Stage Review: Incredible singing, new design hint at future for 'Les Miserables'

Photo by Deen van Meer

Andrew Varela as Javert in "Les Miserables."

A new day is coming when the super-hit musical “Les Miserables” can finally be staged by just about anyone, not just the professionals in New York and London. Yes, soon anyone who has ever driven around town singing “On My Own” to their iPod will get a crack at auditioning for, say, a community theater production of the epic show.

And what evidence do I have for this?

One clue is the 25th Anniversary tour of “Les Miserables,” running through Sunday at the Orpheum theater. The newly designed production is steeped in the gothic charcoal and sepia tones of the author Victor Hugo. Not only his words, but his paintings as well, which depict a murky City of Paris in the early 1800s.

Hugo’s artwork is projected on a large backdrop. Sometimes the pictures of sewers or city streets pan in and out as if the actors have stepped inside a giant video game. A highly cinematic effect is occasionally achieved when the performers are marching forward and the projections are zooming in, like that well-known scene in “Goodfellas” in which the background slowly encroaches upon Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta’s characters while they chat in a cafe.

It’s a different approach to creating the kind of “camera” movement that John Napier’s original set design was famous for. He used a large turntable to spin the ensemble around, allowing viewers to see different angles of action as though the audience itself was the camera.

Even with the atmospheric projections, fog effects and moody lighting, Matt Kinley’s new design has a far more traditional look to it, and with it comes more traditional direction. It’s hard to imagine a community theater having the resources to build a huge revolving stage, but something like this set will likely become a blueprint for what’s possible on a smaller scale.

Perhaps, too, this new “Les Miserables” hints at what’s to be expected in terms of future musical interpretation. My memories of past tours — and certainly of the cast albums — contain voices that have an almost operatic adherence to the notes.

While the singers in this “Les Miserables” are often remarkable and genuine, there is a tendency to add a more “musical theater” vocal style to the characters. We see singers such as Betsy Morgan (as Fantine) and Chasten Harmon (as Eponine) working heroically to sell their big numbers, pumping up the drama and the heartache.

Is there room in “Les Miserables” for more subtlety? On one hand, the show contains one of the most exhilarating action sequences in all of musical theater — the battle behind the barricades — in which a group of students armed with rifles have an all-out fight to the death on a smoke-filled stage.

On the other hand, “Les Miserables” is about grace, humanity and the power of love in a world that is dirty, cruel and unforgiving.

The protagonist, Jean Valjean, is a petty thief who breaks his parole and re-dedicates his life to God. Despite his reformation, he’s pursued relentlessly by Javert, a policeman who abides by the letter of the law to the point of spiritual blindness.

Andrew Varela’s stern and unwavering voice is as pitiless as the Old Testament in the role of Javert. It is a beautiful contrast to that of J. Mark McVey as Valjean, in whose incredible dynamic range the emotional arc of the musical resides. No matter how astounding the set or how big the acting, the soul of “Les Miserables” lives in its soft extremities.

When McVey pleads with God, in a sweet, nearly-breaking falsetto, to spare a young man in battle and take him instead, all the flashy stuff fades away. Let’s hope future directors remember that the acting and singing matters just as much as the sets.

“Les Miserables”

Performances continue at 7:30 p.m. tonight and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Orpheum theater, 203 S. Main. Tickets are $15-$110. Call 525-3000.

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