Interview: Gavin Lee on LES MISERABLES - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR

Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular has begun its world tour in Belfast. With a cast and orchestra of over 65, the show is an expansion of Les Misérables The Staged Concert from the West End and includes stars like Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Bonnie Langford and Gavin Lee.

Recently, we had the opportunity to chat with Gavin Lee, who returns to the role of Monsieur Thénardier after playing him on Broadway from March 2015 to May 2016 in the most recent revival. We discussed how Lee first got into the world of theatre, what it has been like to return to the role of Monsieur Thénardier nearly a decade later and even what audiences can expect from the arena spectacular compared to the theatrical production!

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So starting with a general question, how did you first get started in the world of theatre?

It was so long ago! [Laughs] I started off in amateur dramatics doing musicals with my older sister. If you know the musical A Chorus Line, there's a character called Mike that sings a song that goes, “I’m watchin’ Sis go pitterpat / Said, ‘I can do that’.” That is me. She’d come home from dance lessons and I’d be like, “What did you do? Show me! Show me! Show me!” And eventually, I started going to the dance lessons, so that's how I started, in community theatre! Then went off to college at sixteen down in London and got my first West End role a year after that. I was doing ensemble in West End shows and then my big break was Mary Poppins back in 2004. I ended up playing role of Bert in Mary Poppins for eight years - in London, on Broadway and across America. That was what changed everything. Since then, I've lived in America. I live half hour from New York, but since the pandemic, my last three big shows have been back here in London, or, in this case, all around Europe! So having to leave the wife and kids back at home. But as a jobbing actor, you go wherever the work is.

And how did you first get started with Les Misérables? 

After Mary Poppins finished, I came back to London to do Top Hat, which was a fabulous Fred Astaire show. I then went back home and didn't work for a whole year. Then the audition for Les Mis came up on Broadway, and I was lucky enough to get that, and it became the favourite role I've ever played. Absolutely loved it! Had it run on Broadway for another ten years, I would have stayed because I absolutely loved it. So I couldn't believe my luck when Cameron [Mackintosh] asked me six months ago, “Would you like to come and reprise the role on this new brand new world arena concert tour? It’s going to be very different from the Broadway show, but I think you're our man to play Thénardier to these massive crowds in arenas.” So I was over the moon to step back into Thénardier’s disgusting boots!

Had you been a fan of Les Misérables before joining back in 2015?

I first saw Les Mis when I was in college, back in the late 80s. As a sixteen-year-old, I didn't really like it! I was very much into 42nd Street-type shows back then because I came from a dancing background. Also, I saw Les Mis as a student up for like four pounds in the back of the gods, so I had a terrible seat! When we were doing Mary Poppins in London, because they're both Cameron Mackintosh shows, he very generously let the casts see each other's shows on different matinees. So it was back in 2005 I saw the show in London, and I thought it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. And ten years later, I was in the show! So I'm a massive fan. Coming back to it nine years after I played the role on Broadway, I said to Cameron last night, you forget how amazing and beautiful the music is. Apart from it being an amazing story, it's the brilliant, brilliant music and songs that make this show everyone's favourite. And there's a reason for it because you can listen to it and just get lost in these fabulous lyrics and these very emotional songs. I love that I'm back in it!

On that note, what is it like to be returning to it nearly a decade later in this new format?

I found it hard in rehearsals because I'm a very physical actor, and the Thénardiers are very physical. In the theatre production, for instance, “Master of the House,” you never stand still! You're running around, you're stealing things out of people's pockets, you're giving them dodgy wine, you're just scamming punters in the inn for the whole thing. And suddenly, to do the concert version, you get up, sing your song and go. Even though we have a fantastic set and it looks spectacular, it's a concert version, so everyone comes forward and blows the audience away with their fabulous interpretation of a song. So I found it hard to reduce my physicality and put it all into my face, rather than my big, lanky legs and arms flapping around everywhere. And also, with this version, because we’re playing to arenas of 5,000 people, they have massive screens. The screens are like TV, giving the audience at the back a close-up, so you have to keep within the camera shot as well. So it's very different from the theater production. 

It's so massive! You have these amazing screens, we have these pieces of set that move in and out and create different worlds within France . . . It's a weird hybrid! You’re certainly getting way more than just a concert, but it’s not a stage show. All I can say is it’s spectacular. And the sound, even at the back of the house, is the most amazing stuff. And because I might look like one centimetre high from the back of the auditorium, you've got these massive screens so you're not missing a thing! They're giving you HD close-ups on all my wrinkles and my bad teeth. [Laughs] I have to paint on bad teeth because I have quite nice, white, shiny teeth, so I enjoy putting on my dirty makeup and my yellow teeth every day.

