Les Miserables Reviews

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 6:40pm

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/LesMiz2006.html

Mixed-to-Negative

"The spirit that once made Trevor Nunn and John Caird's adaptation of Victor Hugo's expansive novel a transcendent hit with millions across the globe has not reemerged with the design sketches and blocking notes. For that to happen, those behind this weary resurrection - producer Cameron Mackintosh and directors Nunn and Caird included, would need to view this show as a story worth telling freshly and cleanly, not a cash cow still ripe for the milking.

Unfortunately, aside from the cast size (nearly 40 performers), practically everything here screams bargain-basement reproduction. In most of its casting, in the way it looks, and especially in the way it sounds, this production feels as if it's been cobbled together from preexisting parts to create an extraordinarily average Les Misérables experience.

That might be fine for the eighth replacement company in the sixth year of the third national tour. But with Broadway know-how and, more importantly, Broadway ticket prices at play, audiences deserve better than an anemic mounting in which hardly a noteworthy new idea has been allowed to creep into the staging or characterizations and the orchestrations have been reduced to absurdly anorexic levels..."

....I remember saying something like that....

As far as Daphne:
"Rubin-Vega is more complicated. While she's both more fiery and more brittle than most Fantines, and better capable of navigating the intricate series of scenes leading her from factory to whoredom to deathbed, her rather ragged vocals are sure to disappoint those who expect Fantine's "I Dreamed a Dream" to set off seismometers in neighboring states. Her performance, however, is never less than interesting."



Updated On: 11/9/06 at 06:40 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 6:43pm

Here's the AP's review.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/artandlife/1404AP_Theater_Les_Miserables.html

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 6:44pm

They liked Daphne:

"The supporting cast has been chosen with care. The most startling, some might say problematic, is Daphne Rubin-Vega, who delivers a breathy, very modern interpretation of Fantine. She's the dying prostitute whose daughter, Cosette, is raised by Valjean. Rubin-Vega's voice has a raspy, tremulous quality that, coupled with her fine acting, effectively conveys the woman's doom."

That's 2/2.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 7:00pm

The breathiness is not the problem for me on Daphne's performance. It was the lack of pitch...

I was hoping her exploration of the character would bring her to a brilliant performance. It would be remarkable, but not entirely unexpected for her to accomplish that within the week since I saw the show. I always hope for good reviews on a show. So far this has been very interesting...

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 7:04pm

A sign of the apocolypse has arrived. TALKIN' BROADWAY has passed on Daphne-Rubin Vega.

Not that I've seen her, but judging from all the bad things fans have to say about her...

Oh, and by the way, people need to learn NOT to post a review on the board when they have a link to that review. It's like saying, "Here's the site where the review is, but don't bother; we've got it right here!". It's just bad reporting.

Updated On: 11/9/06 at 07:04 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 7:14pm

http://www.broadway.com/gen/general.aspx?ci=540164

The nobodies liked it....and it has great video clips.

[Benzy92]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 7:20pm

bring on more positive notices for Daphne :)

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 7:28pm

Oh man. Those clips are GREAT.

[alexg456]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 7:35pm

A Beautiful Review.... This one doesn't really cover much of the production, but the show in general. Spot on!


Updated On: 11/9/06 at 07:35 PM

[alexg456]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 7:37pm

Oops. Here is the link...

http://www.nysun.com/article/43088

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 7:41pm

You can edit your own messages, FYI.

And I really like that article. It's not really a review, though.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 8:51pm

Wow, Broadway.com has gone to crap.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 9:09pm

the nobodies just keep talking...shut up i want to hear them sing. not about the movie...which btw had no singing.

[Khashoggi]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 9:53pm

I think the nobodies are the most important reviews, to be honest. This is why people produce theater, not for the critics, but for the public. If they connect with the peice, thats the most important thing. Remember what happened when the show first opened in London. If the "nobodies" of this world didn't connect with the show, there wouldn't really be a Les Miserables to revive.
Welcome back, Les Miz.

[James2]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:36pm

Theatermania is mixed-to-negative.

Like the forever-revolving turntable in the middle of John Napier's busy-busy set, Cameron Mackintosh's production of Les Misérables has come 'round Manhattan way again after only a brief hiatus. The show, which initially bowed on Broadway just shy of 20 years ago, closed its doors barely more than three years back.
There are those, like myself, who will insist that the blockbuster musical's title refers more to besieged audience members than to the large cast of Victor Hugo's early 19th-century characters who crowd the stage for nearly three hours. But, while I've adamantly resisted the musical's portentous charms, even I have to admit there are many things to be said in favor of the show and this generally well-sung revival.

