Long before Clint Eastwood’s presentation of his one man show, “Soliloquy to a Ladder-back,” empty chairs appeared in other productions, on other stages.

One such performance by an empty chair was in Les Miserables.

In Les Miz, the song “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” is a rousing homage to fallen comrades and survivor guilt. My favorite performance of “Empty Chairs” was by Michael Ball, the original Marius Pontmercy in the 1985 London production. It will be interesting to see how Eddie Redmayne handles the role, and the song, in the upcoming movie. If you are a fan of Masterpiece Theatre, you might recall Eddie from his role as the young, shell-shocked soldier in Birdsong, and the righteously unforgiving Angel Clare in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Continue reading “Valjean, or Javert?” →