The last time Nick Cartell played Jean Valjean in the national tour of “Les Misérables,” his wife was pregnant and the tour ended due to the COVID pandemic. When the tour was relaunched in 2022, he was asked to play the same role — only this time he would be traveling with his wife and child. “It’s been a learning curve — especially for the first few months of the tour,” Cartell said in a recent phone call while performing in Old Montreal.
“This is such a physical and demanding role, and I need sleep. So, for example, if we stay at an Airbnb, we get two bedrooms so I can get sleep.” Cartell said his 4-year-old daughter, Sullivan, is a “really fantastic traveler” and that “as long as we have a sound machine and we bring along some of her toys, we’re OK.
” ”Les Misérables” is at the Citizens Bank Opera House through Aug. 25. Cartell, 45, who has played this role on tour more than 1,000 times, said that he is finding a shift in audiences post-pandemic.
“They are craving a show like this and recognize pieces of themselves in it,” said Cartell, who in addition to performing in national tours has been in three Broadway shows, worked in Japan on a Disney contract, and in July released the solo album “A Thousand Spotlights.” “So many people are fighting to make their [lives] and this world better, fighting because they want their voices to be heard. .
.. This show resonates on so many levels now more than ever.
” Cartell, a.k.a.
Prisoner 24601, said his favorite song to sing in the iconic musical is “Bring Him Home” — and not just because it’s a beautiful ballad. “Valjean’s character is so crazy. You never stop moving,” he said.
“It’s a moment in the show when I get to sit ...
a moment to be still.” We caught up with the Scottsdale, Ariz., native, who lives in New York City with his wife, actress-singer Christine Cartell (whom he met when both worked for Disney in Tokyo), and their daughter, to talk about all things travel.
If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go? I would go to Australia or Greece for the first time, or revisit Italy, Paris, London, or Tokyo. Would love to go explore and see parts of the world that I love and have visited before and those that I have never set foot in. We can’t wait to someday show our daughter Tokyo — where my wife and I met — and to explore other parts of the world with her.
Traveling and spending time in other countries and cultures gives you a better understanding of the world we live in, how our country is viewed from the outside — for better or worse — and that we have things to learn from other cultures. I believe traveling helps to grow both empathy and self-awareness. Advertisement Do you prefer booking trips through a travel agent or on your own? We have done both.
Sometimes it’s nice to feel in control of our trip and other times it’s nice to give someone else the basic parameters of what we’re looking for and let them employ their expertise. Again, you can always learn something new. Advertisement Thoughts on an “unplugged” vacation? We actually just took a cruise and we did not purchase a Wi-Fi package.
It was the first time we have been truly disconnected from the world, the endless news cycle and work obligations since the advent of the internet, so it was equal parts liberating and completely disconcerting. The catch-up afterward was fast and furious. It illuminated the good, the bad, and the ugly of our perpetual electronic tethers.
What has been your worst vacation experience? So this was all on us. When my wife and I were still dating and living in Japan, at the end of our contracts, we took a trip to Thailand and decided to participate in a cooking class offered by our resort. Having had brunch before the class and not realizing the point was to eat what you made at the class’s conclusion, we took our food to go, had it warmed up later and ate it for a romantic sunset picnic dinner .
.. which, a few hours later, turned anything but romantic when we both awoke in pain and running for the bathroom.
That stomach bug or food poisoning or parasite or whatever it was that we contracted lasted beyond the end of that vacation, though I suppose the silver lining is realizing that if you can relay race to the bathroom with someone in a foreign country, you can do just about anything together. Advertisement What is your favorite childhood travel memory? Sitting in the back of my parents’ white Lincoln Continental — with maroon velvet interior — clutching my stuffed Mickey Mouse, on our way to Disneyland for the first time. I was 31⁄2 or 4 and it was just my dad, my mom, and me .
.. the last trip with just us before my little brother came onto the scene.
Do you vacation to relax, to learn, or for the adventure of it all? A little bit of all of it. Though, admittedly, I’m not always great at the relaxing part. We just had four weeks off from “Les Misérables” and we filled that with a little vacation and a lot of work.
I just released an album, “A Thousand Spotlights,” on July 26, so there were three concerts and a lot of press. I think the most relaxed I got was during a 20-minute hammock nap on the beach. Vacations, especially since having our daughter, have been more go-go-go than previous trips to adults-only resorts where eating, drinking, and lounging were the highlights.
We also want to do things that our daughter will enjoy, and feel as though the vacation is for her, too. And 4-year-olds get antsy pretty quickly. Like they say, once you have a kid, it’s not vacation — it’s parenting from a different location.
Advertisement What book do you plan on bringing with you to read on your next vacation? Whatever book Haley Dortch, who plays Fantine, tells me to bring. She is our resident avid reader and does a book club segment [on Instagram Live during S.N.
O.T. (Saturday Night On Tour)].
If you could travel with one famous person/celebrity, who would it be? Pete Buttigieg. I think he’s incredibly intelligent and well-spoken. He already knows several languages and I feel he would read a quick book and know the history of where we were going in a heartbeat.
I actually met Pete and his husband, Chasten, at a few performances of “Les Mis” and they are both incredible people. What is the best gift to give a traveler? I love a packing cube just to keep things organized in the suitcase. We’re constantly on the road [and] having some order makes unpacking and packing simple and efficient.
I would also grab them an extra phone battery, I love my MagSafe one to make things easy. What is your go-to snack for a flight or a road trip? Quest protein chips. I personally like the Spicy Sweet Chili and the Loaded Taco flavor.
Advertisement What is the coolest souvenir you’ve picked up on a vacation? We did a photo shoot in Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower and all across the city. It continues to be something that brings us so much joy, as [the pictures] now hang in our home. What is your favorite app/website for travel? Airbnb, Kayak, and Costco Travel.
What has travel taught you? That theater and the arts are needed everywhere, especially in the places that don’t place a high value on them. What is your best travel tip? Use incognito mode and have a wife who is amazing at logistics. Juliet Pennington can be reached at writeonjuliet@comcast.
net ..
