So, I'm a fairly big fan of "Les Misérables" (me saying that to most people who know me is akin to me saying "Hi, I'm Lela. Have you met me at all?")
No, I'm not just a fan of the musical. I first fell for the book, reading an unabridged translation between the ages of 7 and 9 (hey, I was a slower reader than, and to be fair, it WAS almost 1500 pages!) Of course, I've always been a big fan of musicals (on the Nature-versus-Nurture side of that matter, I'll speak later) so when I found out that there was a musical of "Les Misérables," well hell, I didn't need any encouragement to go and find a copy of the soundtrack. But then, I've got plans for a series of posts discussing my love for almost all things "Les Misérables" later on. What I want to talk about right now is the recent performance by the U.S. National Touring Cast of the musical on the TV show "America's Got Talent"
Let me preface this by saying, the last time I saw the musical live, it was during, I believe, the Third National Tour, which used the "classic" staging (based to some degree on the blocking, lighting, etc. that has been used almost since the original London production in the mid-1980s.) I've heard good and bad about the staging of the new tour, but have never seen it in person. I figure the staging below is very representative of this production over all.
Compare to the 1987 Tony Awards show performance of the same number (in a medley with "At the End of the Day")
Maybe I'm spoiled. I'm just used to LesMis with more POWER. I get this was a different sort of performance on AGT, but STILL!
No, I'm not just a fan of the musical. I first fell for the book, reading an unabridged translation between the ages of 7 and 9 (hey, I was a slower reader than, and to be fair, it WAS almost 1500 pages!) Of course, I've always been a big fan of musicals (on the Nature-versus-Nurture side of that matter, I'll speak later) so when I found out that there was a musical of "Les Misérables," well hell, I didn't need any encouragement to go and find a copy of the soundtrack. But then, I've got plans for a series of posts discussing my love for almost all things "Les Misérables" later on. What I want to talk about right now is the recent performance by the U.S. National Touring Cast of the musical on the TV show "America's Got Talent"
Let me preface this by saying, the last time I saw the musical live, it was during, I believe, the Third National Tour, which used the "classic" staging (based to some degree on the blocking, lighting, etc. that has been used almost since the original London production in the mid-1980s.) I've heard good and bad about the staging of the new tour, but have never seen it in person. I figure the staging below is very representative of this production over all.
Compare to the 1987 Tony Awards show performance of the same number (in a medley with "At the End of the Day")
Maybe I'm spoiled. I'm just used to LesMis with more POWER. I get this was a different sort of performance on AGT, but STILL!
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