Postscripts to Les Miserables

[jo]

Do the same thing for --

On My Own...I Dreamed A Dream...and Stars!

Sing them as if you're facing a camera!

It will be terribly awkward to belt the songs as if you're singing to the topmost balcony seat!

I am beginning to truly understand the film medium!


Jo

[jo]

Let's compare the film VALJEAN SOLILOQUY to his stage rendition in his concert tour (#tmtmts) --












Excellent example why the film medium can take you to a greater emotional resonance!

[jo]

Picked this up from COMMENTS on the clip of VALJEAN'S SOLILOQUY --

Sophie Maya
5 months ago
Bloody brilliant, I love Every scene, now I know why I cry every time I see this film. The emotions, the music, the acting. So whet if the people are not opera singers. The film shows poignancy, romance and passion, along with tragedy, without over doing it like stage shows often do. All the actors deserve an award of some sort. I think I like this film very much. Lol. Don’t knock Hugh Jackman, or Russel Crowe.

[jo]

Rarest of all rarest finds! This one is actually based on the Original Paris production in 1980 and preceded the Original Concept Album. If you are a a Les Mis fan, you will recognize much of the music and songs, even if you don't speak French.

It is long, but you can download it --

Menino Hulk
496 subscribers
I will still upload the tracks individually, when I have time. Also, there might be some slight cuts or distortions in the audio, but I'm not to blame for that.
00:00:00 - "Tant qu‘il existera..."

00:00:52 - La journée est finie

00:05:43 - L'air de la misère

00:09:29 - La nuit - Les beaux cheveux que voilà

00:12:06 - J'aivais rêvé d'une autre vie

00:15:59 - Fantine et Bamatabois

00:17:20 - Dites-moi ce qui se passe

00:18:55 - Fantine et Monsieur Madeleine

00:20:56 - L’accident de la charrette

00:25:10 - Comment faire ?

00:28:40 - La mort de Fantine

00:29:51 - Mon prince est en chemin déjà

00:33:35 - Mam'zelle Crapaud

00:34:54 - La devise du cabaretier

00:39:41 - Valjean chez les Thénardier

00:41:34 - La valse de la fourberie

00:45:06 - Transaction instrumentale (sans nom)

00:46:23 - Donnez, donnez

00:55:16 - L'air de la misère (Reprise)

00:58:06 - Le guet-apens

00:59:57 - L'intervention de Javert

01:01:27 - Rouge et noir

01:05:44 - Les amis de l'ABC

01:08:14 - A la volonté du peuple

01:11:13 - Te souviens tu du premier jour ?

01:16:16 - Cosette: Dans la vie

01:17:42 - Marius: Dans la vie

01:18:59 - Voilà le soir qui tombé

01:20:06 - L'un vers l'autre

01:22:42 - Le coeur au bonheur

01:24:22 - La casse de la Rue Plumet

01:26:39 - Demain

01:30:49 - Sur la barricade

01:35:51 - C'est la faute à Voltaire

01:37:40 - Javert sur la barricade

01:39:44 - Ce n'est rien

01:43:11 - La nuit de l'angoisse

01:44:33 - Valjean sur la barricade

01:46:39 - L'aube du 6 juin

01:47:21 - Jean Valjean se venge

01:49:10 - Noir ou blanc

01:53:50 - La mort de Gavroche

01:56:45 - Il vivra

02:01:45 - Marius & Monsieur Gillenormand

02:02:56 - Le mariage: "soyez hereux"

02:04:02 - L'aveu de Jean Valjean

02:06:28 - Marchandage et révélation

02:11:31 - La lumière


Maurice Barrier - Jean Valjean
Jean Vallée - Inspecteur Javert
Rose Laurens - Fantine
Maryse Cédolin - Cosette (enfant)
Fabienne Guyon - Cosette
Yvan Dautin - M. Thénardier
Marie-France Roussel - Mme. Thénardier
Florence Davis - Gavroche
Marianne Mille - Éponine
Gilles Buhlmann - Marius
Christian Ratellin - Enjolras
René-Louis Baron - Combeferre
Dominique Tirmont - M. Gillenormand
Anne Forrez - Mlle. Gillenormand
Claude Reva - Narrateur

[jo]

A lot of discussions on social media about Les Miserables and Hugh's Valjean now that is on streaming service.

