Darkness, Light, and Glory: ‘Les Misérables’ Triumphs at the Kravis Center

The Kravis Center has had a relentlessly fantastic Broadway lineup for its 2024-2025 season, and the one currently making all the local headlines in Palm Beach County is Les Misérables, a darling favorite for lovers of musical theater. Having been a fan of this show for many years, this was actually my first time getting to see Les Mis as a Broadway production, so I knew it was one I couldn’t miss. Even though I wasn’t feeling my best, I knew red, the blood of angry men, would brighten me up, and I was greeted with a show of the greatest level of production quality one can reach.

As per usual with my wandering eyes, I ate up the scenery of late-18th century France: it looked burnt, it looked rundown, it looked like a bad place to live. The stoops were black and the bars on balconies were black, and for the entirety of the show, the production leaned into the darkness. It juxtaposed large scenes during songs like “Master of the House” with minimalist settings of black animated screens and smoke machines, the one where Valjean drags Marius through the sewers. The angles of perception would change, the animation projected would have the smoke change directions, and the actors would emerge from the darkness in a different direction; all giving the incredible illusion that we are following Valjean on his righteous journey to save his daughter’s one-love. While not my favorite scene of all scenes presented, the mastery presented by the North American tour’s Projection Designers, Simon Harding & Jonathan Lyle, Lighting Designers, Ben Jacobs & Karen Spahn, and Set Designers, David Harris & Christine Peters, made this one of the most impressive stagings I’ve ever seen.

That is to say that just about every other aspect of the show was resoundingly confident and repurposed the beloved tale into this version, in all its splendor, on the Kravis’ stage. Fantine (Lindsay Heather Pearce) sang “I Dreamed a Dream” better than I’ve ever heard before; no disrespect to Anne Hathaway. The crowd roared and celebrated alongside Thenardier (Kyle Adams) and Madame Thenardier (Victoria Huston-Elem) as they sang “Master of the House,” perhaps my favorite number of the night. But I can’t forget to mention the iconic “Red and Black,” sung by Marius (Jake David Smith), Enjolras (Christian Mark Gibbs), and the other revolutionaries, how it’s still stuck in my head right now. The collaged song of “One Day More,” performed by everyone, including Eponine (Mya Rena Hunter) and Cosette (Delaney Guyer), as the set moved and expanded like an accordion; truly a masterwork.

The scene that stole the night, however, was Javert’s death, played by Nick Rehberger. How it was staged was brilliant. He sang his “Soliloquy,” overlooking the bridge he would frequent in Paris, contemplating what it means to have his sense of justice compromised. He decides that he cannot survive where laws are not black and white, and he launches himself from the bridge. The actor was wired to a harness, and the bridge moved offstage, and he rose into the air, and the projection behind him looked like the water he was hurtling towards, and the viewer’s angle moved 90 degrees, and that’s the end of Javert. It was just so perfect, the crowd erupted at the seamless exit.

In contrast, what could have been better for me was Valjean, performed by Randy Jeter. While his performance was the best I’ve seen from a Valjean, I found the prologue and his own “Soliloquy” quite dry. Jeter can sing, and there’s no doubt about it, but his performance on opening night of the Kravis felt devoid of the emotion that was supposed to be spilling from his lips. When he sang in exasperation, it felt forced and made the words so easily understood unrecognizable. This moment was the only weak spot of the whole show for me, so he quickly found his voice among the cast. Still, it leaves me wondering if this was the reason I was so enthralled by Rehberger’s performance as Javert.