Les Mis... What's the big deal?

[jbsegal]

So, after The Star Wars Trilogy Musical Edition ganked something like 1/2 its music from Les Mis, I decided it should actually listen to the original.

I borrowed The Complete Symphonic Recording from dancingdeer.

I'm not impressed.

Thoughts: While I'm not much of a fan of opera, so I can't really compare, it really feels to me like 50%+ of the show is recitative and I don't like it.

Related: This is the most un-lyrical musical I've ever heard. Much of the time, it sounds like it wants to be a straight play but someone decided to graft on music.

Yes, musicals often have themes or leitmotifs, it often feels like this show has, alongside the 50% recitative, another 30% made up of the same... 3? 4? songs, reused and reused and reused.

There's not a thing about the recording that evokes 'France' for me. The occasional french phrase feels forced and artificial, especially alongside the cockney accents of the lower-class characters.

The use of synthesizers in the scoring is... anachronistic, in a way I can't let wash over me.

Specific to this recording: I hate Gary Morris' voice/accent. As he's a TX? TN? born country singer, this isn't that surprising.

So, why the heque is this such a popular show? Sure, there are a couple of nice songs, but they're a very small percentage of the whole. Is it totally different live? Really?

Comments

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

It is totally different live, and not just from a techie's standpoint (watching that barricade come together...I get goosebumps from the memory of the thrill every time I think of it!) Live, it so sucks you in.

I cherish my copy of the complete symphonic mainly because I can sit and listen to it and remember the staging in my head. (I've seen Les Miz twice and would go again tomorrow if I could).

I find the end particularly poignant, especially now that I am a parent. I cry every damn time. And that's just listening to it, not seeing it on stage.

It's in my top 10 of favorite musicals.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Hurm. I don't see (hear) it.

I suppose part of it is that I'm not much of a fan of Victor Hugo.

I find the music mostly... bland.

[protogeek.livejournal.com]

I agree -- it's totally different live. I grew up on musicals (going to them, plus singing and acting), so I never really questioned it and now I don't really remember it well enough to critique it as an adult. I do remember that grand-ness of the scenery and the movement -- the way the scenery was a fully involved player. I don't think it's a bad thing to need to be able to "see" the play in your head as you listen to the music for it to fully impact you.

Not sayin' it's a great musical, but I don't think it's *that* bad. There's always... Cats.