Les Mis recent revival

[suttonfoster]

I was just wondering what was everyone's opinion on the latest Les Mis revival on Bway. I watched a bootleg of it with the orginal revival cast and I wasn't too pleased with it. Especially Kennan Bolger's take on Eponine. Just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts. Also, why wasn't it nominated for any Tony's? was there a rule or something?

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Celia Keenan Bolger's Eponine was one of the few redeeming things about that revival. She still remains one of my favorite to have performed that role.

[jimmycurry01]

Kennan Bolger's take on the role wasn't too terribly different than the scores of other actresses who have played the role over the years. She was kind of a text book Eponine. The only performance that was truly different was Daphne Rubin Vega, and that is because of her voice and not so much because of her interpretation of the character. Over all, it was a cookie cutter production.

[JohnyBroadway]

How does the original show differ from the new tour?

[MikeInTheDistrict]

"nnan Bolger's take on the role wasn't too terribly different than the scores of other actresses who have played the role over the years. She was kind of a text book Eponine."

I disagree. I found her considerably less saccharine than the typical Eponine. Her Eponine was harder, more awkward, and more despondent.

As for the revival in general, it was nice to have Les Miz back on Broadway, but the consensus seems to that it was all just half-assed: the sets were from the recently closed touring production, the orchestrations were pared down, no new insights were brought to the material, and it was too soon for a revival anyway. I'd rather they waited and brought Studio Theatre's breathtaking, completely re-envisioned production around 2009 or so to Broadway.

[LizzieCurry]

I'm a huge Les Miz fan and saw the revival twice (both post-Celia). It was fine but I couldn't see a valid argument for bringing it back if your only major changes were to maybe 3 costumes, adding some ****ty orchestrations and apologizing for 20 years of non-color-blind casting by making France look like a Bennetton ad.

[californiasnow]

The tour that is currently out is quite a bit different from the original production in some ways. Completely new orchestrations (which can be heard on the cast recording of the UK tour), new scenic design ( no turntable, use of projections), and some script cuts (the one I recall the most is Little People, which is reduced to a few lines). The biggest thing to recommend it is the cast, particularly Andrew Varela. I am sure others can be detailed about the changes, but all in all I enjoyed it.

[LizzieCurry]

Wasn't that Little People cut made for the Broadway revival? (And originally one of the overtime cuts from 2000?)

[PapaGe]

Yes, the revival cut Little People and replaced it with another song that was boring and purposeless. I can't remember whether they cut anything else. That production felt like a cheap copy of the original Broadway production (and was probably too recent a revival after the original closed, IMO). For me the only redeeming factor was Lea Salonga as Fantine.

[LizzieCurry]

Ten Little Bullets? They used that for Gavroche's death instead. I love it, actually. It's one of James Fenton's old scenes.

They didn't replace Little People (the full, post-Javert-reveal) with anything.

[justafan2]

The orchestra was too sparse---needed a richer sound. IMO

[broadway guy]

But why did it not recieve any tony nominations?

[CarlosAlberto]

My guess would be that the Tony Nominating committee did not deem this revival of LES MIS worthy of any.

[Mister Matt]

I'd rather they waited and brought Studio Theatre's breathtaking, completely re-envisioned production around 2009 or so to Broadway.

I'm so glad they didn't. I thought the new staging was rather ridiculous and conceptually inferior.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

I prefer John Caird's staging, but I thought the new version was a refreshing way to break the mold. Up until then, most regional productions were essentially replicas of the original.

Also, I just realized it was Signature Theatre I mean, not Studio.

[Kalimba]

Daphne Rubin Vega's "I Dreamed a Dream" was a nightmare.

[jimmycurry01]

It didn't get any Tony nominations because the committee deemed that there was not enough time between productions.