Sunday matinee will be a weekly post focusing on an individual Broadway show.  I’ll discuss some of its history, trivia and little-known anecdotes as well as analyze the political, social or cultural ramifications of the piece.  In fact, let me start with a little-known theatre fact:  Did you ever wonder why Saturday matinees on Broadway are at 2:00 and Sunday matinees are at 3:00?  My understanding is that years ago, the Sunday matinee was scheduled for 3:00 so the actors would have time to go to a late church service on Sunday morning.  Because of the late hour of the prior night’s performance, actors tend to sleep in rather late on Sunday mornings.  The Noon Mass is sometimes the only option for church and then a nice lunch after church would have made a 1:30 call way too tight.  I wonder how many actors on Broadway these days take advantage of that schedule.
 
Les Miserables
 
I’ll start with a rather blunt declarative:  “Les Miserables” is the greatest musical ever written.  It’s taken me years to get to this point.  “My Fair Lady” was there for a while for me, then “A Chorus Line,” then “Sweeney Todd”…  but after over twenty years of reflection from seeing that first invitational dress rehearsal at the amazing Broadway Theatre in the Spring of 1987 and after seeing the under-appreciated revival from two seasons ago I have reached the conclusion that there is no better piece of musical theatre than “Les Mis”. 
 
*Spoiler Alert* If you are a regular reader of my Stage Right postings, I assume you have a certain affinity for the theatre.  And after almost 25 years I would assume you’ve already either seen the show or at least heard the score.  But if you haven’t I have to warn all readers that it will be impossible for me to discuss this show without revealing major plot points.  So, if you don’t want to read spoilers, then kindly click on one of the discreet banner advertisements to your right and be on your way!  
 
Click this link for a detailed synopsis of Les Miserables. 
 
Is the story liberal or conservative?
 
At the beginning of Les Mis when we follow Valjean’s journey off of the chain-gang and observe his attempts to integrate with civilization after 17 years of imprisonment for stealing bread, it is easy to think that this play is about government oppression, law and order versus compassion, social prejudice… you know… liberal crap!  And throw in the conditions of the starving and the homeless and the heroic intellectual college student’s stand against authority and on the face of it this is just left of “Hair”.  
 
At the end of the day you’re another day older
And that’s all you can say for the life of the poor
It’s a struggle, it’s a war
And there’s nothing that anyone’s giving
One more day standing about, what is it for?
One day less to be living.
 
At the end of the day you’re another day colder
And the shirt on your back doesn’t keep out the chill
And the righteous hurry past
They don’t hear the little ones crying
And the winter is coming on fast, ready to kill
One day nearer to dying!

These lyrics could be the anthem for ACORN for God’s sake.  But look deeper in to the story and you’ll see that although the plot does use the plight of the poor and the anger at the aristocracy in 19th Century France as a catalyst for the tragic events to come, the over-riding theme of Les Mis is redemption.  And, more specifically, redemption through God. 
 
Valjean is the protagonist, and Valjean is the epitome of a conservative.  After a bishop shows him mercy, Valjean vows to start a new life and leave his past behind him: 
 
One word from him and I’d be back
Beneath the lash, upon the rack
Instead he offers me my freedom
I feel my shame inside me like a knife
He told me that I have a soul,
How does he know?
What spirit comes to move my life?
Is there another way to go?
 
I am reaching, but I fall
And the night is closing in
And I stare into the void
To the whirlpool of my sin
I’ll escape now from the world
From the world of Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean is nothing now
Another story must begin!

And what a story it is.  In eight short years he has become a factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, now that’s a capitalist… this dude is Victor Hugo’s Mitt Romney.  Within the next twenty minutes of the show, Valjean shows compassion (forces Javert to put Fantine in hospital instead of prison), honesty (reveals himself as 24601 rather than let an innocent man be jailed in his place), and integrity (by keeping his vow to Fantine and going to rescue Cosette).  When we next see Valjean in the slums of Paris, he and his now grown adopted daughter Cosette are distributing money and care to the starving homeless.  He isn’t petitioning the government for programs, he is using his own funds for charity.  He goes to the barricades not necessarily because he believes in the students’ cause, but so he can watch over Marius for the sake of his daughter… what a father would do out of love for his daughter is the greatest example of conservative values.  And what is Valjean’s great, second-act show stopping song?  A prayer to God. 
 
