Christmas was lovely—lots of family, good food, and, because it’s my mom’s side of the family, gossip about people from Lowell. Christmas, I forgive you for forcing me to wait one day for….

….drumroll….

LES MIS! Yes, Internet, I’ve finally seen it after months of anticipation. And it was wonderful. Not perfect, but still incredibly amazing, and I will be seeing it again soon. (I have a cold right now—my first cold in over three years, which must be some kind of record—and I’d like to see the movie again while fully healthy, so I can use tissues for another reason.)

Anyway: my thoughts. SPOILERS LIE HEREIN.

• Everything you’ve heard about Anne Hathaway’s performance is true. She’s a heartbreaking Fantine—and I normally find Hathaway a little annoying, so you know I mean that. Her voice is gorgeous, first of all, and her “I Dreamed a Dream” is outstanding. That’s one of the more popular songs from the musical, and here they’ve moved it to after Fantine becomes a prostitute. She manages to capture perfectly, in less than five minutes, Fantine’s extraordinary pain while still singing it beautifully. You’ve heard the song before, but never like this. She’s totally going to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

• And if there’s any justice in the world, Samantha Barks will get a nomination as well. SO GLAD they went with a theater veteran for Eponine. She knows this character, she GETS this character, and she plays her perfectly. Her “On My Own” was lovely, and in the movie, they went with the book’s version Eponine’s death—she gets shot trying to protect Marius, which of course just makes her death even sadder. I have a feeling she’ll be the voice for a whole new generation of teenage girls with unrequited crushes—and I really hope that this is just the beginning of lots of great things for the luminously gorgeous Ms. Barks. If they ever do a movie version of Wicked, how about her playing Elphaba?

• Hugh Jackman was wonderful as well, and he should get an Oscar. The only reason I’m not more enthusiastic about his performance is that many theater actors (including Colm Wilkinson, playing the bishop here) have sung the part better than he did. But even with such intimidating predecessors, he was excellent. It’s a difficult role—the character goes from hardened convict to distinguished mayor to doting father to reluctant revolutionary—and he’s convincing throughout. And he does sing well, his voice just isn’t as pretty as many of the stage Valjeans.

• Biggest surprise of the movie: Eddie Redmayne! I’d never heard of him before Les Mis (apparently, he was in My Week with Marilyn), but he was excellent. (Cute, too.) He managed to do what I’d thought was impossible: he made me like Marius. I’ve never really liked Marius—he’s the rich kid who pretends he’s poor, like a nineteenth-century hipster, and he’s totally oblivious to his generous and caring friend’s love for him because he’s too busy mooning over the pretty rich girl. But Redmayne somehow made him much more sympathetic. I think I just bought his love-at-first-sight with Cosette more when we could see it up close on screen, and he captures Marius’s innocence well and makes him kind of adorable. He has a wonderful singing voice as well, especially on “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.” That song doesn’t normally move me much, but Redmayne made me tear up a bit. I mean, really, poor guy—he gets to marry the love of his life, but only after every single one of his friends dies. Now that I think of it, who even came to the wedding? Anyway, I’d love it if Redmayne got an Oscar nomination as well.

• Amanda Seyfried was better than I expected as Cosette. While her voice is very thin, it’s also very pretty, and she hits all the high notes (Cosette has the highest range of any character). Cosette comes across with slightly more personality onscreen than she does onstage or in the book—but just slightly. Damn it, Marius, why do you like her better than Eponine again? She’s totally the simple girl to Eponine’s Katie girl.

• Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter were hilarious as the Thenardiers, although I’m not quite sure why he was the only one in the movie with a French accent. I was, however, a bit disappointed with “Master of the House.” That’s such a fun song, and I felt like they could have made it into more of an ensemble number rather than just using it to flesh out the Thenardiers’ characters through a frenetic series of cuts. I think it ultimately came off too cartoon-y in a movie that’s otherwise brutally realistic.

