Les Miserables 25th Anniversary UK Tour - New Cast Recording — Page 2

3ish most days, why?

'Les Miserables' has matinees on Friday and Saturday at 6pm and 10pm.
Nightly 8.30pm. Sunday at 7pm

Updated On: 7/19/10 at 07:03 AM

Sorry, ive just corrected the times above.
The matinee will be the 6pm and the 10pm just the ordinary evening show.
The Spanish just would not go to the theatre at 7 or 7.30pm as they have a different daily routine to the English.
They work later and longer, eat late and then party late!

"Most recent productions of major musicals in Spain have been recorded for CD and it has already been confirmed that this new 'Les Miserables' will get a new more complete version than the first one."

I am so excited, 2 new Les Miz recordings in the very near future!

Musical-Matt: Fantine on the original Spanish recording is one of my favorites, beautiful voice.

can i just ask why have we never had a french translation of phantom! i was thinking about it when i read something on there never having a been a french translation of beauty and the beast!

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I would love to get the 25th Anniversary recording of Les Miserables UK Tour. It sounds amazing.

I assume if it does come out on iTunes, it would just be for the UK?

Got it today. I love it. I'm a little baffled by the decisions they made in terms of what to cut and what to keep as there are moments that they cut that I feel are more important than some passages that they kept, but there's no denying that this is a new Les Miz. At least it sounds like it. I can't speak for the physical production, but the recording is very fast paced and high energy which is a welcomed change from previous recordings. It was well worth the wait.

Listening to the first few numbers it isn't that bad, i just don't understand why its been done!

I'm listening to it for the third time in a row. This isn't going to be a very productive day.

I saw the show again last night, and loved it again, and got to like some of the things that I didn't like the first time.

Examples being some of the new orchestrations, but there were still bits that annoyed me: Lack of melody in Javert's and Valjean's solilquy at the lines "How can I now allow this man", and lack of cello melody at "Hurry Cosette, prepare to leave and say no more, tomorrow we'll away". However, it must be said that the new orchestrations were at their very best in the reprise of Who Am I in Act II (Valjean's Confession).

The cast were again superb, especially Mr. Owen-Jones and Mr. Carpenter.

Then I listened to the cast recording, which has just become my favourite recording of the show, live, brilliant cast, and, most of all, complete! (As in the complete production, I know, they cut really random bits, and that annoys me too, but overall it's a great recording)

My least favourite part of the new recording? The horrible artwork and the prescence of "Dream the dream"

This catchphrase also annoyed me to no end being all over the merchandise. Somebody has also made an odd decision to put "Les Miz" on the merchandise, which is an abbreviation that I HATE. Cameron Mackintosh is doing a great job, but doing what he's best at - milking everything dry of the most money he can.

See what I mean about the artwork, though?

Updated On: 7/22/10 at 07:38 AM

Is the CD really complete? I'm trying to get a definitive answer from someone who's seen the show. For example, I can't really understand them jumping from "Say what you must, don't leave it there." right into "Who am I?". Javert therefore never mentions the captured prisoner so I don't really understand how that could work on stage unless there's something visual that I'm not getting from the recording.

The other cut I can't figure out is the removal of Marius' line right before "Valjean's Confession". I don't see how that song would work without the set up, but I'm starting to think that they just cut these passages for the CD, but I don't understand why. There's still a few minutes of space left over on each disc and they could have fit just fine.

The other cuts I can completely see working, like the scene where Marius gives Eponine the letter. That, I completely understand because we find out in the very next scene that he sent Eponine to give the letter to Cosette so we don't really need the information given out twice. But, then there are odd passages that, really, have nothing to do with the plot that I can't believe they decided to keep in favor of important bits like Javert's explanation of the captured convict.

As for the artwork the only thing I don't like is the "Live!" underneath the title. If they absolutely had to have the word live on the cover I would have preferred it just said "Live 2010 Cast Album" on the bottom. Dream the dream doesn't really bother me. (I'm still waiting for a quality scan so I can have the artwork for my itunes library.)

Updated On: 7/22/10 at 11:00 AM

It only bothers me because they're so arbitrary and seemingly unnecessary. There was plenty of space left over and those two sections are slightly important so I don't really understand the reason behind their omission. It's not like the 80s when they were trying to fit everything on to a record. Two CDs would have easily fit the entire show as it is performed today with the faster tempos and minor cuts.