Les Miserables: One Thread More!

[Pink Ranger]

My one big criticism is, surprise, the directing. Tom Hooper is not a great director. If anything, I'd consider him an above average to good director with a handful of quirks that's had the luck of working with great material and great actors. (I'm making this judgement based on John Adams, King's Speech, and Les Mis.) On top of that, he's a little out of his element here. He's a dramatic director directing a musical. To his credit, his experience in historical dramas brings a layer of gritty realism to the world of Les Mis.

I'm becoming increasingly of the opinion that Tom Hooper is the Brett Ratner of period-piece films.

 

[CapedCrusader14]

I'm becoming increasingly of the opinion that Tom Hooper is the Brett Ratner of period-piece films.

 

[danoyse]

A lot of critics blast the film for being unsubtle, but there are a lot of things I think most people might miss on the first few showings. I love some of the subtle moments, such as:

Spoiler

- Right after "A Heart Full of Love" when Valjean calls Cosette back in, he comes outside to look around, then goes back inside himself. After this, there is a brief shot of Marius picking up a handkerchief dropped under the gate. It is almost implied this is Valjean's, a nod to the whole 'Ursula (or Ursule)' part in the book.
- In "On My Own", right when Éponine sings "the streets are full of strangers", a silhouette walks past in the background.
- The almost symbolic fact that the centerpiece of the barricade is a coffin.
- How Enjolras' confidence starts to waver near the end, before "Drink With Me". When he sings "the people too must rise", he says it almost worriedly, and absently knocks on the wooden railing.
- The almost fraternal relationship Courfeyrac and Gavroche seem to share.
- When Javert is walking among the dead, it is playing the instrumental version of "Bring Him Home." Right when he kneels next to Gavroche's body, it plays the tune to "He's like the son I might have known/If God had granted me a son".

And so forth.

I noticed that too. That's also the point in the instrumental version of Bring Him Home that plays after the barricade falls in the stage version, when the turntable revolves to show the bodies of Enjolras and Gavroche on the other side of the barricade.

I also noticed that Gavroche managed to get his One Day More fist-pump in, after Marius sings "My place is here, I fight wit you..."

 

[Lotus]

That's also the point in the instrumental version of Bring Him Home that plays after the barricade falls in the stage version, when the turntable revolves to show the bodies of Enjolras and Gavroche on the other side of the barricade.

I was expecting it to show Enjolras' body at that point; what actually happened caught me so very off guard.
[BLACKOUT] Tears, tears everywhere [/BLACKOUT]

 

[bonoferox]

Is the 25th Anniversary concert really that decent? I've caught some of it on youtube, but just really couldn't dig Nick Jonas' Marius.

The 10th Anniversary concert DVD has been my go-to for years now.

 

[Quasimod0]

Nick Jonas was a fine marius

 

[Lotus]

Is the 25th Anniversary concert really that decent? I've caught some of it on youtube, but just really couldn't dig Nick Jonas' Marius.

The 10th Anniversary concert DVD has been my go-to for years now.

Some things are better than the 10th Anniversary, some are worse. It has Ramin Karimloo and Hadley Fraser, which is awesome. The ensemble cast is also amazing. Lea Salonga (Eponine from the 10th Anniversary) is Fantine, and she rocks it. Jenny Galloway is still Madame Thenardier. Alfie Boe is debatedly better than Colm Wilkinson. (Is he a better singer? Definitely. Is he a better Valjean? Definitely not.) The only real weak point is Nick Jonas, and he didn't do it as bad as I expected from him.

I personally rate the 10th and the 25th equally.

 

[bonoferox]

Yeah I saw that Galloway was back and loved to see her again (along with some of the original cast back for the finale encore).

 

[danoyse]

The 25th Anniversary also has more of the music from the show than the 10th Anniversary concert did.

 

[Silvermoon]

Not to mention the 25th doesn't have the entire rest of the cast sitting on folding chairs chugging away at their plastic water bottles behind everyone that's actively singing

(sorry, that's one of the sore points I have with the 10th - as if the concert setting didn't take me out of the story as it was - that did it even more-so).

Ideally though, I would've LOVED it if the 25th had pulled a Phantom 25th, but I guess with the Les Mis movie coming out so relatively close to the 25th anniversary they didn't want to do a fully acted out production and decided to stick with a concert instead *sigh*.

