Les Misérables
Reviewed by Socks Whitmore
Hollywood Pantages Theatre
Through Sep 10, 2023
More than 200 years have passed since the French Revolution swept the streets of 19th century France, but across the world you can still hear the people sing; Cameron Mackintosh’s fully-staged production of Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables has taken up residence at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre under the self-proclaimed headline, “Still the World’s Most Popular Musical.”
The show is based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 historical novel of the same name. The story follows a French peasant named Jean Valjean, who serves 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s family. Upon release, he breaks parole to start a new life under a new name, but is relentlessly pursued throughout the show by the obsessed police inspector Javert. The book contains three volumes that each highlight a supporting character: Fantine, a working-class Parisian who is fired from her factory job for being an unwed mother; Cosette, Fantine’s daughter who is rescued from her abusive guardians by Jean Valjean; and Marius, a student revolutionary who falls in love with Cosette at first sight. The three-hour musical makes an ambitious attempt to cover the full narrative of political corruption, secret romance, and climactic violence, featuring intense bouts of gunfire and numerous deaths on the impoverished and war-torn streets of Paris as it recounts each character’s role in the revolution.
The touring production opens to immense fanfare, the audience more likely than not filled with spirited fans of the musical eager for the nostalgia and magic of the sixth longest-running Broadway show in history. James Powell and Lauren Connor direct a sensationalist (though surprisingly not maximalist) adaptation, giving the epic show a cinematic, Biblical reenactment energy. The stage is completely clear for large portions at a time, sporting a gigantic screen that displays painterly backdrops behind a vast space drenched in fog. The set and image design by Matt Kinley create a three-dimensional effect, like watching a film without a screen, and features a moving boat rowed by a team of prisoners, an impressive capsizing vehicle sequence, and a number of enormous moving ramshackle wooden structures that are both apocalyptic and breathtaking. Paule Constable’s lighting design is just as intelligently crafted, making brilliant use of layers and beams of light to create uniquely dynamic shapes.
Every movement of a set piece or actor is thoughtfully crafted, creating nuanced unscripted moments that rarely sit still. The immersive quality of the staging is often spectacular, though moments like marching in place in front of the animated screen don’t quite work. The sizable cast of performers are skillful across the board, navigating the Sprechstimme-style melodies effortlessly and without fail for all three hours of music. Christina Rose Hall as Madame Thénardier delivers especially spicy vocal flair. Though their tones are technically flawless, the overall operatic approach lacks diction and is at times indecipherable to those not familiar with the substantial text. A quarter of the music is earwormy and invigorating, but the relentless nature of the sung-through score — which is riddled with deadweight musical numbers and recycled motifs—can at times grow dull.
The production design is masterful and the performers are immaculate, but the chaotic direction feels somewhat unblended with the normally heavily grounded drama. The extra raunchy renditions of scenes like “Lovely Ladies” and “Master of the House” punch the comedic beats unusually hard, and yet to those who aren’t longtime fans of Les Mis, they may be some of the most interesting moments of the show — the plot is overly crammed to the point of growing stale and the intermission is inserted so late in the show that the first act almost becomes grueling. Though it can be acknowledged that the musical has historical significance in its portrayal of sex workers and the objectification of women at the time, the compressed adaptation of Victor Hugo’s book faces the Hamilton problem: supporting female characters like Fantine and Éponine do so little for the plot that they would be better cut or reduced to exposition, but then the show would barely feature women at all. (Generally, this means the story needs a more creative framework in order to have meaningful gender diversity.)
Ultimately, this reviewer’s opinion is that Les Mis is a bad adaptation of material ill-suited for the medium of musical theater; “America’s most popular musical” breaks numerous rules of efficient scripting and doesn’t hold up to today’s caliber of theatrical writing. But if you already love the show, then this production promises to be Les Mis like you’ve never seen it before.
Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood; Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 pm, Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sat. 2 pm, Sun., 1 pm & 6:30 pm; thru Sept.10 https://www.broadwayinhollywood.com/events/detail/lesmiserables2023 Running time: two hours and 55 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission
