This latest “Les Misérables” will be missing a notable design element – a revolving turntable – that was used in the original Broadway production, which ran from 1987 to 2003, and the earlier revival, which closed in January 2008.
I love Les Mis. I was so excited for the film (and I enjoyed it). I saw the original production several times as well.
But do we really need to come back again? It was just here and then just here again and has pretty much never stopped touring. Can't we try something new? Especially from a producer like Cameron Mackintosh who has both the skills & money to devote that time and energy to something new?
I'm psyched!!! Having seen multiple les miz tours since 1999-2006, the first revival in 2007, the 2012 movie, I must say I saw this revised version in 2011 in Minneapolis and thought it was stellar! I never missed the turntable and thought the cast was exceptional with j Marc mcvey as valjean, chasten Harmon as eponine, and Betsy Morgan as fantine!
My bets are on it going into the Imperial. I really don't see NICE WORK being there until then, and with that venue having such a rich history with LES MIS it seems appropriate and good timing for the show to return there.
I found this production lacking. It was missing the a wow factor. No turntable, no barricade folding onto the stage and the orchestrations were hit or miss. The barricade portion is what I missed the most, but I did like the staging of Empty Chairs, Empty tables.
I will always love Les Miz for its story (hell, even that horrible 1998 movie made me tear up), so I'm always for the ability to see it again and am glad it's coming back. However, aside from the staging of ECAET and Javert's Suicide, I really hated the direction, and not being able to see both sides of the barricade makes it less dramatic. The orchestrations for the most part are "eh," but I absolutely can't stand the blatant addition of the electric guitars. I think I'd even prefer if they used the movie orchestrations, even if that's implausible. But the part I really couldn't stand was the Gavroche/Grantaire friendship. It's not in line with Grantaire's characterization at all, and though it's not as prevalent in the musical, really undermines Grantaire's overwhelming devotion to Enjolras and what that means.
joined:5/17/07
Posted: 2/19/13 at 02:07pm