Les Miserables — Page 3

Sounds like a plan! We'll take over Les Mis and bring in a 30 piece orchestra (And extend the pit, obviously). It'd run the show into the ground with the costs, but it'd be a damn good show!

---

Interesting distinction betweeh rock and "legit stuff" - is Rock not legit? Or are musicals only legit and Pop, Rock, Jazz, Punk, Blues, Soul, Rap, Inde, Classical, Opera not legit?

What makes something legit? or more legit than something else? or less legit than something else? If those are legitimate question in response to a comment about being legit, that might not be... legit.

What I ment as legit as oppose to non legit is that in musical theatre ( at least here in america) there are two kinds of singers. A legit singer is one who has traning in classica/opera. And someone that doesn't do legit singing is someone that does pop rock. Daphine Rubin Vega the revival Fantine does all rock and doesn't even have the ability to switch off between the too. What was worse was that there were people who knew her from her rent days and became fans of hers that only saw Les Miserables because she was in it. I am glad that there were peole who got to see Les Miserables that might have not gone because overall it isn't their cup of tea. But, what pisses me off is that there were people who saw her first and didn't hear any recordings of the othe Fantines ( fine that ain't much of a problem) but right away acted as if she was the best one out there bar none. Most of them were huge fans of the show Rent. Upon mentioning to them that the current actor playing Roger is married to a woman named Ruthie Henshall mean't nothing to them.

---

What curtan call things. I don't know what your talking bout. PM me with what you mean

---

"Little People, as you all know, was originally sung, as it is on the OLCR, but now it's gone, replaced in all productions. It used to go like so, on the OLCR;

Stars
Look Down
Little People
Red & Black
Do You Hear The People Sing?"

Just to be nitpicky - it was placed there on the cast recording, but in the actual Barbican run it was performed right before Drink With Me. So if the barricade scenes seem to drag a bit, that's why - they were written with a comic relief song in there that was later cut.

I've seen the Broadway revival a bunch of times. Some of the orchestrations have grown on me, but most of them still really suck. The ones for What Have I Done and Javert's Suicide are the absolute worst; they take away that soaring string part and replace it with this utterly crap two-note bass line that I guess is supposed to be unsettling and atmospheric. All it manages to do is undercut the emotional conflict of the song. The IDAD ones are bad, but they don't destroy the mood of the song the way the ones to Javert's Suicide do.

I'd keep the new, non-synthy Master of the House in a heartbeat though. And I adore the Act II opener, which sounds like a fife & drum rendition of DYHTPS. Hell, I might even be sold on the Stars intro (not the rest of it though, dear god) and the way the cello echoes Valjean's lines in Fantine's arrest. But they are pretty much the only good things I can think of in the new orchestrations; the rest ranges from mediocre to downright awful.

By the way, I'd heard that London had a few blocking changes in IDAD that were meant to be similar to Broadway. Any confirmation on this? (If they're changing the London production based on the revival, I vote they FIX THE RHYME IN COME TO ME. That cut is embarrassing enough without a glaring discrepancy in the rhyme calling attention to it.)

It's a bit different in the revival though. I love what they did with the drums.

Due to the fact that they don't have a strong brass secting anymore they use a good combo of bras and drums to substitue for any sort of big sounds they need. An example that comes to mind is the intro to at the end of the day.


But, I love the new orchastrations but there are times when I feel like they sound empty. What I mean by this is that for example in some of the songs due to the orchastration changes a lot of the umph that was iin the original orchastrations were taken away. i mean things like the intro to i dreamed a dream and the start of both what have i done and Javert's scucide ( they both have the same beginning I think that the sucide is just up the octive but icould be wrong) but all in all I like it. I am just so happy to see Les Miserables on broadway period. I do wonder what got them to change the orchastrations. I do have trouble believing that it was the size of the pit ( although it could easilly be) because even though the Imperal theatre ( where it was originally) was bigger they have played smaller theatres around the same size of their current home at the broadhurst theatre before and at that time the orchastrations were unchanged.

---

I don't think that the show will close in London anytime soon. The huge reason why the original broadway production closed was that it had been slipping in sales but after 9/11 broadway was a ghosttown and that sort of did it in for Les Miserables.

Also, Camron stated after he announced a limited engagment ofthe show that he would extend it if ticket sales are doing well. He extended it once and said that he would do it a second time as long as ticket sales were good. The show has been doing a great job of selling tickets even before Lea Salonga came in. I am willing to bet that by the mid- end of november when this current extension is done that he will announce it as an open ending run. Which means that it will play until ticket sales are bad enough to force it to close.

Many people that I have talked to agreed that it will be open ended and that to close it after this extention would be a mistake just by looking at the numbers. Camron would make a stupid fancial move if he chooses to close the NY production passed november.

I didn't hear anything about Les Miserables closing. I mean it has been around 22 years and I don't think it has that big a fan base compared to something like Phantom.

---

I didn't realize you had said that. I guess you didn't mean it as in they announced a closing date ect. But, I wouldn't be suprised if the show closes in a couple of years in london. don't know the ticket sales tthere or anything like that. can anyone fill me in? I don't know where to find the ticket sales numbers for the west end.


But, Les Miserables I think will play on broadway for a long time. People are treating the show as if iit has never left broadway. Which is a good thing which means it will play for a good long while. I also think that closing it and bringing it back was a good thiing for the show. The show itself was starting to go stale and to close it and bring it back was a good rest for the show to make it fresh.

---

[i]they won't catch on quite as well to this new run as they did with the first, because it's just not as good technically. With so many shows doing so well in the tech stakes in New York now, they know when a show is a complete winner and when it's just a decent outing. The New Les Mis seems to be the latter.[/i]

The Broadway revival strikes me as a great (okay, mostly great) cast doing all they can to keep it from turning into Les Mis Lite. Unfortunately, that's pretty much what the show's become.

Any news on who's going to be in coming in for the next West End cast change? I heard--just as a rumour, mind--that David Thaxton got passed over as Enjolras again, which is a crying shame. If ever an understudy deserved to be promoted...

What happened to our Les Mis thread, folks?

---

True that there are rumors that she wantes the role. But, I hope to god that these are just rumors. the woman cannot sing to save her life.

---