Broadway actor's life, role eerily converge in 'Les Miz'

Lindsay Heather Pearce is one of the stars of the national tour of the smash musical.

By Rohan Preston Star Tribune

November 18, 2024 — 7:30am

"Glee." "Wicked." "Mean Girls."

With succeeding high-profile roles in each of these hot TV and stage shows, Lindsay Heather Pearce thought she'd hit jackpot after jackpot after jackpot. But recently she landed the part of Fantine in the Broadway tour of "Les Misérables," and that has unexpectedly rocked her world.

Her character's story line — a pretty youngster who sacrifices her body for her child after becoming pregnant and being abandoned by her lover — has similarities to Pearce's own story.

Pearce's biological mother also was in a difficult spot when she was pregnant with her and gave her up for adoption shortly after birth. Now playing mother Fantine who has to make tough choices gives Pearce a whole new window onto her birth mother's mindset.

"I don't think the connections between my character and my life are too close to home but right at home," Pearce said. "For I'm putting what I know into Fantine and learning to see the world from a mom's struggle and sacrifice."

Adapted from Victor Hugo's novel, the musical is Minnesota's most beloved Broadway title. This holiday engagement marks the 16th time that the show is playing Minneapolis and St. Paul (it ran for many years at the Ordway). The themes of redemption, love and justice, not to mention the music and stagecraft, resonate strongly in the Great North.

Fantine, who becomes a prostitute to support her child, is someone to whom Pearce is bringing a whole new gloss. She gives up her child and perishes but she's not sad at all at the end, Pearce said. Instead, she's at peace and hopeful.

Family by choice and love

Fantine could not provide the life that Cosette needed to thrive in revolutionary France but the mother's decision to place her in the care of Jean Valjean, the main character who is relentlessly pursued by Inspector Javert after serving time for stealing food, is a good one.

"Everything she does is to keep this child alive, which is why I think that while she's dying at the end, she's victorious," said Pearce. "She sees how loved Cosette is — that she is exactly what she dreamed her daughter would be like."

That could be a statement about one aspect of a birth mom's ideal. But Pearce does not want to get carried away with how the role intersects with her life.

"Fantine is angelic and demure, very upright and proud, and I'm not like that," Pearce said. "I grew up with brothers and am very scrappy."

Pearce, 33, lives in Los Angeles with her partner, Steven Linhares, a fellow actor. Both studied at Modesto Junior College.

Pearce's parents knew each other before she was born and she likens the process of her adoption between her birth mother, who she would only identify by her first name, Heather, and parents Carol and Greg Pearce, to a holiday gift exchange.

Heather "kind of gave me to them for Christmas," Pearce said. "There was supposed to be some kind of time [away from each other] for healthy separation but then they just couldn't stay apart. They are truly best friends."

Both moms are coming together to see her perform at Minneapolis' Orpheum Theatre, where "Les Miz." opens Tuesday. Birth mom Heather lives in Minneapolis and both moms have enthusiastically championed her career.

"They were both at my Broadway debut ['Wicked'] and I couldn't be more thankful," Pearce said. "And they drove to St. Louis to see me perform. My [adopted] mom has been there for every victory and every defeat."

Theatrical secrets in youth

As a child in Modesto, Calif., where her mom gave birth, and Oregon, where her [adopted] parents lived while her dad completed graduate school, Pearce always saw Heather around. But it wasn't until Pearce was 19 that she realized that she carried Heather's blood.

"I always knew Heather as my mom's best friend and kind of as an aunt to me," Pearce said. "And so, when I found out that she was actually my birth mom I was like, 'Oh, that makes sense.'"

While Pearce has had struggles with addiction, she has been sober for many years. Some of her personal life, like surviving sexual assault, has been fodder for articles, especially as her celebrity has been buffed on TV.

But it is the stage where she started as a child and where she feels most loved. "Les Miz" feels like tying up a bow not simply because of the personal connections to her character but also because the experience has so far been heartening and rewarding.

Pearce's Broadway debut was marred by injury and the pandemic. Shortly after she went on in the last week of February 2020 as Elphaba in "Wicked," an injury put her out of the show for a week. Then just as she returned, COVID-19 shut down Broadway and the rest of the world.

"I do believe that every single human has a divine purpose," Pearce said, relishing the thought of her two moms watching her onstage. "I'm socially a shy person but for me, there's something about storytelling that I've always loved. It's about connecting to something greater than myself."