• Russell Crowe was the casting choice I was most apprehensive about, and that concern was…warrented. He’s not awful, and people who aren’t familiar with the musical or story will probably like his performance, but I just didn’t think the color of his singing voice was right for the character. His style is more laid back and croon-y, when Javert needs to be more dramatic and belt-y. I’d downloaded the highlights soundtrack before seeing the movie, so I knew what to expect going in, and that helped me to pay attention to Crowe’s good acting choices rather than his subpar singing. Still, during the confrontation scene, when Valjean yells at Javert, “I’m a stronger man by far!” I was like, “Well, duh.”

• Speaking of Russell Crowe, while most of the actors take advantage of the live singing and throw in some talk-singing to make it more realistic, he really sings every note. But that seems weirdly appropriate for a character who is dedicated to following the rules at all costs. “NO! This is a musical, and we’re supposed to SING, damn it! I’m going to SING!”

• One criticism I keep reading about Tom Hooper’s direction is that he uses too many close-up shots, and that’s valid. It works really well in some places, but in others I was dying for the camera to be pulled back. Ultimately, though, I think his good directing choices outweighed the bad, and the same can be said about the movie as a whole.

• One thing I though was really cool visually was the building of the barricade, which doesn’t come across onstage or in the book. The scene with furniture being thrown out of windows for the barricade was awesome.

• “One Day More” was perfect, as was the end scene. The latter made me tear up, and probably will do so more upon subsequent viewings.

• They barely left anything out! Unless I’m mistaken, the only song eliminated completely was “Dog Eat Dog.” Other songs were shortened, but nothing was left out. They also added “Suddenly,” which isn’t a particularly memorable song, but I think it worked well for an area of the plot that could have used a little something extra.

• The sewer scene was a little too realistic. Ugh. Somehow the stage show and book managed to make me forget that sewers are, quite literally, full of shit.

• “Lovely Ladies” is a song I don’t pay much attention to in the stage musical, but here it’s a much bigger number that illustrated the world of prostitution that Fantine is entering very well.

• They changed the order of some songs, but in a way that I think works. “I Dreamed a Dream” is more effective when it’s sung when Fantine really is at her lowest point. “One Day More” before “Do You Hear the People Sing” works onscreen since there’s no first act that needs a big number at the end.

• I like that there were a lot of things they added back into the movie that were in the book but not the musical—Marius’s grandfather, Fantine selling her teeth, Valjean escaping Javert by jumping into the ocean, Valjean and Cosette being helped out by Fauchelevent, Javert apologizing to Valjean prior to the “Who Am I?” scene. They were going to include a reference to Gavroche being Eponine’s brother, but settled for him shedding a tear over her death.

• Speaking of Gavroche, Javert leaving his medal on Gavroche’s corpse was a surprising but nice touch. It showed a bit of a crack in Javert’s resolve before his suicide.

• And speaking of Javert’s suicide, what was with that noise when he hit the water? Did they just want the audience to know that he was very dead, like Howard Graves?

• As nice as it would have been to hear Anne Hathaway singing with Samantha Barks, I like that the ghost of the bishop rather than Eponine shows up at the end. The bishop changed Valjean’s life, and I don’t think he ever even met Eponine.

I saw it with my parents and sister, none of whom had ever seen the musical or read the book, and they all liked it, too. It was interesting seeing it with people who weren’t familiar with it. My mom spent a lot of time ruminating on the story’s themes, and while I’ve always thought “A Heart Full of Love” was a little cheesy, she really liked that scene (which does come off better onscreen than onstage). My dad was a big fan of “One Day More” and the Thenardiers.

God, I haven’t been this obsessed with a movie since Titanicfifteen years ago. (Holy shit, FIFTEEN YEARS AGO?) And I was thirteen years old then.

So who’s going to go see it with me when I go again?

Less than two weeks before the Les Miserables premiere (oh, and Christmas, too!) and I’m starting to get antsy. What if the direction isn’t as good as it could be? What if the actors can’t sing well? What if “Master of the House” isn’t staged in the best way? What if the parts that always move me when I listen to the soundtrack don’t move me like they should? What if it doesn’t win all the awards I’m hoping it will win?

Oh, the woes of a Les Mis fangirl. But even if the movie isn’t perfect, I have a feeling I’ll love it anyway. I already love the storyline and music so much that it would be hard not to. Plus, I’ve already seen the worst crime committed against Les Mis– Katie Holmes butchering “On My Own” on Dawson’s Creek.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpV8avjVtxo]

*shudder*

Other important final thoughts before it premieres:

-Let’s get this out of the way: it’s dramatic, it’s unsubtle, it’s emotional, it’s sincere, it’s sad. If any of those adjectives sound unappealing to you, don’t see it.

