Les Miserables

At the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 2019

I haven’t seen a professional production of Les Mis in 9 years, & figured it was time I see the new 25th anniversary reworking. I have to say, I’m a purist & I do prefer the original style. A few new lyrics made sense, but I wasn’t on board with all of them. Cast wise—Cosette stole the show, bless her heart. She was actually a three dimensional character instead of a boring & blasé young woman. I LOVED her scenes. Also, Marius completely refreshed his character. He played as more of an awkward & funny friend, rather than a stoic young hero. Loved him too. It seemed that Javert & Valjean were in a competition to see who could speed through their role the fastest. Javert at least added more emotion to his character. Not impressed with those two. Fantine devastated me. My favorite character was emotionless through I Dreamed A Dream & seemed to finally wake up & act in Fantine’s Death (what took her so long!?) The Thenardier’s held their own, as expected. Enjolras just looked like an 80s rockstar. So the cast was a mixed bag overall. The barricade scene worked without the turn tables. It seemed a tiny bit more ostentatious at the end with Enjolras & Gavroche (we didn’t need a direct spotlight, thank you), but it would’ve been more historically accurate, which I appreciate. Overall I’m glad I saw it. Did I cry? Of course I did. Was it stunning & amazing? Not as much as I’d hoped. I do recommend checking out the new version if you haven’t seen it already. As for me, I’ll just keep rewatching my 10th Anniversary concert on vhs. No one can surpass Ruthie Henshall’s Fantine anyway.