Review of Saturday matinee performance 5th July 2025.

Photos credit: Richard Jarmy Photography.

Les Misérables

Norwich Theatre Royal, July 5, 2025

“Let the people sing!” is the tagline for this glorious 40th anniversary opportunity for 11 amateur theatre companies to perform this masterpiece with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, translated by Herbert Kretzmer. This sold out production is staged in collaboration with the Norfolk and Norwich Operatic Society, Threshold Theatre Company, Sound Ideas Theatre Company and Echo Youth Theatre.

And my goodness, can these people sing! One has to wonder where is the line between professional and amateur theatre, today? Is there even a line, anymore? Many of this extremely strong cast have had professional training, some professional careers, and the expert creative team create a package to rival any professional production.

But first, a brief plot recap, for any newcomers to this iconic musical: Convict Jean Valjean is transformed by an act of mercy and takes in a child, Cosette, after promising her dying mother, Fantine, that he’ll care for her. As Cosette grows and finds love with Marius, Valjean is pursued by the uncompromising Inspector Javert. Amid the 1832 Paris uprising, Valjean saves Marius from the barricades and spares Javert’s life, shattering the policeman’s rigid world view. It’s a tale of contrasts: the privileged and the poor; the damned and the redeemed; the quick & the dead. There’s belief in, and an absence of God. And while the world turns upside down in revolution, people fall in love and build a new world from the wreckage.

Director Chris Cuming has his work cut out reimagining such a legendary show, while retaining the familiar core that audiences are expecting to see. He achieves this brilliantly, lavishly supported by costumes, light, live music and sound.

It’s easy to get lost in superlatives in describing the many stunning performances we’re treated to, but they are all fully deserved. Jessica Brydges’ Fantine is a tour de force. She has courage and a complete lack of shame, which is refreshing and empowering. She’s physically contained and deeply emotive in I Dreamed a Dream. Her face shows us anger as well as anguish; it’s a thoughtfully new interpretation of a very well-known song.

Lewis Aves as Jean Valjean also gives us a highly nuanced and emotional performance, hitting the heart-stopping high notes with stunning control. John Derekson is perfectly cast as the immoveable Inspector Javert: his powerful voice speaks volumes about the character and the irresolvable conflict he feels before ending his life is deeply moving. As Eponine and Cosette, Kayleigh Perrin and Hannah Cox’s voices are both utterly sublime. It’s during Empty Chairs at Empty Tables that Will Mugford’s Marius finds his purpose. With his departed friends re-emerging and transitioning between slow-motion alehouse jesting and battlefield suffering, the dead surround him and ironically it conveys more deeply the emptiness and loss. Stunning and extremely effective.

Madame Thénardier (Hannah Lucas) commands the stage and is comedy gold. Her few lines in Master of the House steals the whole song – as her husband, Alex Green, tries his best to match her but it’s a tough gig. All the young cast put in excellent effort but special mention must go to Gavroche (on Saturday matinée it is Oscar Noble) who wins audience’s hearts with his strong and cheeky character work.

The vital power of this ensemble working together, with their consistently strong vocals, is genuinely breath-taking. They make a tremendous sound together and the harmony work is delightful. Many individuals get a moment to shine with a solo line or two and every single one gives it huge welly. Musical Director is Kevin Bell and this iconic score is confidently safe in his orchestra’s hands.

The set works hard, striking the balance between a static bridge structure adorned with drapes, ropes and a ladder, plus moving staircases, allowing versatility. Ladders are ingeniously employed to suggest a range of elements including the weighty cart and factory lines. The set’s limitations become clear when we need to see the other side of the barricade, when Gavroche is shot. A blue-white back light appears and characters sneak to the other side, leaving Gavroche alone to his fate, but it may not be clear to newcomers to the story that the barricade is flipped. Once dead, and the action switches back to the original side of the barricade, his poor body lays there still, ignored by the revolutionaries because he’s in theory on the other side. How to remove dead bodies is a perennial challenge in theatre, (and there are many dead bodies here!). Fantine, in a bright white light, appears at the death of key characters – sometimes to lead them away, but not always, and the inconsistency is quizzical. She doesn’t lead Gavroche off, leaving the issue above.

Thespis Theatrical Costumiers’ costumes and weaponry are everything you’d expect: perfection; and the lighting is among the best I’ve ever seen – enhancing the story with myriad subtleties and the iconic tricolour at each Act’s end. Stars is surely a lighting designer’s dream, and Darren ‘Bear’ Male pull out all the stops to moving effect. Fight sequences are skilfully directed by Jonathan Holby and confidently executed throughout – totally believable.

A country divided; a people struggling in poverty; desperation, anger and revolution. The world of Les Misérables isn’t so far removed from today’s real life. The tomorrow these characters dreamed of and fought for… is our today. Forty theatrical years on, the musical begs the question, how much progress has society made in the fight for equality? At least a broader sense of who equality could apply to has perhaps been acknowledged, if not yet achieved.

The word ‘iconic’ is overused, but it’s the only word for Les Misérables, and for an amateur company to have this opportunity is simply amazing. It’s palpable that for each performer, this moment is an absolute dream come true, and to witness it is extremely special. Bravo to all involved. I’m so glad Cameron Mackintosh Let the people sing!