Musical Theatre

Near the end of this month, actor-singer Nick Cartell will mark a major milestone in his career. He will log his 1,000th performance as the heroic ex-convict Jean Valjean in the national touring production of “Les Misérables.”

Cartell landed the highly coveted role in 2017 under tragic circumstances, when his mom passed away from ovarian cancer the day before his final callback. He toured with the show for 2-1/2 years — including a 2018 visit to San Diego — then was laid off when the pandemic shut down all tours and theaters in March 2020.

Finally the tour relaunched in Ohio last October with Cartell in the lead and now it arrives Tuesday at the San Diego Civic Theatre for its first two-week visit here since the 1990s.

In a recent interview, Cartell said he was thrilled to return to the role of Jean Valjean for several reasons. The role transformed his career; the musical’s message of survival and humanity mean so much more to him post-pandemic, and he now feels a deeper connection to his character, because, like Valjean, he recently became a father who would do anything to make his daughter happy.

“I now understand the feeling of having your heart outside your body,” Cartell said of his 3-year-old daughter, Sullivan, who he shares with wife, Christine Cartell. “Singing that line that she’s the best of my life, and to actually sing that with the knowledge that I do have someone who is the best of my life and the best thing I’ve ever done, puts a new perspective on the sacrifices he makes.”

Cartell said the scale of the human tragedy in the musical has a more profound impact with tour audiences now than it did before the pandemic.

“The world has gone through this collective moment,” Cartell said. “So when audiences come to this show, they know they’re going to hear the songs and see the characters they expect, but they don’t realize how deeply this story will affect them this time. You see a story about people who are fighting for a better world and fighting to be heard. There’s this theme of the survival of the human spirit and everybody down to their core can connect with that now.”

When the pandemic shut down the tour in March 2020, Cartell had already taken a leave with his wife to return to their two-bedroom apartment in New York City to welcome their daughter, who was born on April 2, 2020. Although he said it was “scary” living in the city with the highest COVID death toll in the U.S., Cartell said that it was a profound blessing to have that quiet time with his wife and daughter.

“We had a chance to watch our newborn grow every day,” he said. “But it was very hard to pick yourself up and get going in the morning and try to figure out what the next steps for this career would be.”

When he was finally called to join the tour’s relaunch last fall, he remembers a very emotional first day of rehearsals for the cast and creative team.

“We sang ‘One Day More,’ and to hear those four magic notes at the top, there was this energy in the room. This was the one day more, when we finally get to take that show back out. It still gives me goosebumps whenever I hear the orchestra start playing those notes.

“The fact that we’re able to welcome live audiences back into the theater again is such a joy and privilege that I get to do it every single night and and take the journey with us. Our perspective has changed. None of us are taking this for granted,” he said.

After finishing the San Diego visit on Oct. 15, the “Les Mis” tour will head to San Jose Oct. 17-22, then on to Sacramento Oct. 24-29. It’s there in California’s capital city where Cartell said he will mark his 1,000th performance as Jean Valjean.

Cartell said he has never tired of the role and he aims to make it like the first night every night when he performs.

“My secret to keeping it fresh is our audiences, who change every time. The energy they bring every night keeps us going,” he said. “And I also always try to find little moments onstage each time that are new. It’s easy because these characters are so rich.”