Les Miserables

Les Miserables tells the tale of a man, who after being sent to jail for 19 years stealing bread, vows to restart his life but is followed by his parole offcier, and has been running in the west end for 40 years. It is filled with recogniseable songs and is hailed as a staple of the musical theatre genre. 

What I Liked

The design of the show is fantastic, I think it achieves the desired spectacle often asked of musicals without just adding glitter. The dark and grungy settings of much of the story could very easily be shrouded in simple dull tones but the many costumes every performer had were each unique and added to the overall setting every time. 

The performers were all fantastic. Ian McIntosh, playing Jean Valjean, and Sam Oladeinde, playing Javert, who run as the main thread of the story, had very powerful presences and incredible voices so were especially memorable. 

What wasn’t my favourite 

I, somehow, had never seen Les Mis live before, nor ever purposefully listened to the cast album, so seeing it properly held a lot of weight. I fear it has been overhyped. I think it’s a great show, but ultimately it’s not the kind for me, mostly because the characters are rather one note. Some characters seem to only exist for other characters to anchor to, but without any personal objectives. Cosette is an object of desire, Enjorales leads the revolution, and when Javert does explore his wants and objectives, questioning his motivations, he then immediately kills himself. I love a character study and unfortunately Les Mis doesn’t give me that. 

Overall 

Les Mis is a wonderful show filled with songs that deserve to be as well known as they are. The performance of every perfumer feels polished and purposeful, and the creative design of the show helps solidify its place as an epic tale in the musical theatre genre. It won’t be making it onto my Spotify wrapped but I see why people like it so much.