Bring him peace
Bring him joy
He is young
He is only a boy
 
You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home

Finally, on his death bed he sees a vision of Fantine and Eponine welcoming him to heaven and he sums up Victor Hugo’s over-riding theme of the show with the lyric:

To love another person is to see the face of God.

Valjean is a combination of Ronald Reagan, Rudy Giuliani, John Wayne and Pope John Paul II.  Les Mis is a conservative show, but, what makes it so great is that liberals don’t know it and they can enjoy it without any qualms. 
 
Is it just another big, British “spectacle” musical?
 
The timing of this production (mid to late 1980’s) as well as set-designer John Napier’s affiliation (he had just done “Cats” and “Starlight Express”) allow some people to categorize Les Mis as just one of the many “spectacle” musicals which came out of London at this time.  Those shows were all lumped together as, shallow, reliant on sets and special effects, loud, overwhelming… I heard them written off as Burger King of Broadway meant to appeal to unsophisticated tourists, but not real theatre mavens.  I’ll utilize another post defending these shows, but despite how you feel about them, it is absolutely wrong to lump Les Mis in with them. 
 
True, Director Trevor Nunn’s prior forays into musical theatre were Cats and Starlight, but Les Miserables has much more in common with some of his other efforts like 1984’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” with Derek Jacobi (a production like you have never seen!) and, mostly, his landmark production of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby”.  Both Les Mis and Nickleby were co-directed by Nunn and John Caird.  The fact is, Les Mis is such a huge and sweeping story that it would be nearly impossible to tell the story without major scenic elements.  However, other than the giant pieces used for the barricade scene (which also double as the slums in the first act) Les Mis is actually a very spare set.  A genius use of turntables in the stage (which is hardly a “special effect”, turn tables have been used for years in theatre) which effortlessly bring minimal set pieces (a table, a gate, some chairs) as well as the various performers sweeping in and out of Valjean’s life give the impression that this show is a technical wonder, but it’s actually a very traditional scenic design, just updated to utilize the computerized stage-animation technologies of our time. 
 
And to call Les Mis “loud” is to be too simplistic.  Are their loud moments?  Of course, they are depicting a gun battle and a rebellion for crying out loud.  But the most moving moment and emotionally impactful are the quietest moments.  Fantine alone on stage in a spotlight singing “I had a dream my life would be, So different from this hell I’m living, So different now from what it seemed“.  When she holds out the note on “seeeeeeeeeeeeeeemed” the music stops for a moment and all the audience hears is the silence in the theatre before she sings the last line of the song.  Same thing when Eponine sings “The world is full of happiness that I have never knooooooooooooown.“  In Les Mis, the most meaningful moments occur when we are alone with one character and they are revealing their most personal thoughts to us.  That is not spectacle, that is drama. 

“But I don’t want to see a show about a bunch of college protesters fighting against the police!”
 
That’s what my Uncle said to me when I forced him to see Les Mis in 1987.  And at first glance, I understand that this plot line is a trouble spot for a lot of conservatives.  So let’s address this issue.  First of all, understand that the students are protesting against an in-effectual government.  Their hero is Gen. Jean Lamarque who is often described as a leftist.  But the rebels in the June Rebellions of 1832, which are depicted in Les Mis, were rebelling against the monarchy and in favor of Republicanism.  In the context of 1832 France, Republicanism stood for self-government with liberty, popular sovereignty and civic virtue.  You see, back then, left was right! 
 
And even though a good conservative would not advocate street riots to advance one’s cause, the real epitaph of the student rebels is sung by Marius in the stirring Empty Chairs and Empty Tables: 

From the table in the corner
They could see a world reborn
And they rose with voices ringing
I can hear them now!
The very words that they had sung
Became their last communion
On the lonely barricade at dawn……
 
…..Oh my friends, my friends, don’t ask me
What your sacrifice was for
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will sing no more.

Not really an anthem to the cause.  More of a song of regret and reconsideration, I think. 
 
The greatest Act One Finale of all time
 
I’ve discussed how Les Mis is a triumph of storytelling and stage direction as well as technical theatre excellence, but in the end, this show boils down to a really great score.  The music is sweeping and powerful, tender and moving, funny and raucous, and climactic and chilling.  And in one song in particular, composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and librettist Alain Boublil achieve all of these things at the same time.  Act 1 finale “One Day More” became an instant classic upon its first public performance and continue to be the single most impressive song written for the musical theatre.  It borrows much from Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s “Tonight” from “West Side Story” but it achieves even more by expressing to the audience every character’s individual storyline at the end of the first act by utilizing a different musical motif for each character individually, and then in a triumph of overlapping counterpoint the different musical themes heard in songs earlier in the show combine into a cacophony of music that dares the audience not to come back for Act 2! 
 
