LES MILLÉNNIABLES - REVIEW - EDINBURGH FRINGE

Les Millénniables is a pop parody musical based (very loosely) on Les Misérables. Jean Valjean (Natalie Sullivan) is fresh out of college and has racked up a lot of debt, we see her run-ins with the tax man, boomer Javert (Tony Gonzalez) over the next 10+ years. The show also features other characters loosely based on Les Mis; Fantine (Ayla Glass) who desperately sells her favourite wig online, Cosette (Linnea Jefferson) the Tik-Toker and Madame and Monsieur Thenardier (Amanda Walter and Rama Vallury) are redneck truckers.

The show relies heavily on cheap gags, puns, and cheesy humour, with lots of references to millennial things such as avocado toast. Half of these jokes are genuinely funny and land with the audience, and you quickly accept the level of humour in the show. However, there’s such a heavy dependency on trying to be funny that it becomes quite tedious. I think the humour would have been more effective if the jokes were carefully refined. The plot line delivered some funny moments, a favourite being that the revolution and the barricade were in fact against ‘the system’, but overall the plot’s main purpose in the show is to fish for laughs.

Les Millénniables features an array of cringe-worthy pop songs, which is in keeping with the nature of the show. We have our Tenardier Truckers singing ‘Party in the USA’, Eponine sings ‘Dancing On My Own’ and probably the funniest moment in the whole production we have Javert singing ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’, as he remembers he too was a young person once as he heals his Inner Child (Chandra East), who we see do an interpretive dance. The show does rely very heavily on the use of songs, and there were moments where there were some nice harmonies. Some of the songs were more fitting than others, and it felt like a lot of songs were there to fill the time between the thin plotline.

Les Millénniables has the potential to be an entertaining watch, you just have to embrace the tone of the show. You can tell that the team has worked hard on it, but I can’t help but think it would be funnier if it was more refined. I do think it’s a lighthearted watch, and a good laugh if you’ve had a few drinks with friends.

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