Les Miserables: From Page to Stage to Film

I read the abridged version of Les Miserables about a month ago. I saw the musical a week ago. And the first movie trailer was released earlier today. Sounds like a good opportunity for a Les Mis post!

I’ll admit up front that I’m new to all this. Les Miserables is a musical that was a hit years before I was born, and I’ve only just discovered it…

…last Thursday (May 24) at the Queen’s Theatre in London, to be exact.

But it all started a while ago. Have you ever heard of something and thought, I think I want to be a fan of that? It sounds premature, but sometimes it’s easy to have a pretty good idea of what you might like. I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway last July (yes, it’s been a great year for me and theatre), and it largely shares its fanbase with Les Mis. A great yet tragic story? Epic music? Memorable characters? Sad French people? Count me in. When I found out I’d be going to the United Kingdom in May on a school trip, I seized my chance to see Les Mis live and booked my ticket.

Book or Brick?

I wanted to be prepared for the musical by reading the book (typical English major), but I didn’t quite understand what I was getting into when I got the free download of the novel for my Kindle. Even though I’ve read my fair share of long books, I didn’t make it past the bishop’s background. Instead, I then opted for an abridged version from a little used bookstore in my university’s city. Although at times I felt I was “missing something” from the story, for the most part I really enjoyed the book. I got emotionally involved enough to rage against the unfairness of the characters’ lives, share in their few sweet triumphs, and mourn their losses.

Do You Hear the People Sing?

The musical surprised me by sticking closer to the book than I thought it would.  And I certainly didn’t expect to see some of the more complex bits of the book, such as the runaway cart and the journey through the sewers, retained for the stage. Clearly I had already forgotten what a little theatre magic and imagination could do. I didn’t know about the rotating set, so it was a great surprise to see it come alive onstage. The barricade scenes were fantastic. It was especially exciting to be sitting in the Upper Circle when Valjean started shooting at the “sniper.” Although I was indeed “spoiled” of all the dramatic deaths and plot twists, I’d glad I had an idea of the story to begin with. I feel I would have had a more difficult time keeping track of all the characters if I were totally new to them. Sometimes key lines can be hard to catch the first time.

Since the stage production itself is very familiar to most people, let’s talk about the cast. Having never seen the show before, I didn’t have much of a basis of comparison, but I did have in idea of the characters’ personalities from the book. I wasn’t crazy  about David Shannon’s voice at the start of the play. However, it soon grew on me once I realized what he was doing. It sounded rough and manic at the start when he is still “24601,” yet grows more refined after Valjean turns his life around. Still, the old desperate sound peeks out again at key points. I figure that a lot of actors playing the role do this, but I still thought it was neat and very effective.

About Javert: I saw the 25th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall production of Phantom of the Opera in the movie theatre with friends last October. I had no clue who this Hadley Fraser person was, but I really couldn’t stand the way he played Raoul. I am very happy to say that the role of Javert fits Fraser’s voice and demeanor much better. He sang wonderfully and had a very memorable performance.

As for the rest: Caroline Sheen as Fantine was fittingly heartbreaking. Marius in the book could be pretty dense at times, causing me much frustration. He was slightly less so in the musical, and Craig Mather’s performance had some good moments. I found adult Cosette bland as a character, but her high notes were chill-inducing. I believe Helen Owen was the understudy for Eponine that night, and she was fantastic! One of her key scenes was definitely the most emotional for me (and considering what all happens in this musical, that’s saying something). We also had an understudy for one of the Thernadiers…I don’t recall which…but their cringe-worthy yet often humorous antics were spot-on. Scott Garnham was the understudy for Enjolras, and he and the other revolutionaries brought the appropriate fire and energy. I don’t know which Gavroche I saw, but he totally stole every scene he was in, as well as the audience’s hearts! The applause he received for one of his scenes almost rivaled Javert’s!

Naturally, the music was terrific. I got actual goosebumps down my arms during “One Day More,” which is significant since I was quite warm and toasty. I sat in row A of the Upper Circle, having bought a £25 “under 25″ discount seat. Unfortunately, my particular seat made watching Les Miserables a bit of a miserable experience in itself. The row was pretty cramped, and the row in front of us had to lean forward to be able to see over the large balcony wall and lighting rigs. This meant the head of the person in front of me was directly in my way unless I sat on the edge of my seat and also leaned forward. Add to that the fact that London had been unseasonably warm of late. There was no air conditioning up there, and my friends and I were dripping with sweat by intermission. So…if I ever get the chance to see Les Mis live again, hopefully it will be in more comfortable conditions!

