Miserable about Les Mis

[bhskittykatt]

From a friend's FB page:

Customer: I need to return my copy of Les Mis, it's broken. They only sing, never talk.
Cashier: Uh. It's... they're supposed to sing, it's a musical.
Customer: No, they're supposed to talk.
Cashier: No... it's a famous musical...
Customer: Oh. Well. Can I return it? I didn't want to get something that sings.

(As an aside, after we saw it in theatres Hubs complained that while he knew it was a musical going in, it was "too musical" and he didn't like it. )

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Les Mis technically isn't a musical. Like Phantom of the Opera.. it's an opera XD. It's all singing (with exception to maybe a handful of lines spoken, maybe). Calling it a musical is pretty misleading, since musicals are a combination of singing and talking.

[fireheart]

Les Mis technically isn't a musical. Like Phantom of the Opera.. it's an opera XD. It's all singing (with exception to maybe a handful of lines spoken, maybe). Calling it a musical is pretty misleading, since musicals are a combination of singing and talking.

Les Mis isn't exactly what people think of when they think "opera" though.

Sweeney Todd also technically falls into that category given that about 20% of the show is spoken, the rest is sung through (don't use the movie as an example!)

I'll admit, having never seen Les Mis but only hearing a handful of songs through various music students and opportunities, I didn't expect the whole thing to be sung through and neither did my partner. Despite that, we BOTH loved it.

[Peppergirl]

As a huge theatre/musical buff, this makes me .

Im headed to NYC tomorrow for work. Unfortunately my cheap company is making sure I don't have enough time to get in a matinee' tomorrow, and Monday nights the theatre is dark.

[cashierbex]

Movies ruins the magic of musicals (or operas) for me, with few exceptions (Producers, Pajama Game, Annie Get Your Gun, Oklahoma, West Side Story, Lion King, Little Shop of Horrors).

Also, this is why I watch previews before seeing movies that I don't know about (in this case buying it).

[Spork4pedro]

I used to get this a lot back in my Blockbuster days. That and people complaining that foreign films are in other languages.

[fireheart]

I used to get this a lot back in my Blockbuster days. That and people complaining that foreign films are in other languages.

They probably think that "foreign film" means "film made in another country but everyone speaks English" or that the film was dubbed.

By that logic, Moulin Rouge and Scooby Doo (the live-action one) would both be "foreign" films since they were both filmed in Australia (Sydney and Gold Coast respectively) even though everyone in those films speaks with (primarily) American accents.

On a similar note, Totally Spies and Winx Club (both cartoons) would also be considered "foreign" cartoons as they're French and Italian in origin despite the dubbing.

[XCashier]

Les Mis technically isn't a musical. Like Phantom of the Opera.. it's an opera XD. It's all singing (with exception to maybe a handful of lines spoken, maybe). Calling it a musical is pretty misleading, since musicals are a combination of singing and talking.

Yes, but if they'd called it an opera, almost nobody would've gone to see it. Most people think opera = fat people screaming in tune.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the title didn't turn off a few people. Or maybe it did. "I dun wanna see a movie called Less Miserable! Hyuk hyuk!"

[Brojekk]

Lets hope he doesn't decide to watch Evita.

[Caractacus_Potts]

Waiting in the theater for Sweeney Todd (the movie) to start...

Wife: I'm surprised you agreed to see this considering Tim Burton...(refers to my loathing of Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride).
Me: Well, this has two things going for it. First it's not animated. Second it's not a musical.
Wife: Uhmm, honey. I don't know how to tell you this but...

[Moirae]

Actually, they aren't musicals or operas, they're operettas. Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, and Sweeny Todd are all operettas. They are both musical and opera meeting somewhere in between. Operas are purely words, musicals have musical numbers but are told mostly in prose. An operetta has a little speech mixed in (usually to get a point across since the ear hears words more sharply when spoken during a musical). Therefore Corpse Bride, if performed on stage, would be considered a musical.

I LOVE musicals and operettas but I have a hard time with operas.

I've never understood how people could hate musicals and operettas. I find them a much more powerful way of telling many stories than by any other method.