Les Miserables: The Arena Spectacular will 'blow away' audiences, stars say

11-04-2025

Les Miserables, the longest-running musical in London's West End, is taking to the stage at Abu Dhabi's Etihad Arena on Thursday as a large-scale concert production. Twelve performances of the arena version of the 40-year-old musical, featuring a cast and orchestra of more than 65 people, are being staged in the UAE. Actors Rachelle Ann Go, Killian Donnelly and Bradley Jaden have shared with The National their experience of being part of writer Victor Hugo's world, where justice, morality, politics, love and religion struggle to co-exist among flawed characters. Go reprises her role as the impoverished Fantine, having starred in the West End production. She said the role is a dream come true. In fact, the first time she saw the show in 2013, she was so jet-lagged that she slept through most of it, only waking up in time for Fantine's famous song I Dreamed A Dream. 'I saw that and thought 'oh my goodness, I really wanted to sing this song'. I said: 'That's the role I'm going to play.' I just felt connected with that character, even though at that time I wasn't a mom yet,' Go says. She says Fantine's heartaches and 'brokenness' felt familiar. She hopes to channel Fantine's journey and despair through her performance, creating a 'standalone emotional centrepiece' to connect with her audience. Having performed at the Etihad Arena in 2024 as Eliza in Hamilton, Go is familiar with the space. However, she says the Arena Spectacular, which is on a world tour, will feel more like a stadium show. 'This is going to be massive. It's like a proper concert with all the lights and I'm really excited to do it. Back in the Philippines, I've been doing concerts, that was my first love. Doing this together, a concert in an arena and a musical … it's literally a dream,' she said. Donnelly, who stars as Jean Valjean, believes the performance is '50 per cent passion and 50 per cent vocal'. He has played the lead in Phantom of the Opera in the West End, and draws parallels between Valjean and the Phantom. 'They are both troubled, rely on hope, and passionate,' he says. However, as challenging as the role is, the score by Claude Michel Schoenberg does a lot of the work for him, he believes. 'It helps get you into the emotion very easily. Audience members who have never seen the show understand the character and his struggles. The best feeling about this music is that it always gets you there,' he says. Jaden, who plays Inspector Javert, has grown up with the role over the past 10 years. He was the youngest person to take on the character, when he was 29, and his understanding of Javert's perspective has evolved with him. In his mind, he is not the villain that everyone thinks he is. 'I always feel like people say that Javert's the bad guy and I always have to shut it down. He's absolutely not a villain,' he says. 'My job is just to tell the story in the best means that I possibly can, and I leave the judgment of being villainous or a hero up to the audience,' he adds. Jaden describes the arena show as a 'real monster of a piece of theatre', saying audiences will be 'blown away' by the orchestra, costumes and the way the show is set up like a movie with 4K screens to fully immerse the viewer. 'I think what's so great about this concert version is we strip away all the props and moving aspects. It really is just about the storytelling. We're almost putting in this humongous, incredible musical right on your lap.' When Go played Fantine in 2016, she was the only Asian woman in the cast. Filled with uncertainty, she relied heavily on the thought that women who looked like her had paved the way for her to take the role and represent her people. 'When you see people from Asia and you hear them say 'you make us proud', it's so fulfilling. You get emotional,' she says. 'Before, I just wanted to sing, but then there's a deeper purpose why I am on stage. Knowing that purpose, I'm fulfilled. This is what I need to do in life,' she adds, teary-eyed. She says some younger audience members have gone into musical theatre after watching her on stage. 'To hear them reaching for their dreams and stepping out of their comfort zone, I think I'm doing the right thing.' Being a mother has also enriched her performance and made her understand 'real pain'. 'Now I don't need to sit in one corner [before the show] and internalise, because I know how it feels to be a mom.' Similarly, Donnelly says becoming a father has elevated his performance. 'Being a father is about just being there, being present, and that's what I was trying to do with [Fantine's daughter] Cosette. I didn't have to hold her hand or hug her to let her know I was there,' he says. 'The presence of the father was something that I learnt from actually being a dad.' Jaden says he leapt at the chance to return to the role of Javert. Even when taking part in other productions, his affection for Les Miserables never dwindled. 'When this opportunity came to come back to Les Miserables, I jumped at it because my love was still there for that show. My love is still there for that show,' he says. Les Miserables is running from April 10 – 20 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi

