Okay, I just need to vent here. The other day, I was fortunate enough to be able to take in yet another performance of Les Miserables. I think this was my 12th time, or somewhere close to it. Sam has heard me talk about it since...well, since she was an infant, when I would sing the score to her as I tried to get her to nap. So I was thrilled to finally take her to see it. To me, it is the end-all be-all of musical theater. The story and the music tug at my heartstrings every time, without fail. As originally written, it is perfection.
I want to stress that I said as ORIGINALLY written. I would love to know what brain surgen felt the need to tweak the staging and music.
The new sets, admittedly, look incredible, and the transition between scenes is as smooth as always. However, with a show like this, they are not needed. It worked so much better before, and used to be much more effective. Sometimes, simple works better. Restaging classic scenes like "One Day More" is just unnecessary.
One thing that the previous incarnation was known for was its use of a spinning stage. This is no longer true,its been cut. Now, to me, this is not a big deal until the second act, during the barricade scene.
When Gavroche died, I wanted to see it. It lost something when we just heard it. Along the same lines, after the students are all shot to hell, I missed that slow pan when we see the other side of the barricade, littered with soliders bodies. Normally, this is a very powerful and effective scene...this time around, I sat in the audience, saying to myself, "Wha-?!?!"
My biggest petpeeve, though, and it happened repeatedly, was the changes in music. I didnt mind when things are added, or when the wording was changed a little, but there were whole chunk of "dialogue" cut, as well as whole verses from songs. Because I have listened to the symphonic recording more than any sane person should, I know every little line. Off the top of my head, I know there were whole verses cut from "Castle On A Cloud" and "Fantines Death". Sam even picked up on the "Castle..." omission because she has used it as an audition song. There were other chunks missing, like the intro to "Master of the House", which was reduced to about 5-10 seconds long, it seems. There was also some incidental music cut, such as the beginning of "I Dreamed A Dream", as well as the reprise of "Drink With Me", right after the women and fathers of children are told to leave the barricade. When done right, that can be a powerful scene. In past productions, it has moved me to tears. In this new version, they are given about 2 seconds to say their goodbyes and get the hell out of there. Kinda ruined the moment.
Also, along the lines of the music...SLOW DOWN!!! There were quite a few moments when they were rushing through the music. As I said to Katie, since we were at the last show before they moved on to the next city, maybe the actors wanted to wrap it up since they wanted to pack up their crap and get the hell out of Baltimore. Cant really blame them, if thats the case.
In spite of the above criticism, there was one or two changes that I actually enjoyed. Specifically, having the opening take place on a ship worked suprisingly well. And I enjoyed the way Javerts suicide was depicted; well done.
And the story and music still got to me. Seeing it with Sam added a whole different wrinkle to the end; as Valjean lay dying, Sam took my hand, squeezed it hard, and put her head on my shoulder. I was no good after that, the tears were a-flowing. So, even with the above changes...it still works. And I am anxiously awating the next time I can see it. Because even a modified version is better than anything out there.
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