KCTribune: Les Miserables

Set in dismal 1800’s France, Les Miserables, is the story is of a petty thief, Jean Valjean, just finishing a hefty sentence for his crime of stealing bread. An act of kindness by the Bishop of Digne sets Valjean on the path to do good in the world, only to be relentlessly pursued by the policeman, Javert, even as he has changed and served his time. Valjean saves a young girl, the lovely Cosette whose prostitute mother he has promised on her death bed that he will find and protect, from the evil Threnardiers who treat her as though she were Cinderella, pre-pumpkin.

The division between the rich in the poor in France at this time is daunting, climaxing at the barricade scene, where students and revolutionaries defy the powers that be. One of the most riveting, dramatic scenes was when all of the rebels lay dead on their guns, the army having ridiculously out-powered them. The stage was set so that it seemed like the bodies were piled up thoughtlessly along the barricade, as though no one cared, yet the scene moved the audience considerably, especially at the death of the saucy young street urchin, Gavroche.

Les Miserables, written in 1980, uses traditional operatic methods to convey its picture. The dialogue is in the recitative style, where all dialogue is actually sung. This carries on the flavor of the musical numbers between songs. Though I would prefer to hear dialogue spoken, the cast pulled it off marvelously. The lead, Rob Evan as Valjean, was dynamic and professional in a physically demanding role. My favorite performers, however, were pure evil or the recipient of a lethal bullet. Jenny Fellner, who played Eponine, the unfortunate daughter of two tastily evil swindlers, the Thenardiers (Cindy Benson and Laurent Giroux), gave the most emotionally riveting performance of the night. She sang like a dirty street angel and acted like her life depended on it.

Oh, and the kids. I’ll admit that I am not a fan of kid singers because their voices are usually not fully developed and often can’t match the resonance of a trained adult. Except in this production. The young Cosette (Carly Rose Sonenclar), the orphaned daughter of a down-trodden prostitute who actually was not evil and didn’t get shot (I got lucky there), and Gavroche (Jake Schwenke), the street kid with a heart of gold, really sang beyond the minor leagues. Wow…no pun intended…but I didn’t delete it, either…

Man, what a crazy musical score! It was an admittedly difficult piece of music, and, I hate to say, it showed. The orchestra had a tough time staying in tune, occasionally blowing huge cues and not being very flexible with the singers’ interpretations. Stiff and scrambling. I have loved some of the pit orchestras of late at Starlight, but something was amiss in this instrumental ensemble.

The coolest part of the show was when a lady in her eighties, sitting in front of me in the intermittent rain under an umbrella with her husband, turned around and told me that the struggle of French people in the show reminded her of her tough childhood in Creole Louisiana. She knew the words to every song. Normally, listening to an old lady sing the entire score of a show would annoy the heck out of me. It didn’t.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.