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After a decade under lights, Amna Al Qubaisi steers her career in a new direction

The National

8 hours ago

The National

After a decade under lights, Amna Al Qubaisi steers her career in a new direction

Emirati racing driver Amna Al Qubaisi didn't realise the impact of her story until she saw it through the eyes of others. From the day she first took the driver's seat at 14, her dream was to finish what her father, Khaled Al Qubaisi – the first Emirati to reach a podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France – had started. She wanted to win, to hear the UAE's national anthem play where it had never been heard before. 'I was always just trying to represent my country in a really good manner,' she tells The National. 'I was focused only on results. I wanted to prove to the world that we were not there just to participate – but to win.' In those early days, as she began turning heads on the track, she was unaware of the effect she was having. 'When I was 14, my dad was very strict with my social media. He took full control – I barely even had a phone. And I'm glad he did, because of him I thought everything was normal.' It wasn't until years later, when she began running her own accounts, that she realised she had both changed perceptions of what a racing driver could look like – and of what an Emirati woman could be. 'A lot of girls were messaging me,' she says. 'One thing that really caught my eye was when they told me their bond with their father became much better because they saw my dad supporting me. 'They told me, 'Our father is now supporting us because we showed them: look, her dad's supporting her in motorsports, he's always there for her.' Now they're getting the same reciprocation from their dads.' Starring in Netflix's F1: The Academy Since then, Al Qubaisi has grown increasingly aware of the effect that her story can have. In May, along with her younger sister Hamda, she was one of the central stars of the Netflix docuseries F1: The Academy, which chronicled her final season racing for Red Bull in the all-female F1 Academy championship. 'We were really happy that we were a part of it,' says Al Qubaisi. 'We got to share our personality, our side of our story, and how seriously we and our dad take this.' At the same time, she was disappointed that her family was portrayed, from her point of view, as the wealthy upstarts compared to the seemingly more humble European drivers – even though virtually everyone gets there as the result of massive financial investment into their talent. Al Qubaisi explains: 'When we say we're Emirati, automatically, people think we have a mansion made of gold and an endless fleet of cars. But racing is very expensive and those costs apply to all racing drivers. Anyone who's joining in motorsport has the money. 'The way they made the other drivers look like they were selling stuff to be able to race is completely inaccurate. It's kind of sad that they singled us out and made it look like we were the only ones who had it easy.' She believes, whether on screen or off, that the deck was stacked against her through the second year of her F1 Academy experience – in which she dropped to 15th in the standings a year after she had placed sixth overall, collecting two wins in her first season. 'The first year was less political, as it was the first championship to be held. My sister and I finished very strong. In the second year, it felt like they didn't want a Middle Eastern person to win. I got an engine that was around seven to 10 kilometres slower down the straights and I couldn't do much about it. I talked to Red Bull about it, and they told me, 'just deal with it'.' When she realised winning was near-impossible, she started paying more attention to the Netflix cameras following their every move – and grew more involved in how her story was being told. 'In the first few rounds, I would tell them, 'I don't want to do anything. I'm too focused. But then I thought I might as well just take advantage of it and try to give myself some exposure for future sponsors. I said, 'I've got nothing to lose', and I gave them full access.' That strategy, which made her one of the show's most visible stars, proved emotionally challenging as her struggles mounted. 'We were still there to win,' she explains. 'So having them film me at my most vulnerable, and at my worst, was hard. I didn't want the world to know. It was a big fear of mine. But now that it's out there, I think people can relate. 