Review: LES MISERABLES at Fred Kavli Theatre At The Bank Of America Performing Arts Center

The classic 1987 musical Les Misérables has a lot going for it with any production, including Victor Hugo's dramatic and tragic story of redemption, love, faith, and brotherhood in a time of turmoil and one of the most breathtakingly beautiful scores ever written for the stage. But some productions manage to rise above all the others in terms of direction and performance. 5-Star Theatricals' current production does just that, with a stellar cast of superb performers, led by Doug Kreeger's keen direction and economical staging and Brandon Baruch's atmospheric lighting. The show is being presented at the Kavli Theatre of the Bank of America Performing Arts Center through October 18. 

As everyone knows, Les Misérables tracks the life of Jean Valjean, a commoner who served nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread and pays for it for the rest of his life after being released from the galleys of Toulon. After breaking parole, he is pursued by relentless police inspector Javert but manages to work his way into legitimacy, ultimately owning a factory. He befriends Fantine, a former worker who has fallen on hard times. When she dies of consumption, Valjean buys her illegitimate daughter Cosette from her abusive caretakers the Thenardiers and endeavors to protect her from the human dregs of 19th century France. The rest of the musical focuses on the doomed rebellion of 1832, a student-led revolt in which massive barricades were erected in the streets of Paris, only to be overwhelmed by national military troops. 

It is hard to tell where the show reaches its peak because Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's luxuriant score can be compared to the Himalayas, with one soaring vista coming after another. It's impossible to pick one moment that stood out because they are all so stirring and magnificent: Emma Hunton, as Fantine, singing the sadly reflective "I Dreamed a Dream," Maile Masako Brady as Eponine singing of her unrequited love for Marius in "On My Own," Julian Comeau's stately, powerful solos as the student leader Enjolras, and JeffLorenz Garrido's mournful lament for his fallen comrades in "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables." If one had to pick a single vocal highlight, it would have to be Richard Bermudez, as Jean Valjean, in his rapturous prayer for the safety of student revolutionary Marius, Cosette's intended, on "Bring Him Home," in which he effortlessly soars with ease into the stratosphere of his vocal range. That song received a sustained ovation from the audience that this theater has rarely seen.  

Towering above all the outstanding performances is Peyton Crim and his imposing presence as Javert. Crim, who is promoted as the "human subwoofer," has an ultra-deep basso profundo voice that can rattle the rafters. Sporting a scraggly beard that grows gray with age in his relentless pursuit of petty thief Jean Valjean, one wonders why he prolongs this pointless vendetta. Despite his obdurate shadowing, Javert is fairly inept for someone who is not more than a cop on the beat. He is Wile E. Coyote to Valjean's road runner, as Valjean always seems to miraculously escape his grasp. Crim's most impressive moment is the song "Stars," his serenade demonstrating his resolute determination in capturing Valjean, comparing his quest to the permanence of the celestial "sentinels" in the heavens. 

Of special note in this uniformly outstanding cast are the show's two comic relief figures: Joey Richter and Francesca Barletta, as the unscrupulous Thenardiers. Richter gets most of the vocal heavy lifting on the irresistibly catchy "Master of the House," but along with Barletta, decked out as a toothy, garish hag, the two go together like pork and beans, rising up from the orchestra pit at one point to sing the reprise, "Beggars at the Feast," in which they emerge like cockroaches to crash Marius and Cosette's wedding reception. 

There's so much to marvel at in this production that it would be impossible to describe it all here, so don't walk...run to the Kavli and take in this astounding gathering of talent in this Broadway-quality production.

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Les Misérables plays through October 18 at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks. For tickets, visit 5startheatricals.com

Photo by Veronica Slavin

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