"this thread is 2 pages long already and there's not one actual review."
There's only two reviews so far!
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: "Despite that running time, this reboot feels faster, grittier, gloomier and, above all, more emphatic than ever, which is saying something for a show that was always an unrelenting assault on the tear ducts...Ramin Karimloo has been celebrated for his musical theater performances in London, but his Broadway debut has been a long time coming and he doesn't disappoint. His Jean Valjean has the brawn and the brooding demeanor of a man who has endured two decades of incarcerated hard labor on minor charges. But he also brings the requisite spiritual elevation of the transformed Valjean, without forcing the victimized character's saintliness...Sure, there's no disguising the Cliffs Notes feel of the adaptation. The storytelling is so compacted that plot points whiz by like blurred subway stops on an express train, making this less a narrative than a machine...But the inbuilt emotional sensations of the show are what matter. Judging by the vocal crowd response when favorite characters appear (even the plucky urchin Gavroche gets screaming entrance applause), or when the first bars of one of the endlessly refrained key musical motifs are heard, story is no longer the point. This critic-proof production will likely speak loudest to young audiences coming to it onstage relatively fresh - not those of us who have been anesthetized by 30 years of over-exposure. And maybe that's just as it should be."
Mark Kennedy, Associated Press: "The well-traveled "Les Miserables" has rolled into town for its third bite at the Broadway apple - not to mention fresh off a celebrated 2012 film - but there's nothing tiresome about its gloomy, aching heartbeat...It's beautifully sung and acted - Ramin Karimloo, Will Swenson, Caissie Levy and Nikki M. James as leads can do no wrong - and the clever sets, superb lighting and moving projections highlight a creative team fully embracing Victor Hugo's epic novel about good and evil, revolution and romance, in 19th-century France...Projections by Fifty-Nine Productions are subtle until brilliant, especially the plunge into the sewers in Act 2. There is no massive spinning turntable on the stage, as in previous incarnations, but it isn't missed...The hits keep coming, and thanks to reprises, keep coming: "I Dreamed a Dream," 'Do You Hear the People Sing?" and "One Day More." The melodies are as grandiose as the story. And here, the voices and look of the show wonderfully match. Bring your flag."
Updated On: 3/23/14 at 07:37 PM
I love how all of the shows that everyone hates here are getting great reviews! :P
