The PG's SummerBurgh bloggers attended Tuesday's opening-night performance of Pittsburgh CLO's "Les Miserables." They have these reviews:

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It would've been easy for the Pittsburgh CLO cast of "Les Miserables" to fall under the sleepy spell of an overdone, well-known play. But they managed to do the exact opposite.

With an orchestra nearly double its normal size and a child taking on a role usually played by an adult, CLO rejuvenated the sometimes stale pop opera.

The orchestra put on an overwhelming performance that might have stolen the show if not for some equally outstanding acting and vocal performances.

Fred Inkley, playing the heroic but tortured thief-turned-Mayor Jean Valjean, set the bar for acting high, successfully holding the intricate, character-heavy plot together from scene to scene.

But Ashley Spencer as Eponine and Joseph Serafini as Gavroche collectively stole the show. Spencer stunned the audience with a commanding voice and drew an unusually hearty round of applause with her solo "On My Own." In her debut with CLO, she certainly made a lasting impression.

Although it wasn't his debut with CLO, Serafini surprised the audience for another reason: He's 11. In an exciting twist on the role of the young man Gavroche, Serafini leads the underdogs of Paris into their revolution with the promise that the "little people" will fight for their country, even though their country won't fight for them.

The mere notion of Serafini's singing about "little people" in his solo got the audience laughing, and when he's shot and killed in the revolution, his tiny wavering voice becomes nearly unbearable.

Although most of the company reiterated this passion, some fell just short.

Kate Loprest captured the timidity of Cosette but perhaps not always on purpose. In her vocal performances, Loprest obviously held back, revealing what seemed to be nerves.

Next to such energetic, loud co-stars, Loprest seemed out of place. Hopefully her nerves will dissipate as the show goes on.

Any negatives were outweighed many times over by the vigor of the cast, the dark, haunting beauty of the scenery and the near perfect music coming from the pit. CLO voters wanted "Les Miz," and they got an invigorated, gripping version.

-- Jess Eagle, jeagle@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1953.

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I don't pretend to be a theater expert -- in fact, "Les Miserables" is the first non-high school, non-college play I've seen.

But despite my inexperience, when fugitive Jean Valjean (Fred Inkley) began singing his soliloquy beneath the haunting cerulean lights, asking, "He told me that I have a soul, how does he know?" I knew I was in for a musical gem.

The main characters' voices were powerful and compatible with their roles, from Eponine's (Ashley Spencer) plangent longing for Marius (Matthew Scott), to Javert's (Robert Cuccioli's) resonant conflict over what to do with the criminal-yet-merciful Valjean.

The characters, on the other hand, weren't always so well-matched. The romance between Marius and Cosette (Kate Loprest) unfolds so instantaneously that it seems implausible, even random. Love at first sight can be incredibly romantic and believable, but here, it is feeble and forced.

While the central romance of the tale is depicted unsuccessfully, the interaction between Eponine and Marius is much more complex and intriguing. Her unrequited love for him and his blindness toward her feelings is heartbreaking and authentically wrought, and makes each of her decisions -- from leading Marius to Cosette's house to delivering the letter -- doubly significant and wrenching.

Indeed, I found the highlights of the play to reside in the minor moments, plot twists and characters. Madame Thenardier (Sally Wilfert), for instance, was an absolute jewel, comically swindling her customers and stuffing silverware down her dress beneath the garish yellow light.

It was during moments like those, when the characters, music, set and lighting worked perfectly together, that an array of intertwining stories coalesced to form a stirring impression that lingers long after Cosette finds her castle on a cloud.

-- Liyun Jin, ljin@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1410.

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On a downtrodden street in Paris, cast members of "Les Miserables" individually battle crime, love and redemption but come together to achieve a chest-thumping, and sometimes ear-splitting, journey through the city's poorest of poor.

The musical numbers in "Les Miz," directed by Barry Ivan, require strong voices, and the men and women in Pittsburgh CLO's cast deliver, bantering back and forth and hitting the high notes in songs such as "I Dreamed a Dream" and "A Heart Full of Love."

Like pinpricks, a few of the female voices get into the Alvin and the Chipmunks range, but it may only be the result of an effort to scream above the powerful orchestra, which was beefed up for the show.

Although the highlight of the show may have been the voices, the acting did not fall short.

Fred Inkley and Greggory Brandt, who both performed the show on Broadway, live up to their credentials. Joseph Serafini, the 11-year-old who plays Gavroche, looks to be about 6 but plays the role with booming confidence.

Scene transitions are flawless; a gigantic, slatted circular grate dangling above transforms the stage into a believable sewer. The only scenery issue may be the dinky bridge that comes out of the floor, wobbling as if someone is losing his balance beneath the stage during Javert's suicide -- a key scene.

