M: Week 4 (Les Misérables)

For the past 4 weeks, I've had songs from Les Misérables steadily running through my head and nonstop been  humming them under my breath. From “One Day More” to “Can You Hear the People Sing” to “On My Own” to “Red and Black,” it's constant and surprisingly, welcome. (One work day I had Rihanna's “Shine Bright Like a Diamond” stuck in my head. Now that was extremely unwelcome.)

I have seen Les Misérables on Broadway twice, watched the 25^th Anniversary Concert in London three times (even own it on Blu-ray), and watched the latest movie in the theaters. Now, I've been tasked by my dear friend Amy to read the book as well.

Haha, this is reminiscent of 2012 weekly updates...

Watching... Les Misérables.

Listening... Les Misérables.

Reading... Les Misérables.

Anyway, I was really happy with the latest addition to the Les Misérables package – the movie. For the most part, I agree with most of the world on the reviews for the performances: Russell Crowe was a weak casting choice for Javert; Anne Hathaway was amazing as Fantine; Eddie Redmayne made me like Marius more than I've ever liked him anywhere; Hugh Jackman gave a phenomenal performance, but I wished he had a stronger singing voice; other key roles – the Thernadiers, Eponine, Cosette, Enjolras, Gavroche, revolutionists – were well cast and the actors gave satisfying, if not great, performances. The movie told a much more complete story than what I got from the musical. It filled in some gaps I didn't even realize I was missing while watching the musical; it also made me realize how much of the story I either forgot or missed, even though I've listened to all those songs so many times.

Overall, I think that the movie is something I'd love to own one day, simply because it tells the Les Misérables story so well. While the Blu-ray of the 25^th Anniversary concert is satisfying because the vocal performances are done to perfection, the movie is satisfying in rounding out the amazing story behind the musical. (Oh, one vocal plus for the movie vs. the musical: Marius. Eddie Redmayne > Nick Jonas. But I really do wish they had used a more operatic Javert for the movie, ie. Norm Lewis.)

The reason why I love Les Misérables so much is the musical and the songs. The music makes me envious of the genius of the composer, Claude-Michel Schönberg. I love how certain musical rifts/themes follow specific characters throughout the production, and in certain numbers they all come together (ie. “One Day More” bringing in “I Dreamed a Dream” and “Master of the House”). It's masterful, beautiful, and makes me want to write a musical, as silly as it may sound for me to say so.

In any case, next up is reading Les Misérables, the book. I've heard from Amy that the book is a) an easy read, and b) fills in the story even more. Amy also mentions that some changes made in the movie were more in line with the book than the musical. I have no ambition to try to read it in Victor Hugo's original French, but I will definitely continue reading it in English.

a musical, a movie

I'll admit that I'm a little bit of a Broadway snob; I don't prefer to watch Broadway musicals off Broadway, especially not with a traveling cast. But I made an exception this one time for a few reasons: a-1) it's kind of hard for me to get up to NYC as often as I'd like, a-2) let alone make time for a Broadway musical while I'm up there!; b-1) I really wanted to see In the Heights, b-2) but didn't know any details on what it is about or anything (meaning, could it really hurt me NOT to see it on Broadway? Probably not!); c) the timing worked out; and d) I really wanted to see it!

So... why did I want to see it? It's a bit trivial-sounding, but the guy who wrote/composed and originally starred in it is Lin-Manuel Miranda, a Hunter alumn! He actually graduated a few years ahead of me, and I don't know that I remember him from my time in Hunter (though apparently he starred/was in most of the theater productions during those years), but I love hearing about successful HCHS alumni. Anyway, I'm really, really glad I got to see it in Baltimore. It reminded me of just how much I love going to see musicals, and I was unbelievably impressed with everything about In the Heights. The spoken word/rap by the main character, the colorful characters who represented real people so well, the way the storyline and characters were so seamlessly introduced and built upon, the elements of humor injected throughout, the gorgeous set... Everything! There was one thing that could make it better -- I really, really want to see it performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Haha, yeah, I know unlikely -- at least live. Fortunately a movie version is in the works with Lin-Manuel Miranda reprising his role as Usnavi, so perhaps one day I'll get my wish, kind of. :)

Now onto the movie. I'm not really sure why, but for whatever reason watching In the Heights got me thinking about the creative process behind composing/performing/writing. And somehow that lead me to think about a surprise movie I watched on TV in the past few months that I really, really enjoyed (and the more I think about it, the better I like it!): August Rush. I'm not sure why I didn't notice this movie existed when it was in theaters, but at some point randomly, I happened upon it on cable TV and watched it. In any case, the characters were so varied and fantastic (Keri Russell as the naive, young classical cellist completely controlled by her father; that guy who looks like Ewan McGregor as a wild, carefree rock musician; the kid who played Charlie in the Chocolate Factory movie as a poor orphan with incredible musical talents; Robin Williams as a crazed man who exploits homeless kids' talents for profit), the music drove the movie and it was fantastic, there was a couple and a family for me to root for (since I'm such a shipper), and there was a happy ending. My kind of movie! In any case, there was really no reason for this movie to pop into my head so randomly, but it did today, and now I really, really want to watch it again! Have I mentioned that I *really* like this movie? :)