At Les Miz, you can hear the people sing louder than ever
Les Misérables, the World Tour Spectacular, which just opened at The Theatre at Solaire to a capacity crowd in a sold-out run, is the latest iteration of the world’s longest-running musical which we saw at the Barbican in London in 1985 when it opened, at the Repertory Philippines production in Manila in 1993, and at many other locations from New York to Toronto and back to Manila whenever and wherever we could catch it playing for the past 40 years.
We are certainly not alone, as we discovered from other Les Miz superfans at the show which included theater actors and many industry practitioners.
The rousing applause and cheering, the teary eyes, and the standing ovation at the finale were enough proof that this musical has always been close to the Filipino heart.
The love is mutual since the Filipino audience has always been special to the Les Miz creators, creatives and artists. The country has been a goldmine for talent ever since the producer Cameron Mackintosh came in 1988 to cast Miss Saigon, also by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, and found most of the cast including his Kim in Lea Salonga, catapulting her to the international stage.
Lea actually chose the Les Miz song On My Own for that winning audition. She returns, playing Mrs. Thenárdier together with another Miss Saigon alumnus, Red Concepcion, as her husband, a role he has played in the US in 2024. Lea has done Fantine and Éponine in the past, the only actor to have played three principal characters in Les Miz.
This role calls for comedic skills which can be challenging to do well, but Lea manages wonderfully, as does Red, and together they have the perfect timing to elicit laughter and provide the needed relief from the high drama. Their characterization is spot-on, with the Cockney accent, the sliminess and desperate edge of a couple struggling to survive in a dog-eat-dog-world.
Rachelle Ann Go, another success story from the Mackintosh discoveries, brings the waterworks with her pitch-perfect, deeply moving rendition of Fantine’s I Dreamed a Dream. Emily Bautista, who did the US tours of Les Miz and Miss Saigon, has a strong and crisp vocal style which serves her well for On My Own but her take deviates from previous versions, having a little more defiance of an empowered woman and less of the longing and resignation.
The musical, of course, has been evolving with much more diversity. Jean Valjean is played by Géronimo Rauch, an Argentine, and Javert, his nemesis, by Jeremy Secomb from Australia. They are both superb, with powerful, versatile voices and emotional depth in dramatizing the contrast and tension between their characters. Earl Carpenter, whom we have seen as Javert in the 2016 Les Miz in Manila, gives the Bishop of Digne the necessary gravitas with his rich, deep baritone.
Will Callan cuts a dashing, caring suitor to Lulu-Mae Pears’ Cosette and delivers the heart-rending Empty Chairs on Empty Tables with such pathos. His co-rebel, Enjolras, is essayed by Will Chandler with a forceful command and high-energy vocals that makes him a natural leader to lead the revolution.
Pears’ pure, angelic soprano tone conveys the required innocence and high-born demeanor. She effortlessly reaches those high notes in her romantic duet with Marius in A Heart Full of Love and in the poignant duet with Valjean, In My Life. As the young Cosette, local hire Sofia Isabel Q. Orros held her own in this professional debut, delivering a clear, beautiful rendition of Castle on a Cloud.
You can count on Mackintosh and his team to assemble top talents even with the ensemble who were excellent. The same goes for the creatives, whom he handpicks from various fields including opera to renew the material and keep it fresh.
This production, in particular, is a marvel of collaborative work. Directors James Powell and Jean-Pierre van der Spuy tell the story efficiently and keep the drama in high gear despite the concert format. With the actors singing directly to the audience, there is an intimacy and closer connection where the lyrics become clearer and the emotions more piercing. It was never completely static, however, as movement and interaction among the cast makes it more dynamic and gives a semblance of the staged theatrical version.
The sets by Matt Kinley and the lighting by Paule Constable also enhance the theatricality. Lighting rigs shape and compress the space and even form sculptural assemblages reminiscent of the barricade while the orchestra pit is raised above an amphitheater setting for the ensemble behind the performance area. At the back, oneiric images of landscapes and scenes inspired by the drawings of Victor Hugo evoke 19th c. French settings, juxtaposed with moving images that support the action in the story.
Even without these images, the lighting takes you to places, “creating space for the music to work dramatically and bring audiences into the intimacy of a person singing—while, so to speak, turning the volume up on it,” says Constable.
Completing the experience is the sound design of Mick Potter which he wanted to be “immersive, cinematic and dynamic” while navigating the challenges of having a cast and orchestra of over 65 on stage, with every cast member wearing miniature radio microphones and over 70 microphones on the orchestra. The sound was glorious, every note and lyric crystal clear and the effects from the most subtle squeak to the booming cannons were so real.
Ultimately, we left the theater with the songs still playing in our minds and hearts. It truly is one of the greatest musicals of all time with its themes of love, compassion, redemption and hopes for a better world. No wonder it still resonates today in the Philippines and in whichever part of the world where it’s playing.
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Les Misérables, The World Tour Spectacular is presented by Cameron Macintosh and Nick Grace Management Production in association with GMG Productions at The Theatre at Solaire until March 1, 2026. Follow @gmg.productions.
