Les Miserables at Imperial Theater

The New York Times - Recommended

"...Scenic tweaking aside, and an orchestra shrunk to 20 from 27, this "Les Miz" will offend none of the musical's fans with any directorial innovations, and will give them a chance to assess how a new generation of performers meets the challenges of the score. The big winners, happily, were the actors playing the dominating roles of hero and villain: Mr. Karimloo as the bread stealer, single father, long-sufferer and future saint; and Will Swenson as Javert, dogged pursuer of said hero and general scourge to all noble causes and pure hearts."

Hollywood Reporter - Recommended

"...But the inbuilt emotional sensations of the show are what matter. Judging by the vocal crowd response when favorite characters appear (even the plucky urchin Gavroche gets screaming entrance applause), or when the first bars of one of the endlessly refrained key musical motifs are heard, the story is no longer the point. This critic-proof production will likely speak loudest to young audiences coming to it onstage relatively fresh -- not those of us who have been anesthetized by 30 years of over-exposure. And maybe that's just as it should be."

Entertainment Weekly - Recommended

"...The revelation is Ramin Karimloo, an Iranian-born Canadian who is well known in London but makes his Broadway debut here. As Jean Valjean, the petty criminal turned respected citizen still on the run from the law, Karimloo projects a masculine authority that cannily reveals hidden pockets of vulnerability. He's blessed with matinee-idol looks and a crystalline tenor that pierces the back rows of the Imperial Theatre. With apologies to Hugh Jackman, his may be the best sung, best acted Valjean I've ever seen."

NBC New York - Recommended

"...At the end of the third hour, the story resolves with a beautiful tableau: the departed Fantine, Eponine and Jean Valjean stand behind a kneeling Marius and Cosette. It's an intense moment. I have a number of people in my life otherwise uninterested in musicals, but utterly taken with "Les Miz." This production reinforces why: among all the well-played roles, it's inevitable you'll find someone who speaks to you."

Scribicide - Somewhat Recommended

"Les Misérables does not turn it up to eleven because it is always at eleven. Here, all the pomp seems to outweigh any interest in narrative or character. Ultimately, this show is lacking the passion and sincerity of a musical produced by those who love it; it seems more about the $40 t-shirts than it does about anything else. Though Les Misérables has always been a behemoth, it has perhaps suffered the watering down of becoming an international institution."