…Singing the Song of Happy Fans?

Compared to the terrific stage version, the 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie was a disappointment to many hardcore fans (though it did bring new phans, like me, into the fold). The good news is that it looks like the filmmakers of Les Miserables are attempting to learn some valuable lessons from the Phantom film and avoid its mistakes.

First, the cast. It’s got a big slew of box office stars, but more than that, the majority of them are known to be able to sing!  Yes, they are actors first, but at least they can carry a tune in a bucket to begin with…unlike Gerard Butler. (Gerry fans, don’t get mad at me. He’s a good actor and he worked very hard on his vocals, but he was just miscast as an “Angel of Music” type character.) To digress, I remember the days when I was ten and listened to Anne Hathaway’s cover of “Somebody to Love” ad naseum.

Second, the supporting cast. The diehards will certainly have fun with all the West End cast member cameos in the background. I might be missing others, but from what I know at the moment, two of the key roles are even played by West End vets: Colm Wilkinson plays the Bishop and Samantha Barks plays Eponine. Wilkinson of course was the original Valjean, so it’s totally fitting that he play the character who sets Valjean on his way within the story. I’ve seen part of Barks’ performance at the 25th anniversary concert and found her rendition of “On My Own” incredibly moving.  I’m looking forward to seeing them both in the film.

Third, the fact that the actors are recording their vocals live onset and not prerecording them in a studio. I imagine this will do wonders to capture the immediacy of a live stage performance.

The trailer gave us our first taste of Anne Hathaway’s rendition of the musical’s closest thing to a theme song, “I Dreamed a Dream.” It was different than I expected. I’m not sure Hathaway has the vocal power of some of the West End/Broadway Fantines, and she doesn’t even attempt that route. Instead of a strong belting performance, hers is intimate, broken, and wavering. It’s a different approach from the stage version, but it’s clearly what the director is aiming for. It has the potential to be very effective onscreen… just different from the stage musical.

This brings us to the fourth thing in favor of the film: the director.  Tom Hooper known for The King’s Speech, a wonderful character study where you really got inside people’s heads. Isn’t that a huge part of Les Mis? In addition, musicals always require some suspension of disbelief, but the sets, costumes, locations and makeup we’ve seen in the trailer and released stills look nice and gritty. The sight of the barricade also made me super excited…

Twenty Years to Go?

More like 6 months. While I wait, I plan to

1)acquire the Original London Cast recording

2)watch the 25th Anniversary performance at the O2 (recorded on my DVR)

3) most importantly, figure out how in the world you pronounce Enjolras!

See you at the theater in December!

(It seems that this is my longest post yet. I would apologize but it seems somewhat appropriate given the original source material!)

The Versatile Blogger Award

Wow! Just a few weeks ago I received a Liebster Award nomination, and now I’ve also been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by thoughtsonmybookshelf. Thank you so much! Needless to say, I’m deeply flattered and very thrilled.

To accept this award, first I’m supposed to list 7 interesting facts about myself. I have no idea whether or not the following are actually interesting, but they are at least facts:

1. I’m an INFJ, although my T and F scores were very close. For those scratching their heads, this references the Myers-Briggs personality test. My result means I’m an Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judger. See if this is what I convey in my reviews, haha.

2. I pace through rooms of my house while I brush my teeth. Not sure what that says about me.

3. I have an orange tabby cat. Rather than go with a literary namesake, my family gave him the ordinary name of “Sammy.” However, I like to believe it’s short for Samwise Gamgee, which is fitting since the cat and hobbit are both very sweet, loyal, and occasionally fierce.

4. I had a bit of a Star Wars obsession when I was younger that continues in a slightly tamer form to this day. As a result, I have a collection of about 80 Star Wars books. This is made up primarily of guidebooks, the Bantam paperbacks from the 1990s, and many of the Scholastic books for younger readers (written by Jude Watson). I know there are a lot of fans out there with much huger collections, but I’m very pleased with mine. (I can’t see it getting that much bigger in the future).

5. My younger brother makes a habit of reading my posts right after they are published and emailing me a list of grammatical errors and typos, which I then fix. So if you catch a mistake 2 days or more after I publish, blame him

6. I’m an Evangelical Christian, and my faith is really important to me. I believe that because of my sins, I deserve to be eternally separated from God. However, Jesus took my punishment by dying in my place, and he rose from the dead three days later. Because I’ve accepted the offer of God’s grace, I will be with him in heaven after I die. Being a Christian has really had a huge impact on my life. What difference does it make to know that I have a Savior who loves me and has a plan for my life? All the difference in the world.

