Steven Jobs, Herbert Hoover and Leo Tolstoy all did pretty well for themselves, but perhaps the most successful orphan of all is Cosette, the little urchin of “Les Miserables”. Not only is she a major player in Victor Hugo’s hugely successful novel, she’s also become the face of one of biggest blockbuster musicals of all time. Five years after a successful premiere in Paris in 1980, the musical “Les Miserables” opened in London’s West End – and hasn’t closed since. 1987 saw the Broadway premiere, a multiple-Tony winning production that played 6680 performances through May 2003. (It’s still #5 on the all-time Broadway long runs list and won’t be overtaken for at least three years at the earliest.)

Only three years after the show’s Broadway close, “Les Miz” came back – to the Broadhurst Theater – for a run that lasted more than a year. A star-studded hit movie followed, bolstered by the discovery of Susan Boyle and her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” on “Britain’s Got Talent”.

The journey of Alain Boublil and Claude Michel-Schonberg’s musical continues tonight (March 23), where a newly staged and designed “Les Miserables” opens at the Broadway Theater. Previews began March 1 for the production, which is co-directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell, and as ever, produced by Cameron Mackintosh. Iranian-born Ramin Karimloo stars as Jean Valjean, opposite “Hair” revival alumnus Will Swenson as Javert.

With “Les Miz” so familiar and the original staging – and its ever-circling turntable so iconic – did Broadway’s critics warm to the return of these French revolutionaries or want to jump into the Seine?

Writing for the Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney doesn’t deny that the new version moves, “Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's all-singing mega-musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic 19th century novel hurtles along in a breathless marathon for almost three hours. Despite that running time, this reboot feels faster, grittier, gloomier and, above all, more emphatic than ever, which is saying something for a show that was always an unrelenting assault on the tear ducts.” Not entirely a fan of “Les Miz” to begin with (which he feels verges on “overwrought” self parody throughout), Rooney does love both Ramin Karimloo and Will Swensen, though he has issues with the female leads and the “sleazy cartoon” that the Thenardiers have become.

Robert Kahn, of NBC New York, also lauds the male leads. He calls Karimloo “the main reason to reacquaint yourself” with the show and Swenson “wonderful.” He also notes that Caissie Levy’s take on Fantine’s “I Dreamed a Dream” moved him “in ways I haven’t been in years” by that song. “Otherwise,” he writes, “this revival is a successful love letter to the original, with some nifty tweaks.”

Calling “Les Mis” “high mass for the Broadway faithful, TheaterMania’s Zachary Stewart is a believer all the way, noting, “Flags, bullets, and glory notes fly about the stage at a dizzying pace, culminating in some of the most satisfyingly melodramatic moments to grace a Broadway stage.” Stewart writes that even a mediocre “Les Miz” can be buoyed by the material, but great performances make it soar. Examples of the latter include Karimloo, Swenson and Keala Settle’s Madame Thenardier. The critic’s only quibble is with the staging of the violent, which bounces between the oddly “abstract” and “maximum realism.”

Daily News reviewer Joe Dziemianowicz is less over the moon in his *** review. He finds Karimloo’s “Bring him Home” sequence enthralling and compliments the set and its “moody, charcoal-colored landscapes [that] consistently lend fitting shadows to the dark story.” On the other hand, Dziemianowicz finds Swensen’s Javert “clenched” and one-note, and like colleague David Rooney, he’s utterly put off by the “grotesque” Thenardiers. Dziemianowicz also mocks Gaten Matarazzo’s too cutesy Gavroche: “He seems more like the plucky little Iowa kid from `The Music Man.’”

Newsday critic Linda Winer couldn’t disagree more about Matarazzo and calls him “a star.” She’s also a fan of Karimloo whose Valjean “galvanizes” the production and goes from a “feral, hotheaded convict into a dashing, dignified hero.” She appreciates that the new version “has clearer, tighter storytelling and less bombast than the internationally celebrated 1987 original.” Like David Rooney, Winer questions the earnestness and “fuzzy-edged politics” of the musical itself, but, she concludes, “if we need to have `Les Miz’ -- and obviously, we do -- I pick this one.”

Variety’s Marilyn Stasio acknowledges the tuner’s “beautiful melodies and unbridled emotions” as well as its “heroic scale and epic sweep.” However, the whole becomes too “overwrought” and “relentless.” “Even Eponine’s despairing `On My Own’ escalates from mournful reflection to belting brassiness,” she grumbles. “Technically and stylistically, this is quite a good show and sure to please the fans. It doesn’t really need to twist and shout to be heard,” Stasio concludes.

AM New York’s Matt Windman concurs in his ** review. “Although it offers many rich new details and an emphasis on violence,” he writes, this “Les Miz” is marred by miscasting and bad singing. Often it feels as if you're watching `American Idol’ Presents `Les Misérables.’" Unlike the other critics, Windman finds Karimloo “mechanical” and Swenson “underwhelming.” As with several other critics, Windman dislikes the scenery-chewing Thenardiers. “Too much of even a great musical can be nauseating,” Windman ends his review, “This `Les Miz’ feels less like a revival than a ritual,” frowns Windman.

Agreeing that the revival has taken on a ritualistic air, New York Times critic Charles Isherwood nevertheless appreciates both leads, though he wishes the other performers weren’t forced to push their voices into “throat-searing” numbers with “dazzling flourishes” that recall reality TV singing contests. For example, “as Enjolras, the student leader of the rebellion seeking to bring forth a new day in repressive France, Kyle Scatliffe got a little pitchy at times, as they say on `American Idol.’”

By contrast, Talkin’ Broadway’s Michael Murray buys into the mythic, epic spirit of the show and writes, “For all the mounting’s missteps — the grating broadness of so many of the performances, the…toned-down versions of John Cameron’s orchestrations… — the power of the material is unmistakable and unavoidable… This is the most vibrant and alive the show has been in years.”