Les Miserables Tour Coming to Broadway?

[MKunkel]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:07pm

I am not sure if anyone saw this yet but...

http://playbill.com/news/article/170256-At-the-End-of-the-Tour-Will-Reimagined-Les-Miz-Storm-Broadway

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:19pm

I was thinking the other day that they should put the tour in the theatre at Madison Square Garden in January after Grinch closes to capitalize on the release of the film, but they probably have tour dates scheduled already.

[Jim Colyer]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:26pm

I have never seen this show. Hopefully, someday I will.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:27pm

I saw the tour this past Sunday night. It is a remarkable production with a standout cast. I hated the tour the first time when I saw it back in 2011 because of the cast I saw, but I LOVED it when I saw it the second time. This should be on Broadway, the quality and talent are there.

[Carmilla]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:35pm

I had heard that last year that the tour was eventually going to come to Broadway similar to how the Hair tour had come back last summer. When this year's dates were announced, I had expected to see a Broadway stop listed. Maybe it's finally going to happen next year?

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:36pm

Ms. Betsy Morgan is giving a 110% performance nightly as fantine!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:44pm

Carmilla: I heard that too!

Hopefully whichever Broadway theatre they get will be roomy enough to not look cramped. I liked most of the new set design, but the Paris slums were just so cramped!

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:49pm

Just bought front row tickets for when it comes through Philadelphia again this January.
I went into the show with such low expectations last winter, expecting to hate it because it was just another British 80’s megamusical, but WOW was I blown away. Gorgeously directed, performed, designed, and deeply moving. I absolutely adore this revival and hope it ends up on Broadway so I can get even more opportunities to see it.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 8:59pm

Hopefully whichever Broadway theatre they get will be roomy enough to not look cramped. I liked most of the new set design, but the Paris slums were just so cramped!

The set design looks crammed no matter what. The proscenium is tall and narrow, which make for some bad sight lines for seats off to the side. The Paris slums in particular did look pretty crammed.

[mikey2573]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 9:07pm

Does "The Death of Gavroche" still get a laugh? When I first say LES MIZ back when I was a kid (in it original staging), the death of Gavroche was very powerful.
When I saw the tour, the death of Gavroche garnered snickers (not the candy bar) from the audience.
Have they changed the staging so his death happens on stage, where you can see it? Or do you still only HEAR him dying, followed by one of the revolutionaries screaming, "Nooooooo!" ?
(That's where the laugh came in.)

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 9:19pm

I laughed. Eugh I’d blocked that out…I hate children in musicals that don’t serve a purpose other than to be cute little kids.

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 10:02pm

I was not the biggest fan of this production of Les Mis. The music felt sped-up to me, and I thought the use of the paintings (SPOILER: Especially in the scene when Jean Valjean enters the sewers) was tacky.

I saw the San Francisco stop of the tour this summer, and just felt that the production lacked the emotional depth that I've seen in previous LES MIS productions.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 10:04pm

And My Oh My will be here in 3... 2...

[HumATune]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 10:20pm

I liked the production overall when I saw the tour, but yes, the music was too sped up in parts. I especially missed the dramatic pause before "I Dreamed A Dream"; it was a bit jarring when the the song started immediately after "At the End of the Day".

Still, the story itself is moving and I enjoyed myself. I do hate those MIDI-like orchestrations, though.

[Rabekriegerin]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 10:32pm

I managed to catch this twice (in PA early on, then later in CT); let me just say that, should Varela be playing Javert, I will require no more convincing to revisit it.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 10:49pm

Andrew Varela and Betsy Morgan gave two of the most remarkable performances I have seen in my life.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 11:02pm

If the tour does transfer to Broadway, retaining them, they will hands down win Tonys for Best Featured Actor/ Actress. Beautiful.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/20/12 at 11:32pm

^ I concur. Andrew Varela gave the second best performance I have ever seen by an actor... His Javert is second to his Phantom. Betsy Morgan is right behind Sutton Foster in Anything Goes for best performance I have seen from an actress. Their talent is astounding.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/21/12 at 11:53am

Have they changed the staging so his death happens on stage, where you can see it? Or do you still only HEAR him dying, followed by one of the revolutionaries screaming, "Nooooooo!" ?

No, they hadn't changed it when I saw it. And that was Joseph Spieldenner's incredible Grantaire. IMO he really sells it, but it can also backfire.

[Outoftowner2]

Posted: 9/21/12 at 11:57am

Saw this tour months ago. It's Les Miserables so it's great, but I prefer the original version to the 25th anniversary. I want to see the death of Gavroche. I want to hear "Empty Chairs" without worrying that dead people are going to step on tiny little candles. Just saw the original in London to get my fix, amazing. I will see the tour again in the spring when it comes back to my area. It's Les Miserables so it's great!

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/21/12 at 12:19pm

I want Alfie Boe to play the role (or Ramin Karimloo). Arguably two of the best male voices who could play this role.

I miss the show so much-it was my first Broadway show-and they say you never forget your first. How true!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/21/12 at 12:25pm

I hope Daphne comes back...

Seriously.

[p.s.]

Posted: 9/21/12 at 12:32pm

Have they changed the staging so his death happens on stage, where you can see it? Or do you still only HEAR him dying, followed by one of the revolutionaries screaming, "Nooooooo!" ?

The first time I saw this production at Paper Mill, there was audible reaction from that one woman who was fighting at the barricade and had a view of Gavroche getting killed. Grantaire's face was indeed heartbreaking. It was changed so that Grantaire's reaction is the most audible, matching the heartwrenching look upon his face. Either way, it didn't matter that Grantaire didn't actually see the boy die.


p.s. Gavroche's death is on stage, although behind the barricade.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 9/21/12 at 3:44pm

This will do well on Broadway again, Brantley loves the show:

'is the best of the mega-musicals of its era'

Brantley didn't like the production as it was old and he felt he has seen it many times before:

'Imagine, for one drowsy second, that you are a child who has asked Daddy to recite a favorite bedtime story: the one about the kindly escaped convict who is chased around France by an evil policeman.

It’s still a good story, but Daddy has delivered it so many times before — night after night after night — that his heart just isn’t in it. In fact he seems kind of bored by even the most exciting parts. Lulled instead of stimulated by the familiar tale, you find yourself slipping into dreamland sooner than you ever planned.'

I would assume this re-imagined Les Miserables, will give Brantley, the freshness he is looking for.


2007 Les Miserables New York Times review.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/21/12 at 3:51pm

"I have never seen this show. Hopefully, someday I will."

The tour has a very dark skinned black lady in one of the leads, Jim Colyer, White Supremacist. I'm sure you'll want to stay very far away from this tour.