Latest news with #LesMisérablesTheArenaSpectacular
Newsweek
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
'Les Miserables' Cast's Reported Trump Boycott Sparks Anger: 'Too Fragile'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The cast of Les Misérables have sparked backlash after reportedly considering boycotting a performance of the musical, which President Donald Trump is planning to attend at the Kennedy Center. Newsweek has reached out to representatives for the Les Misérables cast for comment via email, outside of regular working hours. Why It Matters In February, Trump named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and announced that he was firing most of the board of trustees. He now presides over a mostly Republican board which includes Attorney General Pamela Bondi and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. L: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the south lawn of the White House on May 04, 2025 in Washington, DC, R: Matt Lucas and Helen Walsh performing during the media call of... L: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the south lawn of the White House on May 04, 2025 in Washington, DC, R: Matt Lucas and Helen Walsh performing during the media call of 'Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular' at ICC Sydney Theatre on May 01, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. More/Gourley/Getty Images Trump told reporters in February that he "didn't like what they were showing," and he would "make sure it's good," and "it's not going to be woke." Ticket sales have slumped since the leadership change, with artists including Issa Rae cancelling shows and the musical Hamilton cancelling its run. What To Know On Wednesday, CNN reported that 10 of the 12 actors in a 'Les Misérables' tour group are planning to boycott a performance at the Kennedy Center that Trump is planning to attend. The network reported that the cast had been given the option not to perform the night that Trump is in the audience, and both major cast members and members of the ensemble will reportedly be sitting out the performance. It's not the first clash between Trump and the famous French musical. The co-creators of Les Misérables complained back in 2016 during Trump's first campaign for president, after he used the song "Do You Hear the People Sing?" at a rally, according to a report from The Guardian. The reported boycott has prompted backlash online. Kennedy Center director Richard Grenell, who was appointed as interim director of the Kennedy Center after Trump purged the venue's former leadership, issued a statement which was shared with Newsweek, where he said that the Kennedy Center "will no longer fund intolerance." Others have defended the performers' choice not to perform. What People Are Saying Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center director, in a statement shared with Newsweek: "Any performer who isn't professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won't be welcomed. In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn't hire - and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience. The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for but instead enjoys a performance together." Scott Jennings, a media personality speaking on CNN: "These people are too fragile to show up for work... Most people in America don't have the luxury of being able to call in sick from politics, but it sounds like that's what these people did." Ashley Allison, a political commentator speaking on CNN: "We live in America, if they don't want to perform, they don't have to perform." What's Next The performance that Trump is planning to attend is set to take place on June 11.
Time Out
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular
Well, you know Les Miserabl é s, of course. The whopping 1862 novel penned by Victor Hugo that became the 1980 French stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Jean-Marc Natel. That production, of course, was anglicised in 1985 under the auspices of West End theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and, well, it's still playing to sold-out audiences 40 years later – making it the longest-running musical in the entire world. Les Mis is one of the most beloved musicals of all time, a genuine cultural touchstone – that Émile Bayard image of Little Cossette is a totem of the younger theatre kid set, before they decide they're too cool for such a West End dinosaur. (It's okay, they eventually circle back.) There was a 2012 big screen adaptation that many of us have collectively agreed to forget, such is our love of Les Mis. But when we talk Les Mis, it's not the book or any of its less tuneful adaptations, and it's not the French musical – and it's certainly not Russell Crowe growling his way through the role of Javert – it's the Mackintosh production, and that's what Sydney is getting here, more or less. Landing Down Under as part of an epic world tour to celebrate the West End production's 40th anniversary, this is Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular, which is pretty much Les Mis é rables Live in Concert, and why not? As a sung-through musical, Les Mis is a good fit for this treatment. It's almost opera, and excising much of the physical action doesn't muddy the narrative (in fact, it shortens things by about half an hour with no appreciable downside). This is Les Mis as rock concert, and if you love Les Mis, you'll love this – there's no doubt. This is Les Mis as rock concert, and if you love Les Mis, you'll love this – there's no doubt. To quickly dispense with the plot, we're in 19th century France and recently released criminal Jean Valjean (Alfie Boe on opening night, alternating with Killian Donnelly) breaks his parole and heads off to start a virtuous life, along the way adopting orphaned waif Cosette (Alexandra Szewcow, alternating with Samara Coull-Williams, Violet Massingham, and Scarlett Sheludko – who are part of an impressive crop of local child actors brought on for the Australian leg of the world tour). But iron-spined, by-the-book Inspector Javert (Michael Ball, alternating with Bradley Jaden) is on his trail. And 15 years later he catches up with him, by which time the now-grown Cosette (Beatrice Penny-Touré) is in a love triangle with young revolutionary firebrand Marius (Jac Yarrow) and put-upon, too-good-for-this-world Eponine (Shan Ako). As Javert closes in, the 1832 Paris Uprising is brewing (and you'd all be doing me an immense personal favour if you wrote down Les Mis é rables is not set during the French Revolution on a Post-It note and put it somewhere you'll see it every day). Those are the broad strokes, at least. Of course, we also get Matt Lucas (of Little Britain fame) and Australian musical theatre royalty, Marina Prior (who also played Cosette in the original Australian production of Les Mis), as comedy villains the Thénardiers, arguably the big draw for infrequent theatre-goers who get wind of this. Directors James Powell and Jean-Pierre van der Spuy know it, too, punching their appearances whenever they wander into the narrative. Prior was, in fact, off sick on opening night, with Helen Walsh subbing in (and killing it). For his part, Lucas has been returning to this part for 15 years, and he plays it like a music hall virtuoso. Boe and Ball are Les Mis veterans too, of course. Ball played Marius in the original London production and played Javert in 2019, while Boe played Valjean in the London 25th anniversary concert in 2010. That adds to the heavy sense of legacy that pervades this production, all the pomp and circumstance and sheer scale. It's Les Mis! The songs are great, the orchestrations by Mich Potter are rich and uplifting, and also a bit heavier and more forceful to complement the arena rock staging. In a staggeringly impressive ensemble – Rachelle Ann Go 's Fantine does a heartbreaking 'I Dreamed A Dream' – Boe and Ball are standouts, their powerful, dueling voices carrying the main thrust of the drama. But while the sheer strength of the material and the performances well and truly carry the night, the staging is at times a bit of a letdown. Designer Matt Kinley gives us a tiered stage, with the orchestra visible at the back and a small main performance area at the front, flanked by huge screens in Renaissance-style gilded frames and dominated by a giant lighting rig. While visually striking, this set up doesn't give the cast much room to work, and they largely stand and sing, making this more often than not a concert rather than a play. Which is fine if that's what you signed on for. Those screens come in handy too, beaming out live footage that zeros in on the main action, allowing the actors to savour the more intimate moments without feeling the need to overextend to play to the back of the room (which is quite a long way away in the arena-style ICC Sydney Theatre). Although, when the lighting rig descends – as it does frequently – to hover over the actors' heads like the mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, it has a tendency to block the screens. Again, not a dealbreaker, but those screens are being used to communicate story information – a few key narrative elements play out on those screens exactly when the audience can't see them. It was incredibly distracting, and I'm frankly baffled at the choice. In a couple of quiet moments, we could clearly hear the rig grinding and clanking as it maneuvered over the stage. And while Paule Constable 's lighting design is perfectly fine, I can't help but think there must be a less intrusive way to generate the desired effect (unless the desired effect is to wonder if the Independence Day aliens have arrived to blow up Paris). That might be a lot of words for an annoying quibble, but it's about the only quibble to quibble about, so please indulge me. That aside, this is a superb production. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it certainly pumps the tires and polishes the hubcaps, delivering all the stirring melodrama and tragedy you could want. Les Mis is an institution now, and the sense of occasion was driven home when Mackintosh himself took to the stage after the finale on Opening Night to wheel out a whole host of Aussie Les Mis veterans for a crack at 'One More Day – including Normie Rowe and Philip Quast, who were Australia's original Valjean and Javert, plus Simon Burke, David Campbell, Scott Irwin, Lara Mulcahy, William Zappa, and Nikki Webster. I doubt that's going to be a nightly occurrence, but this show is absolutely worth getting along to, regardless. It is, after all, Les Mis.