-If you already know that you don’t like musical theater, this probably won’t convert you. It’s also sung-through, like Evita and Rent. There’s virtually no dialogue, and I’ve heard that they didn’t add much in for the movie, so don’t see it if that bothers you, either.

-I’ve seen surprisingly little discussion of how relevant a lot of the storylines are to today’s world, although one review did note that the student revolt evokes both the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement. But there’s plenty of other relevant parallels in here, too- like Valjean, as an ex-convict, having trouble finding work and getting people to overlook his past. Today, that’s still the case for many ex-convicts. Or people like Javert clinging to rigid interpretations of rules that leave no room for flexibility- the way so many people do now when discussing illegal immigration or homosexuality or reproductive issues. Or Fantine losing her job for having a child out of wedlock, while men can sleep with whomever they choose and the foreman is free to sexually harass his employees with no consequences. With all of the double-standards in the news recently (see: Rush Limbaugh’s comments on Sandra Fluke), it’s not hard to bemoan how little some things have changed since the 1830s. WHY ARE WE NOT TALKING ABOUT THESE THINGS? We should be!

The funny thing, too, is that I’m currently re-reading the book (I recently learned that Les Mis fans refer to the unabridged book as “the brick,” since it’s about the size and shape of one) and Hugo clearly wrote it to criticize specific problems in French society at that time. It’s kind of sad how much those themes still resonate.

-Finally, I will share Nostalgia Chick’s thoughts, which I COMPLETELY agree with. Although she’s also a huge fan and goes into great detail about how awesome it is, she also good-naturedly mentions a couple of plot issues (i.e. the excessive use of coincidence, which is explained a little more convincingly in “the brick,” and how, although “Bring Him Home” is a beautiful song, the sentiment behind it kind of comes out of nowhere).

Seriously, even if you totally ignored the rest of this post, WATCH THIS VIDEO. Nostalgia Chick is both hilarious and completely right.

Remember my post about my past journal entries? Here’s another old entry:

November 9, 2003

@2:58AM

I am sooooo happy right now, just on this absolutely incredible high. We went to see Les Miserables tonight @ the Colonial Theater and it was absolutely frickin amazing. I had pretty high expectations, and it was even better than everything I’d heard about it. Everything about it was incredible—the music, the direction, the story, the characters, and the guy who played Valjean was awesome. I was just so moved by the beauty of it I was crying. It has such a powerful message behind it, and it really made me believe that mankind is inherently good. And I really felt for the characters. Like Eponine when she sang “On My Own”—boy, can I relate to that right now.

Oh, it was sooooo beautiful it’s really beyond words…I can’t even think straight!

Sure, I could make fun of myself and say I was being a silly nineteen-year-old fangirl thinking that Les Mis confirmed the goodness of mankind for me…but you know what? I still feel like that. (I’ll make fun of myself for spelling “so” with five o’s, though.) And you know how I promised you a post about how I came to be such a fan of Les Miserables and what I love about it? This is that post. It’s inspired by the recently-released teaser trailer for the movie:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnLSG5t_dc8] GAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! Now I’m even more excited! The reaction to Anne Hathaway’s singing has been mixed, but I like that she’s singing the song in character—it’s a very sad moment in the story, and singing it diva-style isn’t really appropriate. I think she brought a raw, emotional quality to the song, and I like it a lot.

But anyway, let’s talk about the musical. I know it might not be for everyone—it’s very serious and earnest, and there’s nothing the least bit cynical or ironic about it—but I love it, and here’s why.

I. THE PLOT

First of all, the plot, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it. You might want to skip this part because a.) it’s long and a lot of you might already know it (or might not want to read the whole thing), and b.) you might not want to be spoiled before the movie comes out.

