Les Mis

~ Time Out - 17th October 1985 by Susie Mackenzie ~

You are not asked to like Les Miserables. You are asked to admire it. And our admiration is solicited not on the grounds of something truthful and profound, not on the grounds of soemthing intelligent and stimulating but on the grounds of melodrama, contrivance and artifice. Messrs Nunn and Hugo are entirely suitable bedfellows - their world is that of the showman - they are concerned to shock, rarely to provoke. Witness John Napier's magnificent evocation of the rotting, maggot-like existance of the Fench working class. We are arrested by the spectacle of what we see, not moved by the pain of human suffering. Witness Schonberg's music, powerful rock opera powerfully delivered, but which makes of Kretzmer's lyrics something intrinsically theatrical, lacking the power to move. The story itself is a piece of romantic contrivance and you can never engage with ex-convict Jean Valjean on his path to redemption - the idea of evil as redemptive is, in itself, pure Romantic optimisim. The overall effect is of character, passion, incident existing in a void. But if the major failure of the piece is to engage our emotion, this is also its strength. What we have here is splendid theatrical effect. The shell of theatre if you like. Not the bones of drama.

Spectator
19th October 1985
Christopher Edwards

Two things at least are certain about Les Miserables. The first is that the critics have expressed alarm, disgust and displeasure that the RSC should lend itself (cynically, they would say) to a trite money making venture. The second is that the prodution is sold out, and the auspices for a commercial transfer to all parts of the globe are correspondingly excellent. In these circumstances low expectations are the best ones to hold. When it comes to modern musicals my expectations are of the very lowest. The spectacle tells us nothing much about Victor Hugo's novel. The songs are unmemorable save for one, quite rousing, beer-hall number which buzzed about in my head for a couple of hours after the performance. The story is sentimental and melodramatic, delivered by the cast with enormous gusto and told by the writers with great sententiousness. The plot is perfectly easy to follow with or without the detailed programme note explaining where the action shifts from Digne in 1815 to the Paris barricades in 1832 and who is consumed by thoughts of whom and why. And some of the sets by John Napier are stunning, notably the Paris slum which pivots spectacularly to become a barricade. If musicals are to your taste then this one is slicker than many and no more empty than most.