'And if there's criticism against my driving ability, I don't mind. My sister takes it more personally than I do. I have a fan account that I created that I will use to start roasting them back,' Al Qubaisi laughs. Why she moved to endurance racing In the wake of her F1 Academy experience, Al Qubaisi, who had previously raced in Formula 4, has decided to give up on her Formula One dreams. Instead, she's charting a new course in endurance racing that has allowed her to rediscover what she loved about racing in the first place. Moreso than in Formula racing, endurance racing tests the durability of equipment and participants. Teams of multiple drivers using the same car in shifts attempt to cover a large distance in a single event. 'When it comes to Formula racing, it's too expensive. Because of our budget, we were constantly behind the pack. 'So this year, we decided to move into endurance racing, where it's much cheaper and the costs are split between drivers. When I moved into endurance racing, it was the first time I felt like I was actually enjoying driving in a long time.' In some ways, her path to endurance racing mirrors the fictional journey of Brad Pitt's Sonny Hayes in F1 The Movie, in which Hayes finds himself constantly at the back of the pack and has to figure out a way to turn that to his advantage. 'In F1 Academy, I was always starting from the back and I took that as practice for overtaking,' Al Qubaisi explains. 'I learnt to get through traffic and find a gap. Now, in endurance, I'm always catching up to the guys up front, because I know how it's done. 'In endurance racing, you have to really plan – you have tyre management, fuel consumption and overtaking through traffic – because you're racing with different categories. 'It's so much more enjoyable. In single seaters, you're just praying and hoping for something to happen. But in endurance racing, anything can happen. Someone can be leading a race and then have a problem and you have a whole hour to strategise.' Al Qubaisi and her sister will continue their new path towards endurance racing on August 22 and 23 the Spa – Francorchamps Heat as part of the 2025 Ligier European Series. The series marks the third tier on the endurance racing ladder of Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the company behind the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. 'Sharing a car, we work together and help each other. We go through data together and strategise together. Having each other makes this decision easier, as we're both really good and we know each other, so we have an advantage.' What is the future of women in F1? Back in Formula racing, Al Qubaisi is rooting for the many young women working towards a spot in F1 but believes the sport as not a level playing field. 'It's very difficult to have a female in Formula One, no matter how good she is, no matter how big her achievements are. The Formula One teams need to have really big trust in those female drivers. 'They will need to invest in women drivers from a young age. I think they just need to start trusting women more to be able to reach that point too. 'Because now, all the girls who are working so hard in single seaters, who've made it to the top 10, who won races, nothing is done for them. No opportunity is provided and then they end up on the sidelines as a development driver or reserve driver, which isn't enough. If it was a male competitor, he would immediately have support, a test drive in a Formula One car.' Basic engineering was also an issue. Al Qubaisi faced difficulty with singer-seater cars that were built only for male bodies – 'we can't fit in that car' – which caused her and other women drivers to complain to the FIA regulatory body to ensure cars were built for both men and women. That issue was fixed, but Al Qubaisi feels it's symbolic of the inequality that exists in the sport. Telling her own story As she sets off on a new racing journey with her sister, Al Qubaisi feels that every bump along the way has prepared her for the difficulties ahead – not just as a racing driver, but as a public figure. She will rely less on how others tell her story and start to take an even greater hand in telling her own. 'I have a cameraman and we're doing our own YouTube docuseries for the racing championship. Every race weekend we show everything from our perspective and it's very authentic and very natural,' she says. 'I've learnt that I don't need anything polished and professional. These days, I just have to be real.'

