Review: The Incomparable Jeffrey Walker Stands Out in the Center Stage Youth Theatre's Production of LES MISERABLES

There are certain musicals that I cannot escape no matter how hard I sometimes try. A decade ago, Into the Woods was the show that everyone and their step-uncle decided to produce. Then Pippin followed where I had the pleasure of viewing three versions in a matter of about six weeks.  Shrek is always being performed somewhere, and I find myself in the audience for that quite often, even though I’m not even close to being a fan of the show.  

Which brings me to LES MISERABLES.  It is not an exaggeration to say that I have seen the  musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel  around twenty times, which includes several high school shows, community theatre productions, summer camp versions and, since 1991, various National Tours. Thank goodness I actually like Les Miz because with some shows, once is quite enough (I’m looking at you Young Frankenstein and any Michael Parker farce). 

So, when I was invited to review Center Stage Youth Theatre’s recent LES MISERABLES,  I had to ponder whether or not I should see it since I have already punched in sixty hours of my life watching Alain Boubil’s and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s juggernaut. 

But Les Miz houses some of the most iconic songs in musical theatre history (“I Dreamed a Dream,” “Bring Him Home,” “Master of the House,” “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” “On My Own,” the oft-imitated “One Day More,” and “Stars,” the latter being my personal favorite).  And if done well, the show’s theme of redemption in a brittle world gets me every time.  Plus, Center Stage boasts a phenomenal reputation since its inception five years ago, and their past energetic forays have become legendary.  I guess I needed to see for myself what all the buzz was about, and if any musical can show the highs and lows of a theatre company, the strengths as well as their weaknesses, then LES MISERABLES performed by a gaggle of teens (ages 11-18) would be it.

Having seen several school productions of the show, I always wind up questioning LES MISERABLES being performed by young people in the first place.  Not just because someone portraying Prisoner 24601, Jean Valjean, needs to have the life experience to show his magnificent transformation, from lowly prisoner on the run to redeemed Old Everyman.  But that same actor must have the sturdy physique to portray someone so strong that they can lift a runaway cart off an injured soul, and not all talented teens with a proclivity for musical theatre are built that way.  I once saw a teen production of Les Miz where the young actor portraying Valjean was so slight of build, it was hard to imagine him lifting a six-pack of Sprite let alone a giant runaway cart.

Also, having teen girls portraying leering prostitutes and singing the slinky slut anthem, “Lovely Ladies,” never ceases to be disquieting, especially if some of them seem like they had just entered middle school. And sometimes hearing way-too-young voices attempt “Red and Black” doesn’t quite get the adrenaline pumping. But if you get the right cast, direct them with clear focus and purpose, then good things happen with this very difficult show.

And that’s the case with the Center Stage production.   I’m sure glad I made it out to the show’s closing performance because not only did I get to experience so many wondrous youths shining on the stage, I got to witness a revelatory performance by a young man that will have people talking for months.  More on that later.

For those of you who don’t follow musical theatre (and if that’s you, then what are you doing reading Broadway World?), LES MISERABLES is a sung-thru musical featuring Jean Valjean, symbolic of the New Testament outlook on life, who is a prisoner who sports the most famous inmate numbers in history: 24601. Imprisoned for stealing bread as a youth, he spends nineteen years jailed, only to be set free in a world that wants nothing to do with him. Thus, he breaks parole and illegally changes his name only to become a pillar of society, even though the unforgiving Inspector Javert (exemplifying the Old Testament philosophy) is always on his heels. While the cat-and-mouse game of Valjean and Javert is underfoot, other storylines emerge--Valjean's adoption of Cosette; the youthful French students' uprising against an oppressive society ultimately leading to the building of an infamous barricade; and Cosette's love affair with a student, Marius. Add to all of this the thieving Thenardier couple; their daughter, Eponine, who also loves Marius; the sad arch of Cosette's doomed mother, Fantine; and the tyke, Gavroche, who always seems to have entered the story via a road company of Oliver!.  It’s a show that has a bit of everything, and the teens at Center Stage have embraced and created a truly memorable, sometimes questionable but always stupendously satisfying and emotionally devastating experience.

