Les Mis: What a Shame!!!

Sorry for not writing here before but I was busy with other stuff. I am a musician ( vocalist and conductor) who dreamed for years to watch Les Mis on Broadway. I had watched that in many countries, such as Brazil, Argentina and London, and I know all the recordings( including the french one that is quiet different), as also the orchestra and vocal scores.
On April 12 I went super excited to the Imperial Theatre and the deception started early. Lots of people that were behaving like in a picnic ( sorry, broadway in other countries do not allow eating during the show) People eating, drinking, lots of popcorn, like they were in the movies. WHAT?????
Then I looked to the stage and thought "how are they going to fit all the characters and the turning stage?" Guess what?? There was NO TURNING STAGE. Les Mis without turning stage?? WHAT????
Things don't get better. When the lights were off, and the orchestra started playing, they allowed the late people come, and for around 10 minutes, you couldn't see or listen anything due the late people. Why is time for the performance if they allow people getting in late? EVERYWHERE ELSE, if you are not there by the time, you can only get in during the intermission.
My frustration was just growing bigger and bigger as other things were coming up: the ridiculously small stage, the hurry of the conductor that was rushing in ALL SONGS... and the most astonishing: The orchestra wasn't playing the original arrangements, WHAT???? Wasn't it supposed to follow the original? Apparently no. The conductor was playing in his own super fast tempo (was he in a race to finish soon to get the train back home?) and the beautiful instrumental lines of the songs were reduced. SHAME!
Ok, it would be fine if would stop here but the list goes on:
The singers... OMG, what where those singers? The men were Ok, the children were very nice, but the females.... What the F... was that Eponine? Seriously. How can a person like that be on broadway? She would be a great singer if she were in a gospel church choir, not on Broadway performing something such as Les Mis. Cossette? OMG, have she ever performed before? Does she really know how to sing? It was just Awful. I learned with a friend who is on Broadway business that the main singer casted to be Cossette was fired a week before the debut, and so they hired someone else, but Cmon, so many amazing singers in NY, and I doubt anyone wouldnt be crazy to get this jobs, why they had to get the worse?? Was she maybe a relative of the conductor or the artistic director? It seems like.
My impulse was to leave right in the beginning, but I decided staying to see if it would get better, and besides, they weren't giving my money back. So at the end, things did not get better. I got home extremely frustrated. That is a big SHAME. I always heard that Broadway musicals need to be EXACTLY the same. From my own experience, ( I auditioned couple of times to broadway in Brazil) the people who would be casting were the original directors and choreographers, in order to assure the quality of the new team.
I don't know what happened here, but If you are a Les Mis lover like me, I totally don't recommend.
If you are a tourist and want to see a broadway show, go to The Phantom of the Opera, or any another show that is the way it was intended to be, not a POOR Version of a classic, such as Les Mis.

Tony Winner Nikki M. James doesn't belong on Broadway? Kay.

I have a hard time shaming late comers. Sometimes things happen. I always endeavor to arrive early but have been late a couple times thanks to uncontrollable things. Traffic, train, delays, etc. Sometimes it's not their fault.

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"I always heard that Broadway musicals need to be EXACTLY the same. From my own experience, ( I auditioned couple of times to broadway in Brazil) the people who would be casting were the original directors and choreographers, in order to assure the quality of the new team.
I don't know what happened here."

You seem to be applying the notion of this group being a replacement cast for the original show, which is not the case. It is a new staging, new cast, which also explains the "no turntable," etc.

Some things here are valid concerns, some are taste, but I certainly found there was much to celebrate on stage for this revival, and to spend the whole time stewing about how it wasn't something different, and how it should have been done, you potentially missed finding what was special about this version. I mean, Ramin's Bring Him Home was a revelation that brought the house down when I saw it.

Revivals (in America) are certainly NOT carbon copies of the original productions. While that has its place (Cabaret, for example) most of us want to see something different with material we already know.

Yes, most theaters will seat late, and they all allow food. Annoying? Yes. To the poiint of ruining my evening? Almost never.

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"I have a hard time shaming late comers. Sometimes things happen."

To add to that, sometimes stage management has a hard curtain time, which means unless there is some absolute catastrophe they have to start the show by a certain time, even if it means people will be seated late. For instance I've done some shows where because of the length of time between the matinees and evening performances we could not hold more than seven minutes (so for a 4:00 matinee the downbeat had to be at 4:07 at the latest, again, barring some catastrophic event that would have made it unsafe to start).

Latecomers need to plan to get to the venue early enough to ensure they are seated by curtain. That means dinner at a restaurant that handles pre-theatre, making an early enough train to ensure getting there, etc.

If they can't make it then stand until a true break (what is called a break is absurd
In some theatres) or stand until intermission.

In several hundred theatre experiences I have NEVER been late. It can be done

And broadway needs to stop with food in the theatre

You're lucky then. Things happen no matter how much you plan

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michibim---It's all about 'expectations' and I felt for you reading your post. You wanted so badly for something you are so passionate about to be the same-in your mind-but the present reality let you down in so many situations. Don't let this latest revival spoil your love of Les Mis and when you are ready, perhaps revisit it knowing now that changes have been made. Most directors give their slant on a revival to bring something new[fresh] to a classic. A favourite saying is 'if you come with expectations-you will leave disappointed'.

Nikki i think is a good singer but she was totally miscast in Les Mis and I feel the revivals of Pippin Cabaret and Chicago are MUCH BETTER than the originals i am not a fan of Les Mis at all.

I couldn't finish the OP's original rant. I'd rather read a Dr. Bronner's label. Same tone but more useful.

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i could see Nikki being a future replacement in Pippin!

Updated On: 5/25/14 at 10:19 PM

This person is really astounded by so many things that aren't new to the LM world. This production has been going on for about 5 years now and it wasn't like it was hidden knowledge that the revival wasn't going to have a turntable. Fine, be disappointed, but at least acknowledge that some of your expectations were a little unrealistic.

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Updated On: 5/26/14 at 12:21 AM

(I'm going to suggest that the OP first language is not English. So I give him/her a pass on the grammatical errors.)

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