Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Review: Heartfelt beauty in ‘Les Mis’
Was ever a musical more aptly titled than “Les Misérables?”
The show emerges out of a misty haze onstage at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, where it has a two week run, like woeful dirge, recounting cruelty after cruelty after cruelty.
So why would you go? Because there is also heartfelt beauty and hope through sacrifice running all through the musical based on the Victor Hugo novel. And this national tour taps into that well, singing the score by Alain Boublil and ClaudeMichel Schönberg with celestial care.
And it is noteworthy that even though there is no Broadway pizzazz-y spectacle, the musical still grips and satisfies that entertain-me craving we all bring when we see a big show on a big stage in a big venue. Part of that is the muted, but deftly sustained visuals, with the action coming from of a set straight out of Francisco
Goya or Eugéne Delacroix. In fact the lighting is very painterly, with sharp chiaroscuro bursts whenever a moment needs an exclamation.
Set in 19th century France, the story focuses on themes of redemption for ex-convict Jean Valjean against the backdrop of the 1832 Paris Uprising.
The show was originally staged in Paris in 1980 before moving on to London’s
West End in 1985. In 1987 “Les Misérables” bowed on Broadway (winning eight Tonys) and has since had two revivals on the Great White Way. In 2012 the movie version hit screens with Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter and Amanda Seyfried.
“Les Mis” is a sung-through musical, meaning it has no dialogue other than a few lines spoken in the course of a song. The anthems and ballads that have gone on to become well-known include “I Dreamed A Dream,” “On My Own,” “Master of the House,” “Stars,” “Bring Him Home,” “Do You Hear the People Sing” and “One Day More.”
This cast is essentially the same that played Miami and West Palm Beach in February. They are all more than delivering their A-game, vocally speaking. The standouts:
■ Nick Cartell as Jean Valjean puts a haunting ache in “Bring Him Home,” which will stay with you long after the three-hour running time (including a 15-minute intermission).
■ Broward County’s own Josh Grosso, as the romantic lead Marius, stays in the moment with his lament “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.” (Grosso graduated from American Heritage School in Plantation).
■ Paige Smallwood as Éponine wails away about her unrequited love for Marius in a rafter rattling “On My Own.”
■ Jimmy Smagula and Allison Guinn as the avaricious Thénardiers, providing the story’s only comic relief, ham it up right up to the edge of ludicrous with their showstopping “Master of the House.”
But there is this thing, hard to convey, but very plainly there. It’s that melodramatic acting schtick that is so often found in the more dramatic musicals. You know it when you see it; The performer is emoting away, singing toward the second balcony with their arms outstretched, palms upward and then they lean toward the audience, as if to topple over, but then there’s a few little stutter steps as they catch themselves from being carried away by the Turner Classic Movie moment that almost overtook them.
There’s a lot of that in “Les Misérables,” though it does little to distract from the otherwise finely calibrated production.
“Les Misérables” runs through Oct. 20 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays; 1 p.m. Sundays; 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13. Tickets cost $35-$125. To order, call 954-462-0222 or go to BrowardCenter.org.