Amr Youssef on how Darwish brings old-school Egyptian cinema back to the big screen

The National

a day ago

The National

Amr Youssef on how Darwish brings old-school Egyptian cinema back to the big screen

If playing a villain is the most fun an actor can have, playing a sleek con man might be one of the most challenging roles to take on, says actor Amr Youssef. The Egyptian star, 44, recalls preparing the titular role as a con artist in Darwish, whose attempt to steal a rare jewel in one last job before going straight goes disastrously wrong. Youssef recalls preparing for the role as similar to a writer crafting a novel. "The villain is really a straightforward matter and can be one-dimensional at times that often violence is used to project power and to ensure that everyone else knows where he stands," he tells The National. "A con artist is a different thing altogether. The actor really has to draw the character, so to speak, on screen in detail, build those emotional details in a subtle way and then instead of power, you need charisma. There is a lot going on that you have to keep mindful of." Out in Egyptian cinemas on Thursday and in UAE cinemas on August 28, the film features a stellar Egyptian cast including Tara Emad, Dina El Sherbiny and Mohamed Shahin. Youssef describes his character as a man torn between living his code of 'think fast and act faster' and getting acquainted with a newfound domestic life after being caught in the lives of two women (Emad and El Sherbiny) who have their own secrets to hide. "One of the things that drew the character in was that he found himself in a home with children and responsibilities when he absolutely didn't want to. Then he starts enjoying them," Youssef explains. "It then moves quickly, full of events and shifting loyalties and you want to know what happens next – to Darwish, to the women in his life, to everyone caught in his web." Youssef shares plenty of naturally zippy exchanges with El Sherbiny, something honed from more than a decade of working together in various projects such as Grand Hotel, a 2016 television series based on the popular Spanish telenovela, as well as the 2016 romcom Kedbet Kol Youm. The latest film marks the ninth time they have worked together, and Youssef says he is not surprised by their on-screen chemistry. "We have come to understand each other immediately on set," he says. "And in Darwish, Dina is doing something different in that there is a real sharpness to her character that she captures perfectly." While they share a close friendship, getting that chemistry relies on more than personal rapport, he explains. "It comes from truly believing the other actor and you are both not just reading the lines. You are really turning the words on paper into flesh and blood." As for the reported friendly rivalry between the two, Youssef says people are looking at it through the wrong lens. "I don't really believe that the stronger actor steals the scene," he notes. "I think it's the opposite – the better the actor opposite you, the stronger you become." It's a collaborative approach that he learnt starring alongside Egyptian actor Nour El Sherif in the 2007 drama series El Daly. In his screen debut as the adopted son of a business tycoon played by El Sherif, Youssef recalls how the veteran actor ensured everyone on set felt valued. "And even if you weren't part of the production, he made you feel special," he says. "I remember one evening after a particularly long shoot, we were all exhausted. A family approached him in the street wanting photos. He was tired, we all were, but he stopped and spent time with them – asked about their children, made them laugh." The lesson stayed with him. "Later I asked him about it, and Nour – may God bless him – said, 'Never say no to someone who likes your work. They're the reason we do this.' I learnt more by just watching him than being told." A keen observer of regional industry trends, Youssef says Darwish is a throwback to a kind of Egyptian cinema lost amid the seemingly unending waves of superhero blockbusters from the past decade. "The saturation of these superhero films over the years has really affected all film industries, not just Hollywood," Youssef notes. "You're even getting big directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino frustrated at how American cinema has narrowed." The comparison to Egyptian cinema is telling. "If you look at Egyptian films from the 1950s and '60s – films like The Nightingale's Prayer or Cairo Station – they were simple stories, beautifully told, with characters you cared about. That's what has been gradually disappearing." This is what ultimately drew Youssef to Darwish, it has that connection to earlier tradition, because its commercial appeal is backed by substance. "It reminded me of the films I loved watching years ago. It has the warmth, elegance and attention to detail and a certain generosity towards the audience,' he says. 'But at its core, it's about character and consequence, not explosions or special effects. That's the kind of story worth telling."

Lindsay Lohan says moving to Dubai gave her the 'silence' she longed for

Filipino Times

5 days ago

Filipino Times

Lindsay Lohan says moving to Dubai gave her the 'silence' she longed for

For Lindsay Lohan, leaving her life in the United States to settle in Dubai was a major decision and one she says she has never regretted. The New York-born actress moved to the United Arab Emirates in 2015, but it was only recently, during promotions for her upcoming film Freakier Friday, that she opened up about her reasons for relocating. 'I feel the silence I have in Dubai to take time just to really think about what it is I want to do, and how I want to do it,' Lohan told the United Arab Emirates-based publication The National in an interview. 'Silence is something I didn't grow up having. Dubai is a long moment of silence for me, in a way — and that's really refreshing,' she added. She said the city allows her to slow down despite its bustling environment. In a separate interview on Live with Kelly and Mark, Lohan described Dubai as 'being far away' from Hollywood, giving her the space to live a 'very normal life.' She said she feels safe in the city, noting its privacy laws that prohibit taking someone's photo in public without permission. Lohan is set to reprise her role as Anna Coleman in Freakier Friday, the sequel to the 2003 hit Freaky Friday. In the film, Anna is now a single mother preparing to marry Filipino-British chef Eric Reyes (Manny Jacinto). Chaos ensues when Anna, her daughter Harper (Julia Butters), her mother Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis), and Eric's daughter Lily (Sophia Hammons) mysteriously switch bodies with the two girls teaming up to stop the wedding.