Les Miz 2012 ... :D (no spoilers)

[BookstoreEscapee]

EE was not happy; the girl sitting on the other side of her from the Evil Princess was singing along through the whole movie, and not doing it very well.

Saw it today; I was a little worried there would be singers in the audience, but everyone was well-behaved, and the theater wasn't too packed, either (luckily my brother bought tickets in advance so we didn't have to wait on line), though we did have to move down one seat after some woman sat in front if me; the seats in the theater can lean back a little too far and I felt like she was in my lap, plus her hair was just enough in my line of sight to be distracting. I did sing along silently on some of the songs. Also I had a napkin in my coat pocket that came in handy.

On our way out I overheard a girl refer to Eponine as "Borat's daughter"

[violiavampyr]

Overall I enjoyed it, with just a few minor issues (I mainly have them with the musical in general ).
-spoilers follow-




I saw it with my boyfriend, who had never seen it or read the book. He was confused as to why Javert killed himself, so I explained more of the history and mental state of Javert to him.
The way valjean leaves Marius and Cossette has alway felt clunky in the musical. It never explains that Valjean thinks Javert is still out there, and thats why he thinks he needs to go. And IIRC Marius is "GTFO" because he thinks Valjean killed Javert. He believes that till Thenardier (sp) shows him that Javerts body was found in the river.

[XCashier]

I did see Les Mis on Broadway in 1999 and was totally blown away. I've also read the book. I haven't seen the movie yet, am hoping to next Tuesday and sincerely hoping the movie does the story justice. It does look really well-done and well-cast.

[EricKei]

Never seen it live, but I've seen "live-on-tape" and the anniversary reunion version done in front of an orchestra, which was really cool ^_^

[fireheart]

I saw it today.

I LOVED IT.

I was vaguely familiar with the storyline from Wikipedia and I knew a few of the songs.
I ended up mouthing along to "At The End Of The Day", "I Dreamed A Dream" and "On My Own".

I now have this sudden desire to find the score and recreate it on Sibelius.

the audience were silent, although when the credits came on, everyone started clapping (the only other time I've ever seen that happen was when Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was out on DVD, we were all watching it, then in the scene where Hermione beats Draco up, we all started clapping)

[XCashier]

Never seen it live, but I've seen "live-on-tape" and the anniversary reunion version done in front of an orchestra, which was really cool ^_^

If you ever get the chance to see it live, do so. Even if it's not a Broadway or West End production, a live version would have energy and emotion to remember for a lifetime.

[PepperElf]

I saw it today.

I LOVED IT.

I was vaguely familiar with the storyline from Wikipedia and I knew a few of the songs.
I ended up mouthing along to "At The End Of The Day", "I Dreamed A Dream" and "On My Own".

I now have this sudden desire to find the score and recreate it on Sibelius.

the audience were silent, although when the credits came on, everyone started clapping (the only other time I've ever seen that happen was when Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was out on DVD, we were all watching it, then in the scene where Hermione beats Draco up, we all started clapping)

yeah people clapped when i went to it too.

and heh - the music's been stuck in my head ever since... although since I'm more familiar with the original london production (i.e. colm wilkinson, terrence mann etc) that's the one that's actually been playing.

I found my target gift card from 2 christmases ago - never used it - so I may try to see if it's still good and use it for the album.


and yeah no one sang in my theatre thankfully. i bopped my head along etc but refrained from joining. besides, if i'd done that i'd be signing the guys' lines anyway... i think what i am is called a "contralto" but I'm not sure. in laymen's terms i'm a girl who sings tenor.


and yeah the ending was chopped up a bit from what was in the book.
which reminds me... it's a LONG read, but i found an audiobook of it for free (legal) online: http://librivox.org/les-miserables-v...y-victor-hugo/

it's also available on itunes as a podcast - same recording.

[fireheart]

and yeah no one sang in my theatre thankfully. i bopped my head along etc but refrained from joining. besides, if i'd done that i'd be signing the guys' lines anyway... i think what i am is called a "contralto" but I'm not sure. in laymen's terms i'm a girl who sings tenor.

That would be contralto.

Soprano is the high vocal range (think Cosette). That goes from Middle C to about 2 octaves above that.
Mezzo-soprano is the next vocal range down (Fantine and Eponine) and goes from about A below Middle C to about 2 octaves above that.
Contralto is the lowest female vocal range (Madame Thenardier) and goes from F below Middle C.

