Review: LES MISERABLES Goes Big at the Israeli National Theatre Habima

With an all-star cast of over 40 actors, a 16-piece live orchestra, groundbreaking visual effects and numerous detailed settings there's no doubt that Habima Theatre has done it again with its exquisite modern revival of Les Miserables, directed by Moshe Kepten.

LES MISERABLES, written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg according to Victor Hugo's novel, is one of the world's most iconic and longest-running musicals and follows the story of Jean Valjean, an imprisoned convict who from the moment he is released spends a lifetime seeking for redemption while being hunted by his former warden, inspector Javert.
The story is set in France during its 19th century revolutionary events, especially the 1832 Student Revolution in Paris, and revolves around the different people who are intertwined in Valjean's life journey.

Valjean is played by recording artist Amir Dadon, who proves time after time what a brilliant singer he is with a strong, steady voice and an impressive breath control, and though his lack of acting education is evident during his big solo numbers he is still performing impressively and is great for this role. Two other recording artists in this cast are also struggling a bit with the acting. One of them is Miri Mesika who plays Fantine, a character which her entire life is changed in a very short period of time in the musical and yet Mesika doesn't entirely display that, or at least that's what it appears, especially when it seemed as though it was more important for her to sound good (which she really does) than to tell Fantine's story during "I Dreamed A Dream". The second one is Roni Dalumi who plays Éponine, also caring more about her singing sounding good while stretching her long notes, but not as much. It's clear especially during "On My Own" where she sounded incredible but it didn't look as if she was feeling the lyrics. On the other hand, as expected- Tal Bergman finally officially joins the world of musical theatre, where she belongs, and plays Cosette while truly becoming her in every single bone in her body. Similarly, Gilad Kleter powerfully manages to convey the deep layers of inspector Javert along with a beautiful baritone voice.
Of course the stars of this unbelievable cast are Avi Kushnir as Thénardier and Hana Laszlo as Madame Thénardier, the perfect casting for these roles.

As the story and music stayed loyal to the well-known original Cameron Mackintosh London production, this revival follows in the footsteps of the modern 2014 Broadway revival by eliminating the rotating stage and adding stunning projections with special lighting by Keren Garnek. This may shock a few Les Miserables fans but the turntable, which is meant to represent the years passing by throughout the story, wasn't missed at all thanks to the time turning themes represented in Miri Lazar's movement design. With such special effects and movements you'd think the production would save some expenses on the classic settings and use the minimal needed but the entire opposite is the reality, thanks to set designer Eran Atzmon, when throughout the entire show tens of different sets were changed, each one more detailed and rich than the other no matter how "small" the scene's set could actually be.

Another thing that remained true to the musical's roots was the use of Ehud Manor's brilliant 1987 Hebrew translation, which is as always precise and yet still manages to flow beautifully with the music. On the other hand, there were subtitles above the stage, a location which should never be used for this purpose, especially when half of the audience sitting below the mezzanine can't even see the top of the stage.

At the end of the day, there might be a few things this production could work on, including getting better microphones and changing Enjolras's wig, but it doesn't prevent it from already being one of the greatest musical productions Israel has ever seen.

Running time: 2 hours and 50 minutes, including an intermission.

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