Les Miserables (Collector's Edition) (DVD)

...is the 21st anniversary of Les Miserables opening in London's west end, I thought what better way to help celebrate then to write a review on the special edition DVD that was filmed in 1995 to mark its 10th anniversary.

Ever since I went to see Les Miserables at Bristol theatre when I was about eight years old I have loved the musical. Although for a child of that age, the story was quite hard to get a grasp of, the music was just ...
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# History of Les Miserables #

Les Miserables first opened in the Barbican Theatre, London on the 8th of October 1985 and moving to the Palace Theatre on the 4th of December. It later opened to the American audiences at the Broadway Theatre on the 12th of March 1987.

Since opening producers Alian Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Herbert Kretzmer, who wrote the lyrics, have taken their musical all over the ... more

As in a few days time it is the 21st anniversary of Les Miserables opening in London's west end, I thought what better way to help celebrate then to write a review on the special edition DVD that was filmed in 1995 to mark its 10th anniversary.

Ever since I went to see Les Miserables at Bristol theatre when I was about eight years old I have loved the musical. Although for a child of that age, the story was quite hard to get a grasp of, the music was just out of this world, really superb, and it has to be the first musical I have ever seen where they can involve such hard hitting issues, such as the poor and war, along side with a pinch of comedy.

# History of Les Miserables #

Les Miserables first opened in the Barbican Theatre, London on the 8th of October 1985 and moving to the Palace Theatre on the 4th of December. It later opened to the American audiences at the Broadway Theatre on the 12th of March 1987.

Since opening producers Alian Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Herbert Kretzmer, who wrote the lyrics, have taken their musical all over the world and picked up a stack of awards on their travells. These awards include eight Tony awards, including Best Musical.

Les Miserables is based on the 1862 novel, written by Victor Hugo. The novel intended to be melodramatic, written with the intention of showing that men can rise above any situation and reach personal perfection. Throughout the novel it follows both Jean Valjean's and society's struggles with good and evil.

# The Story #

Les Miserables starts in 1815, Digne when we first meet Jean Valjean. After spending 19 years in the chain gang after being caught stealing a loaf of bread, Valjean has just been released on parole and condemned as an outcast by Javert. Stuck with nowhere to go and no money or food, it is only the caring Bishop of Digne that agrees to let Valjean stay. Returning to his past, Valjean thanks the Bishop by stealing his finest silver; however Valjean is caught and is brought back the police and is taken to trial. But in a sudden twist of fate, the Bishop tells the police that he gave the silver to Valjean and with that, the police let Valjean go to start a new life.

"Look down, look down, You'll always be a slave, Look down, look down, You're standing in your grave"

Eight years later and Valjean has broken his parole and has changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine and living in Montreuil-Sur-Mer as a successful factory owner and the Mayor. One of his factory workers, Fantine, has a secret child and when the other workers find out, they demand that she be sacked. The foreman, whose advances she has turned down many a time, throws her onto the streets.

Fantine, desperate for money to pay for medicine and the keep of her child, Cosette, sells her locket, her hair, and becomes a whore. Fantine feels utterly degraded by her new job and gets into a fight with a customer and gets herself arrested by Jervet, who is on the look out for Valjean. Just as Fantine is about to be taken to prison, 'The Mayor' Valjean arrives and demands Fantine be taken to hospital instead of jail.

Javert sees instantly that the Mayor is in fact prisoner 24601, Jean Valjean, and as Valjean is promising a dying Fantine to look after her daughter Cosette, Javert arrives to arrest him, but Valjean escapes once more.

"At the end of the day you're another day older, And that's all you can say for the life of the poor, It's a struggle, it's a war, And there's nothing that anyone's giving, One more day standing about, what is it for? One day less to be living."

In Montfermeil Fantines young daughter, Cosette, has been living with the Thenardier family for the past five years. The family, who own a run down Inn, make Cosette work as a slave for them while they indulge there own daughter, Eponine. Valjean finds Cosette fetching water in the woods at night and he pays off the Thernardiers to let him take Cosette away. Valjean takes Cosette to Paris, but he still has Javert closely behind him.

"There is a castle on a cloud, I like to go there in my sleep, Aren't any floors for me to sweep, Not in my castle on a cloud."

Nine years later and the streets of Paris are unsettled because of the likely demise of the only man in the Government, General Lamarque, who is in touch with the poor and wants to help them. There are lots of groups gathering around Paris, including a group of idealistic students who are preparing for revolution they are sure will happen on the death of General Lamarque.

When the news of the Generals death reaches them, the students, lead by Enjolras, go to the streets of Paris to gather support. Only Marius, another student, is more interested with his new love interest, Cosette and sends his friend Eponine to find where Cosette lives. Eponine reluctantly agrees, hiding the fact that she is secretly in love with Marius.

