Ragtime or Les Miserables — Page 2

Watching him on the Tony awards, he looked a bit like a lizard that looks dead but flicks out its tongue every now and then to snag a fly.

I don't remember anything about that performance other than Anthony Crivello's hair. Even for the 80s, it was ridiculously HUGE, for a man or a woman. I mean, really.
Les Miserables Tony Performance

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I LOVE Tony Crivello's hair on there!

And David Bryant... he's not BAD-looking, just BORED-looking. Like he's half-asleep the whole time. But I still can't stop watching the "...one more day to revolution" portion of the song. So much that I had to make an avatar out of it!

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Oh rofl. Too long since I've seen that vid!
Bryant is rather hopeless and insipid, to put it mildly.
What is up with Ruffelle's facial expressions?!
Are you sure that's Tony Crivello? It looks more like Queen's Brian May!
They also appear to have been joined by Rambo...
I don't hate Javerrence Mann too much in that -normally I can't stand him.
Colm looks soooo young!

I bought them both and I'm definitely more of a Ragtime fan. I just think the score is so sophisticated and complex. I just listen to it and get lost in the music, which is something that I love. I find Les Miz to be a little too corny for me, and the highlights is the OBC... so I'm going to rent the 10th anniversery concert DVD to see if it impresses me. I do like some of the songs in Les Miz a lot, like 'Castle on a Cloud', 'Master of the House', and 'I Dreamed a Dream'... but most of the others just make me think 'well, that is cute'. I don't get sucked in like I do with Ragtime.

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Ragtime

Oh Ms. Schmergie the singing on Ragtime is DIVINE :)

I just listen to it and I'm like 'How do they sing like that!', and then when they singing the group numbers it is breathtaking. I can't even find words to describe it. I

Les Miz, well... SOME of the singing is good, but some of it is just plain awful. I like the Fantine, I think she has a nice voice... the Eponine, OUCH! The Valjean is ok, and some of the male ensemble members can't hit the low notes in the Work Song... Including the Valjean. I really like the Cosette, the young and the old ones. They have really pretty voices. The group numbers are actually pretty good though. I have a feeling I spelled all those names wrong.

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Updated On: 6/16/09 at 09:46 PM

Yes! That is my favorite part right now, too-- that and the "on the seaaaaaa" in "Journey On." The only cast member I don't love is Younger Brother, and that's because Bobby Steggert was worlds better...

AndAllThatJazz, you actually spelled all of the names right! Congratulations! I was the kid who spelled things "Onjolras" and "Javare."

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I like the Fantine, I think she has a nice voice... the Eponine, OUCH!

All I can say is, be glad you weren't in the theatre scene in the late 80s. Frances Ruffelle's Tony-winning performance as Eponine was considered the definitive version and On My Own, sung in the signature Ruffelle style, was the single most performed female audition for YEARS. I don't mind it so much because she was the same Eponine on both the original London and Broadway cast recordings and I was simply accustomed to her voice. But if you don't like Ruffelle's voice, then you probably shouldn't get the original London cast recordings of Starlight Express and Children of Eden. She was quite popular during that period.

And yes, Randy Graff has a beautiful voice. She won the Tony a few years later for City of Angels. Her Fantine was heartbreaking. But I have to say, my favorite Fantine thus far has been Lea Salonga.

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I probably listen to Ragtime more simply because it is a newer recording tan Les Miz, but I haven't listened to it nearly as many times as Les Miz. Not even a 10th as much, probably. But comparing them really isn't very fair. They are two completely different types of shows in music, structure, period, style and story. But if I was forced to pick one, it is unquestionably Les Miz. If you view the shows from the perspective of when they opened, Les Miz was stronger in almost every way. It was highly influential in the world of musical theatre and went on to become an international mega-hit that has only been rivaled by the likes of Lloyd Webber. The score is repetitive at times, just as is every sung-though show, but less so than say, most of Lloyd Webber's works (especially Phantom of the Opera). At least the repeated themes and motifs were used intelligently and make sense.

Ragtime is arguably one of the great American musical theatre scores, and the Broadway cast recording features a glorious cast. Other than that, I just can't overlook some of the fatal book flaws (I made the mistake of reading the novel first) and the muddled original staging and choreography (the film, though more abbreviated, was far more focused and clear). I do love the beautiful score, but I'm often saddened by the near-miss of what could have been a truly great musical.

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Schmerg - No, I saw the Broadway production and the recent Chicago production. The smaller Chicago version worked much better as far as staging is concerned, but since the book hasn't changed, it is still the major weak link for me.

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If I were to criticise Ragtime, and bear in mind it's a favourite show of mine, it'd be for the habit that every song ends in a big choral power finish. If I were ever to do the show, I'd be keen to fiddle with the arrangements to downplay that a bit. Les Mis does the little joinup bits of business so well I feel and isn't just one big exhausting number after another. Always makes me a bit sad cos I slag Wildhorn for being constant power ballads but Ragtime can be rather repetitive like that too!

I feel the same way about Les Miserables, actually. The novel is my absolute favorite and to me the musical will always fall short of it in every way, even though I do like the musical.

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I will say that one of my favorite bizarre pronunciations on any recording ever is Frances Ruffelle's ability to turn the word "just" into "jee-yust" as in, "Jee-yust an old man and his daughter; they live ordinaryyyyyy lives!"

Which I was listening to at the gym about 30 minutes ago.

I love both shows. Ragtime really needs the full recording though. The "highlights" album just doesn't do it justice. I think it makes the show sound fractured and unappealing. Les Miz's highlights album at least gives a better sense of the show overall. This is a hugely subjective opinion.