801 replies to this topic

[Cactus]

Tamworthman100, on 01 June 2012 - 10:38 PM, said:

If Tom Hooper & Cameron Mackintosh weren't happy then that trailer would never have seen the light of day. They obviously thought AH's version was spot on. If they're happy, i'm happy!

Attitudes like that always amaze me. Does that mean we need to be positive about anything that has been put out there by the creators (or in this case adapter and producer)...? To use an example, I'm sure Stephanie Meyer was happy with her Twilight series when she released it but it's still utter rubbish...

[chinatoy]

I think it means their judgement is trusted and respected and to be fair not without good cause. We all have different tastes and one man's meat is another man's poison but AH's rendition is actually pretty popular. I can't relate to the technical analysis as posted about by much more learned members, all I know is what my ears tell me works and what triggers a response emotionally and she does. End of.

Each to their own of course

[Tamworthman100]

Absolutely Chinatoy. Both highly respected and distinguished in their fields of work. If you sliced Cam Mack open i'm sure he'd have Les Mis running through him! Everyone will just have to trust their judgements on this. And they know there's a chance of winning some little golden statues so everything will be perfect i am sure!

[Cactus]

Tamworthman100, on 02 June 2012 - 06:10 AM, said:

Absolutely Chinatoy. Both highly respected and distinguished in their fields of work. If you sliced Cam Mack open i'm sure he'd have Les Mis running through him! Everyone will just have to trust their judgements on this. And they know there's a chance of winning some little golden statues so everything will be perfect i am sure!

Oh yeah, like we should have trusted him for casting decisions such as Nick Jonas as Marius...
He's a producer, not a musical genius or an actors' director. I don't see how everything should have to be accepted as perfect just because it's got Cammack written all over it, surely everyone's allowed their personal opinion (especially when they can explain and support it)...

[Doogie Hoser]

Then again nothing should be accepted just because it's the work of a musical genius or an actor's direct.  I've seen a couple plays in my day that were so actor's director I found the whole thing annoying, because they were so busy demonstrating what geniuses they were it felt like we were paying to watch something they produced for themselves, rather than an audience.  In musicals I'd argue whatever you think of his work, ALW is generally regarded as no slouch, but some of his efforts have landed with a painful thud.  Whatever the quality of the particular composition, it just didn't connect in a way to sustain it so it endures.  I finally watched the LND video version last night and while I see much there that I thought bordered on excellent, the score in particular, it didn't hold me and I've no desire to see it again.  

Which is a rambling way of saying in the end AH's IDAD is a creative offering, subject to interpretation and response by the audience and that's never going to change.  The die hards, which run a spectrum of deeper connection to Les Mis, will react each in their own way (pardon me for stating the deeply obvious!)  For example, I'm still skeptical about Crowe as Javert but remain open to seeing what I see.  

I generally really liked the Phantom movie but I gather a lot of serious Phantom fans still regard all or part of it as heresy.  Nonetheless, I see the movie as far different and separate from the stage version.  That's what they are... versions.  So when I see people objecting to Hathaway's version it doesn't matter to me.  People are going to react.  Some people wouldn't have The Scream in their lounge if you bought them the painting and paid them to keep it.  

I also think it's worth bearing in mind that it's her version of the vision of a lot of people on the set and in the production process... she just didn't plonk down in that sewer and announce 'I'll be singing it this way, hit it!' In New York, poor Elena Roger is having her ass handed to her my many because her greatest sin it's not thirty years ago and she's not Patti LuPone.  

Generally I find the Hathaway treatment is being well received, although I'd say there's a consistent number of people who who don't like it for one reason or another.  I knew Hathaway could belt from her ditty at the Oscars she hosted (though I do not have any technical expertise to assess its merits on that basis); what surprised me was that she could deliver such softeness and vibrato.  

It's certainly a different approach to treating it and I have to say, based on what little there is, I quite like it.  I can't think of a Fantine I particularly remember or, of the many times I've seen Les Mis, a Fantine who moved me... I always found the direction for the character made her shrill and weepy and waily and generally I was quite relieved each time she died and not very moved to see her return from the great beyond for the finale (although I do feel bad for her that the Almighty doesn't run an afterlife where she couldn't do anything about that cash for curls buzz cut.  Of all the many rooms in my father's house apparently not one is a heavenly hair salon.)  My reaction to the Hathaway version is here is what looks like a good and gentle woman brought low by circumstance who has now hit absolute rock bottom with nowhere to turn.  She's up against the sewer wall.  It is the most moving interpretation of both, for me, that I have seen.

[Stage Hand]

Any news on the progress of the film ? have they finished shooting or pics of the Thénardiers

[djp]

Stage Hand, on 14 July 2012 - 07:54 PM, said:

Any news on the progress of the film ? have they finished shooting or pics of the Thénardiers

Haven't seen anything. Imagine that was done later. They might be holding back Helena's  Thenardier for later PR, They have not shown Sam Bark's Eponine yet either?

[Cactus]

djp, on 14 July 2012 - 08:35 PM, said:

Haven't seen anything. Imagine that was done later. They might be holding back Helena's  Thenardier for later PR, They have not shown Sam Bark's Eponine yet either?

Well, she was in the trailer...

[djp]

Cactus, on 14 July 2012 - 08:37 PM, said:

Well, she was in the trailer...

Less than a second of Sam - just an idea of her look. Nothing Thenardier. The trailer trails the big film stars and I thought establishes the casting and look of Valjean. Javert and Fantine. If they want to show something funny later on thats going to be the Thenardiers, and if they want some more solo  singing over,  Eponine and Valjean are the ones that get the job of selling the  show at things like the Royal Variety or Oliviers?

[Cactus]

Something tells me that Tom Hooper may be focussing more on the central story of Valjean, Javert, Fantine, Cosette and Marius... (as he should.) And I believe most of the scenes with the Thénardiers hadn't been shot by the time the teaser trailer was released anyway.