LES MIS & ME

So, if I love the musical so much, why have I not yet seen the new Les Miserables movie?

Because I’m scared I’m not going to enjoy it. I can usually disassociate a new movie from the original, or a movie from the book it is based upon. However, I have discovered that for me, it is very hard to do this with Les Miserables.

For example: I really do love the 25th anniversary DVD. I think Alfie Boe has a phenomenal voice. (all the performers in that iteration of the musical have phenomenal voices). However, Alfie Boe is not Colm Wilkinson. And for me, Colm Wilkinson is, and always will be, the definitive Jean Valjean. Nobody will ever sing “Bring Him Home” quite the same, or quite as powerfully. That is the bar to which my mind will always measure the performance, and if it is not Colm Wilkinson doing the singing, then it just isn't going to ever quite cut it.

The play has undergone some changes since the 25th anniversary that I’m not super keen on. The darkness in the play has become even darker. There is a lot more crudeness and vulgarity in the newer rendition of the play that was not there or was merely hinted at in the original version. For someone who grew up with the original version, this is very hard to swallow.

Even when we went to see the play on stage last February (almost exactly one year ago), there were things that felt like a slap in the face going on during certain scenes. In the older version, the Thenardiers were crooks, thieves, and dishonest... but in a sort of humorous way. In the newer version, they are portrayed almost more like the keepers of a brothel.

Grantaire (one of the students) is portrayed as a drunk in the older version of the play, in the new one he is a lewd drunk.

These are just two examples off the top of my head.

I also very much miss the revolving stage. That was one of the most original and fun things about seeing a Les Mis live performance... and now it’s gone.

Another thing, and this is just a minor gripe I have with the newer version of the play is the mispronunciation of "Don Juan" in the "Red/Black" song. For those of you who don’t know, “Don Juan” is a very long poem by Byron. In the poem, “Juan” is supposed to be pronounced “joo-ahn” as if it rhymes with “true one.” In the older version of Les Miserables, this is the way it is pronounced in the song “Red/Black” being sung by the student revolutionaries. This makes sense, as they were students and probably familiar with the poem (and it RHYMES with the line before it and flows better: “You talk of battles to be won/ And here he comes like Don joo-ahn”). In the new version, they simply pronounce it “wan.” This annoys me.

Anyway, I think I’ll just go purchase the Original Broadway Cast CD and stick with that. Thank you very much.

No, I probably will see the movie. I want to see it, even if I'm not impressed. I want to be able to write a review.