The Age
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Matt Lucas and Marina Prior: the Les Miserable arena show is here
British musical theatre stars Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, in town to perform in Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular, have just caught wind of Australia's penchant for election day democracy sausages. 'I want a sausage sizzle in our elections in the UK,' Boe says. 'Seriously. Being here is so nice because you seem so removed from the rest of the hassle and stress that's going on in the world.' 'Australians don't take things too seriously.' We do, however, take musicals seriously. Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular, produced by theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh, is now playing at the 9000-seat ICC Sydney Theatre and will travel to Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre as part of a world tour. It has broken the record for the highest number of tickets ever sold at the ICC. Not content with being the world's most famous musical or the longest-running West End musical (40 years), Les Miserables' story of love, revolution, and social injustice in 19th-century France seems indefatigable. Boe thinks he know why. 'I heard this couple last night and she was saying to her husband, 'I think I can carry on with things, the stress that we've been going through, I think I can cope with it now',' he says. 'All after seeing a musical.' But why present an arena version of the musical? Mackintosh, whose prolific and influential career includes producing The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Miss Saigon, Mary Poppins, Oliver! and co-producing Hamilton in London, says it's going back to the essence of what the show is about. 'One of the things I insist - and that makes it special - is that everyone in the arena show has been in the stage production of the show,' he says. 'Even [the] big stars.'
Sydney Morning Herald
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Matt Lucas and Marina Prior: the Les Miserable arena show is here
British musical theatre stars Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, in town to perform in Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular, have just caught wind of Australia's penchant for election day democracy sausages. 'I want a sausage sizzle in our elections in the UK,' Boe says. 'Seriously. Being here is so nice because you seem so removed from the rest of the hassle and stress that's going on in the world.' 'Australians don't take things too seriously.' We do, however, take musicals seriously. Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular, produced by theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh, is now playing at the 9000-seat ICC Sydney Theatre and will travel to Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre as part of a world tour. It has broken the record for the highest number of tickets ever sold at the ICC. Not content with being the world's most famous musical or the longest-running West End musical (40 years), Les Miserables' story of love, revolution, and social injustice in 19th-century France seems indefatigable. Boe thinks he know why. 'I heard this couple last night and she was saying to her husband, 'I think I can carry on with things, the stress that we've been going through, I think I can cope with it now',' he says. 'All after seeing a musical.' But why present an arena version of the musical? Mackintosh, whose prolific and influential career includes producing The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Miss Saigon, Mary Poppins, Oliver! and co-producing Hamilton in London, says it's going back to the essence of what the show is about. 'One of the things I insist - and that makes it special - is that everyone in the arena show has been in the stage production of the show,' he says. 'Even [the] big stars.'
Sydney Morning Herald
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Smile in ecstasy - or bawl your eyes out - at the Les Mis arena show
British musical theatre stars Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, in town to perform in Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular, have just caught wind of Australia's penchant for election day democracy sausages. 'I want a sausage sizzle in our elections in the UK,' Boe says. 'Seriously. Being here is so nice because you seem so removed from the rest of the hassle and stress that's going on in the world.' 'Australians don't take things too seriously.' We do, however, take musicals seriously. Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular, produced by theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh and playing at the 9000-seat ICC Sydney Theatre as part of a world tour, has broken the record for the highest number of tickets ever sold at the venue. Not content with being the world's most famous musical or the longest-running West End musical (40 years), Les Miserables' story of love, revolution, and social injustice in 19th-century France seems indefatigable. Boe thinks he know why. 'I heard this couple last night and she was saying to her husband, 'I think I can carry on with things, the stress that we've been going through, I think I can cope with it now',' he says. 'All after seeing a musical.' But why present an arena version of the musical? Mackintosh, whose prolific and influential career includes producing The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Miss Saigon, Mary Poppins, Oliver! and co-producing Hamilton in London, says it's going back to the essence of what the show is about. 'One of the things I insist - and that makes it special - is that everyone in the arena show has been in the stage production of the show,' he says. 'Even [the] big stars.'
