New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Year 2, and Cartell still an inspired Valjean
‘Les Miserables’ returns to Shubert for 6 shows
NEW HAVEN — Nick Cartell, who stars as protagonist Jean Valjean in the touring production of “Les Miserables,” that will occupy the Shubert Theatre from Thursday through Sunday, says the epic story of broken dreams, unrequited love, sacrifice and redemption not only plays well in huge theaters but in smaller venues like the historic Shubert.
“We were just talking about this ... yesterday,” he said in a phone chat the other day. “Sometimes the smaller houses, it makes it more intimate. And for us, being in such an epic musical that has these characters that you sometimes want to have that intimacy with the audience, I think it’s very exciting for us.”
Cartell was speaking by phone from Houston, where the venue seats 2,300 people. Which is not a problem for such a big story. But Cartell thinks fondly of the winter holidays last year when the show played the small National Theatre in D.C. (similar in capacity to the 1,600-seat Shubert) “and there is an excitement that we feel from the audience.”
Mid-September marked the start of year two of the “Les Mis” tour, and Cartell has been with it from the start.
A previous version was at the Shubert in 2013. The current production ditched the big turntable that is now only seen in the London production, Cartell said.
“This new version of the show has amazing projections that (are) actually taken
from Victor Hugo’s artwork. He was this incredible artist,” Cartell said. “This version that played Broadway for two and a half years ... is now the quintessential version that’s being done across the world. ... You don’t lose anything by not having the turntable, I don’t think.”
With such an emotional story and heavy song load, Cartell could be excused for some burnout at this point. But in a phone chat from the tour’s stop in Houston, he sounded energized as ever.
“This score is, I think, a true classic in musical theater, you know?” he said. “It’s an epic production; it’s something that I definitely grew up singing. So to be able to do it, to sing it, to hear it every night, is thrilling. It still is ... as it was when I was first introduced to the production in the ’90s, ’til now. Hearing that overture every single night, that first downbeat, still sends goosebumps down my spine.”
The show set against the backdrop of 19th-century France has legs, not only dramatically but for stirring songs such as “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own” and “One Day More.”
“Audiences connect with this score; they connect with these songs, the music, the characters. And then to be able to sing this score, to sing ‘Bring Him Home’ and ‘Who am I?’ and the ‘Soliloquy’ is the icing on the cake.”
And the physical toll of that song load?
“It definitely is a physically daunting show for me,” Cartell said. “Vocally daunting, very emotional as well. But it’s definitely something that, over the last year, I’ve figure out how to manage. As long as I get enough sleep... then we’re good to go.”
Cartell is contracted for another year as Valjean. “I’m still having a great time. I still find new parts of this character every single time I walk on that stage. And I think that’s one of the exciting things about a show like this — the depth of the characters. We have a story from Victor Hugo, source material that we can look back at, and always find new things in the novel and with the musical, not only for us but for the audiences.”
Arizona-born Cartell said he wasn’t from a musical family but his parents recognized the fact that he could memorize songbooks in the car on cassette within a couple of days. He learned to sing as a soprano in the Phoenix Boys Choir, graduated from Arizona State after studying theater and soon began performing for three years in Japan, for Disney (where he met his wife, Christine).
This role was a big break for him, after playing lesser roles and understudying large ones on and off-Broadway. But while he was in the final portion of the audition process for Jean Valjean, his mother was dying of cancer.
“My mom had been sick for six years, so when my dad called me that week going into my final callback, he was like, ‘Look, it will not be much longer. But it could be two weeks from now that mom finally passes.’ But he said, ‘The thing is: Your mother and I support you 100 percent. We know this is your dream (and) can be a lifechanging experience for you.’
“...And she passed the day before my final callback. So walking into that room, knowing how much she loved me, how much she supported me, it just helped to really feel like there was an angel on my shoulder. And it’s something that I can connect with as the character Valjean. When I sing ‘Bring Him Home,’ sitting on the barricade, it’s a moment that I can think about my mom and the sacrifices she made while she was sick, dealing with the chemo treatments, coming to see me perform in shows... and I can also think about the character of Valjean, the sacrifices that he’s making and willing to make for Marius, this boy that he doesn’t know his daughter loves. It’s a moment that comes full circle for me.”