LES MISÉRABLES

Les Miserables (The Wretches) is one of the most popular musicals in the world, though grand opera would have done more justice to the excessive romanticism of the 1862 original about the benevolent ex-con, his relentless pursuer and the street people of the July Revolution. Employing a judicious pruning and excellent translation, Nigel Anthony plays the melodrama and sentimentality without chewing the scenery--a neat trick. His characterizations are broad, but that's only appropriate here. He has a strangely jerky delivery, either a personal quirk or the product of numerous inelegant edits. Either way, he gives a listenable rendering of this improbable classic. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JAN 98]