Do you hear the people sing?

Over the last seven weeks, if you went for a walk around a Twin Cities neighborhood on a still winter night, it wasn’t unusual to hear singing coming from somewhere. Perhaps it was a large, loud march, but, more often, it emanated from a spontaneously assembled street corner choir harmonizing on anthems of defiance or gently comforting ballads of peace and support.

One of the most stirring songs frequently filling the air was “Do You Hear the People Sing?” It’s an inspiring march from the score of “Les Miserables,” Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil’s musical adaptation of an epic 19th-century Victor Hugo novel. While providing the soundtrack for an 1832 Paris street revolt, its message and spirit are adaptable to any time spines could use some steel when facing down an oppressor.

Which makes this a very interesting time to have the North American touring production of “Les Miserables” spend a week at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre. What first appeared on the schedule as little more than a reliable ticket seller is instead offering a gathering place for Minnesotans fatigued and/or enraged by “Operation Metro Surge” to reflect on all they’ve endured, process some sadness and perhaps recharge their batteries.

And this production should serve such purposes well. On Tuesday, the touring company delivered a well-spun story full of vividly rendered characters, pouring heart-melting passion into one lovely ballad after another. Boasting strong acting and exceptional singing, it resonated as a prime example of a cast bringing its “A game” to an audience that’s earned nothing less.

Boublil and Schonberg have condensed a novel of over 1,000 pages into a three-hour musical, so a brisk pace is needed to give audiences the gist of the story. And this production certainly has that, making for a consistently entertaining drama that can quicken your heart one minute and plunge it into profound sorrow the next.

The story follows Jean Valjean, an embittered convict who stole bread to feed his sister’s starving family. He breaks parole, assumes an alias and becomes a successful businessman and his city’s mayor despite the pursuit of an obsessed policeman.

While the stagecraft is invariably impressive — especially Matt Kinley’s set and projected images — it’s the show-stopping ballads that stand out most. Five different characters sing their hearts out, and each performer meets the vocal and emotional demands of their star turn with both power and subtlety.

On opening night, understudy Randy Jeter carried the central role of Valjean with deeply involving intensity while his dogged nemesis, Javert, was made gripping by the magnetic performance of Hayden Tee. Meanwhile, keep an eye and ear on Peter Neureuther, who exuded charisma and displayed a marvelous tenor voice as lovestruck revolutionary Marius.

Yet the two most powerful soliloquies in song came from women who would otherwise be regarded as secondary characters: Lindsay Heather Pearce delivered a spine-tingling “I Dreamed a Dream,” while Jaedynn Latter made “On My Own” a captivating lament of unrequited love.

Those ballads offer an avenue for getting in touch with grief that may prove for local audiences the most valuable element of experiencing this fine production.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

‘Les Miserables’

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis

Tickets: $392-$40, available at hennepinarts.org

Capsule: A richly entertaining opportunity for locals to process recent events.

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