Soon after the 18-year-old touring production of “Les Miserables” makes its eighth and final visit to Denver starting Tuesday, it will be retired as the second-longest-running continuous tour in American theater history.
The rebels have changed by a generation since 1988, shuffling through a cast of 36 that is now believed to exceed 500 alumni. “Les Mis” has stopped in Denver more than any other touring title, and every run has sold to capacity. By the end of this week its overall attendance in Denver will top 280,000.
And get this: At this time last year, this saber-toothed tour was just one of 15 “Les Mis” productions running somewhere around the world – which explains how even though the Broadway run ended in 2003, the musical now has been seen by 51 million worldwide, generating $1.8 billion in ticket sales. (Ironically, one of the few countries where “Les Mis” has not been well-received is France, where its story is set).
When this U.S. tour was launched in 1988, the hottest show on Broadway was a newcomer called “Phantom of the Opera,” which in January finally overtook “Cats” as the longest-running show in Broadway history. The top movie was “Good Morning, Vietnam,” the No.1 record was Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” and the hot new show on TV was “The Wonder Years.” The Broadway production cost $4.5 million to mount but by 2003 had made $410 million.
This is not one of those “how in the world?” stories. The universal appeal of “Les Miserables” need never be subject to an official inquiry, like, say, the film “Silent Hill.”
It helps to start with a masterpiece, Victor Hugo’s classic 1862 novel. The plot tells the familiar story of Jean Valjean, who serves a 19-year jail term for stealing bread and is forever trailed by the obsessed cop Javert. When revolution breaks out and Valjean spares Javert’s life, this singular act of compassion drives his tormenter to suicide.
Add in a rock-pop score by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, and you have a soundtrack that has been recorded by 31 casts in 23 languages. Anyone who has heard “Do You Hear the People Sing?” will hear the people sing in their heads long after the people have stopped singing on the stage.
That song was commonly played in China to rally students following the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and Bill Clinton incorporated “One Day More” into his 1992 campaign.
The musical has an expected love triangle, but its staying power is rooted in the notion of students fighting against governments to rectify the wrongs around them. It speaks to anyone who has ever stared down injustice or been oppressed. It is essentially a universal tale about the moral quandaries that make a man who he is.
But the megasuccess and longevity of “Les Mis” and others of its ilk (“Phantom,” “Cats”) have long stimulated adoration and enmity. For the first time in Broadway history, productions are now lasting long enough to be appreciated by children and, eventually, their children. That’s a bonding, generational pop-cultural phenomenon that has otherwise been reserved for the permanence of film and TV.
At the same time, musicals taking up permanent residence on Broadway’s most prime real estate are often scorned for choking off opportunities for newer works.
Though “Les Mis” is showing its age as a pop-culture entity, you’d never know it from what’s offered onstage. The 2003 stop here proved that it still stirs the blood. The tour replicates Broadway in its entirety, with the trademark 34-foot turntable, two barricades, 422 lighting instruments and 18 live musicians.
I remember thinking of the experience as a reminder of what the complete experience of live theater can be to your eyes, ears, brain and heart.
But when the tour fires its final cannon shot this July in St. Louis, don’t believe for a second we have seen the last of “Les Mis” in Denver. You never say never in boxing and Broadway. We know this because after only three years dormant, the first Broadway revival is already slated to open Nov. 9. And a new touring production can’t be all that far behind.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
“Les Miserables”
MUSICAL|National touring production|Starring Randal Keith, Robert Hunt and Joan Almedilla|Buell Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets| THROUGH SUNDAY|8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 p.m. Thursday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday| $20-$70|303-893-4100, 866-464-2626 or denvercenter.org (800-641-1222 outside Denver)
By the numbers
U.S. NATIONAL TOURING PRODUCTION
18: Years on the road (starting Nov. 28, 1988, in Tampa, Fla.)
$4 million: Cost to mount
521: Total tour stops
145: Cities
43: States
8: Denver tour stops
THE SHOW
12,250: Weight of the barricade in pounds
36: Actors per show
18: Orchestra members
1,000 Costume pieces
45: Wigs
926: Light bulbs
63: Revolutions of the turntable
OVERALL
51 million: Total attendance
$1.8 billion: Global box office
39,500: Performances
1985-present: London run
1987-2003: Broadway run
6,680: Broadway performances
8: 1987 Tony Awards
31: Cast recordings
23: Languages
58: Total productions mounted worldwide
15: Simultaneous productions playing in 2005
38: Countries
227: Cities
