At the age of 26, John Owen-Jones was the youngest actor to professionally play the role of, Les Miserables lead, Jean Valjean in London. Now, Owen-Jones is returning to the role in the current Broadway production. Owen-Jones will be taking over the role from Alfie Boe. Recently, John Owen-Jones opened up about his long history with the iconic character.
Recently, John Owen-Jones spoke to Playbill about returning to the role of Jean Valjean after 18-years:
“It is enormously satisfying to play because the character goes on such a satisfying journey arc. As an actor, you get to experience all sort of different levels of emotion and immersion in the role. You know, you have to age gracefully and really quickly throughout the show. You have to show range, anger, love, compassion, you have to bottle rage, you have to show duplicity, and it’s all sorts of lovely little things like that. Plus, it’s a really challenging and actually fun role to sing if the role sits in your voice comfortably, which it does with me, I’m lucky to say. It’s really enjoyable to sing that. I’ve just finished playing Phantom in the West End and that is such a challenging role to sing when you’re--I would say I’m a bari-tenor. I can go up high, but I can’t settle quite low. Phantom is only, like, 30 to 40 minutes of singing, but it’s actually much harder than Jean Valjean because of the rangy nature of that.”
What do you think about John Owen-Jones returning to the role? Are you excited to get the chance see him perform the role? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
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