Dallas Theater Center's artistic director Kevin Moriarty loves to surprise theatergoers by shaking up expectations, especially with popular pieces like Les Miz. For this summer's DTC production of the beloved musical, Moriarty brought in director Liesl Tommy, who'd never seen Les Miz (or so she says). She changed the show's context, making it more Occupy Wall Street than 1800s French uprising. That meant modern costumes, anti-corporation slogans on protest signs held by the "peasants" and dreadlocks on the "master of the house" (played with delicious evil by Steven Walters) as he picked the pockets of the wealthy. Bold and inventive, full of big performances and bare emotions, this production framed the Victor Hugo story as a contemporary battle between haves and have-nots. And the cast, led by Nehal Joshi as Valjean and Edward Watts as Javert, sang their hearts out.