in what\u2019s been called \u201cThe Arena Concert Spectacular.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nYes, this is a huge concert \u2014 not a full production. It nonetheless manages to be as rousing as ever.<\/p>\n
Killian Donnelly is one of three Jean Valjeans in \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables\u201d at Radio City Music Hall.<\/p>\n
As the appended title would imply, actors playing Jean Valjean, Javert and Eponine mostly wail into standing microphones. There\u2019s a healthy 34 performers onstage backed by a 26-person orchestra.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You can hear the people sing, all right.<\/p>\n
Of course, they all wear period costumes, not frocks and tuxes, and there is a sizable barricade that the ensemble mans while singing their lungs out.<\/p>\n
But conjuring the requisite grandeur as much as the score is Radio City itself \u2014 the most important piece of scenery at play. The theater effectively becomes a character, wielding a gravitas that matches the soulful weight of Valjean\u2019s Godly righteousness and Inspector Javert\u2019s merciless law-and-order pursuit of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The musical returns to New York after nearly a decade away. Daniel Boud<\/p>\n
Everybody knows the venue has a storied association with Broadway thanks to the Tony Awards. But musicals don\u2019t often play there in any form. A recent concert of \u201cThe Last 5 Years\u201d was the rare one.<\/p>\n
For good reason. Most would get gobbled up and not land past Row F. However, \u201cMiserables\u201d fits it remarkably well, aided by a fancy new sound system modeled after the Sphere in Las Vegas and the piece\u2019s inherent massiveness.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u201cbum bum\u201d of the opening begins, and what starts out as another concert swiftly transports the audience and crumples them up as this musical has always magically done.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are three rotating Valjeans (Killian Donnelly, Alfie Boe and Geronimo Rauch) and two menacing Javerts (Bradley Jaden and Jeremy Secomb) who perform on alternating days. I saw the pairing of Donnelly, who\u2019s played the part in the West End, and Jaden.<\/p>\n
There are 34 actors onstage in \u201cLes Miz.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donnelly boasts a booming tenor that flattens us with \u201cBring Him Home.\u201d Yet there\u2019s also a youthful sparkle in his eye that makes him more of a human than a haloed saint. That\u2019s an easy trap as, let\u2019s face it, Valjean even has a Jesus look.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Broadway, Donnelly once played Charlie in \u201cKinky Boots,\u201d which sure ain\u2019t the typical track for Prisoner 24601. Kinda fun.<\/p>\n
As the dogged Javert, Jaden is uncommonly spunky. His \u201cStars\u201d has a real thrust to it, like he\u2019s not only gazing up at the cosmos, but has that \u201cfugitive running\u201d in his crosshairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jac Yarrow as Marius sensitively sings a wrenching \u201cEmpty Chairs and Empty Tables and Christian Mark Gibbs makes a strapping Enjolras.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shan Ako brings true grit to Eponine.<\/p>\n
I especially appreciated Shan Ako\u2019s take on poor, lovelorn Eponine, which gives the third wheel more grit than usual. \u201cOn My Own\u201d always brings tears \u2014 a crush so bad it kills her! \u2013 yet hers is particularly moving.<\/p>\n
Not all is heavenly. Samantha Barks, who Broadway fans will remember from \u201cPretty Woman,\u201d if they haven\u2019t blocked it out, is rather less effective as Fantine. Her \u201cI Dreamed A Dream\u201d sounds fine, but lacks vulnerability. It comes and goes, much as the character does.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This musical can\u2019t be made or broken by any one person, though. That\u2019s always been true. Boublil and Sch\u00f6nberg\u2019s construction is too sturdy and its themes too timeless for it be easily knocked down. That\u2019s why it runs and runs around the globe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But not here anymore. \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables\u201d sadly won\u2019t be back on Broadway or in Manhattan for the foreseeable future. Too bad, since our current flock of \u2018sicals lacks muscularity. The Radio City concert will be New York fans\u2019 last chance to experience it for a while.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t fret though \u2014 there\u2019s not just \u201cone day more.\u201d You\u2019ve got 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Theater review LES MISERABLES: THE ARENA CONCERT SPECTACULAR Two hours and 45 minutes with one 20-minute intermission. Through…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":966063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,19607,171,7762,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,1148,201984,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-966062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-broadway","tag-entertainment","tag-musicals","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-theater","tag-theater-reviews","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117001425408828551","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/966063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}