Interview: Matt Lucas on Les Misérables, Thénardier, and the Arena Spectacular at Radio City

For decades, Matt Lucas has been making audiences laugh across stage and screen, from Little Britain and The Great British Bake Off.

But his most cherished role is one that has become a recurring fixture of his career: the scheming innkeeper Thénardier in Les Misérables. Since making his debut in Cameron Mackintosh’s star-studded 25th Anniversary Concert at London’s O2 Arena in 2010, Lucas has returned to the character in multiple productions, each time finding fresh ways to play one of musical theater’s great comic villains.

Now, Lucas reprises Thénardier in the Les Misérables: The Arena Concert Spectacular, which arrives at Radio City Music Hall tonight through August 9. He spoke with TheaterMania about discovering the musical as a teenager, surviving a nerve-racking opening performance at the O2, and why he’ll never say goodbye to the inn.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What was your first experience with Les Misérables?
My mom went to see it at the Barbican Theatre when it opened. She got the cassettes and we used to listen to it in the car, so I got to know the songs. And then, for my 13^th birthday outing, I took all my bemused, straight, 13-year-old friends to see it. I think the Valjean I saw was Dave Willetts; I don’t remember who the Javert was. Weirdly, the Gavroche was played by a girl, which I think is kind of an emergency thing that happens.

Your first time officially doing the show was the O2 concert for the 25^th anniversary. How did that come about?
I was performing in a show that [producer] Cameron Mackintosh came to see, and we met, and I sort of audaciously said that I’d love to be in Les Mis, not remotely imagining that it might ever happen. I can’t really sing as well as you need to to be in a show like this. I was invited to his office and taught the songs, and then I was asked to do the concert at the O2, which was terrifying. But it started a long relationship with the show. I’ve appeared in the Trevor Nunn/John Caird production with the revolving stage, the James Powell/Lawrence Connor current production with the projections, and the concert version. I feel very fortunate that the novelty never wears off. There’s nothing like being on that stage singing “One Day More.”

Take me back to that first night at the O2.
We did a matinee and an evening, and the evening was filmed and released. The matinee, for me, was disastrous. I came on stage at the wrong times, I sang too early, made a litany of errors. I think if that had been the version that was released, my career would have gone in a very different direction. [Laughs]

Is Thénardier still a role that you can find new things in after all these years?
I’ve been very fortunate, particularly in the concert version, where the Thénardiers are allowed to be a little bolder and freer. You’re there as the comic relief, but it’s not the Thénardier show. You have to fit into a complex jigsaw puzzle.

The show has great directors. A lot of the resident directors have been in the show themselves, so there’s a great support network. At the very top of it, you have Cameron and Alain [Boublil] and Claude-Michel [Schönberg,] and the three of them really care about the show. It’s run as a serious business. Decisions are not made flippantly. The fourth wall is broken by virtue of it being a concert, in a way, so some of my indulgences are encouraged. But I always defer to the bosses. If they’re not keen, it goes. I’m not precious about that stuff.

I would imagine the arena tour is just overwhelming in terms of experiencing the music.
One of the great pleasures…where you are backstage decides what you hear, so one of the things I really like is, when I’m changing from Thénardier coming out of the sewers into the outfit for the wedding scene, Javert is doing his final soliloquy. Where I am positioned geographically means I am below the brass section in moment. I love how the brass is arranged in that section, so it’s weird things like that.

You’re going into Oliver! soon after this in the West End; it’s also a flagship show of producer Cameron Mackintosh. Did you have to lobby Cameron to play Fagin the same way you lobbied for Thénardier?
You know, Oliver! and Les Mis are my favorite musicals, and they’re playing at neighboring theaters [in London]. I mentioned to Cameron that if Simon Lipkin ever wants a break for a few weeks, I’d love to throw my hat into the ring, and Cameron replied, “We shall review the situation.” I went to lunch with him and Matthew Bourne and Jean-Pierre van der Spuy, who are the codirectors, and I did a couple of workshop days to make sure I could sing it. Basically, when Les Misérables finishes, I have a couple of weeks and then I begin rehearsals for Fagin.

Do you ever get tired of doing Les Mis?
It’s a great privilege and it never wears off. Sometimes I feel a bit guilty because I think, “Gosh, they should let someone else have a go.” But when they come to me, the temptation is usually too big to pass up.