In One Day More the writers manage to convey to the audience:

• Valjean’s plan to run away with Cosette to America.
• Marius and Cosette’s despair at being separated after falling in love.
• Eponine’s heartbreak over Marius.
• Marius’ torn feelings of wanting to follow Cosette but feeling obligated to stay and fight with his friends at the barricades.
• Enjolras rallying the students for tomorrow’s rebellion.
• Javert’s plans to disguise himself as a rebel to undermine their plans.
• Mssr. and Mdme. Thernardier’s plans to loot and steal from the fallen corpses at the barricades.
• Marius’ final decision to stay loyal to his friends and fight by their sides.

All of these plot points are brilliantly conveyed through song.  And what an amazing song it is.  Here is the original Broadway Cast, without the benefit of turntable or an on-the-ball sound technician, from the 1987 Tony Awards (with a 1 minute prologue of “At the End of the Day”):

YouTube

Frankly, to see One Day More at the end of Act 1 is reason enough to see Les Mis.
 
Timeless
 
Finally, what makes Les Mis so great is that it is timeless.  Its story resonates now as much as twenty years ago and as much as it did in 1862 when Victor Hugo released the novel.  I think it would have resonated in 1770 America, and even in Shakespeare’s Elizabethan England and even way back in Euripides’ Greece.  Because it speaks to the greatest struggles on human kind.  Man vs. himself, Man vs. God, Man vs. Man.  And Man’s struggle against power and the wicked, tyrannical use of it. 
 
I fully expect to see a breathtaking production of Les Mis with my grandchildren some day (and my oldest kid is not even 10 so it better be a while). 
 
Do You Hear the People Sing?
 
If you’re like me, you need a regular fix of Les Mis and, now that the Broadway revival has closed it looks like a trip to London is your best shot where it is currently in its 23rd record-breaking year.  But, in the mean time, I highly recommend this 10th Anniversary Concert Version of Les Miserables filmed at the London’s Royal Albert Hall.  Watching this proves that this show doesn’t need any of the special effects and technical wizardry to sustain its greatness.  It is performed with no staging at all.  Just the actors at microphones singing the show. It is an all-star, dream team of Les Mis performers including: 

Colm Wilkinson as Valjean – He is the original and the greatest.  This role will always be his. Like Yul Brynner in “King and I”, any actor to play this role will not just be playing Valjean, they will be playing Colm Wilkinson as Valjean

Lea Salonga as Eponine - Yes, she is known as Kim in “Miss Saigon”, but her turn as Eponine is the single greatest interpretation of this role.  Always tender, always sympathetic, and never whiny like some Eponines are.

Michael Ball as Marius – Yes, he’s a little old and a little chubby to pull it off completely, but his voice is the purest I have ever heard sing these songs.

Michael Maguire as Enjolras - This role sort of became his one-hit wonder.  He won the Best Supporting Actor Tony for it but he hasn’t been able to sustain a huge Broadway since.  But when 6 foot plus Michael Maguire thrusts his fist in the air holding a rifle and the lights catch his white sleeves and he belts out in a clarion tenor voice “One More Day Before the Storm!” I dare you not to get shivers.  

Judy Kuhn as Cosette – The first and only Cosette to not come across a little bit annoying.  For the love triangle to work the audience can’t be thinking “My God, what does he see in her?  He should totally go for Eponine!” and with Judy Kuhn, you don’t say that.  I totally saw what Marius saw in her. 

There are a few other great things about this DVD.  First it is performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which is a much lusher orchestration than the Broadway production.  The additional chairs make the music that much more thrilling.  There is also a chorus of hundreds of singers seated behind the orchestra who stand and punctuate the larger musical numbers with a triumphant sound unheard in a theatre production, only in a concert like this.  

Finally, this DVD boasts a remarkable finale where 17 different actors from around the world parade down the center aisle with a flag representing their country.  It is revealed that they are Valjeans from all of the International casts of Les Mis.  They perform a breathtaking rendition of “Do You hear the People Sing” and “One Day More”.  Thanks to YouTube, I’ll use it for the finale of this Sunday Matinee:  (keep a sharp eye for the Japan Valjean)

YouTube

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