LES MIS Original Broadway Production

[Phan#24601]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 9:00am

Yesterday I found out that the original Broadway production of LES MIS was around 3 hours and 12 minutes, which I thought rather odd because the OBCR was only 105 minutes, and this show is normally pretty much sung-through. For those of you who know, how could the show have run so long each night? Did they leave off a bunch of the "transition" bits of songs from the recording?

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 9:03am

I know Patti LuPone said in her book that performances at the Barbican lasted nearly 4 hours.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 9:31am

The OBCR isn't a complete recording of the show. The Complete Symphonic Recording is a complete recording of the show (as it was in approximately 199.

[Phan#24601]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 10:24am

But it's not a highlights recording...right? It's most of the show...I HATE the cast of the Complete Symphonic Recording or else I would buy it.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 10:28am

Technically, a "Highlights" recording only has to have less music than an OBC, there's usually always some music that doesn't make it onto a cast recording.

I have the CSR, and it's more than 2.5 hours long, so there's a good chunk of what you're missing from the 3h12m you're seeing bandied about.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 10:31am

You've figured it out already: It's not a highlights recording, but yes, there are lots of transitional bits missing.

Here is a complete audio of the first preview in London. It's not sound-board quality, but it's not bad--and you can hear the material that's missing from the original London and Broadway cast albums.


LES MIS London 1985

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 10:32am

It was definitely well over 3 hours when I saw the OBC. I saw the 4th performance after they opened, and it was the first day of three that they spent recording the cast album.

The show was slow and ponderous and lacked energy, but I chalked some of that up to the fact that they had been recording the album all day, then did a 3+ hour show that night.

Still ... it was long and slow.

[Phan#24601]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 10:57am

Wow thank you so much! I can't wait to have a listen.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 11:46am

There is a complete soundboard recording of the Original Broadway Cast out there. I hear it is THE definitive recording of the show.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 12:05pm

i still miss the original show before the cuts were made... i'm glad i got to see it before that happened...

[OperaBwayLover]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 1:57pm

Can't say I'm a fan of the cuts, either.

[theaterfan862]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 2:21pm

What kind of cuts were made?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 2:44pm

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/57351-Trim-for-the-New-Year-Broadway-Les-Miz-Now-Runs-2-Hours-58-Minutes

I'm trying to find a list, because I knew there used be a fan-compiled one floating around somewhere.

Basically, if you see the show now and compare it to the CSR, it's quite different. But even if you'd seen the show after the 10th anniversary on Broadway in 1997, and compared THAT to the CSR, it'd also be quite different. Maybe not if you weren't a hardcore fan, though. My parents saw it 5 or 6 times between 1990 and 2000, and when we saw it again in 2002, they said they didn't notice anything different.

From what I remember, what was cut for overtime in 2000/2001:

* Part of Fantine's Arrest
* One or two lines in Come to Me
* A few lines from the Attack on Rue Plumet
* The beginning of Act 2 no longer has the high note for Feuilly ("We'll be there")
* One verse of the Well Scene (which was added back in 1997 anyway; a variation on what had been in the Barbican production)
* I think Every Day is shorter. For a few days on Broadway, there was no Every Day
* One verse of Dog Eats Dog, maybe?

Updated On: 7/3/13 at 02:44 PM

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 3:08pm

I'm doing the show right now and I was listening to the CSR while comparing it to my libretto... i'm glad that some of the cuts are back in but still upset at some

ugh... I hate the verse cut from Come To Me (Fantine's Death)

a verse was taken out of In My Life... which was an awful cut and I'm glad they put it back in

some sung through dialogue is still cut fromt the Attack on Rue Plumet and a couple of verses are reversed

Every Day is the same but a verse has been cut from the exchange between Valjean and Marius

a couple of lines cut from Javert being taken by the students

one verse taken from Dog Eats Dog and a couple lines reversed

I'm glad they reinstated Valjean being kicked out of the innkeeper's house in the Prologue

a couple of verses cut from the scene before Master of the House... and one line during Little Cosette and Madame Thenardier's exchange

yeah there's a bit more.. i was quite obsessed with Les Mis for a time so when the cuts were made it bothered me while i was singing along in my head... haha... some don't bother me too much but some still do.... oh well...

btw... I hate the Student Edition... i hate those cuts! haha

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 4:53pm

If it don't have Patti, it ain't definitive.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 4:54pm

If it don't have Patti, it ain't definitive.

[Phan#24601]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 6:47pm

Is "Lovely People" included in your production? I think that is the most horrible massacring of a showtune to make it kid-friendly ever.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 6:55pm

Unless it's starring the students of Blacklick Valley High School, it's not the definitive version.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 8:01pm

Also cut:

A few lines between Marius and Thenardier from Beggars at the Feast in which they speak of Eponine's death.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 8:07pm

"Unless it's starring the students of Blacklick Valley High School, it's not the definitive version."

Best production I've seen. LOL.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 10:51pm

Phan, I don't recall what lyrics were changed in Lovely Ladies. When I saw the revival, the staging of Lovely Ladies was definitely not kid-friendly with the prostitutes showing you what they were singing about.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 11:01pm

The original Broadway production changed over the run. I believe it initially started at 8:00 pm and didn't end until 11:20 pm. At some point, the producers got tired of paying overtime and cut the show to end by 11:00 pm. I think one of the things that was drastically cut was Gavroche's material.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/3/13 at 11:06pm

Also, Patti used to joke that one performance she left Colm Wilkinson on stage alone during the death scene and then she had to enter with Eponine. But the recording never reflected that scene in its entirety.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/4/13 at 12:25am

Goth, the stuff about overtime is in the link I posted earlier.

[BobPopa]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 1:30pm

In addition an entire verse of CASTLE ON A CLOUD has been cut, which I think sucks for the actress that only has 5 minutes of stage time to begin with

Gavroche's material has been cut many times since the 1985 original. It's the role that has been marginalized the most since the original.