12 JULY – 6 AUGUST

The show has become one of those rare things, a cultural institution and like the Tower of London and Madame Tussauds, it’s one of the things you have to see when you visit the capital for the first time. Given the eye watering cost of a West End ticket these days, Bristol audiences, both new to the show and repeat offenders, can allow themselves to be swept up for the altogether more reasonable outlay required of a touring production. And, it must be said, one that is a match in all respects to its West End sibling.

Having seen one of the early shows of the first London production it was obvious from the end of that first act that it was always going to be a five star event. Something built in to the DNA of the show has ensured that the same quality has been maintained through all its iterations. I’d seen that production sometime after The RSC’s epic eight and a half hours (over two performances) of Nicholas Nickleby. That was the best thing I’d ever seen on stage, but Les Mis (co-produced by the RSC) became the best one-nighter I’d had the pleasure to witness, a judgement that remains after last night’s performance.  (Incidentally those earlier RSC successes were in no small part due to the performances of Alun Armstrong who played Squeers and Thénardier respectively). I’ve seen many wonderful productions and performances, but Les Misérables is above all an outstanding crowd-pleaser. There can be few shows in which each of the main characters has their own show-stopper.

Coming to it again decades later I was struck by the show’s ability to stir and to move whilst always entertaining. The plot is complex but not complicated. Justice and love run through the story; Javert’s (Nic Greenshields) justice is a cold dead thing without compassion and humanity. Again perseverance, resilience and the transformational power of love, in this unalloyed plot alignment with the verities of human nature, have a large part to do with the show’s enduring success.

The quality of acting is more than matched by the singing; from the street urchin, Gavroche (Charlie Hodson-Prior) who could teach the Artful Dodger a trick or two, through to Valjean (Dean Chisnall) who gives a performance of power and sensitivity. The heart melting young Cosette (Rachelle Bonfield-Bell) is matched by the crystalline purity of her elder self (Paige Blankson). We’re told the nation blubbed at the death of Dickens’, Little Nell and the passing of Fantine (Rachelle Ann Go) and Éponine (Nathania Ong) had a similar eye moistening effect on last night’s audience. And again the irrepressible Thénardiers (Ian Hughes/Helen Walsh) bring picaresque colour and dark humour in the Brecht/ Weill-esque, Master of the House. Finally who would not rush to the barricades to follow Enjolras (Samuel Wyn-Morris) and Marius (Will Callan)?

And I haven’t mentioned the excellence of the staging, lighting, costume and directing; the death of Javert in particular is an extraordinary piece of stagecraft.

It’s difficult to imagine a generation to whom the show wouldn’t appeal so one could see folk in decades to come still saying, it’s the best musical they’ve ever seen.

★★★★★  Graham Wyles 16 July 2022

Photo credit;  Danny Kaan