By: Cameron Tyo
February 10th, 2025
Les Mis was a book written by Victor Hugo that was adapted into a French musical in 1980. It has been a musical theater staple ever since an English adaptation of the show made its way to the West End in 1985 and eventually to Broadway. With this came many different revivals of the show and multiple filmed concert productions—one of those being the 25th Anniversary of the West End production in 2010 at the O2. My first introduction to the story might have been the 2012 movie adaptation, but to the sheer power and greatness of the music, it was this version. The concert version still lives to tell the story of Les Mis. The music helps, and while there is little staging due to the constraints of being on a concert stage, the acting that is done and the use of projections showing the more prop-heavy scenes, such as Valjean saving Fauchelevent from being crushed under his cart, etc. are shown. With that, some songs are cut that are sort of crucial to the overall story, primarily the whole “Second Attack” sequence.
With that out of the way, I want to talk about the cast. This could be a recency bias, as I rewatched this version a day before writing this review. Perhaps it is because this is the first cast I’ve seen singing the stage musical, but I absolutely adore it. You have Alfie Boe, who plays Jean Valjean and immediately owns the stage with his operatic baritenor voice in the prologue alone, showing how he feels being outside prison walls. Hearing his soliloquy and the emotion in his voice as his vibrato hits “another story must begin” as he rips up his parole papers with the crescendo of the drums is everything leading to the start of the events that will catapult to others.
Now, there are a few times when Boe may have too much operatic tension. For example, in “Who Am I.” He sings so powerfully but during certain lines like “And so Javert, you see it true. This man brings no more guilt than you,” I feel his voice should be a bit more contained until the end of the song, but that is a nitpick as “Who Am I” is one of my favorite songs from the musical. It’s that one song I want to be perfect, even though nothing ever is. But nonetheless, Boe commands the stage no matter the song. And even in his quieter moments. In moments of hope and reflection like “Bring Him Home,” his emotional tole is reflected nicely.
Javert, played by Norm Lewis, is also great. When it comes to commanding respect on stage in “The Work Song” or showing his authority of command in songs like “The Confrontation” and “The Robbery,” his vocal prowess reflects his desire to do what must be done as an Inspector. In “Stars,” you can hear Javert sort of break down a little as he reveals that he must complete what he has started. The stars act as a symbol of commitment for all these years in his goal of trying to recapture Jean Valjean.
The others in the cast also do a great job. While not my favorite Fantine, I feel Lea Salonga did an admirable job. Her acting, while subtle, portrayed well a woman tormented by everything that happens to her in the musical, leading her to reflect on what life could have been in “I Dreamed a Dream,” which she sings beautifully. Matt Lucas and Jenny Galloway, who play the Thénardiers, do an amazing job at using their comic character voices while singing, particularly in “Master of the House,” which is just a jolly good number about some fun, dishonest living. Samantha Barks is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, Éponine. Her facial expressions make it very easy to see her unrequited love for Marius. Her moments of hopeful longing but ultimate solemness are shown numerous times. She is definitely a powerhouse mezzo-soprano, and all the heartache she has hidden throughout the show reveals itself in “On My Own.” Before this song, you gradually see her lose more and more hope that she and Marius will be together, which is reflected in her voice in “In My Life” and “Heart Full of Love.” “Every word that he says is a dagger in me” is a line that truly shows how Éponine feels about her situation. Her great facial expressions carry on in scenes that require more acting, such as “A Little Fall of Rain.” She is just brilliant all around.
You also have Nick Jonas and Katie Hall, who played Marius and Cosette, respectively. Katie Hall, I thought, did a really good job playing Cosette. She played her before in the West End, and her sweet, angelic soprano voice really depicted the pureness and innocence that Cosette is meant to often have. However, her voice also displays the anguish of the scenario she finds herself in. Her voice blends well with Nick Jonas. Now, onto Nick Jonas. Jonas was obviously a stunt cast. He is probably the weakest singer in the cast, and that primarily is due to his pop voice not blending entirely well with the more musical, operatic voices. There are also times when he seems to have a painful expression on his face at times when he really shouldn’t. Sometimes, I wonder if these expressions come from him because he is trying to strain his voice to make his voice sound boomier like the rest of the cast. He isn’t a horrible singer, but he seems out of place with the cast. I actually like his rendition of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” even though you can tell he struggles with the low notes. However, he does a good enough job and is decent if he has a solo or is singing softer duets. I mean, he is pretty much as great of a singer as the best in the movie version, so there is some food for thought.
Ramin Karimloo, Hadley Fraser, and Earl Carpenter are also great at playing their respective roles. Ramin, I thought, really lost himself in the role of Enjolras. His facial expressions were great. I could see just how serious he was in starting a revolution and also the pain he endured in the events of the attack on the barricade. Songs like “ABC Cafe/Red and Black” and “Look Down” really portray this. Ramin’s powerful betting very much shows his position as the leader of the ABC society. Especially the line “Before we cut the fat ones down to size? Before the barricades arise.” This part gets me every time as Enjolras questions the state of the world and acknowledges that barricades will be built. He builds one. I loved Fraser’s portrayal of Grantaire. He makes the character comedic like he should, which plays almost the opposite of Ramin’s Enjolras, which is the point. You don’t just see his comedic sort of laid-back personality but also get some depth to him in his beautifully sung solo in “Drink With Me.” You get to know how he truly feels about his part in the revolution. Finally, though a pretty small part, Earl Carpenter did a beautiful job playing the role of the bishop, who would be a pivotal character in Valjean’s life.
Finally, I want to discuss the child actors. I really loved hearing young Cosette’s “Castle on a Cloud,” played by Mia Jenkins. She really captured the idea of childhood innocence. Rob Madge, playing Gavroche, did great at proving how even someone as small as Gavroche, a street urchin, can make a difference, often considering him the most knowledgeable of the streets, giving useful insight to not just the characters in the story but also the audience members acting as a narrator almost like in “Look Down.” Madge has a great voice, too. I really wish “The Second Attack” was present so we could hear more of him.
As I mentioned, there was very little acting, stage design, and props being a concert version of the musical, but the props used and the acting were great in telling the story that didn’t technically need to be implemented. The production is advertised as a concert. They could have just done that and had no props at all. I thought the extra performances at the end were neat. You had three other former Valjeans, one being Colm Wilkinson, sing “Bring Me Home” as a quartet, and the original West End cast of Les Mis minus David Burt perform with the performers of the night to sing “One Day More,” my favorite song in the musical and one of my favorite Act one finale, ending with a performance of “Do you Hear the People Sing?“
Overall, the performance as a whole of the 25th-anniversary concert is great, and I think everyone should give it a listen once, especially fans of Les Mis who somehow haven’t yet. You’ll feel empowered, happy, angry, sad—all emotions in a span of three hours that won’t even feel that long because of how beautifully sung the music is.