A Galvanizing Les Misérables Takes the Stage at Olney Theatre Center

Expectant applause fills Olney Theatre Center’s Roberts Mainstage in anticipation of its new production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s beloved musical Les Misérables. But the show hasn’t even begun. From its 16-year original Broadway run, its two major revivals, its life on the West End, its national tour—not to mention its 2012 Oscar-nominated film adaptation, which grossed $442.8 million worldwide—Les Mis is nothing short of a blockbuster musical. Yet, it’s not just the familiar title driving the hype, it’s the abundantly optimistic energy in the room. Who’s to say that, had the November election results gone differently, the opening projection announcing the year as 1815 (22 years after King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette met the guillotine) would have been met with quite such wild enthusiasm? As the title suggests, times are tough in 19th-century France. But Olney’s production has no kings.

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