Review by Chris Heide
Photo by Matthew Murphy
There are productions you enjoy, productions you admire, and then there are the rare ones that quietly and unmistakably reorder your expectations in real time. Cameron Mackintosh presents the acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, Les Misérables, and what is so striking about this Seattle engagement is not simply that it lives up to its reputation, but that it expands it in a way that feels both immediate and deeply earned. This was my first time seeing Les Mis, and while that may explain part of the awe, it does not come close to explaining the depth of it. What unfolded onstage felt complete in a way that is difficult to articulate and even harder to replicate. It now sits at the very top of my ranking of favorite Broadway shows.
From the opening moments, there is a sense of emotional immediacy that never loosens its grip, paired with a scale that never tips into excess. The score, already one of the most recognizable in musical theatre, is carried here with such intention that each of its most famous songs feels newly inhabited rather than simply performed. “I Dreamed a Dream” lands with a grounded devastation that resists spectacle in favor of something more intimate and human, while “Bring Him Home,” delivered by Nick Cartell, unfolds with a restraint that makes it feel less like a showcase and more like a prayer that you almost feel protective of. By the time “One Day More” builds to its final moments, the layering of voices and movement creates something that feels less like a number and more like a release that has been building under the surface the entire time.
And then there is “On My Own,” performed by Mya Rena Hunter, which becomes a kind of emotional center point for the entire evening. There is a clarity to her interpretation, a willingness to remain inside the ache rather than move past it, that ultimately surpasses even the rendition made widely popular by Lea Michele on Glee. It does not reach for grandeur. It trusts stillness, and in doing so, it allows the audience to meet it there, which feels far more difficult and far more effective.
What continues to surface, even as individual performances stand out, is the sheer stamina of the cast. Les Misérables is a fully sung-through production that runs close to three hours, and yet there is no perceptible drop in vocal strength, emotional clarity, or presence at any point. Every performer is consistently belting, sustaining, and fully inhabiting a score that leaves very little room to step back, and still the performances feel specific rather than generalized. Hayden Tee brings a controlled intensity to Javert that never loosens its grip, while Matt Crowle and Victoria Huston-Elem thread humor through darkness without ever stepping outside the world of the show. There is no sense of pacing oneself or holding anything in reserve. It is sustained, full-bodied commitment from beginning to end.
Visually, the production achieves something equally compelling in its cohesion. The integration of technology, advanced set design, costuming, and choreography feels seamless, not layered on top of the story but embedded within it. The projections expand the world without overwhelming it, the staging moves with a fluidity that mirrors the score, and the costuming grounds everything in a textured realism that keeps the emotional stakes close. Even in the largest ensemble moments, the choreography never feels decorative. It feels necessary, as though each movement is carrying part of the story forward.
What lingers most is the realization that the lead performances could hold their own on any Broadway stage right now. There is a level of technical control and emotional access here that makes it genuinely surprising these actors are not currently starring on Broadway, because nothing about their work reads as anything less than top tier.
Seeing Les Misérables for the first time in this form feels almost unfair to anything that might follow. It sets a bar that is difficult to imagine being matched, let alone exceeded. This is not just a strong touring production or a polished revival. It is, quite literally, the best staging of a musical I have ever seen, and in reaching that level, it does something even more lasting. It makes a first experience feel definitive, complete, and impossible to forget.