 

[kvz5]

Saw this for the 2nd time last night. I would've enjoyed it more if the woman in front of us wasn't alternating between ugly singing along to every.single.song or ugly sobbing. And oh? Shushing her doesn't work either. I was convinced she will faint by the end of the movie.

I'm becoming increasingly of the opinion that Tom Hooper is the Brett Ratner of period-piece films.

Spoiler

I agree. I just wanted to post that GIF.

 

[Angel_Faerie]

Nick Jonas was a fine marius

Lies! Lies and slander!

 

[Gort Baringa]

Nick Jonas was awful!

The 10th anniversary production's main drawback was that it wasn't the complete show - quite a bit of the music and story were left out. Other than that, It did have what they called The Dream Cast. Everyone's performance was exceptional.

The 25th cast had some problems. I love Leah Salonga, but she looked a bit too well fed to convince that she was dying of TB. Norm Lewis was good, but Javert would NOT have been black. And what more can be said of Nick Jonah - he was terrible!

 

[danoyse]

I don't really see Norm Lewis' race being a problem (and if you're going to get nitpicky over race, you'll need to call out Lea Salonga for that too). I saw him as Javert, he was one of the best I'd seen in the role, so I was stoked he did the concert.

The cast of the 2006 Broadway revival was pretty multi-racial, as I recall.

 

[JP]

Nick Jonas was awful!

The 10th anniversary production's main drawback was that it wasn't the complete show - quite a bit of the music and story were left out. Other than that, It did have what they called The Dream Cast. Everyone's performance was exceptional.

The 25th cast had some problems. I love Leah Salonga, but she looked a bit too well fed to convince that she was dying of TB. Norm Lewis was good, but Javert would NOT have been black. And what more can be said of Nick Jonah - he was terrible!

And Fantine would not have been Asian. And none of them would be speaking English in British/Cockney accents.

 

[Pink Ranger]

The 25th cast had some problems. I love Leah Salonga, but she looked a bit too well fed to convince that she was dying of TB. Norm Lewis was good, but Javert would NOT have been black. And what more can be said of Nick Jonah - he was terrible!

Musical theatre is a different animal than film or TV. In musical theatre, you can have a 250-pound Italian woman play a Japanese geisha or an Ethiopian slave girl.

But even in the disjointed world of musical theatre, Nick Jonas is still terrible.

 

[Gort Baringa]

At least Tom Hooper was correct in his portrayal of the characters. I did not have to sacrifice or suspend any ideas of realism in believing that Jackman, Crowe, Hathaway, Cohen, Bonham Carter, Siefried and Redmayne could all be French - even though they were speaking in an English language musical.

 

[Gort Baringa]

Sorry Pink Ranger, I would not have liked seeing a 250 lb. Italian lady play a Geisha or Ethiopian slave girl!

How seriously could that be taken?

And yes, Nick Jonas is STILL terrible!

 

[CapedCrusader14]

Norm Lewis was great as Javert. His skin colour didn't matter one bit.

Leo Salonga was good as well, but I also didn't feel convinced that she was, you know...dying.

 

[JP]

It's hard to act much in the concert setting.

 

[Gort Baringa]

Yes indeed Norm Lewis was great as Javert . . . but I am just not all that great at suspending realism!

And Lea Salonga, if you google her images, could pass as a European in many of the photos. Check out Wikipedia: Filipino People, and read that many have a strong Spanish heritage and a lot of the Filipinos don't have the traditional 'Asian' appearance. I loved Lea as Eponine in the 10th Anniversary concert, and also thought that Ruthie Henshall was absolutely marvelous in that same show as Fantine.

 

[CapedCrusader14]

It's hard to act much in the concert setting.

Could've dressed her up a little, or down

 

[Pink Ranger]

Sorry Pink Ranger, I would not have liked seeing a 250 lb. Italian lady play a Geisha or Ethiopian slave girl!

How seriously could that be taken?

And yes, Nick Jonas is STILL terrible!

It's called opera. It's been taken seriously for quite some time.

 

[Tony Stark]

Nick Jonas was a fine marius

Is it too early to nominate this as best post of 2013?

 

[Schlosser85]

I really liked Norm Lewis as Javert, and Lea Salonga as Fantine. I didn't care so much for Alfie Boes (sp?) as Jean though, and Nick Jonas, even in a concert setting, can't act his way out of a paper bag.

Within the context of the production, I didn't think it mattered if Javert was black or Fantine was Asian, but my roommate got nitpicky about that too.