Set and Setting: A glimpse at some of the dark, atmospheric production designs for “Les Misérables,” which were inspired by original paintings by Victor Hugo.
The Grand Illusion
A contemporary classic celebrates 25 years of dazzling theater lovers with one lavish production LES MISÉRABLES Tuesday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. T-U Center for the Performing Arts’ Moran Theater, 300 W. Water St., Jacksonville The show is also staged May 2-6 with evening and matinee performances Tickets range from $27-$77 632-3373
C
all it a quiet obsession, but for nearly a quarter century — almost the entirety of its existence — I have been fascinated by the musical “Les Misérables.” This is not something I proclaim loudly, as is my wont in most other aspects of my life, though there was a time in 1987, after I attended the show’s American debut, that I wore an official tour shirt almost incessantly. (I only recently let it go to Goodwill.) Since then, I have seen the musical five times — soon to be six. I own several different international versions of the soundtrack and, since I am currently writing the music for two original musicals, I have recently revisited the deep, rich and complex score with new reverence for composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyricist Alain Boublil and English translator Herbert Kretzmer. Sung-through (meaning every word in the script is sung, not spoken) and close to three hours long, the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel is a masterwork of musical invention, using but a few melodic themes to create a strikingly unique and seamless piece. Though elements of “Les Miz” have seeped into popular culture — namely Susan Boyle’s career-making rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” on “Britain’s Got Talent” — the musical has remained relatively unblemished amid the rise of its more successful (and pompously serious) predecessor “The Phantom of the Opera,” the indie-rock phenomenon “Rent”
and the comical but intentionally derivative “Urinetown.” Now celebrating its 25th year, the show has received a makeover at the hands of veteran scenic designer Matt Kinley. Hardcore fans are in for a surprise, as “Les Miz” returns to its roots. The turntable is gone and the visual effects have been refined. But the biggest surprise — aside from a new visual interpretation of Inspector Javert’s demise — are sets designed by Kinley, which are based on rarely seen paintings by Hugo himself. Dark and atmospheric, the new sets offer exposition that may have been implied in earlier productions, but was never quite clear. “We thought ‘Well, let’s try and explain where we are a bit more in life,’ but we didn’t want to make it photographic. So these paintings gave us a wonderful, loose, impressionistic way of showing us some color, time of day and location — which you don’t get from the original — without being explicit.” The discovery of the Hugo paintings was somewhat serendipitous for Kinley, who had worked on previous versions of “Les Misérables.” At the behest of producer Cameron Mackintosh, who requested a new approach for the 25th anniversary tour, Kinley began digging more deeply into Hugo’s history. “I was always vaguely aware that he was a painter,” says Kinley. “When Cameron asked me to look at different ways of doing ‘Les Miz,’ I started researching Victor Hugo on the Internet, and all these pictures started appearing. I delved into it, bought more and more books. I thought [the paintings] were beautiful. They were somber, and they had a wonderful moody quality to them, and I thought that would go very well with the original, very dark aesthetic of the show.” Changing a show as recognizable as “Les Miz” can be troublesome, since diehard fans
expect to see things staged a certain way. Indeed, over time, the cast has become more ethnically diverse, and with the advent of new technology, the show has been streamlined and updated as well. But the elimination of the revolving stage may seem a jarring choice for those used to watching the cast literally march, run and dance over relatively long distances as the stage turned beneath them. Kinley says he was sensitive to the potential to turn off loyal fan with such choices. “ ‘Les Miz’ is an absolute master class on how to use a revolve,” he says, referring to the mechanical, rotating stage platform used in some theatrical productions. “But there was no point in us going down that road [again]. It’s a big thing to tour, when we’re trying to make something that’s light to tour. And, we would never better what was done 25 years ago. “We didn’t want to completely alienate an audience who holds it very dear,” Kinley continues. “We wanted to do a show which people still recognize as ‘Les Miz,’ and get the same feeling from, but [offer] them a different take on the same show. You still recognize it as that world, but we just do it in a very different way.” Truth is, “Les Misérables” is such a timeless piece, one that exists far from Broadway convention and operatic classicism (but draws liberally from both), one that appeals to show tunes lovers and music aficionados alike, that it will hold up, regardless of its treatment. And as I sit in the audience for my sixth show, this time with my 5-year-old daughter — a girl who is so familiar with the soundtrack she can call out titles within the first measures of many songs — it will be a wholly new, yet warmly familiar experience.
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John E. Citrone themail@folioweekly.com April 24-30, 2012 | folio weekly | 39