Les Miserables Reviews- Page 2
Les Miserables Reviews
#25re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:14pmI am so happy to see all the positive Daphne reviews. I'm sure she deserves them!
"I wrote a book: "How to Be Popular". Now I've put together a top ten list of how to help you:
-Elphie, everyday... shower. I mean, who knows? Maybe some of that green is gonna come off!
-Deodorant Elphie. No body likes a stinky witch!
-I think we've covered the hair, we'll get to that.
-Clean underclothes. That's all I'm gonna say.
-Look at your posture. That's no way to be popular!
-Bed made, room straightened. We've done that.
-Colors blended. Oookay.
-But the most important thing to have, to make yourself popular, is to keep your beautiful smile."
~Kristin Chenoweth in her last performance of the song "Popular"
#26re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:17pmI found that review very mixed.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
popculture37
Understudy Joined: 8/14/06
#27re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:20pmI thought the theatermania review was quite positive. The reviewer basically seemed to be saying that he doesn't personally like the show but this is a very good production of it. He was very complimentary of the actors/tech etc., just doesn't like the style of the show.
#28re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:25pmTimes is up.
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#30re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:26pmSo post it?
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#31re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:27pm
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/theater/reviews/10mise.html?pagewanted=1&ref=theater
Brantley's "love letter" to Lazar and D'Addario.
"A galvanizing Gavroche, alas, does not a galvanizing “Les Miz” make. Students of theater who want to study a first-class blueprint for musical staging, and diehard fans of Mr. Schönberg’s music, will find this revival worth a visit. But a show that should have the sweet, burning kick of a shot of Courvoisier tastes instead like a warm glass of milk."
Updated On: 11/9/06 at 11:27 PM
Bialyhoos22
Stand-by Joined: 12/21/05
#32re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:30pm
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/theater/reviews/10mise.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1163132872-bW7atxUdLg3UVkZSRk0GjQ
"Gary Beach, best remembered for his blissful Tony-winning turn as the cross-dressing director in “The Producers,” uses the same florid, jiggly-gelatin mannerisms to portray Thénardier, the crooked innkeeper, which makes the character simply cute instead of sinister. Jenny Galloway finds a better balance of comedy and creepiness as his vulgar wife."
I think this is one point where Brantley is wayyy off his mark. Beach's portrayal of the role is devoid of anything that could be attributed to Roger De Bris. Both he and Jenny Galloway capture the sinister side of their characters exceptionally well while being true masters of comedy at the same time.
popculture37
Understudy Joined: 8/14/06
#33re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:31pmSo, as expected, not a glowing review from Mr. Brantley...but I'm glad he at least has some respect for the show in general, calling it the best of the megamusicals of its era. And its great that Aaron Lazar is getting his due.
FoscasBohemianDream
Broadway Star Joined: 1/20/06
#34re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:32pmBrantley's review is definitely mixed-to-negative. I personally enjoy the way he starts the article, comparing the revival to a repetitive bedtime story.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#35re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:43pm
Variety is positive:
"For a period generally categorized as greedy, vulgar and shallow, the 1980s sure didn't shrink from exhibitions of big blustery sentiment. Even before the competing power ballads of Celine, Mariah and Whitney started choking the airwaves at the close of the decade, "Les Miserables" had already embraced shameless emotional exorbitance. The pop opera milked tears with the indefatigability of the smoke machines that kept its stage drenched in soupy atmosphere. The show that helped repopularize musical theater as blockbuster spectacle has since been so parodied it's almost a parody of itself. And yet, undeniably, it still works, stirring audiences for 20 years and counting.
By rights, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's sung-through musical should be a dinosaur, its straight face and clenched fists rendered cheesily unfashionable in the age of irony. It sets the same melodious handful of chord progressions to shuffle mode and simplifies Victor Hugo's massive 1862 novel about love and war, mercy and redemption in pre-Revolution France into an unrelenting series of emotional crescendos seasoned with fuzzy politics and philosophy.
But just try to remain unmoved when plucky urchin Eponine sings of her unrequited love in "On My Own," when unjustly persecuted fugitive Jean Valjean begs God to spare the life of his ward's young sweetheart in "Bring Him Home," as students lead the workers to insurrection in "Do You Hear the People Sing?" or when all the narrative and musical themes of the first act are rousingly woven together in the galvanic "One Day More."
This is a show of inflamed passions -- romance, revolution and personal obsession. And even if it does stint on subtlety, it's hard to resist the sweeping saga's pull when its creatives have clearly brought such passionate conviction to the telling.
