The cast and crew of the “Les Misérables” Broadway tour have a saying they go by each performance: “tonight’s show lives for tonight only.” Whether the evening’s show is full of mistakes or their best performance yet, everything is left onstage.  

“Tomorrow night, there will be another 2,000 people here,” Jack McLeod, the show’s production stage manager, said. “You never know those 2,000 stories on the other side of the foot lines, but they’re just (as) important as what we do on our side.”

“Les Misérables,” the classic musical following the intertwined stories of several characters through the start of the French Revolution, first opened in London in 1985. Since then, it has been performed around the world for an estimated 70 million people. The current Broadway tour will stop at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, running from March 26 to March 31.

McLeod said one of the reasons “Les Misérables” has continued to capture audiences for decades is the range of stories it covers. There is a love story, a redemption story and a war story within the show — all of which remain relevant today, he said. The parts of the show that deeply resonate with him today, 30 years after the first time he saw the production, are different than the ones that he originally connected with, he added.

Susie Teuscher | Digital Design Editor

J. Anthony Crane, who plays Monsieur Thénardier, described audiences’ response to the show as “tsunami-esque.”  

“This is pure emotional reaction to an amazing story, and it’s so fun to be a part of,” he said.

Crane also has a deep emotional connection to the story: the first time he saw the show when he was 14, he said he sobbed throughout the entire thing. Being a part of the show on such a major scale, he said, has been a gift.  

“You really do feel like you’re a part of something so special, and you don’t feel like the story will ever be in danger of not being told,” Crane said.

In preparing for his role as Thénardier, Crane said he made sure to play him as if there was no line he wouldn’t cross. Thénardier is one of the main antagonists of “Les Misérables” — Crane described him as a truly terrible person. But the forte of playing a villain is nothing strange for Crane, having previously performed as Scar in the first national tour of “The Lion King.”

“This is probably the only role in the play I could ever play,” Crane said.

Josh Davis (left) and Nick Cartell portray Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean, respectively, in the new Broadway tour of “Les Misérables.” Courtesy of Matthew Murphy

Tim Quartier, one of six swings in the cast, has had to embody many different roles throughout his time in the show. In fact, when Quartier first joined the cast, he was responsible for 11 roles.  

Swings learn multiple roles in case of an absence in the cast. When an understudy takes over in a main role, a member of the swing will usually play the character they left behind.

When he first began filling in, Quartier said he primarily copied what the original actors had done in the roles. Now that he has been with the show for a year, Quartier said he finds it much easier to put his own spin on his performance.

“Now I feel very comfortable doing my own thing, and the cast is very cool with it as well,” Quartier said.

The tight-knit relationship between cast members is one of the things McLeod said has stood out to him the most during the tour. After almost two years of performances, McLeod said being on the road away from home can be incredibly difficult, but having the cast as a support system makes it worthwhile. At the end of the day, McLeod added, it’s all about honoring the musical itself.

“You catch magic in a bottle on this one,” he said. “It’s rare to find a tour or a cast or a company that gets along and genuinely loves each other as much as we do, and it shows on stage.”

Published on March 24, 2019 at 11:01 pm