Nonetheless, the good overrides the bad.

With but a few annoyances, the end of the show leaves you feeling floored -- in need of a few minutes to sit back and soak it all in before you walk out the door.

-- Danielle Kucera, dkucera@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3858.

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Call me a drama-peasant or a theater know-nothing, but the extent of my life's encounters with "Les Miserables" can be summed by one thing: the viral YouTube video of Susan Boyle performing "I Dreamed a Dream" on "Britain's Got Talent" in April.

(That, and Katie Holmes' painful rendition of "On My Own" in season one of "Dawson's Creek." As could be imagined, the only-slightly-less-loony half of TomKat didn't do the song any justice.)

So it was with fresh eyes, to say the least, that I watched the Pittsburgh CLO's production of "Les Miserables" at the Benedum Center Tuesday night. And when it came to the music, I was dazzled. Each operatic solo and ensemble anthem soared; the voices were distinctive and powerful. Every actor brought out the best in Claude-Michel Schonberg's music.

But the CLO production of "Les Miz," as the show's been lovingly nicknamed, added little to the musical as originally written. Without the trademark revolving stage that I've heard is an integral component of most major "Les Miz" productions, the visual dimension of the production was dreadfully dull. Most every aspect of the set design was predictable and mundane; each barroom was indistinguishable from the others, and the gritty Paris streets looked like they belonged in a Disney theme park.

As for choreography, there was almost none. Actors performed beautiful songs while standing perfectly still in the middle of empty stages. And the march in the climactic "Do You Hear the People Sing?" was more the slow shuffle of a funeral dirge than the engulfing advance of student revolutionaries.

Only two dance scenes, the waltz of "Wedding Chorale" and the prostitutes' frolic in "Lovely Ladies," demonstrated some dynamic choreography. And no one gets bonus points for making a whorehouse exciting.

Still, the singing was transcendent, and more than enough to make me satisfied with the production. The dynamic, robust voices of Fred Inkley as Jean Valjean and Robert Cuccioli as Javert served as the foundation of the 31?2-hour production. Jacquelyn Piro Donovan's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" nearly matched Susan Boyle's -- nearly -- and she was equally stunning in the finale song.

And while Kate Loprest and Ashley Spencer were both a bit shrill as Cosette and Eponine, they came together with Matthew Scott, playing Marius, to make a splendid harmony in "A Heart Full of Love."

So buy a ticket to Les Miz; walk in, sit down and close your eyes. While there might not be much to see, the soaring music could make you forget why you need to see anything at all.

-- Martine Powers, mpowers@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1308.

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A successful production of "Les Miserables," the musical based on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel about revolutionaries in France, should make the audience want to join the people's crusade.

Pittsburgh CLO's opening-night performance of the play didn't make me stand up and join the people, but I could "hear the distant drums."

The show moved quickly, even without the aid of the stage floor turntable other "Les Miserables" productions famously employ. The orchestra, to my untrained musical ear, was a strong point of the show, as it led us on the journey of Jean Valjean, a man released on parole after 19 years on the chain gang. Valjean decides to become an honest man and rises to a position of respect as mayor. He takes responsibility for Cosette, the daughter of one of his workers, but his whole life, Valjean is pursued relentlessly by Inspector Javert, played brilliantly by Robert Cuccioli. If I was being chased for years, I'd want it to be by someone with a voice like Cuccioli's.

Matthew Scott, playing Marius, the student revolutionary and Cosette's love interest, put in another strong performance, especially in his solo "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," following the defeat of his fellow revolutionaries.

Valjean, played by Fred Inkley, was persuasive as a strong, reformed man devoted to Cosette's happiness. He aged a little quickly for the plot, and during the main battle scenes, I wondered if his heart would survive the strain. My worries about Valjean turned to his mental health when, during a battle, he pointed his gun up toward the front of the stage, away from the enemy.

Maybe he saw one of Javert's cohorts sneaking around the back of the barricade.

Although some of the singers seemed off key and not invested at times, I was impressed by the strength and quality of all the cast members' voices. It's a beautiful story, and Pittsburgh CLO delivers an enjoyable, entrancing performance.

Go see it before "tomorrow comes."

-- Kaitlynn Riely, kriely@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1468.

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Although I've never attended a "Les Miserables" production without contracting a cathartic case of the sniffles, the Pittsburgh CLO's new interpretation, which opened Tuesday night to a standing ovation at the Benedum Center, was the most genuinely touching live performance I've seen to date.

Its phenomenally talented crop of singers, whose soaring voices complement each other to acoustic perfection, know how to make the musical most effective -- they let it shine on its own merit. They explore Boublil and Schonberg's melodies to their full potential, and nail harmonic highs that define signature songs such as "Do You Hear the People Sing" and "One Day More."

