Les Miz Question / Scaled Back Production?

[TheOrpheumCircuit]

Posted: 7/6/22 at 2:33pm

Are there any other big Les Miz fans out there who follow Les Miz news, even now? I am going to be in London this Fall and was in the mood to see Les Miz, which is playing there. When I did a little research on the West End production, several people said that it was a way scaled back production that didn't even have the famed revolving turntable stage anymore. That alone makes me not want to see it, because Les Miz is meant to be big and impactful.

So, it seems that there is a U.S. tour going on that will come to my city next year. Does anyone know if the U.S. tour of Les Miz is also scaled down in this way? If so, I will pass. One of the reasons I love Les Miz so much is because of its grandiosity, which really fits the scale of the story. Scaled down just seems really sad to me.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/6/22 at 2:51pm

All productions of Les Mis are the scaled back version without the turntable, including the current US tour. 
 

The London production was the last to use the original staging but that closed a few years ago and was reopened with this smaller production. 

[mikey2573]

Posted: 7/6/22 at 8:50pm

I am not sure if I would consider it to be a "scaled down" version of the show, as it is still big and impactful.  It just has different staging than the original.  It still has a large and impressive set, there is still a baracade, just without the revolving stage.   I still prefer the original staging with the turntable as it was so beautifully done, but I  like this newer version as well.  Some of the staging hits different dramatic moments than the previous version and I like that.  

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 7:43am

A show can be big and impactful without an over the top set. IMO sometimes shows are more impactful without the grand set stealing focus.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 7:58am

The new production of Les Miserables that Cameron Mackintosh has now made the standard production worldwide is one of the ugliest, misguided, and misdirected mess of a production I have ever seen. The design is so ugly and confining. I saw the production both on tour and when it played on Broadway at the Imperial a few years ago, and it is just really, really bad. Such a shame as the original staging is so iconic and timeless.

[Lot666]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 10:15am

It's a Cameron Mackintosh hack, similar to what he recently did with the London production of Phantom. His primary focus these days is cutting costs to fatten his wallet.

[Tag]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 10:53am

bwayobsessed said: "A show can be big and impactful without an over the top set. IMO sometimes shows are more impactful without the grand set stealing focus."

I'd argue that the original production was more simplistic and refined than the mess they currently have onstage.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 10:56am

It was one thing to see this new production on U.S. tour, especially when it was just "oh we're just doing something special for the anniversary! The original revolve isn't going anywhere." But then it kept touring and touring. And then it played Broadway for over 1,000 performances in the Imperial Theater of all places. 

But then Cameron did the unthinkable and completely shut down the original London production and replaced it with this second rate tour. Was it serviceable for a tour? Sure, why not I guess. The original in London?  NO WAY. The revolve should have NEVER been removed and I would never go see Les Miz in London as long as this new production is running and I am a Les Miz super fan. 

I really don't know which one is worse, what Cameron did to Phantom or Les Miz.  For Les Miz, he completely and totally replaced the production entirely and announced it and there was no confusion about it. For Phantom, he replaced the production as well, but, he had the nerve to create that mess with him and ALW about will it be the original, or based on the original, or an update or the original. Ugh.  Either way two iconic pieces of London theater are lost. 

Updated On: 7/7/22 at 10:56 AM

[TheOrpheumCircuit]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 2:46pm

I appreciate reading everyone's feedback on this. I agree that a production doesn't have to be large-scale to be impactful, but that's not really what this is about. I've seen Les Miz 8 times now over the years, beginning in 1987 (I'm a former NYC resident and frequent NYC traveler), and the version I'm in love with is the big full-scale turntable original staging. I think if I go to see a scaled-down version (and it IS scaled-down by all accounts of those who have seen it) with the new production staging, it will be depressing to someone who loves a certain thing already burned into my mind (and heart). Hopefully down the road, maybe years from now, someone will re-mount the original full staging. I will be there in a heartbeat. The turntable is just a big part of the show, and one thing I really love about it. I found this interesting interview with Trevor Nunn about the new staging, and he is quite clear that he feels it is far inferior: https://playbill.com/article/trevor-nunn-speaks-out-on-revised-london-bound-les-miz-mackintosh-responds-com-169704

[SuttonPeron]

Posted: 7/7/22 at 5:23pm

As much as I prefer the older staging, the current London cast is wonderful and the sound is top-notch. It may be unneccesarily more complex and less elegant, but I think it works. And the orchestra is wonderful. The two French Horn players alone are worth a visit, in my opinion.

