A FAR CRY FROM MISERABLE
(UNLESS YOU’RE ONE OF THE CHARACTERS)

There’s a lot to gripe about in the world in 2025, but you know what? Spend a little time in 1815 France and you’re going to feel a lot better about your week. Victor Hugo’s novel takes us in deep, and the musical version doesn’t hold back any punches. Les Misérables began in Paris in 1980, with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg and original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. When producer Cameron Mackintosh brought it to London in 1985, James Fenton provided some early material, but it was Herbert Kretzmer who transformed the work with a sweeping English adaptation. His lyrics — more than mere translation — gave the show its enduring grandeur and emotional bite.

Christian Mark Gibbs and cast

There was text in French, but Kretzmer has the cast singing continuously; it’s ALL lyrics. The show lands somewhere between a rock opera and a classic opera. But as the Broadway belters in this national tour can attest, the show may be sung-through, but the songs are not arias. Many have become piano bar staples for a reason.

Nick Cartell

Hugo’s novel runs between 1,200 and 1,500 pages, depending on the edition. With a runtime of over three hours, it sometimes feels like nothing was left out. The dense plotting and time jumps can make Act I tricky to follow — miss a line and you may end up like the man next to me who whispered two-thirds through Act I, “I have no idea what’s going on.” A pity, because I was eating up every moment — but I also knew more of the material going in than he did. Here’s your foot in the door:

Nick Rehberger

In 1815, Jean Valjean (Nick Cartell) is released on parole after 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving nephew. Valjean is doggedly tracked by Inspector Javert (Nick Rehberger), who patrolled his prison time and believes no convict can ever be redeemed. Upon release, bitter and desperate, Valjean finds unexpected kindness from a bishop (Randy Jeter), which inspires him to break parole and start anew under a different name. Eight years later, Valjean has become a respected factory owner, but tragedy strikes when Fantine (Lindsay Heather Pearce), unjustly dismissed, falls into poverty. Forced into prostitution to support her daughter, Cosette (Emerson Mae Chan), who is in the “care” of innkeeper Thénardier (Matt Crowle), his heartless wife (Victoria Huston-Elem), and their young daughter Éponine (Greta Shaefer). The couple abuse and exploit Cosette while squeezing Fantine for money. Moved by Fantine’s suffering, Valjean steps in to change Cosette’s fate.

Delaney Guyer

And that’s only the first quarter. Fast forward about ten years, and Valjean, his now-grown “daughter” Cosette (Delaney Guyer), her new-found love, student revolutionary Marius (Jake David Smith), and Éponine (Mya Rena Hunter), who secretly loves Marius, are swept into the historic 1832 Paris Uprising. Everyone in Paris takes sides, and Act II becomes a story of love, loyalty, and loss set against revolution. There’s a lot to absorb, but it’s a brilliant ride.

Matt Crowle and cast

And then there are the songs — gorgeous, exquisitely sung. How do you choose which is most touching and iconic: Fantine’s “I Dreamed a Dream,” Éponine’s “On My Own,” Valjean’s “Bring Him Home,” Marius’s “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”? Answer: You can’t. Add in the tremendous voices of Cartell and Rehberger, leading an equally strong cast, and there’s not a weak note in 190 minutes. While most characters are portrayed much as in past productions, Hunter’s Éponine is sassy, giving an earthiness to “On My Own” that feels wonderfully fresh.

Mye Rena Hunter

I’ll raise one concern about casting, though it has become de rigueur in musicals these days: With a story this intricate, must a white nine-year-old Éponine turn into a Black Éponine, or a young Asian Cosette into a white Cosette? Of course, audiences can piece it together, but those shifts momentarily pull you out of the world being built. Even in a heightened musical tragedy, continuity matters — you need some sense of grounding so the story’s emotional weight doesn’t get tangled in avoidable confusion.

Christian Mark Gibbs and cast

The orchestra, under Glenn Alexander II’s baton, was impeccable—though, as ever at the Civic, lyrics sometimes got lost under the volume of the instrumentation (that especially holds for Guyer’s more operatic-sounding Cosette). Who do we write to about orchestras consistently overpowering singers on tour? These shows are miked, so it’s clearly a choice. Call me old-fashioned, but when I hear a song, I like to actually hear the lyrics.

Jake David Smith, Mya Rena Hunter, Delaney Guyer, Nick Cartell

Equally impressive is Matt Kinley, whose sets transform and vanish with cinematic fluidity, conjuring strikingly varied, complex environments for the actors to inhabit — nowhere more powerfully than in the battle scene. These are elevated by Finn Ross and Fifty Nine Productions’ remarkable projections, most memorably in a sequence where shifting images move with the actors to suggest an endless trek through the sewers. Paule Constable’s lighting, though often gorgeously atmospheric, sometimes tips too far into shadow — making it difficult to catch the actors’ expressions even from solid orchestra seats.

Nick Cartell

For longtime fans, this tour delivers everything you could hope for. And if you’ve never experienced this classic, consider it the perfect chance to treat yourself — ideally from a good seat — to a legendary musical done right.

Matt Crowle and Gregory Lee Rodriguez

photos by Matthew Murphy

Les Misérables
Broadway San Diego at the San Diego Civic Theatre
1100 Third Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
Thu at 7:30; Fri at 8; Sat and 2 & 8; Sun at 1 & 6:30
ends on Sept 21, 2025
for tickets, call 619.564.3000 or visit BroadwaySD

tour continues; for dates and cities, visit Lez Miz