Here's an article from the time of the release, of which some parts are interesting --

www.vulture.com/2012/12/hugh-jackman-on-les-miz-and-his-javert-past.html

CHAT ROOM DEC. 26, 2012
Hugh Jackman on Les Misérables, His Brutal Training Regimen, and His Javert Past
By Kyle Buchanan


Hugh Jackman is best known as the action star of several X-Men movies, but his affinity for musical theater is so well-known — he won a Tony for The Boy From Oz and had his dichotomy of talents spoofed in a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch — that it’s a surprise he’d never done a movie musical before Tom Hooper’s splashy film version of Les Misérables. Still, holding out to play Jean Valjean was probably worth the wait, if the movie’s big box office and Oscar buzz are anything to judge by. Vulture caught up with Jackman a few weeks ago in Los Angeles to get his take on how it all came together.

Tell me about the first time you saw the film.

I went to a private screening with about ten people and my wife. I remember I was holding my wife’s hand, and she goes, ‘Baby, my hand is really hurting.’ I was gripping that hard! I kind of couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I knew enough about movies to know what a risk it was, but as it was shooting, I was like, ‘What is everyone thinking? This is kind of crazy.’ So I was really happy and relieved to watch it.



Tom Hooper shot the film in a very distinctive manner: lots of close-ups, lots of long takes. Is that an approach he’d articulated to you beforehand?

I don’t think it hit me what Tom was doing, but when I saw the movie, I thought it was incredibly theatrical. He’s giving you the ticket you can’t buy in the theater. I didn’t know he was not going to cut in some of these moments, and I don’t think he knew either, because he was always running three or four cameras so we could control the rhythm of the scene. There was always a close camera, but there would also be a moving dolly somewhere else.



I remember that when reports circulated that you were interested in playing Valjean, it was going to conflict with the Wolverine sequel you were supposed to shoot then. I’m surprised you were actually able to delay the X-Men movie to do it.

It’s funny you mention it, because sometimes people will thank their agents in a perfunctory way, but this one wouldn’t have happened without them. It just wouldn’t have. You know how big the Wolverine train can be, so that took a lot of maneuvering. So I’m thrilled with the way it worked out. I had waited a long time to do a movie musical, so when this one came up, I was like, ‘Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that one!’ I don’t really know why, but I suppose it had just been around for so long that no one had ever talked about the possibility.

I had never thought of Valjean as a particularly physical role until I saw this film. It looked arduous.
Weirdly, this was almost more physical in a way than an X-Men movie! I was spending even longer in the gym — like three hours in the gym — because I needed to be as emaciated as possible, but still keep some muscle on for Jean Valjean. He’s actually written as an ox of a man, so I had to eat seven times a day with no carbohydrates, but then you had the exercise. I’d wake up and do 45 minutes of card on an empty stomach, eat something, go to the gym, do a vocal warm-up, and then after lunch I’d go back to the gym again. Otherwise, I’d just become skin and bones.



Had you ever thought about playing Javert instead of Valjean?

Cameron asked me twice to do it! Both times I was not available, and when I rang him for the movie and said I wanted to go for Jean Valjean, he said, “Dude, you can’t sing that.” We had done Oklahoma together, and back then, I couldn’t have sung that bit. I’ve been working about eight or nine years with a vocal coach, though, and although I thought I was a straight baritone, it turns out that I’m a high baritone and could expand my range by about an octave. So I said to Cameron, “I know you think that, but let me come in to audition. I want to show you what I can do now.”




Speaking of musicals, I was checking out an online video from early in your career where you played Gaston in a stage production of Beauty and the Beast.

You did?! On YouTube, someone videoed it? Wow, that was 1995 or something. Holy mackerel!


What do you remember about that?

Actually, to audition for that, I sang “Stars” from Les Miz! I was just out of theater school, I had literally just graduated, and I was doing this TV series straight out of drama school. When my agent said, “You should go out for this musical,” I kind of thought she was on drugs at the time! I said, “You know, I did the theater thing in school, not the musical theater thing.” But I went on the audition and sang that song, “Stars,” and the guy asked me, “Why would you sing that to audition for Beauty and the Beast?” I said, “Sorry, mate, I don’t know what to do at these things, and it’s the only song I have the music to.” And he said, “Well, let us give you some advice: Throw that song away, because you’ll never be singing that again.” A little part of me, after I got cast in Les Miz, wanted to find that guy! Although I’m sure he would say, “Yeah, but you didn’t get cast as Javert, did you?”

