The time has come, the day is here and Les Miserables is shortly to celebrate its 30th anniversary. This also means thirty years of Jean Valjean and a considerable number of actors who have portrayed one of the most challenging roles in modern musical theatre. Some have played the role for a short time, some played the role for a number of years and I spoke to some of the more notable names (mainly in the London production) over the past few months to get a feel for what it's like to play such an iconic role. So, here goes with Alfie Boe, Peter Lockyer (the current London JVJ gave me the title to this piece: Club 24601, a very exclusive club), Geronimo Rauch, John Owen-Jones, Simon Gleeson (currently in the Australian production and to lead the Manila show in 2016), Hans Peter Janssen, Peter Karrie, Dave Willetts and Dan Koek.
The role is famously challenging in all sorts of ways and something I was interested in was how the actors changed their interpretation of the role as their run got longer or in some cases, when they returned at a later date. For John Owen-Jones, being the youngest ever JVJ at 26 meant that the emotional challenges of the role took on new meaning when he returned a few years later. He says "I had a more rounded outlook on life and more life experience to draw on when I was older. I had two children in the intervening years and suffered some loss in my family and had grown up a lot. I therefore was naturally able to give the character more depth and I like to think my approach to interpreting the role was more mature than when I was 26". Hans Peter Janssen, who played the role in London from 2000 - 2003 agrees with John: "I matured in my portrayal...especially in my understanding of JVJ as an older man". In contrast, Geronimo Rauch who had previously played the role in Spain said the biggest difference for him in returning to the role was the language; a phone audition with Cameron Mackintosh to see if his English was good enough obviously did the trick as he then got the London job.
This piece has been some time in the works and when I interviewed Alfie, he had yet to start on Broadway. As we know by now, Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean in New York has been a runaway success but Alfie's focus back in July was on the production as whole. He explained that "the main difference is that the production is completely different, it's not the same show I performed in the West End. Although the music is the same, the structure of the show, the choreography of it is different. I'm so excited to embrace the new direction of the role". Alfie also mentioned that "although I'm a little more known than I was back then, I'm not focused on that. I'm just focused on doing the job, doing it properly, performing each show I'm in to the highest standard". Judging from the reviews so far, Alfie, you're certainly doing that!
Peter Lockyer said that JVJ is the "best role in musical theatre" as it "goes through so much of life; everything is there on stage" and again, this is reflected in the experiences of the other actors. When asked about the best thing about playing JVJ, every single interviewee cited the emotional, vocal and physical challenge to do the part justice. Simon Gleeson mentioned "sharing the scope of the the story with an audience" and Peter Karrie (1986 for three years) said that he found the role "very satisfying as an actor and a singer", something that was repeated by all the interviewees. Another common link is the music - all the actors mentioned the joy and privilege of being able to sing such an amazing score night after night. Of course, that incredible score can also be one of the downsides to the role; John Owen-Jones compared it to "climbing a mountain if you're not 100%" and Dan Koek (2013-2014) said that the "pressure to always be amazing is hard, especially if you're tired". The last word on this goes to Geronimo though, who when asked what the worst thing about the show was answered that it was very demanding but "at least we don't have to dance as well". That really would be something to see, a dancing JVJ!
Thirty years of Jean Valjean, one of the most iconic roles in musical theatre, has given us some wonderful musical moments - all the Valjean's interviewed mentioned the incredible score as the high point of their time in the show and I wanted to pinpoint their favourite songs: would they all choose differently? Without exception, Bring Him Home cropped up, but as a given; no one who performs the role would say anything else I suspect. However, several of the Valjean's (Alfie, Dan Koek, Dave Willetts, Peter Karrie and Geronimo Rauch) also chose the same second favourite, the Soliloquy. As Dave Willetts (1985-6 as understudy and then took over from Colm Wilkinson) says, this song shows "the journey of the character of Valjean" and in Alfie's words, it shows "what Valjean has become and what he has come from, a chance to show the anxiety, fear and passion of the character". John Owen-Jones chose Bring Him Home as a singer and Who Am I as an actor whilst Peter Lockyer named the Epilogue as one of his favourite moments.
Thirty years of Jean Valjean and Les Mis has given us some epic moments, wonder what the next thirty will bring?
This article first appeared on www.thoughtsofjustafan.com.