Anyway, it takes place in nineteenth-century France. Jean Valjean has just been paroled after being a prisoner on the chain gang for nineteen years. He had been poor and starving and had stolen a loaf of bread for his sister’s family, and for that and numerous escape attempts it was nineteen years before he got out of prison. He’s given a yellow ticket of leave by the ruthless Inspector Javert, and it’s like his scarlet letter—he won’t be paid as much because he’s an ex-con. He’s become bitter and has turned into the kind of hardened thief that he never was before he was jailed, so when a kind bishop takes him into his home, he steals the bishop’s silverware. When he is caught and brought back to the bishop, the bishop surprises him by not only letting him have the silver, but giving him candlesticks as well. He warns Valjean that he must use the silver to turn away from his life of crime and become an honest man. Humbled, Valjean swears he will reform his life, and thus begins his redemption.

Years later, Valjean has assumed a new name and become the mayor of a town in France where he also runs a large factory. One of the factory workers is a young woman named Fantine, who has been abandoned by her young daughter’s father. Her daughter Cosette now lives with an innkeeper’s family, and Fantine sends the money she makes from the factory job to pay the family for her daughter’s care. When Fantine is fired for refusing the sexual advances of the foreman and getting into a fight with other women in the factory who discovered her secret child, she is forced to sell her hair and to become a prostitute. An altercation with a man draws the attention of both Inspector Javert and Valjean. The former wants Fantine arrested, but Valjean notices how sick Fantine is and demands that she receive a doctor’s care. Not long after, Javert notices Valjean’s strength when he saves a man trapped under a cart and comments that a prisoner who escaped parole years ago is the only other person he knows with that kind of strength. He tells Valjean that that man has been found and brought to court. Valjean is horrified that another man might be jailed for the crimes he committed, but also reluctant to abandon the factory workers who depend on him. After pondering his dilemma, he decides to go to court and persuade the court to release the accused man. He then escapes to Fantine’s deathbed, promising her that he will raise her child for her. As Fantine dies, he has another confrontation with Javert, but he escapes to find Cosette at the inn where she is staying.

Cosette, who is eight, has been living with the Thenardiers, who run an inn where they often cheat their guests and treat Cosette like a servant while spoiling their own young daughter, Eponine. When Valjean shows up, they agree to give him Cosette after he pays them a large sum of money. Valjean takes Cosette away to raise as his own daughter.

Nine years later, Paris is on the brink of an uprising (namely, the June Rebellion). Cosette has grown up in Valjean’s care and knows nothing about her past or her mother. A band of young revolutionaries lead by a man named Enjolras is concerned about the impending death of General Lamarque, the only man in government concerned with helping the poor. One of those revolutionaries, Marius, meets Cosette on the street, and they fall in love at first sight. As the revolutionaries prepare for a rebellion, Marius enlists his friend Eponine, the Thenardiers’ daughter, to help him locate Cosette. Even though Eponine is herself in love with Marius, she does help unite Marius and Cosette, even foiling a robbery of Jean Valjean by her father. The attempted robbery spooks Valjean, who is afraid that Javert has found him again, and he prepares to send Cosette away, leaving Marius heartbroken. But when he intercepts a letter from Marius to Cosette that Eponine delivers, he learns about their relationship and goes to find Marius.

Meanwhile, down at the barricade that the student revolutionaries have built, Javert appears and warns them that the government will attack, but he is soon exposed as a spy, causing the revolutionaries to imprison him. Eponine comes to the barricade in search of Marius, but she is fatally shot and finally declares her unrequited love. Then Valjean arrives, also in search of Marius, and volunteers to join the revolutionaries. After proving himself, he asks to be the one to kill the imprisoned Javert, but instead, he lets Javert go. As the battle looms ahead, Valjean prays for Marius’s life to be spared for Cosette’s sake.

In the attack, all of the revolutionaries are killed except Valjean and Marius. Marius is badly wounded, and the Thenardiers steal a ring from him, thinking that he is dead. Valjean carries Marius through the sewers. There, he runs into Javert, who wants to arrest Valjean, but after Valjean begs to take Marius to a doctor first, Javert, confused that Valjean spared his life earlier, cannot go through with it. He cannot handle living in the debt of someone who broke the law when his whole life has been dedicated to upholding it, so Javert commits suicide by jumping off a bridge.

