Les Miserables

James Barbour won Lead Actor in a Musical for his performance in Les Misérables at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. The LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles, were presented Nov. 2 2014 at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse. "Les Misérables" - May 30 - June 22, La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard in La Mirada.

"Les Misérables" is the musical based on the historical Victor Hugo novel, which tells the tale of Jean Valjean, the poor man who is thrown in prison for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister and her starving children. After serving an extraordinary nineteen-year sentence, Valjean must carry a yellow passport that labels him a convict and is forced to present it to the police of any town he enters.

Have you worked with James Barbour? Why did you think he was the right fit for the central character?I

Saw his performance in La Mirada Theatre/McCoy Rigby National tour of "Camelot." James is an incredible actor with a beautiful voice. He has power and simplicity, the perfect combination for Jean Valjean. EdgeMediaNetwork

It helps that Kite and Glaudini are working with a Broadway-worthy cast helmed by James Barbour in the pivotal role of Valjean. Tall and imposing, Barbour is simply transcendent. In fact, he’s so good, it’s difficult to imagine that the rest of the cast will be able to measure up. Yet they do, spectacularly, from Randall Dodge’s monomaniacal Inspector Javert right down to Young Cosette, played by pure-voiced Emilie LaFontaine. As the comically villainous Thenardiers, Jeff Skowron and Meeghan Holaway are both riotously repugnant characters straight out of a nightmare. Los Angeles Times

Photo Flash: LES MISERABLES Celebrates Opening Night at La Mirada Theatre - BroadwayWorld

Excerpt from James Barbour blog:

So the news is out… I’ll be playing Jean Valjean in the La Mirada McCoy/Rigby production of Les Miserables. I used to joke all the time that I was the only guy in the musical theatre who had never done Les Mis. It wasn’t for lack of wanting to do it, nor even being considered for it…more out of a timing thing and a career thing. The first few time I auditioned for the show (early in my Broadway life) was for the National Tour. I’ll never forget that day. I was in my early 20’s and was at an open call for replacement ensemble roles. I sang a short excerpt from 1776 for the late Vinnie Liff and a person who would later become a big supporter and a friend, Richard Jay-Alexander. After I sang, If I remember correctly Richard asked me if I saw myself as a Grantaire or Javert. Now I had seen the show a couple of times and Grantaire was a played by a guy much smaller than I was and I was, in my mind, too young for Javert. So I told Richard that I saw Grantaire as a smaller, spitfire of a guy and perhaps I could play Javert in a few years when I was a it older. Vinnie puts his hands over his face and dropped his head as if to say (You should have said “YES!!! I can do either role). I couldn’t help but be honest. What I didn’t know at the time was that Grantiare is one of the Javert covers. It was one of those defining moments in my life that I’ll never forget. I ended up not getting the show (lost the role to someone who was also to become a great and long time friend) but the important thing was that I had auditioned for my favorite show at the time and learned a few great lessons. You see I had this vision of playing Enjolras. That was the role that stuck out in my mind. I was the right age and physical stature for the role and I had the “G” that he sings in the show. I don’t know if Richard will even remember that day but as I said it was a defining moment for me. When the movie came out I got email after email, tweet after tweet asking about why I never played Javert. Timing, other things came in etc. A couple of years that last big National Tour was casting I got a call asking me to come in and sing for Valjean. I kept thinking Valjean?!? Really? I handn’t ever considered it other than trying to sing the “24601” to see if I could hit that note. Well I never ended auditioning for that tour. Perhaps I should have.