STAGE REVIEW : ‘Les Miserables’ at Pantages, Fit as Ever

If you were to judge just from the title, “Les Miserables” hardly sounds like holiday fare. But think again. Its message of compassion and good will, set in the underbelly of a 19th-Century European culture, isn’t too far removed from the message of “A Christmas Carol.”

Of course “Les Miserables” is hardly for young children: the whoring and revolutionary violence and suicide disqualify it on that count, not to mention the three-hour-plus running time. Claude-Michel Schonberg’s melodies can stir the heart, but many of them are too similar to each other, and the cumulative effect can become wearing.

Still, considering the expansiveness of the original Victor Hugo story, three hours is barely enough. And any qualms about the lack of novelty in Schonberg’s score dissolve in the face of the ingenuity displayed in the adaptation and staging by John Caird and Trevor Nunn, the set and lighting design by John Napier and David Hersey and the overall production values brought here, once again, by Cameron Mackintosh.

This is the show’s second stop at the Pantages Theatre, after its long run at the Shubert and briefer visits to Costa Mesa and San Diego, and it’s still as fit as ever.

As with “A Chorus Line,” which recently returned to the Shubert, not much room is allowed for actors’ individual interpretations. At the level of professionalism maintained by Mackintosh, one Jean Valjean is more or less like another. This one, Dave Clemmons, has the same clenched look and booming voice as his predecessors and exquisitely carries off the same sense of release as he steps up the octaves in “Bring Him Home.”

(Incidentally, inserts in some of the programs at the Thursday evening performance indicated that a Valjean understudy would go on, but it turns out they were leftovers from the matinee. Check the lobby board for the final word.)

None of the other actors particularly stand out except for Gina Ferrall, the most comically revolting Mme. Thenardier I’ve seen. But their ensemble work never falters, nor does that hard-working turntable, and that’s what really counts in this remarkable musical saga.

* “Les Miserables,” Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd. Today-Dec. 27: Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday matinees, 2 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 28-Jan. 2: Monday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday-Saturday matinees, 2 p.m. Ends Jan. 2. $15-$47. (213) 480-3232 or (714) 740-2000. Running time: 3 hours, 15 minutes.