Les Misérables. No, the musical. · 2:18am Jan 2nd, 2013
Where does my favorite music come from? Easy. Musicals, no question.
I hate almost all modern-day music (with a few notable exceptions, which I'm very ashamed of). I find that music nowadays is designed to make the singer look good. This is why I like musicals so damn much: the point of every song in a musical is to push a story in a very creative way and, most importantly, to bring out the emotion of the singer.
I remember walking out after Wicked being blown away. "Holy shit," I had thought, "that was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen in my life." Mostly, I had been impressed by the Defying Gravity sequence. Everything about that one song is amazing: The set, the colors, the lyrics, the emotions, the actual physical skill that it takes to sing that song—sends shivers down my spine every time. To this day, despite everything, Defying Gravity is still my favorite song of all time, and those numerous people who covered it as a "pop" song really should be ashamed of themselves. Their covers come nowhere near to the power of the original, and I have no idea how Idina Menzel—especially considering the fact that she was the original Elphaba—could bring herself to sing that abomination.
The musical Wicked is carried by that one song, and that one song is enough for me to say that the entire musical is amazing. The other songs are good too, and a for a while, the Wicked Original Broadway Cast album was the only thing I listened to. What was I talking about again? Oh right, Les Misérables.
My sister, shortly after we saw Wicked together, told me that despite the fact that Wicked was great, Les Misérables was still better. "What?" I had thought. "How could you ever top that?" But I downloaded the broadway recording, and instantly I was hooked. I bought the anniversary DVDs, and the playlist a long time ago beat the Wicked playlist for the title of The Most Number of Plays in my Itunes Library.
When I heard that they were making the musical into a movie, that's all I could think about for a while. The thought got me through even the most hardest times at university: Les Misérables, Les Misérables, Les Misérables . . . in other words, my expectations were set unfairly high.
When I had heard that they had cast Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, and Anne Hathaway as the leads, I could feel the anger brewing within me. What? Wolverine, Gladiator, and Catwoman? No! How dare you do this! It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that Russel Crowe was going to butcher Stars—the best song in the musical. Still, my expectations were absurdly high.
When I saw the trailers, I was crushed when I heard the subpar voices of Russel Crowe and Hugh Jackman. I also thought that too much emphasis was being put on Anne Hathaway and on I Dreamed a Dream—the most overrated song in the musical. Still, I was preordering my movie tickets.
When I heard Russel Crowe sing in one of the trailers, my head fell on my desk when I heard how inferior his voice was to every other cover of the song I had ever heard. "Oh no," I had thought, "I'm going to hate Stars when this is all over." Still, today, I walked briskly into the IMAX movie theater, and as the clock ticked down to the showing time, I could feel my heart racing with anticipation.
And I just got back from it.
The movie starts out with a shot underwater, the camera rising up to the surface of the waves as a title card comes up giving the audience a little bit of the historical background. Yeah, yeah, France changes governments more often than an African nation. Go faster, camera. I can't hear anything underneath the water. Go to the surface so we can see—
HOLY FUCKING SHIT
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I actually did scream that in the theater as the camera panned over and as that overture began to play—sorry.
The entire movie not only met my unfairly high expectations, but surpassed them. The cinematography, the sets, the colors, the emotions, Sacha Baron Cohen, Samantha Barks, the dude that plays Marius, Cosette—everything was amazing.
Of course I can nitpick. I can say Hugh Jackman and Russel Crowe's voices weren't the best I've ever heard. I can say that the close-up shots of their faces were unnecessary, and that I probably shouldn't have seen the movie in IMAX. I can say that the new song was stupid, and that time spent singing the song could've been used to make the other songs longer, shorter as they were, as almost all of the original songs had to be truncated for the sake of keeping the movie a reasonable length. I can say that Bring Him Home could've been a bit gentler. I can say that almost every single recording of every single song pales in comparison to the broadway recordings.
But I won't, because the movie made up for the voices with its massive scale and the realism of the whole thing. The songs were sung live, you see, as opposed to singing them in booths beforehand. And you can really hear the difference. They sound gritty, dark, hoarse—and real, and powerful.
And I was surprised by I Dreamed a Dream. I thought Anne Hathaway was going to butcher that song—but she did a really, really good job! The whole thing was one take (no additional camera shots), and was really, really heart-wrenching. My only complaint was that the camera was too close to her face and I was in an IMAX theater, but I don't care. Ms. Hathaway, I forgive you for The Dark Knight Rises.
And Stars is still my favorite song! The first thing that struck me as amazing was a slightly different instrumental score than in the broadway version—and I thought it was awesome. Russel Crowe sings the song while standing on the top of the Palais de Justice, back-dropped by Notre Dame and gargoyles. The grandiose nature of the whole song, the darkness punctuated by the stars, made me forget that Russel Crowe's voice was technically subpar.
Samantha Barks was incredible, as expected; that's the same Eponiné from the 25th Anniversary in Concert. Sacha Baron Cohen was hilarious, and he really . . .
You know, I could gush about this movie forever, and I really don't consider myself a moviegoer. I'll wait for the Blu-Ray release (hopefully, it will be an extended version where none of the songs are truncated!) while reading and playing video games.
Reading what? Well, I'm reading Rainbow Six right now. What's waiting? I've downloaded the unabridged edition of Les Misérables, and it's sitting on my kindle. I did receive a corporeal copy of the book, a new translation, but it was abridged, and I feel dirty just touching it. I'm going to rush through Rainbow so I can get back to literature.
Fuck, I really wish I could read in French!
Hmm, what's that, Fallout: Equestria? You want me to finish reading you first? No, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait. I'll be damned if I put you before Victor Hugo. Even Tom Clancy deserves to be taken first. In fact, Fallout: Equestria, I've got a bone to pick with you before I decide to give you back my valuable attention.
GAH! havent seen it yet, but I do love hUgh Jackman As valjean
Les Misérables is my favourite musical ever, and I think it is one of those things where the adaptation is better than the book it is based on on. Victor Hugo writes powerful scenes and characters, no doubt, but it is also very meandering, which contrasts with just how intense the feelings come in the musical. You may lack some information on the characters, sure, but they also come as much more alive and real, and thus relatable. I advise you to avoid going into the book with the same mindset as when watching the musical, since it will detract from a otherwise very, very good read.
By the way, this review finally made me decide to not wait until the eventual Blu-ray release and go see the movie on a cinema.
Outside of 'Lord of the Dance' if that even counts, I've never seen a musical before.
I have to say though, your (as usual) incredible posts on the subject has gotten me curious. I think I'll be looking these up later. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
Also, happy new years!
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Thanks for reading! I'll definitely have to keep that in mind. Have you read the book?
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Yes. It is very good in its own terms, even if I think that the musical works better.