The sparse set, backed by alluring animated projections, works in the confines of the Generations Christian Church near New Port Richey.  A Goliath-sized cross stands house right and adds to the redemptive theme of the show, even if unintended.

Some quibbles: The cart scene should work, but here it does not.  You never sense the panic of those standing around the runaway cart that has toppled a young man.  The actors just stand around matter-of-factly watching, not reacting plausibly and panicky to the situation. It’s like they’re watching an informercial on paint peeling. At least after the scene two stagehands roll the cart offstage.  I once saw a notorious Les Miz at Stage West where, after being informed that Jean Valjean is the only man to move such a cart, a lone stagehand wanders onstage and lifts up the cart without effort by himself and walks off with it as if he was holding a pillow.

Microphone issues also plagued the production, and it’s unfair, because the actors are so good and the sound glitches undermine their performances. They really got in the way when key offstage voices, during the barricade scenes, could not be heard.  It also affected the most underrated song of the show, “Turning,” which became a weird amalgamation of voices with some mics working and others not; it was a vocal mess that was missing some key ingredients, like a gumbo where someone forgot to add the sausage and the shrimp.

But this is one show that gets to spotlight so much talent onstage.  The cast boasts some of the best young performers in the area, all of them bringing their “A” game.

As Fantine, Taliya Smart will tear you up and break your heart.  Her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” is as emotionally wrenching as I have experienced; she builds it, smoldering at first, ending  it on a four-alarm fire of pain, loss and yearning. And Lana Greene is superb as Eponine, the poor soul who doesn’t get the guy of her dreams; her eyes speak volumes.  In her song “On My Own,” Ms. Greene showcases herself as a true professional, a mighty talent where the sky’s the limit. 

Steffen Robinson makes for a strong Javert, with tremendous vocal work, and he looks like John Wilkes Booth in Assassins (a role Mr. Robinson would be electric in, just putting it out there).  He’s certainly unwavering in the part of an unmovable law enforcer, but my main issue with yon Mr. Robinson‘s Javert is that he rarely looks at the other performers when he sings; he’s always facing the audience as if he’s stuck in some concert version of LES MISERABLES.  This takes out an entire equation to the role: the human. It’s stronger if he connects with the other characters, intimidating them with his power; facing us takes away the personal and leaves us with a Snidely Whiplash cartoon thrust into the land of Victor Hugo.  This is more than likely a directorial issue and might be by design, contrasting Javert to the more humane Jean Valjean, but it doesn’t work.  Javert must see himself as the hero of the tale, where the rule of law trumps everything, and backed by his powerful position, he can intimidate anyone in his path.  As it stands, Javert here might as well be a lip-licking villain straight out of East Lynne.   

As the eely Thernadier duo, the entertaining and talented Bo Henson and Olivia Maggio get to showcase their marvelous likability onstage,  but they can also up the parts to the next level to  become the dictionary definition of the word “scoundrels.”  You sense the party-hardy wicked delight in them, but they can do even more.  They sometimes seem too nice, somewhat safe, not morally anarchic.  They should be hilarious to the audience but horrific to the other cast members. In “Master of the House,” Henson’s Thernardier sings to us rather than to the patrons to whom he should schmooze.  It adds so much with him interacting with the other cast members but, again, feels like a karaoke version of the show when he sings out to the audience.  The Thernadiers are disgusting and underhanded, but here you never get a sense of how low their amorality can descend.

Alexander Gault’s Marius is quite good here, and his opening of “A Heart Full of Love,” where the character is unsure of himself, is very well done. His sorrowful (and powerful) “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” elicited more than several tears from the audience.  And the beautiful Adrienne Moochnek, as the apple of Marius’ eye, Cosette, matches Mr. Gault’s talent word for word, note for note.  

