karen-loethen I have seen "Les Misérables" live on stage, the film, and several on stage recordings. It's impossible to see this particular film without comparing to other performances but I will comment on this film alone... The performance was quite magnificent. The cast overall was wonderful. I'll address Nick Jonas as Marius right away. His voice does not remotely compare to the professional theater performers, yet he does carry the songs well enough and he carries his scenes admirably enough. Side by side with Samantha Barks as Eponine, however, he pales in comparison to her amazing voice. So many excellent singers have brought such depth and strength to the character of Jean Valjean and Alfie Boe does an admirable job. His beautiful rendition of "Bring Him Home" really proves he has the chops to handle this role. As always Lea Salonga is fragile and strong as Fantine. Can anyone else play this role as well? Of all of the Javerts I have ever seen, none has ever been sung as masterfully as Norm Lewis; he is magnificent to watch. Ramin Karimloo as Enjolres is incredibly strong, again making Jonas pale in comparison. Karimloo is truly talented with a strong voice and perfect tone. The orchestra brought the entire performance together beautifully. Mesmerizing. I loved it.

bh_tafe3 For a person who grew up with musicals, went to see local productions, big Sydney and Melbourne touring productions and spent a lot of my childhood watching musical films with my father, it's a little surprising that I'd never got around to seeing Les Miserables until it was turned into a feature film. I was quite impressed with the film, but assured by people the songs could have been performed a lot better, so I saw this on sale and decided to check it out. Suffice to say I was thoroughly entertained and very impressed.But the start is a bit shaky, the first two performers to sing solo during the "Look Down" opening had me wondering what I'd got myself into, but once Alfie Boe (Valjean) and the enjoyably hammy Norm Lewis (Javert) get on stage I knew I was in good hands. Boe's singing is magnificent, with Valjean's soliloquy and Bring Him Home two of the highlights of the show. Lewis is having the time of his life, shouting his name with gusto and giving a great rendition of Stars and a passionate soliloquy of his own. Their moments together are brilliant, but I especially love their confrontation as Fantine dies.Speaking of Fantine, played by Miss Saigon herself, Lea Salonga, her "I Dreamed a Dream" is the absolute high point of this show. She makes you feel everything that her character is feeling during the song while belting out the tune beautifully and receives a well deserved standing ovation at song's end.Matt Lucas makes a truly disgusting Thenadier (which I mean in a good way), his relative lack of singing ability is well and truly compensated by a great character performance and of course having stage veteran Jenny Galloway with him in most scenes.Nick Jonas as Marius does not appear to have a strong enough voice to be part of an ensemble, though he was not awful singing Empty Chairs and Empty Tables on his own (this was aided by the very effective lighting behind him to make his dead friends look like ghosts as they stood behind him). Katie Hall is a little hamstrung as Cossette because she spends a lot of her time having to try and sing more softly than Jonas, but she appears to have a nice clean voice.Ramin Karimloo, who I've always thought had a great voice but never really rated as a good Phantom of the Opera, is excellent as Enjolras. He sings with power and passion, and despite not being a big man, has a presence about him that is appropriate to the role and his rather large, unrestrained voice.Samantha Barks is good as Eponine and it's impressive she was able to play the role equally well in the film version. There's a lot of power in her voice.Overall I really loved this show and it helped give me a greater appreciation for the musical part of Les Miserables, but I think seeing the film first really helped as I knew what was happening in the story and so could just sit back and enjoy the singing, Nick Jonas aside.

hughman55 I saw this concert on KERA and it was breathtaking. And, not that Nick Jonas needs any help from me, but I think his work here is underrated. For the record I'm not a Jonas Brothers fan. I don't like or dislike them. I only know of their name. I couldn't name one song they've ever performed if you offered me a million dollars. And I don't know if Nick is the short one, the cute one, the fat one, the sexy one, the smart one, the bad boy, etc. BUT, I thought his rendition of "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" was haunting and very effective. There were plenty of vocal chops in this concert. His didn't need to be one more. When Marius Pontmercy sings "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" he is a BOY who has survived war and is racked with survivors guilt His mind is stained with blood and death. Young death. Nick Jonas sings this song with a youth and frailty that fits perfectly with who the character is and the horrors he can't forget. When I read a couple of the less than glowing reviews of his performance I found them at odds with the justice I thought he did for the song. So, I went to Youtube and checked out a few others, and yes, there are much bigger voices doing this piece. Some of them I thought to be very affected and over-sung. I thought Nick Jonas struck a good balance between the vocal demands of the piece and dramatic necessities of a young man forever scarred by death and war. It was very moving and the heavy lifting was done just fine later by Jean ValJean. The contrast was stark and proper. Worked for me!

latriciasaucier When I first heard of LesMiserables it was in high school. My chorus class performed the songs at a concert. I absolutely fell in love with the songs. Never saw the play, I always wanted to. This concert was the first time I saw the 1985 cast and the performances. I was blown away. The cast was amazing. I actually disagree with some of the comments, however it is their opinions. In my opinion Nick Jonas was fantastic. I was so used to seeing him sing with his brothers and used to hearing him sing pop songs. When I heard him sing, I was really impressed. He put me to tears when he sang Empty Chairs Empty table and when he sang " A Little Fall of Rain with Samantha Barks. The cast was brilliant and if they were to ever do a movie musical of Les Miserables, I would not change anyone from the cast. I would keep the cast as they had in the concert. I thought they were all phenomenal. Alfie Boe put tears in my eyes as well, he was amazing.