A Reflection upon Les Mis at the Sondheim Theatre

The dark stage flutters into brightness as he sings, each speck of light a candle held by one of the deceased. For all intents and purposes, he is alone. Death and misery seems to exude from his grieving posture as he stands there hunched over his cane. In the near silence as the spotlight settles upon the black shoulders of his coat, there is never a sense of expectation from the audience. They know that the showy numbers of the barricade have been and gone and instead a sadness settles over the auditorium. An empty stage, a grieving man alone… and then he opens his mouth: ‘there’s a grief that can’t be spoken, there’s a pain goes on and on. Empty chairs at empty tables, now my friends are dead and gone.’ There is so much truth in those words, even for those who have never experienced such a pain as he is unable to describe. You could almost imagine his walking slowly through the café, resting a hand on the back of a chair and remembering the face of the boy who used to sit there. Faces that begin to emerge from the shadows, taking up vigil beside a candle. Those tiny flares the only protection from the darkness, a call to the other side. He is no longer alone and yet as lonely as ever. With their silent observation of their friend, the scene becomes all the more agonising…

I had never been overly interested in Les Miserables. I watched the film adaptation once not long after it was released and remember feeling somewhat ambivalent towards it. Yet, for whatever reason, when thinking about what I would like to do for my twenty-first birthday I could not shake the decision to go and see the musical. Thus, at the end of May, I found myself in the front row of the Sondheim’s circle watching the lights come up on galley of a ship. From the second that the performance began I was hooked, drawn into the story and travelling along the journeys of the characters with commitment. This was the first professional London show that I had seen since 2020 and I think that I had forgotten the power of sitting in an old theatre and watching the magic unfold. As someone who has had far more crew experience than I did three years ago, it was fascinating to watch the set pieces as they appeared and were removed from the stage. If you watch closely enough you can see the tracks upon the stage, the occasional hand reaching out to move something that has become stuck. Perhaps this ruins the effect of the performance, the realism, but actually it is those moments which I feel make a play or musical all the more magical and real. Copious amounts of time and people’s effort go into the creation of the finished product and it can be easy to forget this when we are watching a polished end result; however, it is every member of the crew and cast that makes something possible. The cogs of the theatre machine are turning due to those hidden faces, the hands that appear to pull a fallen chair off the set.

When considering a show, there are such an array of roles and expertise that go into every moment as anyone who has been backstage will tell you. The vision of the director is filtered through a hundred hands and in the case of Les Mis there are many more than we may at first consider. Victor Hugo’s book went through a French iteration before it reached Cameron Mackintosh’s hands and became the phenomenon that we are now familiar with. Since then many actors across the world have had an opportunity to bring their own interpretation to the characters, always shadowed by older or more famous performances (including those of the star-studded 2012 film). In the play’s current London cast there is talent abounding, with every actor pulling out all of the stops to create flawless performances and contributing to an incredible night at the theatre. The current cast is led by Josh Piterman’s Jean Valjean and Stewart Clarke’s Javert both of whom were predictably phenomenal. Likewise, Enjolras as played by Harry Chandler was undoubtedly compelling and left you with the heartbreak of watching a young man leading his friends to a tragic end. I could not help but draw some notable parallels between the students and my peers at Oxford – I will leave you to decide whether this is a positive or negative assessment. Playing Marius currently is Australian actor Robert Tripolino, who was an excellent choice for the character, his emotional range allowing us a true insight into the sensitivities of the character. While one can focus upon the acting talent of those upon the stage all of whom ranked equally in their incredibly talented performances (including, of course, Lulu Mae Pears’ Cosette), a special mention must be made for Eponine. Nathania Ong without a doubt stole the show with her mind-blowing performance of ‘On My Own’.

As can be told by these assessments, the performance with incredible thanks to the talent of both the cast and crew, neither letting down the legacy of the world’s longest running musical. The design is equally fantastic, with the whole experience being made all the more magical through the use of Hugo’s paintings for the curtain and projections. One such example can been seen in the header, which is a photograph from the night in question. These evocative pieces came into the own during the scenes set in the sewers, with the mixture of clever projection and haze leading to one of the most realistic scenes I think that I have ever seen. All in all, this musical has gone from one at the periphery of my awareness to foremost in my current theatre obsession. Certain songs have found their way into my Spotify On Repeat and the soundtrack as a whole got me through many a late night end of the year essay crisis. If you have not seen it yet, what are you waiting for? There is something for everyone – from incredible sets and use of the stage to amazing performances to Mackintosh’s beautiful score…

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