As Marius recovers from his injuries, he and Cosette become engaged. Neither of them know that Valjean was the one who rescued Marius. Valjean then tells Marius of his past as an ex-convict, and that he must go away to protect Cosette. Valjean does not attend the wedding, but the Thenardiers crash it in disguise. They tell Marius that Valjean is a murderer who was seen carrying a corpse away in the sewers. Marius recognizes Thenardier’s ring as the one stolen from him and realizes that he was the “corpse” and that Valjean has saved his life.

Valjean, meanwhile, is dying, and the spirit of Fantine appears to him to take him to heaven. Marius and Cosette get to his bedside in time to say goodbye, and before he dies, Valjean gives Cosette the written story of her past. The musical ends with the spirits of all who died at the barricades singing as Valjean joins them in heaven.

II. THE MUSIC

So many wonderful songs in this musical! My pick for the best cast recording is the 10^th Anniversary concert, which puts together a dream cast. Here’s the link to it on Spotify:

And here are some of the best songs from it. (Note: there are some spoilers in these song descriptions if you skipped my plot summary.)

“On My Own” One of the most famous songs. This is sung by Eponine about her unrequited love for Marius. “Without me, his world will go on turning/A world that’s full of happiness that I have never known.” God, who can’t relate to that?

“I Dreamed a Dream” In recent years, Susan Boyle has brought this song back into the public eye. It’s a beautiful, tragic song, and it’s no coincidence that they used it in the first trailer. While it’s easy to make it into a big, showy  number, I like Anne Hathaway for remembering that it’s sung by a woman who’s had to give up her child, been abandoned by her daughter’s father, been fired, and been forced to sell her hair and prostitute herself—oh, yeah, and who is also dying.

“Bring Him Home” This song makes me cry, and I hope Hugh Jackman does it justice. Valjean sings it about Marius—even though he doesn’t want to lose Cosette (which is clearer in the book than in the musical), the song is his prayer that the man his daughter loves will be spared. Valjean doesn’t care if he himself dies, but he can’t bear to see the young, scared, somewhat innocent revolutionary killed.

“Master of the House” By far the catchiest song in the whole show—there’s even an episode of Seinfeldwhere George has it stuck in his head and keeps singing it. This is our introduction to the Thenardiers and their way of life, where they cheat their guests while demanding to be worshipped by them. In the book, they’re just straight-up villains, but in the musical they’re also the comic relief. It’s sung by the Thenardiers and the guests at their inn and is a great ensemble number.

“Stars” This is Javert’s solo song and gives you some great insight into his philosophy of life. He sees himself like the stars, keeping watch surely and steadily and keeping order and light in the world. There’s only one way and one path for him, and he can’t tolerate anyone who deviates from it.

“Do You Hear the People Sing?” Big ensemble number sung by the revolutionaries as they’re preparing for their rebellion. Insanely catchy, and it comes back at the finale.

“Drink with Me” One thing I love about show tunes is that while they’re written about a specific situation in a musical, they can apply to so many other situations in life. This might be about the revolutionaries drinking and reminiscing before they go into battle, but how many other situations do these lyrics apply to? “Drink with me to days gone by/To the life that used to be/At the shrine of friendship never say die/Let the wine of friendship never run dry/Here’s to you and here’s to me”

“Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” Same here. Marius sings this after all of his friends are killed, but it could apply to any situation of loss, and in the 90s it became a hymn to AIDS victims.

“One Day More” In the days of AIM away messages, I used to post this the day before anything exciting would happen: “Tomorrow we’ll discover what our God in heaven has in store/One more dawn, one more day, one day more!” It’s sung by the entire cast at the end of the first act.

“Who Am I?” I’m saving this one for a future “Song of the Moment,” but let’s just say it’s the most underrated song in the show.

