Les Miz - SPOILER Staging Question

I recently saw the revival and was disappointed in the staging effects when Javert commits suicide. I seem to recall the fall from the bridge in the original production (especially with Terrance Mann) being breath-taking. Did they change it as much as I think, and if so does anyone know why?
***SPOILER***
I have changed the original title for those who haven't read the book, haven't read the liner notes, haven't seen any production, haven't discussed this show with anyone who has seen it, and otherwise lives under a rock. I recall in the original production, Javert dropping into a fog bank on stage and the bridge flying upwards - in other words, not a stunt but a visual effect. I suppose nothing like that is ever as good the second time, but I saw the original production three times, and the revival just seems different. But memory does play tricks.

Updated On: 1/1/07 at 10:54 PM

It's exactly the same staging. You probably remember it being greater than it really was. Memory often tricks us.

I know I saw it, but it was creating the image of him falling is what I meant. You can't exactly have someone actually doing stunts. Even if you could get the kind of insurance in an actor's contract that I can imagine would be needed...he falls in water. That's all I was saying

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I was expecting something more like the way Raul jumps off the bridge and into the smoke/water in Phantom of the Opera, but I’m not even sure if the actor playing Raul actually does the jump. It could be a double I suppose, but I’ve never been told one way or the other. I did like the rising bridge effect too though. It was a neat way to do it, but as I saw it the last time it was in LA I did begin laughing a bit when the actor then tumbled around the stage in the dark. That, I felt, was unnecessary.

Some Javerts just don't launch themselves impressively. The general blocking has never changed, though.

(And then there's Michael McCarthy, who probably scooped up all the dust bunnies generated that night.)

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I don't think people would really understand falling into the stage. Actually, if I hadn't already read the novel, I wouldn't have understood the bridge going up until he was "floating and drowning" around on the stage. I think it's a risky scene because it's hard to do.

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Well, I think Norm Lewis does it very well. Towards the end of the song I felt that he was clinging on to the bridge with his life. But, after I first saw it (years ago) I did have an image in my head of Javert jumping, but I always got that it was a suicide.

Exactly. I also don't think the score helps either (or maybe it was just a lack of coordination between music and the company being exactly in synch).

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You probably remember the success of the moment more before because the lighting was considerably darker which strengthened the illusion. Post 10nth anniversary, the lighting in the show was brightened somewhat accross the boards. This effect was one of the casualties of such lighting changes. Originally the lighting was SO dim that the swirling gobo played tricks with the eye and mind. Now it looks like clunky college stagecraft.

I love the imagining aspect of it as well, but the truth is over half of the audience is gonna be like "wtf?"
I think it's creative though, coming up with that. I didn't know what to expect with Javert's suicide because I had never seen the show. It was cool considering the limitations of a stage.

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The artisitic prority of the show has always been the storytelling.

cud u believe the bridge is part of the barricade? haha... hands down Les Mis' got one of the best sets. And I dont feel the whole jumpin suicide thing is bad... when I saw it in London in Palace and Queen's it was done perfectly, the Javert just jumped and havin his hand holding up as if he's fallin down and is quickly swirled/rotated into the dark and the bridge at the same time moves upwards. It's very dramatic and I love it. I think a Phantom jump wud just completely ruin it.
Having this thread make me think more clearly into the direction of Les Mis which somehow I've always taken for granted and never realise what a genius piece of direction it is at some parts and how amazingly the rotating set works (unlike in WiW) and actually how modern it is the time it was opened!

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cud u believe the bridge is part of the barricade?
No, it's not. It only appears from Look Down to Red & Black, then comes back for Javert's Suicide.

I wonder what they do when high school perform Les Mis?
I saw one kid actually do a swan dive off the bridge upstage, behind their main set. I have no idea how he didn't crush his own skull, because there couldn't have been that much room, but it was honestly very impressive.

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