Although it was the smallest professional "Les Miz" cast in my recent memory, the actors exhibited a collective sound quality and a committed energy that never flagged. The show's difficult score, littered with short solos from a variety of different voices, demands a high level of vocal competence from all cast members -- not just the leads. The rapid switches between singers seemed instinctual and seamless, however, and each voice matched its peers so well in timbre and volume that it was difficult to determine exactly when the changes occurred.

Unlike the disappointing and disjointed 2006 Broadway revival at the Broadhurst Theatre, the CLO voices seemed cohesive rather than competitive. Also, director Barry Ivan smartly stuck to traditional takes on the ballads instead of distracting us with unnecessary innovation (maybe he learned from the 2006 revival's dreadful, 1960s-style folksy rendition of "Drink With Me.")

Fred Inkley, who reprises his lead role from a previous Broadway run (like many of the other performers), is the most vocally capable Jean Valjean I've seen since Colm Wilkinson. He sustained phrases that lazier singers commonly clip to a dramatic whisper, and his meaty falsetto hit the impossible high notes in "Bring Him Home" head on with justified confidence -- instead of just breathily hovering around them.

I'd always been a bit jaded about Javert since watching Phillip Quast own the role in a recording of the 1998 London "Dream Cast" concert. Others who followed were usually impressive technical singers, but none could match the fierce dramatic depth that Quast brought to the part. The CLO's Robert Cuccioli, however, did that and one better. Without losing Javert's ferocity, he bested Quast's sometimes-nasal vocals with a rich and throaty baritone that reverberated threateningly against the Benedum walls.

Ashley Spencer, who was the runner-up two years ago on NBC's talent search "Grease: You're the One that I Want," is a crisp belter whose pleasant voice is a nice fit for Eponine, and Bethel Park's own Joseph Serafini, a fifth-grader at Neil Armstrong Middle School, seems right at home alongside the Broadway veterans with his endearing Gavroche.

The CLO's riveting rendition of "Les Miserables" reminds us why the show doesn't owe most of its fan base to stagecraft or spectacle. The simplicity of a good story set to beautiful music turned it into a theatrical classic -- which the CLO has turned into a touching tour-de-force. My only moment of discomfort in the whole three-hour show came when an eager viewer behind me couldn't restrain herself from singing along (a little too loudly) at the end of the first act. Which, I guess, is another indication of a job well done.

-- Jennifer Rizzi, 412-263-1985 or jrizzi@post-gazette.com.

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The Susan Boyle phenomenon troubles me.

Boyle was thrust into the limelight three months ago after she performed the popular ballad "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables" during the reality television series "Britain's Got Talent." At the time, only 10 million people viewed the audition, according to Playbill.com. But fans posted the recording to YouTube and other Web sites, and within weeks, tens of millions watched the one-hit sensation.

No doubt Boyle's portrayal has pushed "Les Miz" -- a play of the June Rebellion, a revolution that failed in Paris in the 1800s, a fight against the poverty and misery of old France -- back into the spotlight.

Online downloading of the original London cast recording of the song shot up in the weeks following the audition, broadcast April 11. And to date, the online recordings of Boyle's audition have amassed more than 100 million hits.

I have seen the audition on YouTube about half a dozen times. Boyle is very good; some of her personal angst shines through in her singing, an eclectic yet fitting complement to the emotional power of the song. Boyle sings as a toad croaks; both do it naturally. I thought of her as I watched Pittsburgh CLO's opening night performance of "Les Miz" at the Benedum Center.

It was Jacquelyn Piro Donovan's turn to perform the song, sung by Fantine, soon-to-be-deceased French mother of pure Cosette. She appeared rattled; her colleagues had just discovered she had an illegitimate child! Sacre bleu! The time of old France meets the modern age of Pittsburgh, a city that is relatively blossoming in the United States despite the economic recession. The stage was set for a spectacular piece of regret and hopelessness!

Her performance did not thrill me. She did not exude the forcefulness that Boyle did. Donovan was on-key, but added an awkward harshness to the delicate abandon of the song's words.

That same harshness worked well in "Lovely Ladies," a delightful debauchery of French prostitutes. Nonetheless, Boyle is no prostitute, and I like that. I esteem her performance more than Donovan's.

This is what troubles me.

Donovan is clearly the better actress and did an overall fine job as Fantine. Yet my heart still sides with Boyle's performance, as it does with Elaine Paige's, Lea Salonga's, Patti LuPone's.

It's the revolution of reality television, a movement that I fear may defeat theater.

-- Victor Zapana, vzapana@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1956.