Malmö opera's open repititon of Les Misérables enthralls hundreds

"Is the second half going to be this f-cking gloomy as well?" says director Ronny Danielsson and the audience burst out in laughs. Danielsson was imitating the Swedish King who saw the Stockholm production of Les Misérables in 1990 and is said to have thought it to be depressing.

Emmi Christensson as Cosette and Philip Jalmelid as Marius

Saturday's (10/9) open repitition of the latest Swedish production of the world's longest running musical "Les Misérables" was a packed one. An hour before the doors opened to the refurbished Malmö Opera, the foyer was already bustling with people.

After a warm welcoming from the director, an overwhelming number of sweatpants-wearing people trots onto stage and organise themselves to their designated spots. The final scene had to be polished.

"When you sing "the chain" everyone has to have come forth," reminds choreographer Roger Lybeck and continues to give further directions on the pace they were to enter in.

Having established their definite curtain call positions, the audience could finally get a taste of the highly anticipated singing. And oh what a singing it was, the harmonization was enough to make even the toughest of guys tremble.

The cast rehearsing the curtain call

The trembling hightens as the genious move to put the orchestra in the back of stage instead of in the pithole, gives the actors the ablility to be touchably-close to the audience. With the glorious vantage point from the 4th row of the center stalls, one got the feeling you were actually on stage with the actors.

The repitition now turned into a sneakpeak of the (close-enough) actual musical as they performed every song from Sörjande kvinnor (Turning) to the Epilogue without any interruptions.

Similar to the West End production, the Malmö production also have a rotating stage centre which gives the play a bustling atmosphere, not least in the Wedding scene. On the other hand, as the barricade was more of a set piece than a prop (different from the WE production), one will have to do without the students climbing and shooting from a platform made of chairs.

At Tomma bord och tomma stolar

Sörjande kvinnor, which is a precedent for Tomma bord och tomma stolar (Empty chairs at empty tables), saw a line of women sing appealingly and gesturing, each behind an empty chair. Marius, played by a backward cap donned Philip Jalmelid, is then wheeled into the dark and smoky stage.


After a less than emotional but a stomach-tinglingly beautiful sung Tomma bord och tomma stolar and Jalmelid's first interaction with Emmi Christensson's Cosette in Everyday, Dan Ekborg enters as Valjean and sings a perfectly remorseful Valjeans confession.

It is followed by the quirky Bröllopet (The Wedding) where the Thénardier couple, portrayed by Marianne Mörck and Peter Harrysson, enters for the first time under applause. In contrast to Bröloppet, the Thénardier Waltz of Treachery was surprisngly bare (on the verge of awkward), but it was fortunately followed by a magnificently powerful Epilogue.

There are no doubts in musical heaven that these performers are well-trained and brilliant singers, what's left to see on the other hand is whether they're as brilliant actors. However, disappointment over the production seems to be as unlikely as the King seeing Les Mis again.

Les Misérables premieres at Malmö Opera on Friday the 16th of September and is scheduled to run until the beginning of February.