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| The Victor Hugo classic LES MISERABLES plays at the Community Center Theater through Oct. 10. Photo by Joan Marcus |
The National Tour of the show hit Sacramento this week leaving the audience spellbound in weaving its tale of Jean Valjean and his struggle to become an honest man.
Set in France in the 1800s, LES MISERABLES centers around a man who was arrested for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's child. After 19 years on a chain gang, Jean Valjean is paroled, but he must always carry with him the yellow "ticket-of-leave" which marks him as a criminal. He's treated as an outcast wherever he goes - except when he visits a church seeking shelter. There, the Bishop treats him kindly and gives him food and a place to sleep. Valjean, a bitter man from his years of imprisonment, steals silver from the Bishop. He is caught by the police, but the Bishop tells them the silver was a gift and even gives Jean Valjean a pair of silver candlesticks to help him on his way. Valjean realizes he must make good with his life. He tears up his ticket-of-leave and sets out to make something of himself, eventually becoming a successful businessman and mayor of a town.
Because
he has broken his parole, Javert, a policeman, pursues Jean Valjean
relentlessly.
At this point, LES MISERABLES evolves into several concurrent
storylines
which eventually come together by the end of the production. This
series
of developments which weave in and out of each other make for one of
the
most entertaining and complex stories ever to play out on the stage.
The sets in LES MISERABLES are really amazing both in their scope and functionality. The student barricade and fence at Valjean's house are turned as the performance goes on revealing different perspectives on the action that is currently going on. The massive town set folds down from either side of the stage turning into a multi-leveled stage for the actors.
Perhaps the best part of LES MISERABLES (next to the story) is the music. LES MISERABLES has one of the most memorable scores in theatre. With music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, songs like "At the End of the Day," "Stars," "Do You Hear the People Sing?," "On My Own," and many others will have a familiar ring even to people who haven't seen the show. My personal favorite (and one that always brings the house down), is the comedic "Master of the House," sung by Thenardier, his wife, and the customers at their inn. It really has nothing to do with the rest of the story in LES MISERABLES, but serves to better introduce their characters and lightens up what is otherwise a serious story.
At three and a quarter hours, LES MISERABLES is a long one, but the story goes by so quick that you'll wish for more.
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| Jean Valjean - Ivan Rutherford | Labourer - Matt Clemens | Young Cosette - Alison Fidel |
| Javert - Stephen Bishop | Innkeeper's Wife - Mindy Smoot | Madame Thenardier - Aymee Garcia |
| Chain Gang - Trent Blanton, | Innkeeper - Jerry Jay Cranford | Thenardier - J.P. Dougherty |
| Matt Clemens, Ben Davis, | The Bishop of Digne - Seth Bowling | Gavroche - Cameron Teitelman |
| J.P. Dougherty, Kevin Earley, | Constables - Stephen Colella, J. Reiff | Eponine - Sutton Foster |
| Tim Howar, Randal Keith, | Fantine - Joan Almedilla | Marius - Tim Howar |
| Graham Rowat, Steve Scott Springer | Foreman - Graham Rowat | Cosette - Regan Thiel |
| Farmer - Stephen Paul Cramer | Factory Girl - Margaret Nichols | Enjolras - Kevin Earley |
LES
MISERABLES
performs at the Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street in Downtown
Sacramento
through Oct. 10. For ticket information call (916) 557-1999, (916)
264-5181
or (916) 766-BASS, or visit the Broadway Series box office at 1419 H
Street.
Next up for the Broadway Series is the
internationally acclaimed comedy ART (Nov. 2-7), starring Judd Hirsch.