So you just had your first performances of the tour in Belfast. What were they like?

Amazing! We knew that 80% of this 5000 seater was going to be mad fans that just couldn't wait. The overture started and the roar from the crowd was insane. For a lot of it, we have earpieces, we have to wear these in-ears, a little plug in your ear that's giving you everyone else's vocals and the orchestra. So that was an adjustment, and it does make us feel like we're big pop stars, because we're on this massive stage, we've got in ears and we all feel like we're doing a big concert! 

It’s a different energy to Broadway, then.

Yes! You would immediately say, “Oh, it's not as intimate,” but then you catch a full view of your face on the screen and you’re like, “Oh no, they’re seeing every blink that I do!” They’re getting the best of both worlds, getting the huge spectacular and being able to intimately see everything.

And what is it like to be working alongside Bonnie Langford as Madame Thénardier?

It’s great! We just finished doing Sondheim's Old Friends in London last year together, and we had done a couple of charity shows and a pantomime before that, years ago. So when I heard that my “Madame T” was going to be the Bonnie Langford, I was very happy! It's fun when you've played the role with another, because it's a very much a duo. I played the role with someone else for a year and a half - to come and find new things with a new actress is fun. It makes it all fresh, you start an energy and find new funny bits. The Thénardiers are the light relief in a very dramatic, emotional show, and so hopefully, we're going to make the audience relax when we come on stage and laugh a bit. They can put their tissues away for a bit before another person unfortunately dies on the barricade! [Laughs]

Do you have any particular favourite scenes or songs?

Of course, I love doing “Master of the House” - it's such fun! The lyrics are so brilliant. But from the theatre production - and now this production - “The Sewers” has always been my favorite scene for Thénardier, because he's so despicable! He's down in the sewers of Paris, dragging dead bodies to where he can see them in the light, so he can literally pull gold out of their teeth and steal anything! He's like a cockroach, a rat in the sewer. And then he gets to break the fourth wall and say, “You're judging me?” And you just get to tell the audience, “All those idiots on the barricades were thinking God was going to look after them! I look up at the sky, and all I see is the moon. I see the Harvest Moon,” meaning, “Look at the harvest that the moon has brought me today, getting to steal all this stuff.” He's just horrendous! There's something delicious about playing someone so despicable. I love it!

Have you found that much has changed in returning to the role, like any new things you’ve found about Thénardier?

It was like starting afresh because it's this concert version, so you can't fall back on the physical movement that you did in the theatre production, because there's no staircase, no table and chair and prop. We do have a few props and some set that moves, but this concert is all about the fantastic thirty-piece orchestra that we have on stage with us. It's about the beautiful lighting, the staging . . . But not the staging like the theater production. It's very different. How do I portray this character in a one-shot of just my head on the screen? I have to stay at this microphone - I can't be running around the stage. So it's a totally different approach to this character. I'm really excited because I'm still finding how to portray this character in a totally less physical way. It's very fun and challenging for someone who played it for a year and a half before that way, and I now have to do it this way. I'm loving the challenge! 

Do you have any tour stops that you're particularly looking forward to?

Me and my wife, we love Italy! As I said, my wife and kids are back in the States, so they're flying over to Geneva in Switzerland, which is going to be fun to see the Alps. My kids are looking forward to lots of chocolate! Then we're going to take the train to Venice through the Alps. So Switzerland's going to be fun, but going to Italy because we're going to Trieste and Milan in Italy - they're going to be my favourite stops. And also, I'm looking forward to Oslo because I've never been to Scandinavia!

What do you hope audiences take away from this production?

All the fans that have seen the theatre production, I hope they come and they get to see something that they've never seen before in a show that they already love because it is the arena spectacular! It does feel spectacular. The quality of the sound in the whole arena is so powerful and strong and loud. Just the overture starting . . . Everyone jumps out of their seats! And then for people who don't think they like theatre but they like going to concerts and seeing their favourite stars in a concert, come and try this! You're going to be blown away by the emotion from all these performers giving their best performances. You're going to be moved!

And finally, how would you describe the show in one word?

Epic. Les Mis has always been huge when it's in the theater, but now, wow. You appreciate how brilliant the composer and lyricist are because the songs are just ingrained in everyone's psyche. This is the 40th anniversary of Les Mis in London, so we all know these hit songs, and to get to hear them with a thirty-piece orchestra in an arena is just spectacular and epic.

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Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular will tour over fifteen countries and regions over the next two years including the UK, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan and China.

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