Austin Finocchi was born to play Gavroche, the child of the Parisian streets and the show’s narrator (at least for a bit). I’m always hit or miss with the part of Gavroche, who sometimes can come across as grating and gets to sing my least favorite number from the show, “Little People.”  But with Mr. Finocchi in the role, it’s a hit.  And [SPOILER ALERT], when the tyke gets shot in his final moments of heroism, I felt true sadness and heartbreak here (which is not always the case; sometimes we feel relieved during Gavroche’s unceremonious demise, mainly because then we don’t have to hear “Little People” anymore…I know that sounds cruel, but I must be honest).  Mr. Finocchi is outstanding in the role and can play it anywhere, even on a National Tour, until he outgrows it.

Other cast members who helped elevate this Les Miz include Jade Granger, Sara Khadilker, Luca Gourdine, Gavin Love, Trevor Cheatham, Quentin Parkes, Jamie Gaeng, McCoy Harrop, Gilbert Vasques, Jace Skinner, Grant Tushaus, Bryce Thomas, Noah Allen, Eli Mendler, Noah Bower, Bella Albano, Arianna Williams, Savannah Walker, Sophie Giuliani, Violet Parkes, Anna Varias, Keller Quimby, Skye Stockard, Ryleigh Alsobrooks, Madison McWilliams, Giovanna Montanez, Gabby Meo, Adrienne Finocchi, Linda Morrison, Ava Moochnek, Juliana Allen and Annabel Perez.

My vote for Best Ensemble Member goes to Kathryn Thomas, who I recall so well in RRHS’ Mean Girls last April; she’s even better here.  She stands out in a crowded scene, so alive, emotional, electric.  She is proof that the size of a role does not matter; you can make the most of any bit part with talent, heart, honesty and fierce determination.  You tackle an ensemble part with the same zest and zeal as a leading role. Anyone who thinks their small part is “just an ensemble member” should watch Ms. Thomas steal the show in LES MISERABLES.

And then there is Jeffrey Walker as Jean Valjean.

I have seen Mr. Walker in various roles in the past, chiefly a hearty Prince in Into the Woods and a robust Adolpho in SPC’s Drowsy Chaperone last summer.  None of those earlier parts, great as they were, prepared me for this.  Mr.  Walker’s work here astounds. Near the beginning, when he sings the words “took my fliiiiiight,” his voice goes into falsetto and it’s a glorious choice.  And he pulls his own Lupone by extending the word “again” in “Who Am I?” And if you don’t cry during his heartfelt, heartbreaking “Bring Him Home,” then make sure to rush to your cardiologist to discover whatever happened to your heart.  

As I mentioned, I have seen close to twenty productions of LES MISERABLES, including several Broadway tours, and Mr. Walker’s Jean Valjean ranks near the very top of the best that I’ve experienced. He’s only seventeen years old, and the world is in front of him.  My only advice is for him to follow his heart and his talent and to see where that eventually leads him, because he can obviously do anything. 

This Les Miz is fast but not so brisk that you miss the depth of the experience.  Its pace is snap-snap-snap, moving at a crackling speed, a whirlwind of sorts. Much of the kudos here belong to the incredibly talented director and theatre teacher, Ryan Bintz, who I saw in a less-stellar production of LES MISERABLES ten years ago (he played Marius and received my gold star for Best in Cast). He (along with choreographer MacKenzie Scheu)  brings out the very best in all of his young performers, and he and his cast should be very proud of what they have accomplished in such a short time (it’s a mammoth undertaking that they have worked on since late August, mostly rehearsing just once a week).

Since 2018, Center Stage Youth Theatre  founders James Faurote and Anna Shea have created something so indelible, so important to the area, that it cannot be measured. They started with just 42 kids in their program and now have blossomed into a vigorous force of nature where they provide a home, a safe zone, for students who want to extend their love of theatre from the classroom or for those kids who aren’t lucky enough to have a theatre program in their school.  Watching the best and the brightest on the stage tackling this theatrical beast is a wonder to behold.  “I cried several times,” I overheard one audience member say.  Another said they wept throughout the show, for both the heart-tugging story being told and the sheer grace and goodwill of these young, extraordinarily talent people bringing it to life.  I have to admit that I cried too.  And if this production of LES MISERABLES doesn’t give you hope for the future, then I don’t know what will.     

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