Les Miserables, the longest-running musical in London's West End, is taking to the stage at Abu Dhabi's Etihad Arena on Thursday as a large-scale concert production.
Twelve performances of the arena version of the 40-year-old musical, featuring a cast and orchestra of more than 65 people, are being staged in the UAE.
Actors Rachelle Ann Go, Killian Donnelly and Bradley Jaden have shared with The National their experience of being part of writer Victor Hugo's world, where justice, morality, politics, love and religion struggle to co-exist among flawed characters.
Go reprises her role as the impoverished Fantine, having starred in the West End production. She said the role is a dream come true. In fact, the first time she saw the show in 2013, she was so jet-lagged that she slept through most of it, only waking up in time for Fantine's famous song I Dreamed A Dream.
“I saw that and thought 'oh my goodness, I really wanted to sing this song'. I said: 'That's the role I'm going to play.' I just felt connected with that character, even though at that time I wasn't a mum yet,” Go says.
She says Fantine's heartaches and “brokenness” felt familiar. She hopes to channel Fantine's journey and despair through her performance, creating a “standalone emotional centrepiece” to connect with her audience.
Having performed at the Etihad Arena in 2024 as Eliza in Hamilton, Go is familiar with the space. However, she says the Arena Spectacular, which is on a world tour, will feel more like a stadium show.
“This is going to be massive. It's like a proper concert with all the lights and I'm really excited to do it. Back in the Philippines, I've been doing concerts, that was my first love. Doing this together, a concert in an arena and a musical … it's literally a dream,” she said.
Donnelly, who stars as Jean Valjean, believes the performance is “50 per cent passion and 50 per cent vocal”.
He has played the lead in Phantom of the Opera in the West End, and draws parallels between Valjean and the Phantom. “They are both troubled, rely on hope, and passionate,” he says.
However, as challenging as the role is, the score by Claude Michel Schoenberg does a lot of the work for him, he believes.
“It helps get you into the emotion very easily. Audience members who have never seen the show understand the character and his struggles. The best feeling about this music is that it always gets you there,” he says.
Jaden, who plays Inspector Javert, has grown up with the role over the past 10 years. He was the youngest person to take on the character, when he was 29, and his understanding of Javert's perspective has evolved with him. In his mind, he is not the villain that everyone thinks he is.
“I always feel like people say that Javert's the bad guy and I always have to shut it down. He's absolutely not a villain,” he says.
“My job is just to tell the story in the best means that I possibly can, and I leave the judgment of being villainous or a hero up to the audience,” he adds.
Jaden describes the arena show as a “real monster of a piece of theatre”, saying audiences will be “blown away” by the orchestra, costumes and the way the show is set up like a movie with 4K screens to fully immerse the viewer.
“I think what's so great about this concert version is we strip away all the props and moving aspects. It really is just about the storytelling. We're almost putting in this humongous, incredible musical right on your lap.”
Performing with a deeper purpose
When Go played Fantine in 2016, she was the only Asian woman in the cast. Filled with uncertainty, she relied heavily on the thought that women who looked like her had paved the way for her to take the role and represent her people.
“When you see people from Asia and you hear them say 'you make us proud', it's so fulfilling. You get emotional,” she says. “Before, I just wanted to sing, but then there's a deeper purpose why I am on stage. Knowing that purpose, I'm fulfilled. This is what I need to do in life,” she adds, teary-eyed.
She says some younger audience members have gone into musical theatre after watching her on stage. “To hear them reaching for their dreams and stepping out of their comfort zone, I think I'm doing the right thing.”
Being a mother has also enriched her performance and made her understand “real pain”.
“Now I don't need to sit in one corner [before the show] and internalise, because I know how it feels to be a mum.”
Similarly, Donnelly says becoming a father has elevated his performance.
“Being a father is about just being there, being present, and that's what I was trying to do with [Fantine's daughter] Cosette. I didn't have to hold her hand or hug her to let her know I was there,” he says. “The presence of the father was something that I learnt from actually being a dad.”
Jaden says he leapt at the chance to return to the role of Javert. Even when taking part in other productions, his affection for Les Miserables never dwindled.
“When this opportunity came to come back to Les Miserables, I jumped at it because my love was still there for that show. My love is still there for that show,” he says.
Les Miserables: The Arena Spectacular is running from April 10 to 20 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi
