ERROR RG P4 8.10.1998 In a review of `Les Miserables' in the Lifestyle section of yesterday's The Royal Gazette , the lighting designer was inadvertently referred to as Annette Gibbons. It should have read `Annette Hallett'. We apologise for any distress this error may have caused.

Les Miserables Gilbert & Sullivan Society City Hall - October 5-17 As the notes of `Do you hear the people sing?' reached their final crescendo, an emotionally charged audience rose to its feet in a frenzy of cheers. It was the remarkable end to a remarkable evening at City Hall, in which every major number and even the stage sets were acknowledged with enthusiastic applause.

So, with this magnificent production, Bermuda joins the world-wide fraternity of countries that have taken `Les Miserables' to its collective heart.

An added fillip for this Gilbert & Sullivan Society production was the fact that the Bermuda group was, very unusually, granted amateur performing rights by legendary producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh -- ahead of the US and the UK, where the musical, as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, began its charmed life.

Not that there was anything amateur about this production. Director Emily Gray and music director Mark Dorrell, two young and highly gifted leaders from London's Royal National Theatre, have produced a show that compares favourably with its bigger `sister' productions overseas.

Their vision, unhindered by limited stage facilities, places its emphasis on people and the story they have to tell: indeed, the small stage unaccountably becomes an advantage, revealing a sense of immediacy that tends to be lost in a large theatre.

Seldom, if ever, has Bermuda's musical theatre delivered such a uniformly high standard of musicianship. From the principals to the chorus, endlessly rehearsed by Dorrell and his associate James Burn, the singing was notable for its near-perfect technical prowess, delivered with clarity, spirit and sensibility. Emily Gray has wrought a similar miracle on the dramatic front, employing an exhaustive attention to detail that imbues each member of the ensemble with individual identities. Above all, hers is a production of stunning vitality and exceptional visual beauty: tableau after tableau `awakens' like a Delacroix painting coming to life. The earth-toned costumes (designed by Rose Chandler) are sensationally lit in glowing ochres and ambers by Annette Gibbons. The famous `barricades' scenery is ingeniously devised, the battle scene itself choreographed with splendidly alarming realism. Gray's strong dance background made her collaboration with movement director Barbara Frith a seamless one in which the cleverly understated choreography crucially underpinned the momentum of the overall drama.

While `Les Miserables' is based on Victor Hugo's epic novel and set against the bloody background of the French Revolution, its theme is timeless: man's longing for social equality intertwines with a story of personal redemption.

It is also, of course, a story of generosity and greed, selfishness and sacrifice, romance and unrequited love -- all of which is entirely sung through in a scenario that takes almost three hours to resolve.

The plot evolves around Jean Valjean, a petty thief who, paroled after 19 years on a chain gang, finds his wretched life transformed following an unexpected act of kindness from a priest (sung by Peter Nash). Taking on this pivotal and musically demanding role, Ron Campbell gave a powerful and intensely moving portrayal of Valjean's subsequent journey to selfless altruism.

Throughout the travails of his eventful life, Valjean is pursued by Javert, the intractable gaoler obsessed with the recapture of Prisoner 24601. If Valjean represents the redemptive power of Christ, Javert belongs firmly in the revengeful mould of the Old Testament. Wayne Holt returned to Bermuda to sing, with magnificent ease, this darkly tragic role.

These recognisably `biblical' figures are offset by the cynically godless and rapacious Thenardier, brilliantly portrayed by Richard Fell. This incorrigibly comic rogue and his equally preposterous wife (the very gifted Rhona Vallender) provide the important comedic angle. Fears that the show might drown in an excess of sentimentality are kept sharply in check by the hilarious vulgarity of this pair. The first blockbuster number of the evening, `Master of the `Ouse', led by Fell, certainly brought down this particular house.

Karen Musson brought the requisite brooding sadness to her role as the doomed Fantine who, on her deathbed, entrusts her child to the care of Valjean.

Jennifer Pereira, playing the young Cosette, performed with charm and clarity, while soprano Cyanne Thomas's adult Cosette was sung with a bright tenderness.

Bermuda must be going through one of those rare moments when there are a surfeit of male singers around. This time, we were almost spoilt for choice, with quite superb singing from Paul Woolgar as leading student Enjolras, and Philip Barnett as Marius. His devotion to the revolutionary cause is seriously tested with the appearance of Cosette with whom he promptly falls in love.

Thus, Thenardier's daughter Eponine, now fallen on bad times, and also adoring Marius from afar, reluctantly becomes their go-between: her death -- the first victim on the barricades -- in the arms of Marius, was one of the emotional highlights in an evening of non-stop musical and dramatic crests. Another, of course, was the death of young Gavroche (John Pitt), also impaled on the barricades.

The tragic deaths of the idealistic students is recalled in Barnett's poignant rendition of `Empty Chairs and Empty Tables'. Other unforgettable numbers included Valjean's `Bring him Home', the boisterous `Lovely Ladies', the stirring `Red and Black', Eponine's `On My Own' and Fantine's `I Dreamed a Dream'.

Producer Marjorie Stanton has worked remarkably hard in her determined effort to make the dream of a G&S production of `Les Mis' a reality. If Sir Cameron should chance this way, I believe he would be well pleased.

PATRICIA CALNAN `FIFTEEN HUNDRED FOR YOUR SACRIFICE...' -- Ron Campbell (centre) as Jean Valjean pays 1,500 francs to remove the young Cosette (Jennifer Pereira) from the clutches of the Thenardiers (Rhona Vallender and Richard Fell), in a scene from Les Miserables, playing now at Hamilton City Hall.