Nobody beats ‘Les Mis’
The popular stage production will be at the PPAC starting Sept. 21.
PROVIDENCE — The antimonarchist upheavals of 19th century France return to the stage this month – with music – when local audiences get the first look at a new production of “Les Miserables,” which sets off from the Providence Performing Arts Center on a nationwide tour.
Based on the novel by Victor Hugo, the musical tells the saga of the fugitive Jean Valjean, famously jailed for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving child, and his relentless pursuer, Inspector Javert. Turned into a musical by Cameron Mackintosh with a score by Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyrics by Alain Boublil, it is a tale of passion, principles, unrequited love and ultimately, redemption.
Ironically, the actor playing Javert, the character audiences love to hate, is the easy going Josh Davis, self-described as “kind of loose, usually able to see both sides of things.”
He’s done the role twice before, but his native flexibility served him well when director James Powell, one of two directors on this touring production, told him to forget everything he’d done in the past and “start from the ground up,” Davis said in a telephone interview during rehearsals.
“People see him as a villain, but I don’t,” Davis says of Javert, adding, “I think any good villain sees himself as a hero. He’s a person of strong convictions, but he tries to fit every situation to his own principles.”
While the moral ambiguities in the story as well as some comic characters have contributed to the staying power of “Les Mis,” the anthemic score, with songs “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own,” “Bring Him Home” and “Do You Hear the People Sing,” among many more, often is what people like best about the show.
This production, moreover, reflects the staging and re-imagined scenery of the most recent Broadway production, which ran for more than 1,000 performances starting in 2014.
“Victor Hugo was a painter as well as a writer,” Davis says, “and they’ve used his paintings to paint pictures for the backdrops.”
Now in its 32nd year, “Les Mis” opened in London in October 1985, and this original production continues to play to packed houses. Two years later, “Les Mis” opened its first incarnation on Broadway; that and subsequent productions have made it the fifth longest-running Broadway show of all time.
As for Davis, he hadn’t considered a career in the theater until 2001. Although he had vocal training and did theater “for fun” during high school and as a student at the University of Delaware, his major was marketing, and his first job was with a production company for the Discovery Channel.
He also produced his own films and in 2009 had an entry in the Rhode Island International Film Festival. It was the only previous time he’s been in Rhode Island.
When a job loss had him re-evaluating what he wanted to do in life, the theater beckoned. A friend in the business told him to get a head shot, take a class and start going to auditions.
“When you’re an actor, you are your own company,” he says. “It’s up to you to make it happen.”
He landed a role as an understudy for a production at the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., and when the star left the show, Davis went on for the entire final week. He also did some television work and numerous regional productions – including appearing as Javert in two Utah theaters – before being cast as Nick and as Bill Medley in the Broadway production of “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical.”
“That allowed me to focus on acting. No more survival jobs,” he says. He did that for three years and performed on the Grammy Award-winning cast album.
While “Les Mis” will be Davis’ first national tour, it’s the 14th time producers have chosen PPAC as their launch pad. “We have great proximity to New York City with a favorable working environment at the theater,” notes P.J. Prokop, the theater’s director of marketing, and by now, “we have established a strong track record of success.” In fact, there will be one more launch this season, “Cirque Dreams Holidaze” in November, and two in 2018-19: “Miss Saigon” and “Cats.”
But right now, local audiences get the first look at “Les Miserables” when it plays Sept. 21-30 at PPAC, 220 Weybosset St. Tickets start at $28 and are available at the box office in the theater, online at www.ppacri.org and by phone at (401) 421-ARTS.