Javert's Suicide in the New Tour

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:13am

A question about the staging of Javert's suicide in the new Les Miz tour:

Does anyone know how this effect was achieved? I thought it was done with wires and harnesses, by a friend of my insists that Javert is being carried by stagehands as he floats upstage. Any insights?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:14am

I could clearly see the wires when I saw the tour in San Francisco.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:26am

What Lizzie said. And I saw the support wires in both LA and San Diego :)

[PositivelyEmerald]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:28am

Theres a lift that kind of looks like the one from Wicked (only way I can really describe it haha) from what I was told when I went backstage in San Francisco.

edit: were there wires? I never saw that....hmmm maybe im wrong



Updated On: 11/21/12 at 01:28 AM

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:34am

Tonight was my 2nd time seeing the tour, so I mentioned to my friend after the show that I was looking for the wires as soon as Javert walked onstage, and I didn't see any. So my friend said he thought it looked like the lighting was done in a way that darkened Javert's torso where he was being lifted.

But one minute he is standing on top of the bridge fly piece, and the next, he is in the air, so I assume it must be wires.

[PositivelyEmerald]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:38am

From my perspective in San Fran, far left in the house. He defenitely leaned back on aa cherry picker lookng thing. If they were wires, when could they have been attached during the scene?

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:56am

You know what, that was the other thing....the whole time he is standing on top of the railing, it seemed that there was no way he could be leaning so far back without falling. So either he was already attached to the harness and he felt confident enought to lean back, or it was some kind of lift.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 5:20am

Yeah it's a cherry picker type machine which is attached to his back and lifts him up on an arm like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

There are no wires. At least there weren't in the UK.

[brian.klimowski]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 10:36am

It was such a great effect. It totally took me by surprise when I saw the tour last year.

[JamesBroadwayWiner]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 11:12am

I guess if you pay attention you can see the wires, but when I saw it at the Fox in Atlanta, it was an absolutley spectacular moment! I'd see the show again and again even if only for that one part!

[FireFingers]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 11:24am

Just a guess, but perhaps they use the lift when the have the space backstage, and when they don't they fly him with wires.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 12:17pm

I just asked Andrew Varela (who plays Javert in the current tour) and sent him this link, so hopefully he can clear this up!

I am curious…I thought I saw wires when I saw the tour last year…seeing it again in a few weeks, I’ll keep an eye out.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 1:34am

Clapyo', I just saw the London staging in Oct. They are not using the 25th Anniversary reimagined staging being used in the US tour, and the suicide scene was the classic one there.

[OperaBwayLover]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 1:43am

I just assumed it was wires, but I was never sure. It's what PositivelyEmerald said: when would he have had time to get harnessed in to said wires? Javert comes on for the last little confrontation with Valjean and stays onstage til the end of the Suicide, and he doesn't stand in one spot for the duration of the Soliloquy.

Stuff like this is why I love this site (long-time lurker, just now getting around to posting), just the fact we're all analyzing this one effect.

[anmiller07]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 7:23am

grumpyoptimist - The 25th anniversary tour previously played London, in addition to the original West End staging. I believe this is what Clapyohands is referring to.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 11:30am

I didn't say London, I said UK where the tour originated. I saw it three times and it definitely did not use wires. There's no way that scene could.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 12:14pm

Well I'm seeing the tour on Saturday afternoon in the balcony and on Tuesday night in the orch and I will be bugging my eyes out like crazy trying to see if I can catch anything behind Javert lol.

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 2:25pm

I don't recall wires when it played Papermill; it looked like some type of lift.

[phan24]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 5:56pm

Yeah, I didn't see any wires and sat in the front row, i could still be wrong. It did look like a cherry picker as everyone else has been saying. Here's a video that shows you his suicide from the UK version of the 25th anniversary tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zq9DqarYB4

[IAMmyownMUSICAL]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 7:35pm

Those of you saying "I totally saw the wires" are just begging to believe what your eyes WANTED to see. There are no wires used in that effect...period.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 8:30pm

ClapYo, my apologies...

[NakedMaid]

Posted: 11/23/12 at 9:22am

I have several friend on the tour and saw it at Papermill. It was one of my first questions! Theres are NO wires. And not quite a cherry picker.
It's actually an 'arm' made for the production that reaches out from upstage and attaches to him (I believe he told me magnetically) via a belt he wears. It lifts him up just enough for him to flail and retracts to bring him upstage to achieve that 'birds-eye-view' of his fall.
The arm, of course, is not without fault. It is controlled by someone, not just a computer and if the venue doesn't allow for good sight lines for the operator, the arm can miss Javert and a Plan B goes into effect.

[Hitwave]

Posted: 11/23/12 at 10:35am

It is done with wires. Mid-scene, a stagehand in a black cloak brings the wires from upstage and clips them onto his harness points which are on the back of his coat. The very careful lighting in this scene means it's invisible to the audience.

Updated On: 11/23/12 at 10:35 AM

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 11/23/12 at 6:08pm

okay...we're getting two or three very different answers here...

[NakedMaid]

Posted: 11/23/12 at 7:23pm

Really? A cloaked man? Lol
Wires would be good if he were flying up and down, but he travels upstage, away from the audience. Not into the rafters.
If you've seen the production, you notice that Javert travels into a cutout or doorway in the upstage wall. Wires can't travel thru a wall. The arm reaches thru the opening and then retracts again and the doorway closes.

Ok. I'm done defending. Lol. Believe what you want.