Eponine finds Cosette and takes Marius to her. In the night Eponines fathers gang go to rob Valjean's house but Eponine screams to blown their cover, and as Valjean awakes he is sure that it was Javert that was lurking outside and decides that Cosette and himself should leave Paris.

"Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men? It is the music of a people, Who will not be slaves again!"

The students start to build their barricades, against the warnings from the army who say they must give up or will die. Eponine returns from sending a letter to Cosette hurt and after confessing her love to Marius, she dies in his arms.

The students promise to fight in her name, but the next day when ammunition is running low, the students are all shot and killed, including Enjolras.

Valjean escapes to the sewers with an unconscious Marius but is stopped by Javert once more. Valjean pleads for his freedom and the chance to take MArius to a hospital. Javert decides to let him go, and in doing so throws himself into the River Seine.

"He's like the son I might have known, If God had granted me a son. The summers die, One by one, How soon they fly, On and on, And I am old, And will be gone."

At Maruis and Cosette's wedding Valjean confesses about his past and tells Cosette about her mother. He decides to leave Paris for good and shortly after the wedding, in the arms of Marius and his beloved Cosette, Valjean dies and joins Eponine, Fantine, and all the men who dies on the barricades.

# Disk One and Two#

On disk one you will find the performance of Les Miserables. Although it will not be to everybody's taste, the way they performed the musical was brilliant. The cast and singers all sat on chairs along the stage and just stood up to the micraphone when it was their time to sing, so don't expect for the musical to be acted out or you will be disappointed! There are however clips shown at intervals taken from the performances at the Palace Theatre.

The best thing about this disk is at the beginning you can choose to have the lyrics on the stage, which helps as there is no acting keeping up with the story. It is also handy if, like me, you spend the whole time singing along!

The finale of the performance where the whole cast sing 'Do you Hear the People Sing' was a fantastic ending with a different actor from a different cast from all over the world singing a piece in their national language.

On disk two is an interview with producers Cameron Makintosh, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. I found this part of the DVD pretty dated as it was related to the success of the show in the early 1990's, however it was interesting to hear about the history of the show and how they first came about making the novel into a musical.

# Actors #

Jean Valjean- Colin Wilkinson. Colin was nominated for his role as Valjean on Broadway in 1987 for a Tony award for Best Actor in a Musical. He has appeared in other musical such as 'Phantom of the Opera' and was the Irish entry in the 1978 Eurovision song contest, where he finished 5th. His performance as Valjean was simply fantastic and increadably moving.

Javert- Phillip Quast. Even though Javert can be conceived as an evil character, Phillips interpretation of Javert makes you think that he is a complex and sympathetic character worthy of both our respect and our compassion. More recently Quast has stared in 'South Pacific' and earlier this year started playing Peron in 'Evita'.

Fantine- Ruthie Hanshall. Before joining the cast of Les Miserables in 1992, Ruthie started in 'Miss Saigon' in Broadway and since then has been playing Velma in 'Chicago' on Broadway. I was lucky enough to see her a few years ago whilst she was doing a UK tour of 'Fosse' and she absolutely fantastic.

Eponine- Lea Salonga. Les Miserables came around for Lea at the beginning of her career, and since then she has gone on to sing on many a Disney soundtrack, including Aladdin and even replaced Christina Aguilera to sing the beautiful 'Reflection' in Mulan.

Marius- Michael Ball. I had the biggest shock when I saw Michael walk onto the stage. I am so embarrassingly in love with him. Micael was another cast member to start his career in Eurovision, representing the UK in 1992 and coming second! He is obviously famous for his voice and his Biography must be a mile long. He was perfect in the role of Marius and stood out a mile for his voice.

Cosette- Judy Kuhn. Now here is where I have my only complaint. I didn't think much to Judy at all. Yeah she has a brilliant voice, but she is a soprano and her voice just didn't fit the part of Cosette in my opinion. Maybe that or because she got to snuggle up to Michael Ball. Oh god I am turning into my mother. Les Miserables was Judy's first job and since then has gone on to work for Disney and sing as Pocahontas.

# Final Thoughts #

If you are anything like me and love the theatre, love Les Miserables soundtrack and love Michael Ball even more, then this DVD is for you. As I said before, if you are looking for something a bit more then just the songs then this DVD is not for and I would suggest looking to rent/ buy/ borrow/ steal the Dream cast version, which is the story without all of the singing.

But if you are feeling really cultured then the best thing would be to go and see it in the Theatre. You can get information on tickets from Ticket Master or call 0870 950 0930 and for the rest of this month all tickets are dicounted.

You can buy this DVD for £8.89 on Amazon at www.amazon.co.uk

Best songs include:

Castle on a cloud
A Heart full of Love
One More Day
Bring Him Home
On My Own
I Dreamed A Dream

5/5

Brat

 

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