Review: LES MISÉRABLES Storms the Barricade at City Springs Theatre Company

City Springs Theatre Company kicks off its ninth season with LES MISÉRABLES, and the choice feels less like programming and more like a promise finally kept. It's the first local staging of the musical in more than a decade, and CSTC has handed the reins to Artistic Director Shuler Hensley, who knows this material from the inside out: he made his Broadway debut as Javert back in 2000. Directing the show he once starred in isn't just a nice bit of trivia, it's the kind of full-circle moment that makes a season opener feel like an event.

Based on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, and a book by Schönberg and Alain Boublil, LES MISÉRABLES has been seen by more than 130 million people worldwide, and it's not hard to see why. The story follows Jean Valjean, imprisoned nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread, as he breaks parole to build a new life, only to spend decades evading the inspector, Javert, who believes a man can never truly change. Around them, an entire world of grisettes, students, and revolutionaries rises and falls, all building toward the barricades of the 1832 Paris uprising.

Rather than renting a touring set, CSTC built its own, and the choice pays off. The production relies on one adaptable base structure throughout, reshaped scene to scene through lighting, furniture, and props rather than constant set changes. It's a smart solution for a show that needs to move from prison yard to convent to Parisian street to barricade without losing momentum, and for the most part, it does exactly that.

Marla Phelan, serving as both choreographer and associate director, keeps the staging clean and unfussy. LES MISÉRABLES was never going to be a dance-heavy affair, and Phelan doesn't force one on it. The movement is straightforward and in service of the storytelling rather than a showcase in its own right, which is the right instinct for a musical that lives and dies by its voices. Nothing unnecessary or out of place in this production.

This production of LES MISÉRABLES brought immeasurable talent to the stage. With quite a few City Springs Theatre Company debuts balanced with some returning faces, the show was balanced, emotive, and engaging.

Jacob Keith Watson makes his CSTC debut as Jean Valjean, and it's the kind of debut that makes you wonder where he’s been hiding (Answer: Broadway). Watson is enormously talented, with a voice that carries every ounce of Valjean's weariness and grace, and he brings a genuine emotional openness to the role that anchors the entire production. Whether he's begging for mercy or pleading with God to spare a younger man's life, you believe every word.

Jonathan Christopher's Javert is every bit his match. Christopher, who played Coalhouse Walker Jr. in CSTC's Ragtime last year, brings the vocal power and physical presence the role demands. He's genuinely imposing, a man convinced of his own righteousness right up until the moment that conviction breaks him, and Christopher never lets you doubt it.

Anna Sailors, making her City Springs debut as Fantine, has a stunning instrument. Her voice is easily one of the loveliest in the production. Where the performance falls a bit short is in the emotional connection. Fantine's descent is one of the show's most devastating arcs, and while Sailors sounds gorgeous doing it, the heartbreak doesn't always land the way the vocals suggest it should.

The supporting principals more than make up the difference. Éponine (Adagia Rueda) is a standout, sung with real emotional immediacy and specificity. She's present in every moment rather than just hitting the notes, and "On My Own" lands with the ache it needs, swiftly followed by her duet with Marius which didn’t leave a dry eye in the house. 

The Thénardiers (Jeff McKerley and Rhyn McLemore) provide exactly the right jolt of dark comic relief, a welcome breath of levity in a musical that otherwise doesn't offer many. 

Returning to Marius, while he’s new to CSTC, he quickly became an easy favorite. He is extremely talented and immediately likable, making the whirlwind romance with Cosette (Callie Regan Walker) believable.

"Bring Him Home," "On My Own," and "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" are the emotional load-bearing walls of this score, and this production hits all three. By the time the barricade falls and those empty chairs are left behind, the audience around me was fully wrung out, and the standing ovation at curtain call felt earned rather than automatic.

As with any opening night, there were a few rough edges. Some microphones lagged behind the faster-moving numbers, and there were a couple of costume and makeup slips, an ensemble member's dress was undone in the back during “Wedding Chorale”, and Javert's aging beard read more blue than grey under the lights. None of it derailed the evening, and I'd expect it to iron out as the run continues.

What LES MISÉRABLES does better than almost anything else on stage is remind you that hope and grief can occupy the same note at the same time. When this cast leans into that, and they do, often, the show becomes exactly what 130 million people have shown up for and what we need onstage at times like this.

LES MISÉRABLES is onstage at Byers Theatre through September 27, 2026. Purchase tickets at CitySpringsTheatre.com. This production is presented by The Federovitch Family and Peachtree Hearing.

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