistic director and the director of both the previous and upcoming runs of Les Miz. “So let’s say (Les Miserables) is one of the most successful.”
For the new production, some of the cast members and much of the creative team are returning. There are some significant additions, including a new actor, Warren Kimmel, as Javert, the police officer who tasks himself with hunting down protagonist Jean Valjean.
“(Kimmel) is an amazing performer,” Millerd said. “He and Martin Murphy (Valjean) just did a confrontation scene in rehearsal. It’s quite thrilling to hear them both go at it. They’re equally powerful singers.”
One of the most successful musicals of all time, Les Miserables first came to the stage in 1980. It was adapted from an epic 1862 novel by Victor Hugo, which has inspired numerous film adaptations as well.
Returning actors include Rebecca Talbot, who played the street urchin Éponine in the 2009 version, but returns as Fantine, a working-class unwed mother (to the abused Cosette).
The director says he didn’t have second thoughts about returning to helm the remount, which includes a company of 24 and a large crew to boot.
“Since I made the decision to do it, I felt I had to be there,” he said.
Many of the original costumes have disappeared, but the set is the same. And Millerd is revisiting the staging he worked out with choreographer Valerie Easton six years ago.
“Generally, it is like our original,” he said.