At the top of the list are the six or seven high-powered ballads that composer Claude-Michel Schonberg and Herbert Kretzmer have supplied for the cast. Indeed, every few minutes like clockwork, director/adaptors John Caird and Trevor Nunn make sure to position an actor at stage center to sing his or her battered heart out. Benighted-factory-worker-turned-prostitute Fantine (Daphne Rubin-Vega) gets the first turn with "I Dreamed a Dream," the lament containing that ravishing low note at the end of the phrase, "But the tigers come at night."

In Act II, unlucky-in-love Eponine (Celia Keenan-Bolger) aims searing notes at the rafters with "On My Own." The hunted, haunted Jean Valjean (Alexander Gemignani) flaunts his falsetto on the tear-jerking "Bring Him Home." Surviving student revolutionary Marius (Adam Jacobs) is handed "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," which says something trenchant about the futility of uprisings.

On top of those ditties, which have a true stick-to-the-ribs quality, there's the rambunctious "Master of the House," which Gary Beach and Jenny Galloway as the conniving Thenardiers lustily sing with a bunch of rowdy hostelry patrons, and the not-to-be-forgotten group anthem, "Do You Hear the People Sing," led by head revolutionary Enjolras (Aaron Lazar).

Much of the reason these numbers -- which boast new orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke -- succeed is that they're sung extremely well by the soloists and the chorus under music director Kevin Stites' fastidious supervision. Indeed, "sung" is hardly the word for Rubin-Vega's "I Dreamed a Dream," which seems to have taken over her entire shaking body. Gemignani brings gruff conviction to his tunes, although he continually has problems sustaining his final notes -- whether in or out of falsetto.

As Valjean's lifelong foe, Inspector Javert, Norm Lewis has a voice like the Orient Express gathering momentum; it's a shame that the songs handed him are consistently pedestrian. He also seems far less sinister than Terence Mann did in the same role two decades back. As the rallying revolutionary, Lazar unleashes a baritone so thrilling that passers-by on the street may have stopped in their tracks to pay heed.

Before I run out of the things to say in favor of a show that just won't be stopped -- like the will of the oppressed people it's honoring -- let me also tip my hat to Andreanne Neofitou's ragtag costumes, David Hersey's atmospheric lighting, and the booming sound design by Jon Weston and Andrew Bruce/Autograph.

However, there's less to say on behalf of a property that from start to long-postponed finish feels like Cliff Notes with songs interspersed and severely diminishes Hugo's post-revolutionary France, where the common man still hasn't benefited from the rights conferred on him (or her). Few literary critics have ever made a fervent brief for the beauty of Victor Hugo's prose, but it's indisputably better than it sounds here. (The original French version is by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with additional material by James Fenton.)

In order to cover the text's sprawling grounds, large chunks of the book have been left out, which renders the libretto a compendium of basic plot points that beg some questions. For instance, after Jean Valjean steals the silverware and vows to lead the good life, he's suddenly the mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. How did he get there? And why does the novel's relentless Javert seem so relenting in his pursuit of Valjean?

To many audience members, none of this will matter. The bottom line with Les Miz is this: If you like this sort of musical, this is the sort of musical you'll like.

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/9437

[liotte]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:43pm

I was there. I loved it!

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:43pm

Interesting to see how so far Daphne Rubin-Vega has been singled out for her impeccable acting in the revival.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:48pm

I knew she would do well.

She's the only part of the production that's refreshing, so to speak.

[Benzy92]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:48pm

because she is THAT brilliant.. yes, i cant say it enough.

[ShuQ]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:51pm

This is why people produce theater, not for the critics, but for the public.

I refuse to believe that this revival of Les Mis was produced for the public.

[alexg456]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 10:51pm

I actually think that theatermania review is more of a positive one. The author says from the start that he is not a fan of the show (he wasn't a fan going in; is there a single credible reviewer out there who is seeing Les Miz for the first time?), yet even he admits it's a well-sung revival.

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:04pm

As the rallying revolutionary, Lazar unleashes a baritone so thrilling that passers-by on the street may have stopped in their tracks to pay heed.

Woo!

[KQuill]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:07pm

haha did the user name AlexG stick out in the corner of neone elses mind?

Wait no, he said he doesn't look at threads that have to do with him...

[Benzy92]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:10pm

haha like Alex G. would be reading/posting in this thread on his opening night!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:11pm

James2, that Theatermania review is mostly positive. What about it did you find mixed-negative?