While Truckey now has plenty of supporters on the Internet, I'm proud to say that I was the first to post about him on the Les Mis mailing list, back in February 1996, when he was rather new to the role of Grantaire. As I recall, I predicted that when I'd look back on the production, his was the only performance that would stand out in my memory.

I'd never had much interest in the character of Grantaire until I saw Truckey- I'd merely thought of the character as the student who drinks all the time and not thought much about him. However, Truckey's enjoyable performance inspired me to see so much more to the character. Rather than being a drunken buffoon, his Grantaire was highly intelligent, and took notice of everything that's going on around him. He was against fighting and never used a gun, but yet he was loyal to his friends- and I think he even admired them to an extent. Unfortunately, the "powers that be" took out some of my favorite Truckey moments when they revamped the show in mid-1997 (such as the way he poundsed his fist on a table and pointed a finger accusingly at Enjolras after Gavroche's death). But he still makes the most of the role, and he's still particularly fun to watch as he smiles and teases Marius at the cafe. He also makes the most of his interactions with Enjolras and Gavroche. To me, he's the quintessential Grantaire.

When Les Mis played Philadelphia, I'd had hopes of seeing Truckey as Thenardier and as Javert, the two roles he understudies. Seeing him as Thenardier was relatively easy, as he went on one of the nights I already had a ticket. I enjoyed his Thenardier very much, and thought he added some cute touches (such as the way he was scratching his rear like an idiot while Madame Thenardier sings "Look what's happened since"). Javert was trickier, and I think my friends were starting to fear for my sanity because I was still determined to see him in that role, even as the Philly run was drawing to a close. The last full weekend the show played Philadelphia, I decided to drive downtown to see the understudy list for the matinees- I couldn't make the evenings because I had to work graveyard shift (I don't miss those days at all!). So, on about 3 hours of sleep, I got dressed, drove 30 minutes, and parked the car. Saturday, I turned right around and went back home to get some more sleep. But Sunday, the day I'd been so close to rolling over and going back to sleep, Paul was on as Javert! And apparently they'd had a house seat turned in because I was able to get seat H 101, and the show had been allegedly long been sold out for the rest of the run. Of course, I loved his Javert ,but that was almost secondary- It was a truly magical day (later that evening Laurie Beechman was singing on national TV for the Presidential Inauguration), a day that reminded me of some of the reasons why I love theatre so much. Because anything can happen, and dreams can come alive... And no one can take those moments away from my heart.

1999 updates:

It's been a year since Paul Truckey started as Grantaire on Broadway. Naturally, I have seen him quite a few times. I don't know how many, but quite a few. I like how he has seemed to add more spontaneity to the character lately; I think he has performed the role differently, to some extent, each time I have seen him. Sometimes, his Grantaire is more bitter, sometimes more playful; but he's always interesting and always complex. I enjoy all the little touches he adds to the role.

Truckey no longer understudies Thenardier, but he is still a Javert understudy. Naturally, I wanted to see him in the role again- this time as a lead in a hit Broadway show. When am in the Broadway area, I've long made a habit of checking the Les Mis understudy boards. But now I had a goal- to see "The role of Javert will be played by Paul Truckey." Naturally, each time I bought tickets in advance, I hoped he'd be on. Months passed. I even saw the other Javert understudy (David McDonald, who was great)- but it seemed like luck was just not on my side. Then one nice October day, I decided to walk from the train station to the Gershwin Theater and to meet my parents there (they would take a cab). I checked Les Mis but I was positive that Robert Gallagher wouldn't take off as Javert; he was leaving the show the next day and so this was one of his last shows. When I saw the understudy board I'd been hoping for, I was in shock. So out with the show I planned to see and in with Les Mis! Once my parents got over their concern that I looked like someone died, they understood when I told them hello and goodbye, I would not be joining them for the show and I must hasten back to the Imperial.

I am convinced that the Understudy Gods were playing games with me; In November, just 4 weeks after finally seeing Paul as Javert, I bought a ticket in advance wanting to see the new Javert, Philip Hernandez. When I saw that Paul was on yet again, I was laughing. But I was glad that I could see him from a better seat than my last minute seat a month earlier. I finally saw Hernandez in December, but when I went to the 12th anniversary show in March, you guessed it- Truckey was Javert yet again. (by this time, I was starting to miss him as Grantaire) There have also been countless times that I was in the area seeing other shows and saw on the Mis boards that Paul was Javert.

Truckey had really grown in the role from Jan 1997 when I first saw him. His voice also seems somewhat richer. However, he still seemed to approach the role from a similar perspective; his Javert has always seemed to be close to the way the character is portrayed in the novel-- very religious and diligent. His Javert isn't as powerful or threatening as some I've seen. But I respect his portrayal very much- it was one of the most well-developed characterizations of Javert that I had seen in 1998. And I definitely enjoyed it! (my biggest criticism had been that held the nightstick in "Confrontation"- at times like a baseball bat and he is a slugger; but that is a minor quibble and I did not notice this at all during the 12/30/99 performance when they actually performed the Confrontation scene twice... I may elaborate on that performance at a later date...)

The March 1999 Javert was quite unique- my friends and I called it "the smiling Javert" because he was always smiling. Somehow, this actually worked for the character, though it gave him a different spin. The smiles didn't seem happy necessarily- more self satisfied or just the ordinary facial expression of someone who smiles all the time.

(7/98):

M.F.A, University of Nevada- Las Vegas; B.S., Northern Michigan University. Paul comes to New York after two years in the third national of Les Miserables. Recent credits: Young Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer, Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, and George in Sunday in the Park with George.