So. Les Miserables.
I guess I should start by explaining my history with Les Mis. I’ve had the soundtrack for most (if not all) of my life. I can’t remember a time when I hadn’t had the songs memorized. And then in 9th grade I did a lengthy book report on it, which was my first time reading the book. I now have two different translations and I’m slowly working on the second (and muuuuch longer) one. I’m also a big fan of the movie. With Liam Neeson, Uma Thurman, and Gregory Rush, there’s little that can go wrong. It is certainly one of my favorites. And then there’s the musical itself, which I have now seen twice. I first saw it in 10th grade or so with my family. We saw it at the Hippodrome in Baltimore and enjoyed it very much. However, the musical has since changed. The show that we saw then was still the original; little had been edited or changed, and it was presented the same way as it had been at its creation almost 2 decades before.
So this leaves the show that I saw two nights ago. The 25th Anniversary of Les Miserables was phenomenal – while the music was (for the most part) the same as the original, there were so many other aspects that just made the experience one that I will cherish for years to come.
I feel very lucky to have seen this show. Unlike most other musical seasons, this one traveled from city to city, staying in one place for no longer than a week. And I was even luckier to get the tickets as a birthday present – they were ordered months in advance and all of the shows were sold out only days after my purchase.
And now, onto the show itself.
As I said before, I had seen the original version of Les Mis, so I had some idea of what was changed in the new ‘interpretation.’
The first change is clear right from the start – rather than having Valjean work at a prison (breaking/moving rocks, mining, etc. depending on the translation), they have him as one of a number of prisoners that are rowing the oars of a large ship. I actually like this interpretation better; the (no pun intended) flow of the scene is much more clear and easier to understand. As a huge fan of the franchise, I know the storyline quite well, but I feel that anyone who had not seen or heard Les Mis before might be more comprehending with this change.
Apart from that, there were very few changes in the storyline of the show. One that I made note of was a change in the order of the songs. In the original, Valjean sings Bring Him Home after Marius is shot – he is praying to God to let Marius live and to take his own life instead. But in the new edit, this song is actually sung before Marius is ever shot. It is instead sung following Drink With Me. I’m not really sure how I like the change – I feel like a major part of that song is that Valjean knows that Marius is close to death and is praying for a change that will allow him to live. So it seems odd that the song would instead come before Marius is dying. At the same time though, I can understand the change. In Drink With Me, Marius sings about how ‘Do I care if I should die? Now she goes across the sea; life without Cosette means nothing at all,’ so it’s understandable that Valjean should hear that and then be worried about the outcome of the barricades – by this point, it is clear that most (if not all) of those who are rebelling will not survive the night. But I think that in the end I disagree with the change. It seems like this is one of the points in the conflict that is unnecessary to change.
Apart from this, I can’t recall many changes in the plot, at least not any of great significance. The only other real differences are in stage presentation and music. The sets were certainly altered – many scenes utilized 3-story sets that definitely added to the atmosphere of the show. And there was also the backdrop. I can’t remember specifically, but I believe that in the original version there wasn’t any major background – perhaps just a blank wall or some kind of cityscape or landscape. This new version was very different in the respect. All of the scenes used some kind of digital background. An image was projected onto a solid brick wall, and the scenes were accented by slight changes in the scenery. For example, in one of the scenes the backdrop was a landscape with a few smoke stacks. However, the background changed very slowly, showing smoke slowly rising into the sky. It was simple, but very ingenious in my opinion. Similar scenery was present in almost every setup. And then there were very specific moments that were very obviously changed. One major example is the scene after Marius is shot when Valjean is carrying through the sewers to get them to safety. In the original, movement through the sewers is shown by means of overhead lights that turn on one by one and shine the image of a grate down on Valjean. This is changed in the new version through the use of the backdrop. When the scene begins, a loud creaking noise almost seems to overwhelm the audience and the cityscape in the background falls away, moving through the dirt and stone of the roads and leading down into the sewers. And then as the scene continues an almost 3D camera-like view of the sewers leads the audience through the sewers using only the background. I’m not really sure how to describe it – I know that I’m not doing it any justice here.
So as for the singers themselves, it was wonderful. A few parts were a bit lacking, but that’s nothing unusual for a musical. Valjean was breathtakingly wonderful – I was actually surprised to see that he was African-American, but that didn’t take anything away from his part. If anything, he made it even better. Javert was a bit disappointing; his voice didn’t have the stern rough quality that is usually associated with that role, but he was still a wonderful singer. It just didn’t seem like the right part for the actor. Cosette (as always) was whiney, but I’m beginning to believe that an annoying voice is a requirement for that part. Marius was actually the best I’ve heard – he was the first to not have a nasally voice, which I can greatly appreciate. All of the other parts were good as well: Thenardier and his wife, Enjolras, Eponine, Gavroche (he was so adorable!), and Fantine.
I laughed (the wedding ball, and then Gavroche singing about 'Little People'), and I cried (when Eponine died, when Marius sang Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, and then again at the end after Valjean's death), and I loved every minute of it. All in all, I can only say that I would gladly see this musical over and over again, night after night, every night that I could. If that’s not a great review, then I don’t know what is.
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