LOVE AND FORGIVENESS IN VICTOR HUGO'S LES
MISERABLES
by Ed
Farolan
LES MISERABLES
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
until Aug.
24
290-4444
"To love another person is to see the face of
God" is the poignant finale sung by the chorus of this exhilarating musical
that opened last August 7th here in
Vancouver.
All great plays are biblically inspired; the great Bard himself based
many of his themes from Scriptures, as in
Winter's Tale
where forgiveness is the major motif . The same leitmotif shines in
Les Miserables.
When the play opens, Jean Valjean (Gregory Calvin Stone)
is released on parole after 19 years. He is branded an outcast, and only
the saintly Bishop of Digne (Michael L. Marra) treats him kindly.
In return, however, Valjean steals silver from him, and is eventually caught
by the police who take him to the Bishop. Valjean is astonished when the
Bishop lies to save him, and goes even further in his generosity by giving
him two precious candlesticks. He admonishes Valjean to start his life anew
in the spirit of love and forgiveness.
All through the rest of the play, Valjean sticks to his promise throughout
his life. When he becomes Mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer eight years later, he
comes to the rescue of a man pinned down by a runaway cart. When the dying
Fantine (Lisa Capps) asks him to look after her daughter Cosette
(Danielle Raniere, Kate Fisher), he promises her he would and
he does. During the Paris barricade, he has a chance to kill the cruel cop
Javert (Todd Alan Johnson) who has been hunting him for 30
years for breaking his parole, but instead lets him go. And finally, he saves
Marius, Cosette's fiancee, after all the rebels are killed in the barricade.
Love and forgiveness has become a way of life for the reformed
Valjean.
This touring cast straight from the Broadway production is a strong cast,
tightly knit and disciplined in their performance, and they do extreme justice
to Alain Boublil/Claude-Michel Schonberg's work. Tenor Stone's astonishing
vocal range, particularly in the rendition of Bring Him Home was
magnificent. On the other hand, Johnson's powerful baritone voice in
Stars and Soliloquy vibrated throughout the auditorium, captivating
an impressed audience.
The other actors were terrific. Rona Figueroa's Eponine has shades
of her former role as Kim in Miss Saigon, with a more contemporary,
almost pop-like quality to her vocal style, and together with Kate Fisher's
Cosette and Rich Affannato's Marius, the songs In my life and
A Heart Full of Love, were rendered beautifully in classic operatic
style.
It was refreshing to hear children's voices with 8-year old Danielle
Raniere's Cossette singing the very touching Castle on a Cloud, and 10-year
old Ryan Rumbaugh's Gavroche catching laughs from an appreciative
audience.
But the show-catchers were the Thenardiers (Tregoney Shepherd, J.P.
Dougherty) for their stage presence as well as their humorous rendition
of Master of the House and Beggars at the
Feast.
Production-wise, the revolving stage did its functional role of carrying
out most of the play's action, turning one way and then the other to artistically
show both sides of Thenardier's tavern and the Paris barricade. The two piles
of "junk" (reminiscent of another Cameron Mackintosh production, Cats)
served its purpose in the first act as tenement houses for the poor, and
in the second as the barricade for the failed student revolution. Light and
sound effects were remarkable: what stood out were the shadow and fog techniques
in the battle scenes as well as the light and "drip-drip" echo sounds from
the Paris sewers. The only thing lacking was the smell to complete the
ambience.
All in all, this musical was an inspiring three hours of songs, drama and
humour that won the hearts of Vancouver's opening night audience, who showed
their appreciation with a warm and sincere standing
ovation.