Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular3Arena, Dublin★★★★☆In the first English-language production of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s Les Misérables, the role of the martyred hero Jean Valjean was originated by Colm Wilkinson. The Irish tenor remained closely associated with the production for decades; he performed in the 25th-anniversary concert production, which celebrated the musical’s storied history, in 2010.Killian Donnelly has been associated with Les Misérables for almost as long as Wilkinson has. The Co Meath singer joined the West End production in 2008, graduating from swing to understudy to the lead role. For the final leg of Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular’s world tour, Donnelly leads a cast that features some of the greatest singers associated with the production over the years.For musical-theatre purists, the staged concert will not compete with the full theatrical production, which toured to Dublin most recently in 2022. But they will certainly never have heard the musical so brilliantly sung. All the soloists stun with the range and emotional tenor of their performances, while the ensemble, lined up on a low choir balcony beneath the orchestra, who sit in a heavenly orange glow just above the stage, create a wall of sound strong enough to recruit any doubters to join the barricades.A production of this scale will inevitably sacrifice story for spectacle, and its director, Jean-Pierre van der Spuy, building on the original work of Trevor Nunn, has the performers face the audience rather than each other, while staged action is kept to a minimum.This might make following the narrative tricky for audiences coming to the work for the first time, but fans will find the intimacy of the live camera work more than sufficient to engage with the actors: make no mistake, the performers are not just delivering songs.He may play the villain, but, as Javert, Bradley Jaden elicits as much empathy as our hero, sung with deep resonance by Donnelly. Katie Hall, as Fantine, and Beatrice Penny-Touré, as Cosette, astonish with their silvery voices and their depth of feeling, especially in the death scenes. Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular – Killian Donnelly as Jean Valjean. Photograph: Daniel Boud Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular – Mariana Prior as Madame Thénardier and Matt Lucas as Thénardier. Photograph: Daniel Boud Matt Lucas is also excellent as the grubby Thénardier, bringing some welcome humour to the bleak social-realist scenario, which he redoubles with some cheeky ad-libbing.Despite the physical limitations imposed by the arena format, Matt Kinley’s set, and Paule Constable and Warren Letton’s lights, bring urgency to the dramatic climax of the barricade scene, and there are moments of visual beauty, particularly when live capture dissolves into the projections inspired by Victor Hugo’s paintings.In the same way a digital stream cannot replace the magic of the theatre, Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular cannot match the immersive experience of a full staging of the musical story. On its own merit, however, it is more than artfully done, and the strength of the singers will have you seeking out a full production.Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular is at 3Arena, Dublin, until Saturday, June 6th