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

Here in my country, when the movie was released, there was some online chitchat about how the song SUDDENLY would be perfect for weddings --

*The wedding processional - usually with the traditional music for it, Lohengrin's March - can change midpoint to "Suddenly" once the bride herself starts her wedding processional. The lyrics are very appropriate to a bridegroom singing about his discovery of love.

*Or/And it can also be a great wedding melody ( maybe just the melody, reprising what was heard during the wedding rites) when the bride and groom enter the reception hall!


Jo

[jo]

Boublil and Schonberg may have originated the musical...but in its English reincarnation LES MISERABLES also owed a debt of gratitude to Herbert Kretzmer, the lyricist who translated the lyrics to English. It was not just the song lyrics but the entire libretto ( including the sung dialogs called recitatives). Les Miserables is a musical play that is sung-through.

Can there be a more powerful call to action than "Do You Hear The People Sing" ( originally "A La Volonte Du Peuple")?

Can there be more poignant words from a broken soul than " I Dreamed A Dream"...or even "On My Own" ... or "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"

Or a more forceful declaration of one's self in "Who Am I?"

Or a more beautiful plea to God than "Bring Him Home" ( a song that was introduced in the English version of LesMis)

Or a more beautiful expression of love than "Suddenly"?


All owed to the man who wrote the English lyrics --


sadly, Herbert Kretzmer just passed away, at age 95!


RIP, Mr. Kretzmer...and Thank you!


Jo

[jo]

In this clip of the major cast rehearsing for the Oscars -- Mr. Kretzmer (at around 0'27") to the left of the Music Director and had his left arm over Russell Crowe's shoulder.

[/img]

[njr]

^ I want a t-shirt like Russell’s! My last name is Riley! 😂

[jo]

[jo]

Finally - someone who fully appreciates the distinctive vocal quality of Russell and of Hugh in their role interpretations in Les Miserables!

Jo

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

[njr]

Jo,
What does w/c mean?

[jo]

LOL - I invented it as my personal shorthand on Twitter so I can sometimes fit in the message within the word-limit rule.

Jo

[njr]

Nov 14, 2020 16:25:00 GMT -5 jo said:

LOL - I invented it as my personal shorthand on Twitter so I can sometimes fit in the message within the word-limit rule.

Jo

I realize that! So wtf does it stand for? The only wc I ever heard of is for water closet (toilet)

[jo]

Lol - actually people use w/c ( such as "week commencing") for many other items.

My version - an abbreviation of "which"

Jo

[njr]

Nov 15, 2020 16:18:43 GMT -5 jo said:

Lol - actually people use w/c ( such as "week commencing") for many other items.

My version - an abbreviation of "which"

Jo

Well, I never would have guessed that! Somebody else “invented” it too. See #3:

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=W%2FC

Do you know that Twitter increased the word limit from 140 to 280 characters two years ago?

Nancy

[jo]

Of course, but you know how verbose I can be

Sometimes to talk about Hugh Jackman's many portrayals can take a whole dictionary

Good thing that when I post about Nadal, all I usually say is the signature cheer for him, as in "Vamos, Rafa!"

Seriously, language has changed so much that I sometimes find myself, too, trying to interpret what some shortcuts do mean. Sometimes, appreciating humor in some tweets need some backgrounders on some expressions - the generational divide, I guess

Jo

[jo]

Killian Donnelly, a West End actor who portrayed Combeferre in the film adaptation of LES MISERABLES will play the role of the Phantom, when it reopens at the West End in June 2021 -

www.broadwayworld.com/article/VIDEO-Killian-Donnelly-Performs-The-Music-of-the-Night-From-THE-PHANTOM-OF-THE-OPERA-on-BBC-STRICTLYS-IT-TAKES-TWO-20201205

[jo]

When the song was first heard here in Manila, I read it in a chat board someone saying that it sounds perfect as a love song, maybe sung when the bride comes down the aisle at a wedding!


Jo

[jo]