III. THE CHARACTERS

Some musicals center around one character, but while Valjean is the main character in this one, it’s clearly an ensemble show. I wish I’d had the chance to be in this play in high school (at the time it wasn’t licensed for high schools, but now it is, and apparently I was born too soon because my old high school put it on a few years ago and won all kinds of state awards for it), because there’s no such thing as a bad part in it! Here are some of them:

Jean Valjean:What an awesome character. This is a dude who was imprisoned for stealing—but he was stealing bread, which he couldn’t afford to buy, for his sister’s starving family. After the incident with the bishop, he reforms his life, becoming a mayor and philanthropist and, feeling guilty over his role in Fantine’s situation, adopts her child and lovingly raises her after her death. When the rebellion by the barricade occurs, he saves Marius’s life and lets Javert go even though he has every reason and opportunity to kill him. Life in prison hardened him, but he overcomes that and becomes a person who pays forward the kindness and love that the bishop showed him to everyone he meets.

Javert: You know, it’s strange. Javert is the antagonist of the play. He sees everything in black-and-white: “He broke the law, therefore, he must be back in jail.” “People cannot change—once a thief, forever a thief.” He believes in following the law, but never stops to question the justness and rightness of those laws. He can’t wrap his head around the idea that a convict like Jean Valjean could have good in him. And yet—in a strange way, the most recent time I saw the show, I identified with him. I hate to admit it, but I’m like this sometimes. Even when I know I shouldn’t, I sometimes view things in black-and-white and am more rigid than I should be. But aren’t we all like that sometimes? I think we all have opinions or things we believe that we try desperately to hold onto even in the face of contradicting evidence. Javert just believes it so strongly that when he realizes he can’t act on his beliefs anymore, he can’t bear to live.

Fantine: She might be the most tragic character in a show whose title means “The Miserable Ones.” Her first love abandoned her and left her pregnant and alone, and nineteenth-century France is not kind to unwed mothers. She has to give up the daughter she loves so much and dedicates her whole life to providing for her daughter—when she’s fired from her factory job, she has to become a prostitute and sell her own hair. For Fantine, life’s a bitch and then she dies, literally. I’m glad her spirit from heaven appears at the end—at least she found some joy in the afterlife, and in seeing Cosette grow up in Valjean’s care.

Eponine: Eponine was the character who spoke to me the most strongly the first time I saw this. At the time, I was going through a crush on someone who didn’t feel the same way, but someone whom I wanted to be happy with or without me—and that is exactly how Eponine feels about Marius. She loves him so deeply that even though she knows he loves someone else and that there’s no future with him, she helps him meet with Cosette because she wants him to be happy and, in the end, dies for him. It’s easy to forget that her parents, the Thenardiers, are such scumbags. In a way, I almost see her as a smaller-scale version of Jean Valjean—she is also able to overcome her shady past and act on the love in her heart in a heroic way.

Cosette and Marius:I never really liked Marius because I thought he was an idiot for loving Cosette instead of Eponine, but I can see now how the two of them are actually a good match— they’re both innocent and loving. Cosette has more of a personality in the book, but we do get more of a glimpse of it here. She’s grown up very sheltered, but also very loved and protected, which made her grow into a kind, good person. To use a comparison from another musical, if Eponine is Elphaba, Cosette is Glinda—you like them both, just for different reasons and in different ways, and probably like Elphaba more.

The Thenardiers:This show isn’t exactly a comedy—again, “The Miserable Ones.” But there are a handful of comic moments, and most of them are provided by the Thenardiers. Madame Thenardier’s rebuttal to her husband’s portion of “Master of the House” is awesome.

IV. THE MESSAGES

“The inherent goodness of mankind.” Well, that’s a lot for one musical to do, but there’s honestly some truth to that. Let’s take a look at what Les Miserables is really about.

First, it’s about redemption—specifically, redemption through love. The compassion that the bishop shows him is what motivates Valjean to reform his life, and he does so by showing love to the people around him—Fantine, Cosette, Marius, and eventually Javert.  His treatment of Cosette is reflected in her own loving nature—the Thenardiers treated her cruelly, but the love that Valjean showed her won out. Conversely, before he met the bishop, the cruelty that he experienced as a prisoner and while on parole turned him into a hardened criminal when all he’d done to be jailed was steal bread. Eponine, too, isn’t motivated by jealousy but by love, and that informs her decision to help Marius’s relationship with Cosette even though it pains her.