Back on Broadway only 3½ years after the close of a 16-year run, it's as if "Les Miz" never went away. Cameron Mackintosh's landmark production has been rethought only in a marginal reduction from its original scale and a slight tightening (it's down to under three hours, resulting in an occasionally rushed feel).
Co-directors John Caird and Trevor Nunn's propulsive, turntable-driven staging; John Napier's stylized design, with its chiaroscuro sobriety violated only by the vivid color slash of a red flag; and David Hersey's spectral lighting remain largely unchanged from memory. (The formation of the barricades is still an image of grandly imagined theatricality.)
The surprise factor in this hasty revival is the top-tier cast. Without the brief absence, it's inconceivable this longtime Broadway fixture could have attracted such A talent.
Chief among them is Alexander Gemignani, making a head-spinning switch from his steely turn as the odious Beadle in "Sweeney Todd" to Christ-like prisoner 24601, Valjean. The show's clunky prologue -- Valjean is paroled after 19 years on a chain gang for lifting a loaf of bread, suffers the stigma of the ex-con as a free man, repays the charity of a bishop by robbing him and then is morally transformed by the cleric's forgiveness -- offers a lot for any actor to process. But Gemignani recovers to build a robustly defined character, providing a strong focus in the sprawling, populous plot.
He acts the role with urgency, compassion and the circumspect nature of a man constantly looking over his shoulder. And he more than meets the part's vocal demands, singing both with gravitas and aching sweetness, especially in the introspective "Who Am I?" and tender, near-falsetto prayer "Bring Him Home."
While Norm Lewis doesn't have quite so assured a handle on the complexities of Javert, Valjean's nemesis, he steadily gains momentum and authority as the driven cop and his silken voice is in fine form. Lewis' powerful delivery of "Stars" makes it a first-act showstopper.
Unlike her guileless, open-hearted Olive in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," Celia Keenan-Bolger's touching Eponine attempts to mask her bruised softness beneath a combative front. Her plaintive declaration of feeling in "On My Own" is another emotional high point.
Enlisted from the national tour, Ali Ewoldt and Adam Jacobs bring dulcet voices and unguarded sincerity to their roles as young lovers Cosette and Marius, the meek who inherit the earth in Hugo's hopeful new dawn. In particular, Jacobs' seeming obliviousness to his boy-band good looks makes him a disarming romantic lead.
A fine Fabrizio in "The Light in the Piazza," the golden-voiced Aaron Lazar impresses as Enjolras, his Roman profile and imposing presence making him a persuasive leader of the ill-fated uprising.
As opportunistic vulgarian Thenardier and his wife, Gary Beach and Jenny Galloway are crowd-pleasing villains. Beach could bring more clarity to the amusing lyrics of "Master of the House," and he neglects to nourish the role's sinisterness, but his sharply honed vaudevillian comic skills are much in evidence.
The one casting choice likely to cause consternation among diehard "Les Miz" devotees is Daphne Rubin-Vega as Fantine. Her interpretation of the doomed waif as a broken child, possessed by death well before she succumbs, offers a less routine approach than many of her castmates. But Rubin-Vega's raspy vocals seem ill suited and too contemporary for her killer first-act number "I Dreamed a Dream" (especially for anyone attached to Patti LuPone's full-bodied version in the original London cast recording), underselling the show's first major assault on the tear ducts.
Of all the trans-Atlantic musical juggernauts that colonized Broadway in the 1980s, "Les Miserables" remains arguably the most entertaining. Sure, it's overwrought. But it's less lead-footed than "The Phantom of the Opera," with more hooks than "Miss Saigon" and none of the cloying poetic whimsy of "Cats."
"A Chorus Line" similarly returned to Broadway this season in a staging faithful to the original, but "Les Miz's" brief departure doesn't invite the same nostalgic welcome home. Yet the show's fans could do a lot worse than this sturdy production."
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932078.html?categoryid=33&cs=1
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#36re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:49pmThe multimedia clips in the Times with Celia is great! Be sure to check it out!
alexg456
Swing Joined: 11/5/06
#37re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/9/06 at 11:50pmJeffrey Lyons (WNBC-TV) had a raving review on today's 11pm news.
McFrenzied
Stand-by Joined: 10/8/06
#38re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 12:21amWow.."Revival by Xerox"..that's pretty harsh, Mr. Brantley...
#39re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 1:36am
Few more here.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1163139370258980.xml&coll=1
http://www.nysun.com/article/43297
http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2006-11-09-review-les-miz_x.htm
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#40re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 1:52am
Not always a fan of Brantley's
but i thought it would get his thumbs down
Hawker
Featured Actor Joined: 2/23/04
#41re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 2:04am
Having seen the RSC's "Nicholas Nickelby", and "Les Mis" subsequently and frequently, I really don't see how, for those who have seen both, it is possible to be very excited about the latter.