[tourboi]

Posted: 7/8/22 at 5:38pm

Differing opinion but if anything I think the new production is scaled UP not down. The original was a lot of empty space with a turntable and a big barricade. But it was kind of sparse most of the time on stage. The new production has bigger sets, though no turntable. Those walls coming in from the wings when the action moves to Paris in the new staging are stunning (how they finagle that moment in some of the road houses with tiny wings is a marvel of theatrical engineering). 

I LOVED the original. But I also loved the new staging and didn't find the direction messy at all. I brought someone who'd never even heard the music before and they had absolutely no problem following it or connecting with the characters. 

Opinions are opinions, and we're all entitled to them. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/8/22 at 8:55pm

The new production of Les Miz is not as bad as the touring version of Phantom that went out, but I agree with Trevor Nunn that Cameron opted for “something inferior when something superior could have been created” if there was indeed a need or desire to cut costs. If not superior, at least it could have had the blessing of the original creative team. His feeling of betrayal is a bit out of touch though given that he later stood by and allowed Cameron and co to let Andy Blankenbuehler haphazardly rechoreograph about 20% of Cats and credit Gillian Lynne only with original choreography when a lot of what ended up on stage in the revival was still her work. Even Michael Bennett was smart enough to turn down that offer when he was approached to restage the show for the original Broadway production. Bennett instead wrote a letter to Gillian congratulating her on her achievement.

[felixleiter]

Posted: 7/9/22 at 9:23am

tourboi said: "Differing opinion but if anything I think the new production is scaled UP not down. The original was a lot of empty space with a turntable and a big barricade. But it was kind of sparse most of the time on stage. The new production has bigger sets, though no turntable. Those walls coming in from the wings when the action moves to Paris in the new staging are stunning (how they finagle that moment in some of the road houses with tiny wings is a marvel of theatrical engineering).

I LOVED the original. But I also loved the new staging and didn't find the direction messy at all. I brought someone who'd never even heard the music before and they had absolutely no problem following it or connecting with the characters.

Opinions are opinions, and we're all entitled to them."

As a cast member of multiple iterations of the Official Les Mis (including turntable and the non-turntable) I of course have a preference, but the original stated intent from Cameron himself to us when the show was first taken off the turntable in 2008 for the mini-tour, was to reduce the amount of trucks needed to travel the show thereby reducing  travel time and load-in time, as well as adding the ability  to fit the show in spaces where it hadn't been able to tour before.   I believe that the "new" staging cut the amount of trucks in half (I could be wrong) and made it entirely possible to play a 7:30 show on sunday and be able to open Tuesday night in a new city which was all but impossible on the original even with the jump set. 

The one thing that was lost however is the connection of the theme of "revolution"  that is present in the show from beginning to end.   The legend is that while the show was being fleshed out and re-created as it was being translated from french to english the presence of the then-new physical element of a turntable that had been just installed at the Royal Shakespeare Company inspired many of those specific lyrical references- "here where I stand at the turning of the years..."  "now the wheel has turned around..." "turning" etc.   It was literally a case of function preceding form which doesn't always happen.  There are some other cool moments from that time regarding the writing of the piece that are really cool bits of trivia, but those are stories for another time (and another thread). 

I also believe, knowing Cameron in the way that I do, that all of this will come back around (forgive the pun) and be used when we get the inevitable return to the turntable when the next anniversary comes along.   The marketing for that basically writes itself.  

[thirtythirtyninety]

Posted: 7/9/22 at 9:51am

Most of all, I really truly regret that a pro-shot recording was never made of the original, brilliant staging for posterity. Lots of concert versions available, but I’d give anything for a video of the Nunn-Caird production, which was pure theatrical magic! 

[Pernigraniline]

Posted: 8/2/22 at 5:40am

It was,it's just in Cameron's archive. He has proshots and soundboards of a lot of things.