“Even if you’ve seen Les Misérables and think you know what Les Mis is, this production will make you think differently about the songs and characters,” says Caissie Levy, who plays the role of Fantine in producer Cameron Mackintosh’s new version of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Tony Award-winning masterwork.

“It’s a Les Mis that is honest and rings real — a Les Mis for now,” she says.

Photo: Michael LePoer Trench

The dramatically re-imagined production — Mackintosh brought in directors Laurence Connor and James Powell, as well as designer Matt Kinley, to realize the ambitious transformation — made its debut in the U.K. in 2009. (Word has it that the London run is what inspired British filmmakers to make the record-breaking 2012 movie starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway.)

The fact that the film brought the musical’s intensely brilliant score and Victor Hugo’s iconic story to a new generation pretty much ensured that a Broadway run would succeed. After all, live musical theatre with actors breathing life into characters you’ve seen only onscreen is mind-blowing… especially when the experience includes a live orchestra and one soul-stirring song after another backed by a thrilling artistic vision.

The show arrived in New York last March following a two-and-a-half-year U.S. tour (grossing more than $160 million and amassing a collection of stellar reviews), that went on to play Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre with the spellbinding Ramin Karimloo, who dazzled capacity houses as Jean Valjean.

Photo: Matthew Murphy

Fortunately, Karimloo has recreated his performance here on Broadway. Other key members of the cast include Tony nominee Will Swenson (Priscilla Queen of the Desert; Hair) as the monomaniacal Inspector Javert, Tony winner Nikki M. James (The Book of Mormon) as Eponine, Andy Mientus (Smash) as Marius, and Samantha Hill as Cosette.

Les Misérables is a chronicle of sin and redemption set in 19th-century France that centers on Valjean, a prisoner who broke his parole and is doggedly pursued by Javert. Having turned his life around, he finds himself taking on the role of father to the ill-fated Fantine’s daughter, Cosette. As the timeline moves forward, Valjean becomes caught up in a student revolution and a love story unfolds between one of the young idealists and Cosette.

What sets the current revival apart from its predecessors is a grittiness that permeates both the action and emotion of the show. Notes Levy, “There’s an immediacy about it. Between the new orchestrations and the revamped set [no more turntable] — which uses these amazing projections of Victor Hugo’s paintings — it’s really a new visual and auditory experience from the earlier versions.”

And there’s the classic score, teeming with mesmerizing musical numbers: “On My Own,” “Do You Hear the People Sing?,” “A Heart Full of Love,” “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” “One Day More” — and, of course, Fantine’s achingly beautiful “I Dreamed a Dream.”

Says Levy, “It’s such an honor to sing this number that is so inclusive of Fantine’s journey,” adding that what she finds herself embracing most about her character is her willingness to sacrifice everything for her child.

“The whole company is navigating incredible emotional and vocal demands as we perform this beautiful show that has us going deep into the suffering these people go through,” she concludes. “Often it’s difficult to sing with all these feelings going on — difficult to not let tears get in the way of the songs.”

Les Misérables is playing at the Imperial Theatre, 249 W. 45th St. For tickets, call
212-239-6200 or click here.

Les Miz Trivia

•  Les Misérables is the longest running show in the world

•  It has been seen by nearly 65 million people in 42 countries

•  The show has been translated into 22 different languages

•  The original London production of Les Misérables is the world’s longest running musical where it played 7,602 performances at the Palace Theatre before transferring to the Queen’s Theatre in 2004.

•  It played its 10,000th performance on January 2nd, 2010 and in October of that year it celebrated its 25th anniversary

•  There have been over 47 cast recordings of Les Misérables including albums, singles and the symphonic. Both the original Broadway cast album and the symphonic recordings won Grammy awards.

•  On Broadway, the original production of Les Miz played the Imperial Theatre from 1990 to 2003 – and the current rendition is calling the Imperial home as well.

•  Lead actors Will Swenson and Caissie Levy are reuniting in this production. The two were together in the revival of Hair.

•  Les Misérables has been seen by nearly 65 million people in 42 countries

•  The show has been translated into 22 different languages

•  In a Playbill interview during the show’s 2006 Broadway revival, Cameron Mackintosh said he brought Les Miz back because he “…wanted to have a final crack at doing it." Apparently, he’s redefined “final” with this new edition, and who knows how many more he might tackle in the future?