This week, in the midst of the surprising announcement of the March closing of Sunset Boulevard and the "scandal" involving that audience member and Rum Tum Tugger of Cats, speculation ended on another headline-causing maneuver. Producer Cameron Mackintosh and director John Caird (who co-directed with Trevor Nunn) released the cast lineup for the 10th Anniversary company of Les Miserables.
Leading Les Miz into its 11th year will be Robert Marien in his Broadway debut as Jean Valjean, a role he played in the original Paris production, in English and French in the Montreal production, and recently in the acclaimed London company. Inspector Javert, the other male lead, will continue to be played by Christopher Innvar, who joined the cast last September to great expectations, evidently fulfilled. His excellent handling of the role was singled out in reviews at the time of the announcement of the "bloodbath"-- the firing of the Broadway company (those not returning had lucrative buyouts of their contracts) and for a fresh cast. Innvar was featured in Victor/Victoria and won critical praise in the title role of the musical Floyd Collins last season at Playwrights Horizons. Fantine will be Juliet Lambert, whose previous Broadway credit was Giorgio's mistress in Sondheim's 1994 Passion. Lambert has done national tours of Kiss Of The Spider Woman and The Music Of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Some Les Miz veterans are also returning: Sarah Uriarte will be Eponine, a part she first played on Broadway in 1994; Christeena Michelle Riggs, a former Eponine, moves into Cosette's shoes; and Peter Lockyer steps from the ensemble into the role of Marius. [He played Yonkers in the TV "Gypsy" starring Bette Midler.] Nick Wyman, the original and long-time Monsieur Firmin in The Phantom Of The Opera, and Fuschia Walker, one of the Effies in Broadway's Dreamgirls and in the original cast of Once On This Island, will play the ruthless innkeepers, the Thenardiers.
Along with Lambert, Wyman, and Walker, there's another newcomer to Les Miz's ranks: Stephen Buntrock, who'll portray student revolutionary Enjolras. The "new" 37-member company will begin previews March 6 and have its official premiere on Wednesday, March 12, the exact date of Les Miserables' 10th anniversary at the Imperial Theater.
Considering the lack of star power in the new cast, it will be interesting to see what impact this unprecedented maneuver will make on audiences at the Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg musical --especially with the much-anticipated arrival of another show with no names,Titanic. On the weight of leaks on the superiority of Maury Yeston's score, this show is building steam as a musical that will not sink.
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