![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Les-Miserables-The-Arena-Concert-Spectacular-Alfie-Boe-as-Jean-Valjean.-Credit-Danny-Kaan.jpg\" "\\"Review")
<\/a>Les Mise\u0301rables The Arena Concert Spectacular, Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean.Credit: Danny Kaan<\/p>\nFew musicals are better suited to the concert format. \u201cLes Miz\u201d is sung through and filled with impassioned solos such as \u201cI Dreamed a Dream,\u201d \u201cStars,\u201d \u201cOn My Own\u201d and \u201cBring Him Home.\u201d They need powerful singers far more than a revolving stage or fully constructed barricade.<\/p>\n
More than 30 performers sit on tiered risers, with an orchestra of approximately 26 musicians positioned high above them. The actors step forward to sing at standing microphones, with limited movement.<\/p>\n
Major incidents, including the battle at the barricade and Valjean\u2019s rescue of a man trapped beneath a runaway cart, are conveyed mainly through music, lighting and performance. The staging is visually modest, but the large cast and orchestra produce tremendous force.<\/p>\n
The tradeoff is that newcomers may have trouble following the sprawling plot. The original production famously used projected titles to identify locations and years. Here, illustrations and lighting suggest a factory, an inn, the Paris streets, the sewers and the barricades, but do not always make clear where we are or what is happening.<\/p>\n
The biggest stage effect arrives at the end of Act One, when enormous red flags are unveiled and waved during \u201cOne Day More,\u201d while the company briefly evokes the original production\u2019s familiar forward-and-back marching choreography.<\/p>\n
The live-video screens help distant spectators catch facial expressions and smaller acting choices. Although part of the arena-tour aesthetic, they no longer seem unusual given how often experimental directors such as Ivo van Hove and Jamie Lloyd use live cameras on Broadway.<\/p>\n
Secomb is a stentorian Javert in appearance and sound, with imposing authority and a booming, inflexible vocal presence. Rauch\u2019s Valjean, by contrast, has a searching quality and sensitivity, suggesting a man examining his conscience and struggling toward grace. Together, they make an especially compelling pair. After Valjean frees Javert at the barricade, Secomb\u2019s stunned disbelief is palpable, as though mercy has shattered the inspector\u2019s understanding of justice.<\/p>\n Shan Ako brings aching sincerity to \u00c9ponine, while Jac Yarrow\u2019s Marius comes most fully into focus during \u201cEmpty Chairs at Empty Tables.\u201d Matt Lucas and Marina Prior embrace the Th\u00e9nardiers\u2019 broad comedy. Philip Quast, Javert in the celebrated 10th-anniversary concert, returns as the Bishop.<\/p>\n Samantha Barks, now playing Fantine after portraying \u00c9ponine in the film, pushed too hard vocally and had some strained moments at my performance, although she remained dramatically committed.\n<\/p>\n Most important, the concert sounds glorious. The 2006 and 2014 Broadway revivals lost some of the musical\u2019s power by downsizing the orchestra. Here, the larger ensemble restores the surging transitions, recurring themes and massive climaxes that pull the audience along. It makes a substantial difference in the show\u2019s grip and emotional power.<\/p>\n<\/a>Les Mise\u0301rables The Arena Concert Spectacular, Beatrice Penny-Toure\u0301 as Cosette.Credit: Danny Kaan<\/p>\n