Cameron Mackintosh presents a brand new production of Boublil & Schonberg's legendary musical, Les Miserables, with glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. This new production that has been acclaimed by critics, fans and new audiences and is breaking box office records around the country is now coming to Broadway.
LES MISERABLES has returned to Broadway's Imperial Theatre in an acclaimed new production that has audiences leaping to their feet. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, LES MIZ is an unforgettable story of heartbreak, passion, and the resilience of the human spirit, that has become one of the most celebrated musicals in theatrical history.
Featuring the timeless score and beloved songs "I Dreamed A Dream," "Bring Him Home," "One Day More," and "On My Own," this breathtaking new Broadway production has left the critics awestruck, hailing it "A LES MIZ FOR THE 21st CENTURY!" (The Huffington Post)
The revelation is Ramin Karimloo, an Iranian-born Canadian who is well known in London but makes his Broadway debut here. As Jean Valjean, the petty criminal turned respected citizen still on the run from the law, Karimloo projects a masculine authority that cannily reveals hidden pockets of vulnerability. He's blessed with matinee-idol looks and a crystalline tenor that pierces the back rows of the Imperial Theatre. With apologies to Hugh Jackman, his may be the best sung, best acted Valjean I've ever seen. Will Swenson (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) has never sounded better as the by-the-book Inspector Javert, who has been chasing Valjean for decades, though his performance at times edges toward the bombastic...The rest of the cast is mostly solid...In [Karimloo's] solos, 'Who Am I?' and particularly 'Bring Him Home,' not only does he inject each phrase with feeling and musicality but he fully embodies the message of the song. There's not a gesture, not a head bob out of place. At the end of the day, he brings the most luster to this stirring revival.
..to say this production is not as bombastic as the original is to rate it at perhaps an 8 instead of a 10 on the Hugo scale. (The 2012 movie cannot even be measured with current technology.) At the same time, the simplified staging works against the show by further exposing the thinness of the writing...Ramin Karimloo, a next-generation mega-musical expert, who is passionate and precise as Valjean and delivers the most exquisite 'Bring Him Home' I've ever heard. A less-expected delight is Will Swenson. Though his Broadway credits (including Hair and Priscilla Queen of the Desert) did not suggest the stature and discipline needed for an effective Javert, he offers a highly mannered but convincing interpretation, biting decisively into every musical phrase like a Doberman. But in cramming the rest of the story into three hours, the authors have cherry-picked Hugo's plot so mercilessly that only its highlights remain. The result is both thin and flat, with nearly everything pitched at the same overwrought level.
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