Do You Hear The People Sing? ‘Les Miserables’ is in Town

Les Miserables might be the most popular musical in the world. Seriously, it's a big deal. Such a big deal that it is at The Washington Pavilion for six more performances.

I was lucky enough to be at the first performance on Wednesday night (June 12) and it was anything but miserable.

For those of you that don't know what Les Miserables is about, I'll try to summarize. Jean Valjean is being hunted by the cop guy, Javert. (I honestly think Javert just needs to get over it. Like, he stole bread. He didn't kill anybody.) Anyway, Valjean adopts a girl, Cosette, after her mother, Fantine, dies due to being forced to work the streets after being fired from Valjean's factory. Cosette grows up and falls in love with Marius who is a student and part of the French Revolution. Eponine and Cosette grew up together before Valjean adopted her and now Eponine has it bad for Marius. Then, there is a barricade and some fighting and guns and explosions because, you know, French Revolution, and then a bunch of people die. Les Mis in a nutshell.

This staging of Les Mis is a bit different from past productions. In the past, a turntable was used on the stage for scene changes. In this production, there are screens and projections used. The scenery is all based on Les Mis author, Victor Hugo's paintings. Some of the screen/scene changes were really cool. The tunnel scene in particular was incredible.

Also, the barricade/battle scene was stunning. The use of the lights was done so incredibly. I just kept thinking how well choreographed that was! Everyone had to be in just the right place for the lights to hit them. So well done.

I know I say this about all the shows that come to town, but seriously, the whole cast was amazing! And as always, I'm totally enamored at how great the kids in the show are! Cate Elefante as Young Cosette, amazing. And Parker Dzuba as Gavroche. I can't even.

Joshua Grosso as Marius was superb. I loved the tone of his voice. But for me, Les Miserables' best character is Eponine. "On My Own" is my favorite song! Paige Smallwood played Eponine and she did not disappoint. After her solo I literally turned to my friend and said, "Nailed it!"

I had the pleasure of meeting Paige Smallwood after the show and I fan girled so hard, but she was so nice!! She totally understands that people hold this show to high standards and she was happy to hear that we enjoyed it.

As stated before, Les Miserables will be playing at The Washington Pavilion through Sunday. For tickets or more information, click here.