Comments on: Hugh Jackman – the only reason to endure Les Misérables

By: WolfieWolfgang (Colin Bell)

WolfieWolfgang (Colin Bell) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:51:15 +0000

I don't mind it at all when Puccini jerks my tears or pulls my heart-strings but then he was a lot better at it than these guys. There are a couple of good songs in Les Mis though and done well, they actually pull at that bit of meat in my chest called a heart, believe it or not!

By: Bren

Bren — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:40:44 +0000

There was a rumour of a version of this some years ago with Alan Parker down to direct and Judi Dench to play Mme Thenardier. I'm still not sure it would have got me into the cinema. A friend described it to me as "too much falsetto" - and that seems to be a fair description. I want proper baritones and basses, not castrati.

That said, things that cynically go for the heartstrings tend to get me; I would end up feeling something, but hating myself for it. When I saw ROH's 'La Boheme' at the cinema, that was a real heartstring-puller, but I don't mind it when Puccini does it.

By: WolfieWolfgang (Colin Bell)

WolfieWolfgang (Colin Bell) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:24:39 +0000

We wolves do have hearts and emotions like most humans Malcolm, just different taste.

By: Malcolm Kemp

Malcolm Kemp — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:17:47 +0000

I have seen the stage version and endlessly play the DVD of the 25th anniversary concert version. I have learned some of the solo songs with my own singing teachers and taught some of the songs, over a number of years,to junior choirs. The DVD of the 25th anniversary show gives a performance where, in the absence of much action, the music is paramount and the standards of music attained in that are polished and superb. I also saw the film yesterday at Brighton Marina where the auditorium was packed to capacity. Here we had a version which is essentially theatre with music thrown in; a contrasting take on the work. the actor playing Marius, who looked too old for the part, was a scholar at Eton and choral scholar at Cambridge so he should have been able to sing well, as, with the exception of "Empty chairs" he did. At least Gareth Gstes and Nick Jonas, awful though they were as singers and actors, looked the right age. With live takes of the singers singing to camera, rather than miming as is usual in such films, the singing was never going to be perfect. "I dreamed a dream" was different from any other performance of it that I've heard but I found it intensely moving and passionate in a way that other peformances don't. It was fun spotting the locations. I went, expecting to hate it because I love the other versions so much. I came away having seen the most beautiful, emotional and moving film of any genre that I have ever seen. Perhaps wolves don't have hearts and emotions like humans? It was absolutely wonderful.