It's been quite the summer for big blockbuster musicals in San Diego. With touring productions of "Cats," "The Phantom of the Opera," and "A Chorus Line" all making stops in the last three months alone, the San Diego theatre scene has been looking a little like Times Square (circa 1988, if not 2008). But no visit to Reagan-era Broadway would have been complete without stopping by that most famous of French musicals.

"One Day More"

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

The marketing people behind "A Chorus Line" may call theirs "The Best Musical...Ever," but it's got more than a little competition from "Les Misérables" (whose similarly modest producers insist it's "The World's Most Popular Musical").

You'd almost think they were up for election in November.

(If they were, you can be fairly certain the musical about the Frenchies would probably win the popular vote. But the electoral college? That's anyone's guess...)

Whoever is winning the vote for Best, Most Popular, or We-Will-Sell-You-More-Merchandise-Than-They-Do Musical, one thing is a simple fact. The touring productions have come, and they've gone, and they'll surely continue to come again for years. But aside from "A Chorus Line" (which is a good decade older than the others), none of these Big Four have been produced by a professional theatre company here in San Diego.

Until now, that is.

Last winter, Moonlight Stage Productions was the first company in Southern California to secure the rights to produce "Les Misérables."

For fans of the show, the resulting production currently playing their outdoor amphitheatre in Vista is sure to please.

Anne Fraser Thomas and Danny Gurwin

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

Directed by L.A.-based directeur extraordinaire Steven Glaudini, who in recent years helmed masterful productions of "Cabaret" and "West Side Story" for the company, this "Les Miz" has much the same look and feel as any touring production of the Victor Hugo adaptation. If the turntable set (designed by Gene Dent and rented from a somewhat obscure Oregon theatre) feels scaled back and the large cast a bit uneven, it's nonetheless a grand feat for any local company to mount such an ambitious piece.

Musical director Elan McMahan conducts a 21-piece orchestra -- bigger even than that for the short-lived Broadway revival that closed in January -- that gives thrilling life to a sung-through score (by Claude-Michel Schönberg) that is for much of its three hours less than thrilling.

"Les Miz" is well-known, after all, for some of its hit songs, but for every "Bring Him Home" and "On My Own," there's a whole lot of forgettable filler. With enough recitative to fill a real opera, this unabridged "Les Miz" comes much closer to the three-hour mark than the most recent (and abbreviated) tour to come through town in 2004, which breezed by in a swift two hours.

Leading the cast is Danny Gurwin as unjustly imprisoned ex-con Jean Valjean, the Everyman with freakishly superhuman strength (he lifts a giant car-sized cart off an injured man with nothing but brute strength, and yes, it's an important plot point -- one of about 67 in this epic). Though boyish of face (he's a regular Henrik, the young divinity student, in many a production of "A Little Night Music"), Mr. Gurwin matures believably as the years progress, and lends the character his strong, reedy tenor.

As the story progresses, the other characters begin to pile on in rapid succession. Among them, Anne Fraser Thomas is a tragic Fantine, Jeremy Bernard has the magnetic presence (and impressive set of pipes) for student leader Enjolras, and the husband-and-wife team of Richard and Sarah Bermudez, with their operetta-worthy voices, could not be better suited for the young lovers Marius and Cosette. Ms. Bermudez, in particular, brings a surprising vitality to her rather blandly written role, and for once there is a sense of urgency to the pair's romance.

Sarah Bermudez and Richard Bermudez

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

James W. Gruessing, Jr., and Debbie Prutsman are on hand as the Thénardiers, bringing some much-needed comic relief to the proceedings.

The two-featured children, Ari Krasner and Skylar Starrs Siben, are both veterans of the Globe's annual "Grinch" enterprise, and it shows in their polished performances as Gavroche and Young Cosette, respectively.

As Inspector Javert, Sean Smith makes a welcome return to the Moonlight stage after a nine-year absence. If his baritone was not always quite as strong as those of his colleagues, Mr. Smith shows us a human being simply misguided by blind righteousness, and not the sneering stuffed shirt villain that the role can too easily become.

The lack of assuredness that marred Laura D'Andre's performance as Eponine may have been an ordinary case of opening night jitters. The onstage appearance of Mr. and Mrs. Bermudez at one brief climactic point of Eponine's big solo, "On My Own" -- a markedly literal, and distracting, staging -- would seem to point otherwise though.

Debbie Prutsman, James W. Gruessing, Jr., and Ensemble

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

Other small changes that seem to deviate from Trevor Nunn and John Caird's original staging fare better. I don't recall, in previous productions, Fantine fortifying herself with a quick drink before facing her final degradation of whoring herself to support her child. If it is new, and I suspect that is, it's a subtle change that intensifies the realism of the tragic scene.

If there's one surefire stroke of that brilliance that sets Mr. Glaudini's work apart from so many of his colleagues, it's the unmistakably original reappearance in the last scene of the Bishop of Digne (or his ghost, perhaps?), played with gentle grace by Ralph Johnson. As the ghosts of Fantine and Eponine come forward to welcome the saintly Valjean to the gates of heaven, the Bishop stands watch, palms facing downward over the candles held in the silver holders he gave to Valjean years before. Tying the epic story together so nicely, it's a wonder Mr. Nunn never thought of it himself.

VIEW PROGRAM HERE (PDF)