Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Les Miserables Review

Justin, Dad, and I saw Les Miserables on December 26, 2012. I absolutely loved this adaptation. The theater was packed and the emotions were at an all time high, and it's to be expected. I love the music, and I love the interwoven stories whether it's the ongoing feud between Jean Valjeant and Inspector Javert, the struggle for Fantine to find a good home for her child, Cosette, the love triangle with Eponine, Cosette, and Marius or the Revolution. I have always loved the book (definitely one of the best I've ever read) and then Cameron MacIntosh created this phenomenal play about the book interwoven with larger than life characters and music that has stood the test of time. This has been one of the most successful plays in Broadway history, and I enjoyed this movie very much. Tom Hooper did an excellent job in the director's job as he did for The King's Speech, and the approach he took for the singing worked well in my opinion. Having the actors sing live put them into the mind of the character, and once they become that character the orchestra starts up and it is pure gold. I loved the cast from Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjeant to Russel Crowe as Javert to Anne Hathway as Fantine. Each of the songs was well put together. I felt it presented an amazing visual imagery of the play. The costumes, art design, and cinematography were magnificent. I kept reliving scenes in my head as I've actually analyzed and studied both the book and the play on my own. As a nerd, I do things like this. I felt the facial expressions and the method acting put into the roles really helped deliver into the magic of the music. The songs I really liked were Fantine's I Dreamed A Dream-I thought Anne did an excellent job with this reflecting on her downward spiral, On My Own sung by Eponine (my favorite character)-I had goosebumps during this song. I'll discuss this after this piece. One Day More-really loved this with the preparation for revolution amidst the different characters, and the finale which always has a Titanic feel to it with Valjean's death and the joining with Fantine. In my personal opinion, I felt that Samantha Barks stole the show. She did an excellent job as Eponine-she actually plays her in the UK version and has really cemented herself into that role. Without a doubt, she had the best voice, and Barks is absolutely beautiful. Always liked the Eponine character with her sacrifice for Marius and participation in the Revolution as well as standing up to Thernadier. I hope Samantha Barks gets more roles. If you need somebody to play Elphaba in the new Wicked movie, please consider her. Great cast, great music, great songs-I've listed the ones I liked the most, and fantastic usage of cinematography and editing. After the film ended there was a huge applause, and I agree. I give this a definite 5/5 and hope it dominates the awards shows. I really wish that Samantha Barks was on the list, but the Eponine part is smaller than the others (even though it's the best one-haha).

1 comment:

  1. and it was so we differ and greatly. I apologized to my sister for having this be her introduction. I gave the movie 3/5. Hooper destroys Jackman's voice.

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