It’s also about shades of gray and how it hurts people to be inflexible and not see the whole picture. Valjean’s only crime was stealing bread to feed his relatives, and yet it keeps him from finding work and being paid fairly. Javert doesn’t take this into account in his relentless pursuit of Valjean, nor does he consider the fate of Cosette if Fantine is arrested or dies. Fantine’s suffering is almost entirely due to other people’s lack of compassion—she is judged for having a child out of wedlock, but her child’s father bears no blame, and it’s only after she is fired that she becomes a prostitute for real.

The funny thing is that the book was written about a very specific place and time, but so much of it is still relevant to today’s world. (Side note: if you read the book, which is also wonderful, you need to figure out which passages to skip or skim—Hugo has these long, rambling passages about French politics where only about one sentence is remotely relevant to the story.) Ex-convicts have trouble finding work, which just leads them to more crime and a more difficult life. Women are judged for their sexual choices while no one cares what the men do. People cling to rigid interpretations of rules despite how those interpretations hurt others (hello, homosexuality and illegal immigration). The government’s lack of concern for the poor leads a group of young people to start a movement to protest it (hello, Occupy). In the book, so much of the criticism is very specific of France during that time period, and it’s sad how little things change.

The other thing that’s hard to ignore is the musical’s Christian overtones. It’s not Christian in an obnoxious, overdone way—more like Sufjan Stevens or U2, and it’s the kind of thing that people of all beliefs or non-beliefs can appreciate. The theme of redemption through love is very Christian, and the focus on compassion without judgment is a representation of the real message of Christianity. There’s a line from the end that has always stuck with me: “To love another person is to see the face of God.”

So…wow. This turned into 3,500 words on why I love Les Mis so much, so I hope I’ve convinced you.

Is it December 14^th yet?

To say that I love Les Miserables would be an understatement on the scale of calling the Grand Canyon a crack. The first words I ever wrote on this blog were a Les Mis reference. I could write an entire post on how I came to be such a big fan and what I love about it (in fact, I will write that post) but this is not it. This is a post about the Les Miserables movie. Not the 1998 movie with Liam Neeson (now, normally I don’t care that much if movies change things from the book, but this movie, which I probably would have liked if I hadn’t read the book and seen the musical, got SO MUCH WRONG), but the upcoming adaptation of the musical.

A movie adaptation of the musical is one of those things that had been talked about for years and years but always got stuck in development. But then I started hearing casting details, so I thought, “Huh, maybe they really are going to make a movie this time.” Still, things get put off in Hollywood all the time, I figured. Who knew when or if they’d get around to making this?

THEN, just this weekend, I heard that they’re currently filming the movie and that it will be released THIS DECEMBER.

!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to me! And it’s being released on December 14^th rather than Christmas, which means I’ll get to see it even if the apocalypse happens!

Well, I hope. I am now very nervous about how this movie is going to turn out. Seriously, since Saturday I have not been able to get this movie, which doesn’t even exist yet, off my mind. So this post is kind of a way of getting a handle on all my thoughts about it.

First of all, I have always loved the idea of a movie version of the Les Miserables musical. Some shows work onstage largely because of the visual spectacle, and those musicals, i.e. The Phantom of the Opera, generally make lousy movies because they don’t come across as well onscreen. But the music, the characters, and the storyline are what make Les Mis so appealing, and I think that the freedom to show more than the stage limits a musical production to showing could be great. Already in my head I have visions of how different songs could be filmed—for example, showing flashbacks to Fantine’s relationship with Tholomyes during “I Dreamed a Dream,” and I also have a very clear of how songs like “Who Am I?”, “On My Own,” and “One Day More” would look onscreen.

Then there’s the matter of casting. My favorite Jean Valjean is the one who made me fall in love with this play, Randal Keith, whose CD I own. Here he is doing “Bring Him Home.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8OCWJdq5_E]

But of course, they need a big-name actor for the lead role. So Jean Valjean, as Gina at Fantasy Casting correctly predicted, is played by Hugh Jackman. After looking up clips of him singing on YouTube and seeing this picture he tweeted of himself as Valjean, I think this is a great choice. He’s done a lot of theater, and here’s a clip of him in Oklahoma! (a musical I don’t really like, but he has a great voice!).[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFjxMGM36Hk]

The antagonist, Javert, will be played by Russell Crowe. Hmm. This choice I’m a little warier of. Acting-wise, I can completely see him as Javert. I had no idea that he could sing, but he’s apparently done quite a bit of singing, as YouTube clips indicate. So, yes, he can sing. Can he sing a big, dramatic, belt-y song like “Stars”? That remains to be seen.