The final scene of "NN" packs an emotional whallop that "Les Mis" couldn't have matched even if the character playing Jean Valjean actually died at the end of every performance.
Bring back the RCS's "NN" and for those who haven't seen it, or have the money to see it, pick the pocket of a Salvation Army worker to get a ticket. After 30 years of Broadway Theater, "Nicholas Nickelby" stands alone as the single-most unforgettable theatrical experience I have ever had.
Colle
Broadway Star Joined: 2/13/06
#42re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 8:02amThese reviews coming out makes me excited and nervous, for the cast, at the same time. What do you think these reviews mean for the cast's chances to get at least a Tony noimation? I especially would like to hear what you think about Celia's chances for a Tony noimation.
nostrngattachd
Understudy Joined: 1/9/05
#43re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 9:21amanyone there for opening night have any reviews? who isnt a critic Updated On: 11/10/06 at 09:21 AM
theminutepast
Broadway Star Joined: 2/1/06
#44re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 9:37amI'm surprised at how many critics just brush off the character of Marius as the other young lover in the Marius-Cosette pair. There's a lot more depth to Marius that Adam Jacobs brings out. It seems like they were going in with prefixed stereotypes.
#45re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 9:44amI was there last night, nostrngattachd... audience was NUTS, although, it was the roughest performance I've seen this cast give (my third time).
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#46re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 10:23am
I found the Brantley review spot-on, and agreed with every observation. And I saw the same performance. The show just feels under-explored, without enough rethinking of the roles.
That's why I bought Daphne -- it wasn't a replication of LuPone, Graff on. It dared to reinvent Fantine, and even if it's more contemporary, or "breathy" or whatever, it doesn't just feel like a diva-imprint. I found her acting truly rather dangerous -- the nervousness, the discomfort. I watched everything she did, which I cannot say was the case with everyone else, who fell into predictable Les Miz grooves.
Brantley wasn't bitchy, and he wasn't nasty to anyone. And though I seldom agree with him (more often of late), I think he nailed the general "okay, but...?" problem with this too similar, too safe production.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#47re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 10:34am
The Post is positive (3 stars)
"Quite a few of the performances need toning down, particularly the estimable Gary Beach's innkeeper Thenardier, Celia Keenan-Bolger's heart-rent Eponine and, as W.C. Fields might assert, all of the kids.
Yet some in the cast, including Adam Jacobs' Marius and Ali Ewoldt's Cosette, just fade into the scenery, while Daphne Rubin-Vega as Fantine, with a screeching croak of a voice, is more appalling than appealing.
Luckily, a few of the secondary roles, such as the strong-voiced, arresting-looking Aaron Lazar as the revolutionary leader Enjolras and a marvelously comic Jenny Galloway doing a superb turn as Mme. Thenardier, are as well done as they've ever been.
The real strength of the production comes in its two protagonists - Alexander Gemignani's Jean Valjean, a wonderfully sung portrait that projects a moral fervor that does Hugo proud, and is perfectly matched by Norm Lewis' fiercely grim but conflicted Javert.
So is "Les Miz" as good as before? Not quite - it doesn't wear as well as Sondheim or Lloyd Webber. But its two principal performers effortlessly evoke the glories of its past. "
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11102006/entertainment/theater/doesnt_miz_a_trick_theater_clive_barnes.htm
#48re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 11:10am
Hartford Courant: http://www.ctnow.com/stage/reviews/hce-lesmisrev.artnov10,0,5240942.story?coll=hce-headlines-theaterreviews
Bloomberg:
http://www.amny.com/entertainment/stage/am-mizrev21110,0,6469857.story?coll=am-homepage-swapbox
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#49re: Les Miserables Reviews
Posted: 11/10/06 at 11:11am
No surprise on any of the "professional" reviews. It's been around too long to uncover much undiscovered brilliance. And I think many people will agree with this.
Those who are passionate about it will loyally and deservedly drool over it, dissect it, support it. Those lukewarm about it will find ways to improve it, compare it, debate it. Those who dislike it will say "great. Now move over for something new".
Personally, I think it is/was a fine piece of musical theater. I've seen several actors play many of the leads. Happy that Macintosh decided to celebrate for a little while allowing some young folk or loyal fans to enjoy it. But like the seasons, it needs to move ahead to allow for another round of worthy contendors. I can't comment on this production until I see it, which I probably will when I'm town on business.
www.pbentertainmentinc.com
BWW regional writer "Philadelphia/South Jersey"
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