Haley Dortch hits the first home run in the current production of Les Mis playing at Fair Park Music Hall. The Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards outstanding performer has returned to Dallas in the featured role of Fantine. Her “I Dreamed a Dream” is as good as I’ve ever heard it and the audience went wild for her.
The tour is produced by Cameron Mackintosh, the original Broadway producer, and I mention that only because the tour isn’t always produced by the Broadway company. Even the first tour. This is the sixth tour since the show premiered on Broadway in 1987. The staging has improved with age. Gone is the turntable stage and bland colored settings. The show remains dark but in it’s place is bold new scenery with more contrast and movement.
Nick Cartell as protagonist Jean Valjean and Preston Truman Boyd as antagonist Javert were magnificent. When one followed the other in song, they simply built on each other’s powerful performance.
A little bit about the story for anyone not familiar with the Victor Hugo novel.
The classic story revolves around Jean Valjean, a French peasant seeking redemption after spending 19 years in jail for stealing a loaf of bread and then attempting to escape. After he’s finally released, he breaks the terms of parole, and he’s pursued by police inspector Javert. During this revolutionary period of French history, Valjean gets caught up at the barricade in Paris in an 1832 attempt to overthrow the government.
Valjean is involved with Fantine, a prostitute, and her daughter, Cosette, whom he adopts. Street fighter Eponine loves Marius, but Marius loves Cosette. Ah, the intrigue. Eponine ends up on the streets of Paris, where she dies. Can Valjean save Marius when he’s wounded at the barricade? Will the story have something of a happy ending for Marius and Cosette?
The music is magical and the voices on stage do it justice. When there are just 10 actors on stage, the sound is so full it seems like a stageful singing.
And what more can you ask from a musical than to walk out singing the music. If not the beautiful ballad “I Dreamed a Dream” then the anthem, “Can You Hear the People Sing” or the rousing “Master of the House” or one of its parodies like “Beggars at the Feast.”
Even I was humming the music long after the performance ended. So why do I dislike this show so much? Is it the sing-through style that doesn’t allow for any dialogue even when that would advance the show much quicker? Is it the underlying dark and gloomy story? I’m not sure. With this production, the show is growing on me, but I can’t say I love Les Mis even though I was blown away by the performances.
But I know I’m in the minority. Les Mis is the third longest running show in Broadway history and the longest running musical in the world. It’s still running in London’s West End and claims the title of the World’s Favorite Musical.
So maybe it’s just me. It’s a fabulous production with stellar performances all around capped by a local star is born. Watch for Dortch. She’s headed for greatness.
You can hear the people sing at Fair Park Music Hall through Dec. 31. Tickets at BroadwayDallas.org.
— David Taffet
