Well, maybe a little more detail. I first saw the play on Broadway over 20 years ago. I wasn't familiar with the story and had never seen a Broadway production. I was blown away by the music, the voices and the story which, to this day, I think is the best story ever told. I saw the play again here in Cincinnati a few years ago, I own the soundtrack and I saw the first movie. But, when I heard they were making a film of Les Miserables and the way they were going to shoot it, I couldn't wait. So, I didn't. For the first time ever I went to the movies on Christmas Day.
The combination of live action with the amazing music was as good as I hoped. I was slightly disappointed with Russell Crowe as Javert because his voice didn't have the presence of Terrence Mann. But, Crowe did an acceptable job and everyone else was stupendous. I plan to see it again next week and as soon as it is out on Blu-Ray I'll be buying the disc.
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I wondered how Crowe would do in that role. I heard that Crowe lobbied for Casting him seemed a bit like casting Brosnan in Mama Mia.the role. Even so we plan to catch it next week when all the working folks are back at it.
Crowe did great with the voice he has, not unlike Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd. I love Sweeney Todd, but did not care for the movie. I also love Les Mis and just loved the movie.
I even saw some people complaining about Hugh Jackman's performance, which I thought was excellent. The thing that really stood out to me about his performance in retrospect is that he didn't sing it in a Jean Valjean voice. In every production I've seen, the person playing Jean Valjean was doing their best to sound like Colm Wilkinson. I think some people prefer that. I found it refreshing.
It is hard to compare plays with movies. Many panned the movie version Phantom of the Opera because Gerard Butler did not sound like Michael Crawford. Those same types wanted a voice like Alphie Boe to play Valjean. Acting in a move musical requires different skills than on Broadway. Of course there is always the awful example of Peter O'Toole in Man of La Mancha - not a singer in that whole movie.
I loved the Phantom movie, but Butler's voice was only slightly better than Crowes'. Alphie's rendition is gorgeous, but it's almost too operatic for me within the context of the show.
I agree Mike. Broadway shows often resemble American Operatic productions but musical movies are probably better off when they stay away from that genre. Man of La Mancha being the exception - hated the movie version.
I haven't seen Man of La Mancha, methinks I'll keep it that way. ;-)
In two words, Loved it.....
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