The tenor part for a male is fairly close to a contralto and goes from one octave below Middle C to about one octave above that. (using Les Mis as an example, a number of the male characters can either be baritone or tenor apart from Javert and Gavroche, while Valjean is sung as a tenor.)

In most songs that are arranged for 3-4 part choir, sopranos are generally just "that", while what is marked as "alto" on the sheet can generally be a mix of mezzo-soprano and contralto.

I usually sing alto when I sing with a choir, but my vocal range would be closer to a contralto.

ETA: For those who are wondering what on EARTH I'm referring to, sheet music is generally written on five lines known as a stave. Middle C is considered to be "that" because it's both the lowest note of what's known as the "treble" scale (higher notes) and the highest note of what's known as the "bass" scale (lower notes). Females generally sing from the treble scale, while men sing from the bass scale (or clef).

[dalesys]

Females generally sing from the treble scale, while men sing from the bass scale (or clef).

Yep. We're base, you're trouble.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

In all of the plays that I have worked back stage during Les Miz was the one experience I will never forget. I worked as a dresser specifically for Eponine''s costume changes back stage the summer before last when Theatre de Jeunesse did Les Miz and my youngest Little Bits played Eponine. The hardest costume change we had was after she left the stage at the end of "On My Own" and when she went back on to come over the barricade. I had to make sure the fake blood filled balloon was pinned into her collar so Marius would have blood on his hand during "Little Fall of Rain"

[CloserToSane]

It's out on Friday here. I'm incredibly excited and bought tickets on NYE for myself and a friend so we could be sure to get the time we wanted. I'm more excited about seeing the movie than Friday being my birthday. I have tissues on hand - I've seen it in the west end a handful of times, I know I'm going to cry.

[XCashier]

I saw it this afternoon, and am very pleased with it. First of all, comparing it to the Broadway play I saw would be comparing apples and oranges: both very good, but very different. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!



There were a few changes made from the musical; lyrics snipped here and there, bits added. Most of the changes made it fit better with the book, like having Gavroche deliver Marius' letter to Cosette. (I also liked the elephant statue). I am very glad they didn't whitewash or cut out the religious parts; the theme of redemption is absolutely central to the story.

Hugh Jackman's singing voice was higher than I expected, though still a good performance. Russell Crowe's singing is very weak for the part; it really should be sung by a near-operatic baritone or bass. "Can carry a tune" isn't good enough. I was very pleased with Colm Wilkinson's Bishop; he was really a beacon of goodness.

Anne Hathaway's performance was just beautiful and heartbreaking. I heard more than a few sobs in the audience during her scenes. Samantha Barks' Eponine was likewise very well-done and sympathetic. The children were also very well cast. They even expanded Young Eponine's role a bit, showed how the Thenardiers were more or less raising her to be as crooked as they are (poor kid never had a snowball's chance in Hell, did she?)

I was doubtful of the Thenardiers' casting, but they did a fantastic job. The scene where they pretend to love Cosette and she's not buying it was a particularly good one.

I will definitely be seeing this one again, and buying the DVD.

[fireheart]

Hugh Jackman's singing voice was higher than I expected, though still a good performance.

That would most likely be because the part of Valjean is what's known as a "dramatic tenor" in classical music. The only difference between a dramatic tenor and a normal tenor is that the dramatic tenor can go a bit higher.

Personally, I didn't see a problem with Russell Crowe's singing, although I don't have much to compare it too.

There were a few scenes that made me crack up, not all of them were the Thenardier scenes either:

-The bit where the woman is doing the horizontal salsa and screams "Oh Santa!" (during "master of the house")
-The parts with Gavroche.
-In particular, the part where Gavroche exposes Javert in "little people", I'm not sure but I do believe that one of his lines was cut off (the line sounds like it would end with "fuck")

[XCashier]

Personally, I didn't see a problem with Russell Crowe's singing, although I don't have much to compare it too.

Here is Philip Quast performing "Stars" during the 10th Anniversary Concert.

Here is Terrence Mann who played Javert in the original Broadway cast (I have the CD). This is a much later recording (2011) and the audio isn't the best, but you can hear what a powerful voice he has.

I may be prejudiced due to seeing previous performances, but I feel Javert should have a strong baritone or bass voice, commanding and powerful.

And another treat: Colm Wilkinson as Valjean at the 10th Anniversary Concert.

[violiavampyr]

Well, the 10th anniv is pretty much the gold standard for Les Miz, that's why it was called "The Dream Cast". I should talk; I had some MAJOR problems with the Phantom of the Opera that came out a few years back.