“We all put a little bit of ourselves into the storytelling.”

Shortly before the premiere of this production, in November 2011, Geronimo Rauch met the powerful British producer. Cameron Mackintosh; This was on the occasion of the concert held at the O2 in London on October 3, 2010 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the musical. Macintosh attended the premiere in Madrid and a year later was called to star in the play in London’s West End.

Rauch was in charge of the British production for a year and put the character aside… until a few months ago, when McIntosh called him back, twelve years later, to join the title role. Jean Valjean To the international tour of “Les Misérables” on the occasion of its XL anniversary. He joined it in Japan in August, and a few days ago he traveled to Shanghai, where he will stay until December 28, after which he will also be in Manila (Philippines), from January 20 to March 1, 2026, and in Singapore, from March 24 to May 10.

It is, as the artist explains, a huge concert with large spaces featuring more than 65 players, which, according to its producers, has already been seen by more than a million people during a year of touring. “It’s a New format for me But technically it’s great, we sing with headphones and we have a sound mixer who makes it sound like we’re singing in the shower, says Rauch.

“It’s incredible how it changes you when the circumstances are right with you and helps you achieve your best version and makes your work shine even more – the praise goes on for audio technicians. One day I received a pirated video recorded by some amateurs and I started crying while watching it. we We live deep within ourselves When we were doing our job, all of a sudden I heard this sound and I thought this music was brutal; “I was so excited to see myself there again and from another place that I didn’t used to see.”

New language

The artist says that performing “Les Misérables” on stage is completely different from doing it at these concerts. “We always look at the audience, and until you understand that this is a new language, it’s difficult. We, as actors, need to make eye contact with each other, and that doesn’t happen here. Cameron Mackintosh says the only way these gigs will be successful is if everyone involved has produced before. This makes sense, because We know what happens on stage We can reflect the characters’ emotions better than someone who has never done the work before.

Geronimo Rauch Said. And it shows. He reveals that he has a pending score with the musical. “In January 2020 they called me to see if I was interested because they were planning to tour with Les Misérables. Then the pandemic arrived and I never heard of it again. But the idea stuck in my mind that I had to open this door again. And he opened it with a hand Alfonso Casado, The Seville musician has been musical director of the Madrid production for three decades and in recent years has been working with Cameron Macintosh’s production company.

“I went to London in March of this year to give a concert with Alfonso, and Mackintosh invited me to audition; In fact, it was what they call a “work session,” a business session. “I came out and Cameron was already waiting for me to see when I could join the tour.”

“I have Jean Valjean now He has more wisdom. It also has more weight, technically and physically – the Argentine joke -. He has more experience because when I did it in Madrid he was 32 or 33 and not yet a father (Rauch has a son, Gael, who will accompany him for part of the tour). In 2010, my weakness was “Bring Him Home” (the character’s star song, a prayer he sings in the sequel). It was fine, but after the first show my niece got sick – and thankfully she’s fine now – and I started to really pray and kind of understand what it means to be willing to lay down your life for someone when you find out that a family member that you love so much is sick. Two years later, my son Gael was born, and I was in London playing Valjean, and there I felt I could sacrifice my life for my son. Nowadays, I relate so much to these feelings, it doesn’t cost me anything.

– As we age, a person becomes more aware that life is not endless and that the end is closer, something that does not happen when we are young and think that we are immortal. Does this somehow make dealing with the character of Jean Valjean different?

– What amazes me about Jean Valjean is the search for that salvation, that peace, which he never achieves…except at the end, when he dies. When he senses that Fantine and Éponine are coming to look for him, then he realizes that the gates of heaven are open to him. All his life he had suffered the burden of being a fugitive and lived believing that Javert would get to him; It was never known that he committed suicide. Everyone wants to die in peace, knowing you did things right.

–Nearly two decades have passed from the beginning of the musical until Valjean’s death. How is this process experienced during the three hours that the work continues?

-Fortunately we are managed very well. I work a lot on character speeds. Valjean loses his speed. As the scenes go by, walking becomes more difficult, and in this way it somewhat showed the character’s aging. At concerts, we don’t wear wigs like we do at shows, they can’t bleach their hair. So it’s a matter of attitude. From the energy shown by the fugitive who has broken with his past to the Mayor of Montreux, ten years later, who shows a non-animal posture, more elegant and serious, and in the end the man is physically defeated and on the verge of death. I try to physically distinguish between these three stages.

– Do you still find things in it that you did not find?

-Jean Valjean drives me crazy. I now have a favorite scene, which was another scene before: when he frees Javert from the barrier. It has to do with the fact that during this time I was learning stories about my grandfather, a military man (who was demoted at one point and made a minister years later) who was my role model and who died when I was 13 years old. To be able to forgive and declare that the only thing you did was fulfill your duty… In that scene I’m telling you, in which Javert’s decline begins because he sees Valjean’s humanity and the engine of his life collapsing, I remember the story of my grandfather and I feel a shudder. In some way, we all put a little of ourselves into storytelling. I’m fascinated by the character’s journey and I’m fascinated by the outcome as well; I find it a beautiful challenge to be able to respect it and live by it… and work with this team, with this company. It’s very nice, it’s a gift, I see it as a gift. Life said to me: Here, I will give you this experience again. Because I never said goodbye to Valjean; He is a character that represents a lot, not only to those of us who play him, but also to the audience. We realize that Les Misérables is a musical in which the viewer enters one way and exits another.

Geronimo Rauch also took part in the gala in London to mark the 40th anniversary – “there was a family feeling that I had never felt before” – which featured important performers in the life of the musical; But Colm Wilkinson, who played Jean Valjean in the original production, did not. The Argentine was able to meet him in 2010 and felt honored to sing with his idol. “I’m a singer for Freddie Mercury and Colm Wilkinson. It’s that simple. Freddie Mercury made me want to sing. And when I saw the 10th anniversary concert for Les Misérables, when I was 16, in which Colm Wilkinson played the hero again, I said to myself: “This is my way.” At the age of four, he was working in Buenos Aires. So when I saw him, I thanked him personally and told him that he was my inspiration.

-Why do you think this musical is so special?

– It is primarily about the book; The music also lives up to the story, full of “huge hits”: “I’m Dreaming a Dream”, “On My Own”, “Bring It Home”, “Stars”… and its realism. You go to see musicals like “Wicked” or “The Phantom of the Opera” or “The Lion King” and you see fantasy. You go to see bad guys, and you see fantasy. You’ll see what I know, The Lion King. Everything invites you into a world that, at some point, is wonderful. But “Les Misérables” is a mirror, where the viewer will, at some point, feel identified with one of the characters. From the stage you see people crying and getting emotional. There are best and worst human beings.