June 8, 2009 6:26 AM
Les Miserables Book Study - prologue
Our first discussion on Les Miserables will begin later today. It will cover Books One and Two, which in the translation most of us are using will take us to page 113.
I have to write a column this morning and take Zach to the doctor, but thought you all would enjoy this clip from the musical version of Les Miz. They are from the 10th anniversary event, which pulled together the best actors and actresses who'd appeared in the show for a "Dream Cast" performance - not the actual play, though some cuts from the stage production are interspersed.
This was a live event, and yet most Les Miz aficionados regard this as the best recording ever done. It is available on CD
and DVD
Boublil's distillation of Hugo's sprawling epic into a 2 1/2 hour story - so rich in meaning and true to the author's theme - is a tour de force. Whatever you do, if you have the opportunity to see the play, GO!
In the meantime, there is YouTube (thank you, God, for YouTube!).
The play opens with the Work Song, which presents the history of Valjean (prisoner 24601). We are also introduced to Javert - someone we haven't yet met in the first 113 pages of Les Miserables, but who will later become a catalyzing figure and thematic foil in Valjean's life.
Then there is the bishop and his beautiful Christlike charity for Valjean - which never fails to bring tears to my eyes:
Be back later with more discussion.
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Comments
Haha! I posted a comment about this in your other Les Mis post. I guess I should read more than the first post before I comment next time.
I'd just like to add that this really is the best recording. We've has a ton of different versions, and we keep coming back to this one.
Posted by: lauren | June 8, 2009 9:08 AM
The Dream Cast version is the absolute best and if you watch the whole production you will see that these fabulous actors don't need stage blocking to convey the emotion and heart of this story!
Posted by: Charlotte (Matilda) | June 8, 2009 9:56 AM
Ooooooh! I LOVED that clip! And at the Royal Albert Hall!! I had the privilege to attend a conference that was held at the RAH and it was simply amazing, I can only fathom what it would have been like to see this there!! (and boy it made me wish when we had lived in England, that we'd lived closer than the 3 hour commute to London! I would have seen so much more!)
Watching the clip gave me chills...what am I doing watching "regular" tv when there are things like THIS out there???
Kristy in Germany
Posted by: Kristy in Germany | June 8, 2009 2:43 PM
