REVIEW: ‘Les Miserables: World Tour Spectacular’ is one cathartic experience

REVIEW: ‘Les Miserables: World Tour Spectacular’ is one cathartic experience

Les Misérables has always felt like it was written for Filipino audiences. The big emotions, the clear moral stakes, the way suffering becomes noble and sacrifice becomes meaningful—these aren’t foreign ideas here. They’re the language of our own stories. On that alone, it’s no surprise that Les Misérables World Tour Spectacular is already sold-out, but add to it home-grown talents like Red Concepcion, Rachelle Ann Go, and Lea Salonga? It’s already one of the year’s hottest tickets and it’s only January.

Fits the bill

Directed by James Powell and Jean-Pierre Van Der Spuy, this particular production of Les Mis is a concert. This by no means suggests that it is somehow a lite version of the grand musical theater classic. The whole show is in there, as are its full and big emotions, orchestrations, and performances.

A massive metal scaffold fills the stage—all platforms, staircases, and railings. Music is co-lead with the ensemble, and here the orchestra sits right at center stage, elevated and visible, framed by wrought-iron balustrades. Performers stand or sit in tiers, creating grand tableaux. Overhead, three big LED screens show painted landscapes and close-ups of the singers. Everything is designed to rightfully emphasize scale.

Technically, the show is exceptional. The sound at Solaire is outstanding. The full orchestra gives the score real muscle and depth, filling the room with sound that feels physical. During the barricade scenes, gunshots and percussion hit you in the chest. 

The lighting does heavy lifting throughout, guiding your eye, sharpening emotional moments, and building atmosphere. Whites dominate, with reds and blues used strategically. It all feels unmistakably like Les Mis.

So different now

This concert approach works because Les Mis is built for it. The show is almost entirely sung-through, thick with orchestration, and emotionally relentless. Even without elaborate sets or complex blocking, the music carries the show forward. The concert format doesn’t shrink the experience—it concentrates it.

The trade-off shows up in scenes where the story needs to explain what’s happening rather than just make you feel something. Without full staging to fill in the gaps, those moments can feel less clear. The production uses some blocking, light choreography, and a few props to help, and the audience’s familiarity with the story does the rest. These are brief wobbles in an otherwise powerful evening, made more noticeable because everything else—the continuous music, the 19th century silhouette for costumes, the set, the full ensemble—already feels so complete.

Masters of the house

Gerónimo Rauch’s Jean Valjean anchors the evening with a thoughtful, actorly performance. Rather than relying on sheer vocal sweep, he gives a performance that feels inward and considered, solid across the evening and grounded in much character work and detail.

Emily Bautista delivers a confident, emotionally grounded Éponine. Will Callan’s Marius offers steadiness and sincerity, anchoring his numbers with lyricism and emotional directness. Harry Chandler’s Enjolras brings conviction and presence, contributing strongly to the ensemble’s intensity and momentum. Lulu-Mae Pears brings the expected lightness and purity to Cosette, particularly in earlier numbers. In later passages, the pace of the music leaves her sounding more occupied with keeping up than shaping the material. In an otherwise exceptionally strong cast, she registers as the least comfortable.

Rachelle Ann Go approaches Fantine with clear dramatic intent and assured technique. Her singing is beautiful and her performance polished, delivering the role’s emotional beats dependably and with care. 

Lea Salonga’s turn as Madame Thénardier provides a welcome shift in texture. She disappears fully into the character, reaffirming her strength as a character actress. Her approach is precise, playful, and clearly enjoyed, subverting expectations often attached to her presence. Her partnership with Red Concepción’s Monsieur Thénardier proves especially effective. The two function as a true comedic pair rather than competing for attention. Concepción brings the house down as he gives a vocally confident, magnetic, and playful performance that feels earned and deeply satisfying.

Jeremy Secomb’s Javert is the standout. His vocal authority is matched by a clarity that gives the character real weight. “Stars” lands with precision and force, while “Javert’s Suicide” becomes one of the evening’s undeniable highlights. Here, performance, direction, lighting, and projection align sharply. The staging tightens around Javert with striking focus, creating a moment that feels genuinely electrifying even within the constraints of a concert format.

Full of love

This show in whatever iteration has always been generous with its audience. It doesn’t make you work to feel something. It gives you permission to feel everything—longing, heartbreak, hope, rage—and never pulls back from the catharsis. 

This concert delivers on that catharsis with technical excellence and performances that understand the assignment. The format plays to the musical’s strengths, and what you get is a high-impact evening that embraces scale, atmosphere, and emotional intensity without hesitation.

Les Mis usually asks a lot from its audience: three hours, dozens of characters, a story spanning decades. This concert asks for something simpler: just show up ready to feel. 

This reviewer watched the 7:30 PM, January 22 gala show.

 

Tickets: Php 2116 – Php 7406
Show Dates: January 20, 2026 – March 1, 2026
Venue: The Theatre at Solaire, 1 Asean Avenue, Entertainment City, Tambo, Parañaque City
Running Time: approx. 2 hours and 45 mins. (w/ 15 min intermission)
Producer: Cameron Mackintosh, Nick Grace Management, GMG Productions
Creatives: Alain Boublil (written by), Claude-Michel Schönberg (written by), Victor Hugo (novel), Claude-Michel Schönberg (music), Herbert Kretzmer (lyrics), Alain Boublil (original french text), Jean-Marc Natel (original french text), James Fenton (additional material), adaptation by Trevor Nunn (adaptation by), John Caird (adaptation by), Stephen Metcalfe (orchestrations), Christopher Jahnke (orchestrations), Stephen Brooker (orchestrations), John Cameron (orchestrations), James Powell (director), Jean-Pierre Van Der Spuy (director), Matt Kinley (set designer), Andreane Neofitou (costumes), Christine Rowland (costumes), Paul Wills (costumes), Paule Constable (lighting), Warren Letton (lighting), Mick Potter (sound), Finn Ross (projections), Stephen Brooker (music supervision), Alfonso Casado Trigo (music supervision), Adrian Kirk (orchestra conductor)
Cast: Gerónimo Rauch, Jeremy Secomb, Lea Salonga, Rachelle Ann Go, Red Concepción, Emily Bautista, Will Callan, Lulu-Mae Pears, Harry Chandler, Earl Carpenter, Jonathon Bentley, Georgina Blessitt, Amelia Broadway, Michael Burgen, Mary Jean Caldwell, Rosy Church, Gabrielle Cummins, Beth Curnock, Shaun Dalton, Jade Davies, Jonathan David Dudley, Harry Dunnett, Louis Emmanuel, Charlie Geoghegan, Connor Jones, Abel Law, Adam Robert Lewis, Andrew Maxwell, Jill Nalder, Lisa Peace, Emma Ralston, Ciaran Rodger, James Sillman, Harry Grant Smith, Jo Stephenson, Geddy Stringer, Helen Walsh, Owain Williams