7. I’ve just return from a 12-day trip to the UK. It was part of a King Arthur course with my university, and we visited London, Winchester, Bath, Tintagel, Glastonbury, Stonehenge, and Oxford.  My Stats page says the country with my second-highest readership is the UK…so if any of you happened to see a girl wearing pink and black sneakers (trainers) and a green messenger bag trying to navigate the Tube in London, that was me. I had a fantastic time and would love to return someday!

For the next part, I’m supposed to list 15 great blogs. I’ve already listed some of my favorites over on my Liebster post, and as I’ve only been blogging for half a year, I’m still slowly adding blogs to the list of ones I follow.

Therefore, I think what I’ll do is repay this very gracious award in installments. I’m going to list 5 blogs right now, and then over the next few months, I’ll do one or two more posts listing the rest.

1. http://bookssnob.wordpress.com/

2. http://chattygirlbookreviews.wordpress.com/

3. http://charitysplace.wordpress.com/

4. http://specficromantic.com/

5. http://comeandgobybubble.wordpress.com/

Again, thank you for taking the time to read!

Review: Crossed by Ally Condie

Summary: This is the second book in the trilogy that began with Matched. Cassia winds up in the Outer Provinces as she searches for Ky, the boy who taught her to write and helped her to dream. He’s also the boy she’s in love with, despite her deep feelings for her friend Xander. Far from the Society, which is dangerous but familiar, Cassia braves the desert frontier with the help of her friend Indie. Meanwhile, Ky is also trying to find Cassia as he faces some dark memories from his past. On their journeys, both Cassia and Ky must make difficult choices about truth, love, and their own futures.

Review: I really liked Matched, and in fact, I counted it among my favorite books from last year. It took me quite a long time to get around to reading Crossed, and in the meantime I had been getting negative vibes about it from reviews. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was better than I expected it to be, although neither was it particularly outstanding.

First of all, there’s a big change in the setting. The previous book took place in the slick, futuristic Society, while Crossed is more of a survival story in the rugged desert. The landscape is harsh and unforgiving, yet Cassia and Ky both find a certain kind of beauty in it. I feel this sums the book up as a whole. Dystopian fiction is dark by nature, with the characters often finding themselves in terrible situations. Crossed is appropriately serious as the characters face the concept of death and inner demons, yet they always choose to hope instead of turning to despair.

Although I was on the edge of my seat for Cassia and Ky to find each other, the book as a whole did seem somehow bland. The characters travel around quite a bit and undergo some introspection, but a curious lack of tension and foreboding meant the plot suffers as a result. There’s also a nagging sense of familiarity: if Matched felt like The Giver, Crossed feels like the Obernewtyn series by Isobelle Carmody.

What does distinguish the book from similar fiction is the author’s style. Condie incorporates poetry into the plot, and her prose is very poetic and beautiful itself. Nevertheless, I was not such a fan of the way Condie switched between perspectives. It was important to hear Ky’s side of the story, but I often had difficulty figuring out who was narrating halfway through a chapter. In addition, the supporting cast of characters is small, but I did not find them very engaging and had difficulty caring that much about them at all.

In short: Though it has an optimistic tone and her lovely prose, Crossed focuses on inner journeys to the extent that the book lacks a gripping plot. I’m hoping this reflects a middle book slump, as I do plan to read Reached to finish the trilogy.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Something better: For a more interesting frontier-style journey, check out Exile, the sequel to Aurelia by Anne Osterlund. As mentioned above, I would also recommend the Obernewtyn series. It’s very long (I haven’t yet finished it – it’s been ongoing since the 1980s) and could use some editing down, but still a good  post-apocalyptic read.

Cover & Title: ”Crossed” could have several connotations based on the contents of the novel. I love the set of the three covers as a whole. The cover for Matched is stunning and attracted me to the book in the first place. The significance of green, blue, and red is also very important. I have no clue why they chose that particular pose for the model on the cover of Crossed, though. It looks like something out of an extremely unnatural yoga session…

Where I got the book: Local library

If you look to the sidebar on the right, you may noticed that I recently received the Versatile Blogger Award! I plan to post about this soon (which actually might not be for a few weeks – I’m off to England on Sunday!), but until then: a big thank you to thoughtsonmybookshelf.wordpress.com!

Review: Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Summary: After her mother dies in a car accident, high school senior Michele Windsor is sent to live  in New York City with grandparents she’s never met. They’re “old money” and live in mansion that’s a remnant of the Gilded Age. She gets to experience that time period for herself when a diary she finds sends her back in time. While meeting some of her colorful female ancestors, Michele also finds herself falling in love with Philip, a boy who’s appeared in her dreams throughout her whole life. Will their love be able to transcend time?

