Wicked vs. Les Miserables Debate

[Forester]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 8:32am

Just thought you might find this hilarious.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0579953/board/nest/21729365

You need to register to read it though.
Updated On: 7/21/05 at 08:32 AM

[ashley0139]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 12:51pm

Ugh. That's all I have to say. Ugh. Les Miz is boring? Music is boring? What? Oh wait, anything Idina does has to be the most amazing thing. Nothing else can compare!

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 12:55pm

Well, I signed up...and put my own little bit in. Happily, I can say nothing that I said was biased.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:03pm

Oh lord...I hate the IMDB messageboards.
On the "Wizard Of Oz" one, I read a post where a girl was, like, SO upset about the way Elphaba was portrayed and, like, how DARE they do that to her and and and...
I wanted to throw things.

[The8re phan]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:05pm

Comparing Les Miserables to Wicked is like comparing Gone With The Wind to Gigli

Updated On: 7/21/05 at 01:05 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:09pm

Comparing Les Miserables to Wicked is like comparing Gone With The Wind and Gigli

LMAO. I should make that my signature.

[Jera]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:18pm

That was so pathetic. My favourite was:
"Miz. i didn't really like that much but i love Wicked! Wicked has an amazing plot line about the untold tale of the wicked witch of the west. Who would ever think to write that? The guy who wrote the book was very creative were le miz really wasn't, i mean he wrote about the french revoultion and Wicked is more of like a fantasy and the songs in wicked are so much better then les miz!"

What? Les Miserables, written by Victor Hugo, was written by arguably one of the best French writers of that time. The characters are made up, and the situations are made up (except for the French Revolution). He was a very creative person.

Gregory Maguire borrows Characters from a movie, and put them in situations and a setting that were also borrowed. I love both Les Miserables and Wicked, but clearly if your going to measure creativity, Les Miserables wins hands down.

jera

[Taryn]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:20pm

Augh! Les Mis isn't even ABOUT the French Revolution!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:29pm

Les Miserables (full name 'cos I'm talking about the novel here) also wins for Easter Eggs. #24601, written in European Format, is June 24, '01. Now I'm forgetting what significance this date is other than it was the year before Hugo was born. But it does mean somethin'.

Also, the apartment numbers that belong to Marius and Thénardier (when they live in the same building) are the years which Hugo didn't work on the story.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:49pm

Lizzie - not to mention ABC (Cafe) when said out is abaisse which means underdog.

But really, there is no comparison.

"was written by arguably one of the best French writers of that time."

Arguably one of the best ever.

[jo]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 2:03pm

Les Miserables is not simply a period novel. It is a commentary on the political, social, and cultural developments during an important time of French history ( years after, not during, the French revolution)as seen through the eyes and pen of one of France's most revered political thinkers and philosophers. Reading this fictionalized document ( the English translation) is like reading a collection of essays, all thoughtfully-written and thought-provoking. That the stage musical was able to capture some of the more important moments in that slice of history is a tribute to Boublil and Schonberg ( although they did say "What French boy and girl did not grow up without being familiar with Gavroche and Cossette?").

I hope the book is part of required reading in schools as one can learn much from this broad picture of a country's route to political maturity. It certainly is more educational than just enjoying a fictionalized story of witches.

[Forester]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 2:54pm

"Augh! Les Mis isn't even ABOUT the French Revolution!"
It was about the French Revolution. It was based on the French Revolution of 1848.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 2:56pm

It was based on the French Revolution of 1848.

Oh, really? Interesting, since the majority of the action -- as well as every barricade scene -- happens in 1832.

Hugo really was a pioneer! He wrote about time travel, even!

[Forester]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:02pm

I feel like an idiot now. Always get the dates wrong. :)

I do know that there was an economic crisis in French btw 1827 to 1832. Updated On: 7/21/05 at 03:02 PM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:03pm

How can you compare an incredible piece of theater (Les Mis) to commercial, sell-out material such as WICKED?

[Forester]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:16pm

"Plus i think Idina has a better voice then anyone in les Miz!"

LOL. Guess Idina have a better voice then Patti Lupone, Lea Salonga, Sutton Foster . . .

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:21pm

That's also several hundred people in over a dozen countries for one fan to have evaluated and then compared to Idina. Wonders never cease!

[rusmic]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:21pm

Les Miserables, Saint-Denis and Idyll of the Rue Plumet, Book One, A Few Pages of History (English translation, complete and unabridged paperback edition) will basically tell you right off that it's about one the small student uprisings that occurred during the years 1831 and 1832, part of what they called the July Revolution. The French Revolution was in 1789 to 1799 I think (don't kill me if that's wrong, it's just the dates that come to mind when I think of the history classes. )
Updated On: 7/21/05 at 03:21 PM

[jo]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:33pm

You're right, rusmic.

Quoting from history books --

"The period of the French Revolution is very important in the history of France and the world. It covers the years between 1789 and 1799, in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. While France would oscillate between republic, empire, and monarchy for 75 years after the First Republic fell to a Coup d'état by Napoleon Bonaparte, the revolution nonetheless spelled a definitive end to the ancien régime, and eclipses both subsequent revolutions in France in the popular imagination. It is widely seen as a turning point in European history, from the age of absolutism to that of the citizenry, and even of the masses, as the dominant political force."


The symbolic start of the revolution was the famous FALL OF BASTILLE!


Jo

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:05pm

Posted something politely condescending toward Wicked and its fans...

[Thenardier]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:24pm

OK - posted.

Same name as here.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:34pm

They can't be compared and besides, Les Miserables is a masterpiece!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 6:22pm

"How can you compare an incredible piece of theater (Les Mis) to commercial, sell-out material such as WICKED?"

While I agree Les Miz is a much better musical, it was just as commercial as Wicked was. We're not talking about some little art-house musical that played off-Broadway. Let's call a spade a spade...

[ZBraff]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 6:49pm

Oh man...I can't resist...


/posts.

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 6:58pm

Wicked is like soooo much better than Les Mis becuz, like, they stole the mis sound from the shiz,... a mean Wizard Of Oz is like sooooooo old innit... it was like, writen b4 les misery wasn' it? Also Fiyero is like, so dreamy, he don't like, go killin everyone and cryin... he's like my dream prom date eva! I also reckon Wicked is better because my hero and idol ad future everything eva, Idina Menzel asn't dun it so blatently it izn't gud enuf to av er in it.. is it! And wot's with the barikade... no one flies, i mean, come on guyz it's da 21st sentury don't ya no? OMG this isn' evan a debate its like a conspiracy from all youz wicked 'aters innit?

p.s i'm a fan of both and a fan of Idina but this is my interpretation of posts to come... and it really hurt to be that grammatically correct... whatever!