Anne Hathaway will play Fantine. She can definitely sing—here she is at the Oscars singing with Hugh Jackman, in fact. Acting-wise, she’s not the first person I would think of to play a nineteenth-century single mother forced into prostitution, but I’m sure she could surprise me. And she definitely has a voice that would sound lovely on “I Dreamed a Dream.”

Amanda Seyfried will play Cosette. Now, my apologies to her, but since her first movie was Mean Girls, I cannot look at her without thinking, “There’s a thirty percent chance that it’s already raining.” Physically, she is not how I pictured Cosette. As it did with Russell Crowe, Youtube is giving me plenty of evidence of her ability to sing, but I’m not sure how she would do in this part, which requires a pretty high range. Wikipedia tells me, however, that she’s trained in opera, so that makes me feel a bit better.

Eponine is my favorite character. She’s poor and down on her luck and madly in love with a man who doesn’t love her back but for whom she’s nevertheless willing to die heroically. For awhile there was a rumor that Taylor Swift would play Eponine. Now, no offense to Ms. Swift, who I’m sure is a lovely person, but that would have been the WORST DECISION EVER. (Thank you, Michelle Collins, who I have found shares my opinions on just about everything, for backing me up on this.) She is just not right for that part at all. Personally, my favorite Eponine is Lea Salonga. If you don’t know her name, you definitely know her voice—she’s the singing voice of both Mulan and Jasmine in Aladdin. And speaking of Disney, if I could steal any person’s voice Little Mermaid-style, it would be hers. Unfortunately, she’s a bit too old to play the role now. I wondered how another Lea (Michele) would be as Eponine, too, since she actually turned down this role on Broadway to do Glee, although I was a bit skeptical of her ability to act the part effectively. But then it was revealed that instead, Eponine would be played by a British actress named Samantha Barks, who played Eponine in the West End. After seeing this clip of her singing “On My Own,” I’m now really excited to see her in the movie.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYWIVmTBECE]

And the Thenardiers will be played by Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter. EFFING BRILLIANT. I know both of them sang in Sweeney Todd, but for these characters, it’s the acting that’s the most important. They’re villains but also the comic relief (it’s a show whose title means “the miserable ones,” so you need to have comic relief somewhere). I think both of these actors will be amazing in these roles. And I really hope that “Master of the House” is as awesome of a scene as it has the potential to be. It’s by far the catchiest song in the show (just ask George Costanza) and is a great ensemble number.

Additionally, the brilliant Colm Wilkinson, who originated the role of Valjean (listen to him here! He holds that last note for like twenty seconds!), will play the bishop and Frances Ruffelle, the original Eponine, will have a small part as well.

A few other tidbits I’ve learned:

• It’s directed by Tom Hooper, who also directed The King’s Speech, which I adored.
• Cameron Mackintosh, the original producer, is producing the movie as well.
• Rather than recording the songs beforehand and lip-synching on film, the actors will be filmed singing live on the set. Interesting. I hate the way lip-synching looks, so I feel like this can only be a good thing.
• They’re keeping the sung-through format and adding very little additional dialogue. A+.
• They ARE adding one additional song—it’s called “Suddenly” and it’s sung by Jean Valjean after he adopts Cosette. This is pretty standard practice for a musical—when they make the film version, they add a song so that they can be eligible for the Oscar for Best Original Song. Dreamgirls added “Love You I Do,” Grease added “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” Evita added “You Must Love Me,” and Chicago threw “I Move On” in at the end credits. That’s definitely an area of the plot that could use a song, and it’s composed by the original composer. So I’m excited to hear it.
• I don’t know if they’re eliminating any songs, though. I certainly hope not.

So, in conclusion, I’m cautiously optimistic that this will be the best movie of all time. I’ve never gone to a midnight showing of a movie, not even any of the Harry Potter movies, but I will absolutely be going to this one.

Until then, I have Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel’s take on the confrontation scene to entertain me.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXsJjVdj1E]