Review: Time travel romances are usually fun, yet inevitably complicated. Thankfully, Timeless didn’t hurt my brain too much, but neither was I totally captivated by this story. Monir has definitely done some research, and it was fun to imagine what New York City would have been like in the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties. Some of her fact-dropping, like a family casually discussing The Great Gatsby, was slightly heavy-handed however. The detailed descriptions of clothing were fun at first, but soon became repetitive.

This was a “destiny-based” romance, so it wasn’t quite as developed as I would have liked. Michele and Philip decide they are soul-mates in a very short span of time (even counting the time traveling). I did like that Michele was a lyricist and Philip was a composer. The author also has recorded the songs the characters write in the book, which is pretty cool.

I know there’s a sequel coming up, but it really is disappointing how little in the book is resolved at the end. It just…ends. While the “mini-episodes” where Michele helps her ancestors with their problems are resolved, the main plots of the book (Michele and Philip’s relationship, Michele’s parentage, how the time travel happens) are not wrapped up in a satisfactory manner.

In short: Pretty average book. I’d recommend waiting until the sequel is at hand before picking up this book.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Cover & Title: Because love is timeless, right?  The cover is really pretty, and the key Michele wears on the cover is important to the story.

Where I got the book: Shelves of the local library.

Review: This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

Summary: Victor Frankenstein is close to his twin Konrad, yet secretly envies his brother’s talents and good nature. When Konrad falls ill with a mysterious and dangerous sickness, Victor is willing to resort to ancient dark arts that his father has forbidden him to explore. Along with his friends Elizabeth and Henry, Victor’s search for the Elixir of Life will cause him to encounter deadly creatures, gloomy forests and caverns, and personal sacrifice. Despite this, the most frightening things Victor discover may be within himself.

Review: I picked up this book in the first place for two reasons: 1) because the author’s Airborn Trilogy are among my favorite books of all time (and will finally be a movie after all these years) and 2) because I read the original Frankenstein for class this semester and found it fascinating.

This Dark Endeavor is exactly what I’ve come to expect from Mr. Oppel’s previous books. It has a lot of suspenseful adventure along with great character exploration. While the scrapes that Victor and company get into are certainly hair-raising, it’s getting inside Victor’s head that is really what makes this book good (and disturbing). He’s not what you would call a very likeable narrator, but this is totally consistent with his personality in the Mary Shelley novel. Victor swings between jealousy towards Konrad and guilt over these feelings. He’s rather self-centered, and can’t resist the allure of the forbidden fruit of dark science. In Frankenstein, Victor has a curious lack of empathy and as well as a detachment from his emotions. I thought it was very interesting that throughout the novel, it seemed like Victor took cues from Konrad on how to feel about various things – even when it came to being in love.

Speaking of which, while Matt and Kate have a charming (if slightly rocky) romance in the Airborn books, Victor’s relationship with Elizabeth was…weirder. It’s kind of animalistic and even squicky, but this definitely fits with the eerie tone of the book. It’s different from their relationship in Frankenstein, in which Elizabeth is devoted and Victor aloof, but Oppel’s allowed to take some liberties. After all, Victor never mentioned having a twin brother…

Although I couldn’t put the book down, it really did creep me out. It’s the sort of thing you read with all the lights on. In fact, I even skimmed a few pages for the sake of wanting to be able to get to sleep that night. Especially towards the end, the story takes a turn straight to disturbing and depressing. Again, this is in line with the Gothic horror and tragedy of the 1818 novel.

In short: It looks like this will be a home run for Oppel, as there’s a sequel and a movie on the way. While it’s not something I’d be jumping up and down to read again anytime soon, This Dark Endeavor is definitely a well-thought-out and gripping novel. Before reading it, I’d recommend first picking up Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and also make sure you’re in the mood for such a scary adventure.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Something similar: The Hollow Kingdom by Claire B. Dunkle is another slightly chilling read with some unconventional romance. It’s set around the same time period as This Dark Endeavor, but involves more fantasy elements as well as a lot more humor. I also enjoyed the creepiness of the original Phantom of the Opera novel by Gaston Leroux.

Cover & Title: I love the title. It feels old-fashioned and suits the mood of the book. It’s also in a line of dialogue spoken by a character in the book. The keyhole design on the cover really grabs the eye.

Where I got the book: Shelves of the local library.