Les Misérables. Produced by Showbiz Christchurch. 14 Sept - 6 Oct 2018. Isaac Theatre Royal. Directed by Stephen Robertson. Musical Direction by Richard Marrett. Reviewed by Kate Divett, Backstage Christchurch.

Les Misérables is a familiar and well-loved musical for many. I must come clean and declare at the outset that I am not one of those people. I am a huge fan of musical theatre, but there is something about Les Misérables that gets my heckles up. I have good reasons for this, which I have discussed at length with many friends over the years.

I first saw the entire show in 1994 when the former Christchurch Operatic Society (now Showbiz Christchurch) brought the epic stage show to New Zealand. I saw it again from a seat high in the gods in 2001. The 1994 outing had been such an enormous feat, the first time that a group of theatre companies across the country had worked together to bring shows of this scale to our shores. In that sense, it was a visionary production and my young eyes were agog at the grand staging and costuming. My personal views of the material notwithstanding, this is a review about the production and I was intrigued to see what fresh perspective the 2018 version would bring.

There is much to commend Showbiz for here and I must begin with the youngest performers on the night. Arawyn Allan-Griffiths (9 years old), Isla Palmer (8) and Duncan Price (9)  are truly delightful and extremely talented. I remember Price from the duet he did with Jackie Clarke in the 2017 Kids 4 Kids concert (mentioned in his bio notes in the programme), and it was clear then that he had star quality. His performance as Gavroche is particularly energetic and clear. Bravo to all these young talents, and best wishes to Ethan Carranceja and Lavinia Sutherland who will share these roles in the next few weeks.

In the lead role of Jean Valjean, Daniel Belle holds the show together. His experience on the stage - and in the role of Valjean in particular - is clear. His voice handles the demands of the role well, and a highlight of the night was his stunning rendition of Bring Him Home. He sang with stunning sensitivity and expression that told the story afresh. This redeemed the entire evening for me. Bravo, sir.

James Foster (Javert) delivers a strong, convincing performance as the determined police officer, and has helped me forget Russell Crowe’s performance from the 2012 film version.

There is strength in other main roles as well. Fergus Inder (Marius), Jack Fraser (Enjolras) and Monique Clementson (Eponine) are strong, with good characterisation and fabulous voices. Jacqueline Doherty (Cosette) brings her remarkably clear soprano voice to this sweet role. Ben Freeth (Thénardier) and Rebecca Malcolm (Madame Thénardier) are a great comic duo and it’s particularly wonderful to see Freeth step into a larger role on the stage. I know Kira Josephson (Fantine) is capable of fabulous performances after seeing her as Nessarose in Wicked earlier this Showbiz season. She delivered a suitably overwrought performance on opening night, but there were pitch issues that were distracting.

Music Director Richard Marrett has a busy night conducting the three hour show. The chorus numbers - particularly Lovely Ladies, Do You Hear the People Sing? and One Day More - are the quality and standard of performance that audiences are accustomed to. There is always something wonderful about the harmonised wall of sound that a strong chorus brings. On opening night, however, there were clear tuning issues in the orchestra and many issues with pitch from performers in smaller roles which were surprising and commented on by audience members around me.

The production team have already set the bar high for themselves, and there are no real surprises with the stage and set design for those who are familiar with either Les Misérables or any Showbiz show in recent memory. The revolving stage and moving set pieces are incredible. The costumes are as sumptuous and dramatic as audience members will expect. The wigs - the wigs! - are numerous and outstanding. There is quality and craftsmanship in every incredible detail. There are some little extras - dates projected onto the stage to emphasise scene changes and the passing of time, for example - that help to enhance the production value. There were some timing issues with microphones, and sometimes an unbalanced sound - particularly when Doherty sang, as I would have liked to have heard her brought up in the mix - however these could be ironed out easily.

Something was missing for me on opening night, and I think it was wow-factor. Perhaps this is where Showbiz Christchurch are victims of their own success? The last few seasons have been creatively awe-inspiring, packed with wow-factor that got the heart racing with anticipation. The 2018 season started with an absolute bang with Wicked. There is no question that there are fans who are in awe of Les Misérables who will be thrilled to see it again, and there is a clearly a lot of work that goes into presenting this show - but I can’t help but feel that it is perhaps an easy, formulaic end to the season. Les Misérables feels like a comfortable, familiar pair of sensible shoes. It will surely be a commercial success and popular at the box office, but the tagline on the back of the programme leaves me wondering - does great drama never get old?