Les Miserables: 25th Anniversary Tour – Lowry Theatre, Salford

Author/Dramatist: Alain Boubil

Book/Music: Claude-Michel Schonberg

Lyrics: Herbert Kretzmer

Adaptors: Trevor Nunn & John Caird

Director: Laurence Connor & James Powell

Reviewer: Poppy Helm

The Public Reviews Rating:

Les Miserables is one of those shows that makes most regular theatre-goer’s eyes light up by mere mention; it’s something people enjoy time and time again. So I found myself slightly embarrassed to be in the audience for the first time during it’s current run at The Lowry, a whole quarter of a century since it first opened at the Barbican. Thankfully, it was well worth the wait.

The story, based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel, is more sophisticated than the average West End musical; Jean Valjean is released from jail after serving nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his nephew. Forever marked as a criminal, Jean finds his supposed freedom as difficult as his incarceration, until a kindly Bishop shows him mercy and he vows to be a better man. Jean’s journey is difficult and interwoven with those of his fellow ‘miserables’ as they struggle for survival, love and redemption.

This large cast are excellent performers across the board, there isn’t a weak moment or wobbly note during the whole show, which runs to almost three hours in total. Connor and Powell’s direction makes the most of the numbers, set and props are often moved around in clear view but almost without being noticed because there’s so much else to look at. Jean (John Owen-Jones) is more engaging with every scene as we watch him wrestle with his past. He also has an impressive vocal range, particularly when singing ‘Bring Him Home’. Madalena Alberto’s petite Fantine fills the stage effortlessly with her big rendition of ‘I Dreamed A Dream’.

The set itself is the most inventive I’ve ever seen; huge pieces of scenery are moved around seamlessly and with precision timing. The action takes place with a changing backdrop based on Hugo’s own paintings in a respectful nod to the man who started it all. CGI is also cleverly incorporated, taking us on an almost virtual reality tour of a dank sewer. However, this production also doesn’t shy away from simplicity when appropriate; both the hospital scene and Jean’s death are minimalistic in comparison, but they work.

Les Miserables almost warrants a genre all of it’s own; a musical based on historical fact with interesting subplots and believable characters. As it turns out, ‘the miserables’ are so much more; they are in turns passionate and resigned, criminal and righteous, proud and wretched. There is much more this show than can be expressed in a few words – just don’t wait twenty five years before you go and see it.