 |
Les Miserables - 25th Anniversary (DVD)
by lak11
I would like to review the DVD of the 25th anniversary concert of Les Miserables, performed at the O2 in London. Reviewing a dvd is new to me but, as I am a fan of Les Miserables, the musical, and also was at the O2 in October for the anniversary concert, this dvd is special to me. I feel compelled to attempt a review.
This ... dvd is presented by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Universal pictures. It is rated as an E-exempt from classification.
BACKGROUND
'Les Miserables' the classic novel was written by Frenchman, Victor Hugo back in 1862. This novel was, much later of course, made into a musical by Frenchmen, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. It was first shown at the Barbican, London, in October, 1985. I have seen the show at The Queen's theatre in London and will be going again very soon, weather permitting.
The dvd runs, as does the theatre production in the order of events. It is a concert, so not acted as extensively as in a theatre production. Events can still be easily followed.
The story begins with Jean Valjean ( prisoner 24601) being released on parole from a French prison after serving nineteen years for stealing bread (to try to keep his family alive) and attempting an escape bid. The year is 1815. It is often thought that Les Miserables covers the period of the French Revolution pre Napoleonic times, but in fact it is later. I've picked my youngest daughter's brains on this one as she has studied these times for Advanced level history. She says that the French Revolution ended in 1799, and then the Napoleonic era lasted until 1815 when Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. (I feel an Abba song coming on!)
It seems to me as if at the time the novel was set, France was still in a period of unrest with its people suffering from terrible poverty and hardship. There was still revolts occurring.
I read this novel many years ago at school but found it hard going. Not so the musical and the concert's DVD.
WHO IS FEATURED ON THE DVD?
Now, as I was at the concert where this was recorded it is special and provides a great souvenir of the event. However, if you are familiar with this musical and have watched the 10th Anniversary dvd filmed at the Royal Albert t Hall,with the original cast, you might then agree that overall that was a better recording, and perhaps even a better cast. I think the casting was good for the 25th anniversary, BUT there were some slightly weaker performances in this later event. Although the 25th anniversary cast was wonderful, the original cast was superior to this cast in its entirety, in my opinion. I think it a shame that Nick Jonas from the Jonas brothers was the weakest in the cast. The part of Marius should have been given to someone with more power in their voice. I must say though that he sounds better on the dvd than he did at the actual event, but after seeing the 10th anniversary recording featuring Michael Ball as Marius, Nick Jonas is a poor comparison. However Lea Salonga this time portrays Fantine instead of as in the 10th anniversary, the younger part of Eponine. She is wonderful portraying either part. Although in the earlier celebratory dvd Colm Wilkinson is splendid, as he still is, I thought Alfie Boe portraying jean Valjean in a quite different way, was also sensational.
Some of the cast featured on the 25th anniversary dvd includes:
ALFIE BOE- JEAN VALJEAN JENNY GALLOWAY- MADAME THENARDIER
NICK JONAS- MARIUS KATIE HALL- COSETTE
MATT LUCAS- MONSIEUR THENARDIER RAMIN KARIMLOO- ENJOLARAS
LEA SALONGA- FANTINE NORM LEWIS- JAVERT
SAMANTHA BARKS- EPONINE
The recording shows it how it was. It truly evokes the wonderful awesome experience of this event. The sound quality was great at the O2 and this shows in the sound quality of this dvd.
RUNNING TIME
The running time is 2 hours and 51 minutes with 5 minutes bonus time. The first time that I viewed this with my seventeen year old daughter we watched from start to finish but admittedly we are Les Mis fanatics. The second time, a few days later, we watched in two halves. The dvd shows when he intermission falls, and this does provides a natural break if wanting to view in two sessions.
BEST BITS
This dvd shows all songs from the show and from the performance at the O2 where it was filmed live. Although the whole concert was amazing, I think it can be realised from the dvd that the most exciting part and most memorable, for most Les Miserables fans will probably be the footage at the end of the concert. Now this is something special. It shows the appearance of the original London cast from London's Barbican plus cast from the production now running at the Queen's Theatre, joining the performers for this special concert. The stage became quite packed at this point. We witnessed the phenomenal scene of FOUR fantastic Valjeans singing together; Colm Wilkinson, Alfie Boe, Simon Bowman and John Owen Jones. Their voices soared. And add to that the beautiful voice of Michael Ball, and for me, this dvd cannot go wrong.
Although I value this dvd and I'm sure in my house it will be watched many times, I still think it could perhaps have been presented better. I have a programme purchased form the actual concert but I would have been happy to pay a little more and perhaps have some literature included such as perhaps a booklet showing some background information of Les Miserables. Also, a few photos of the cast would have been a nice touch. After all it was a very special event and I feel that more effort could have been put into the presentation, making it more of a keepsake. Of course, the content ensures it is special.
PACKAGING
I quite like the packaging as it shows the Les Mis 'emblem' of the face of a young and unhappy Cosette showing on the centre screen behind the stage. The rest captures the scene as it was at the O2 with thousands in the audience and the singers on the stage.
AVAILABILITY/PRICE
The Dvd was released towards the end of November so I decided to pre order from Amazon. I paid £12.93 at the time but it now sells on Amazon for £9.99 and free super saver delivery is available on this item. I don't mind that it is now cheaper as no way would I, or my daughter have wanted to wait longer than we had to see this dvd. I was pleased that the dvd arrived in my post the day after it was released.
It is available from W.H. Smith for £11.93.
It is also available on Blue Ray.
DVD OVERALL
I obviously value this dvd, being a fan of Les Miserables, so I would recommend it to any fans of Les Mis, but I would also recommend for anyone thinking of going to see the show at the Queen's Theatre. I say this because I used to believe that Les Mis would be depressing, bleak and not to my liking. As my daughter grew familiar with the songs, and I listened to her performing them, I discovered I liked them. We progressed to the 10th Anniversary DVD. This was mainly watched to humour my daughter, but myself and my husband soon realised that this musical was something special. We appreciated the humour and the beautiful music of Les Mis. I hope that anyone watching this dvd who isn't familiar with the music, or plot of this show, will fall in love with it as my family have. I do also believe that Les Mis is a show best seen by one who has learnt a little about it first. Watching this dvd will provide a good insight into the best musical ever.
Read the complete review |
 |
Nine - The Musical (DVD)
by mattconnect
I was attracted to this film due to the power of the cast, and the fact that this musical seemed to be similar to Chicago, which I absolutely loved. However, this was not the case at all.
~~~THOUGHTS ON PLOT~~~
Centred on director Guido Contini and the women in his life, the musical starts as he prepares for his new film ... "Italia", the script of which he has yet to write. As he interacts with his mother, his wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard), his mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz) and a flirty journalist Stephanie (Kate Hudson), he realises his life is falling apart and the once "top" director is on the verge of a fall.
The musical numbers in the movie are somewhat truncated. Whilst some are greatly synchronised to the stories, others are rather unnecessary and quite flat. None of the songs in this film are really catchy or iconic. They don't make this film memorable. The one performance that I thought did live up to the calibre of Chicago was Fergie's "Be Italian".
That's not to say the performances weren't good. Every actress lived up to the expectation and belted out powerful numbers- their voices were good. What wasn't good were the songs and the film in general. I was utterly bored and skipped through many of the talking parts just to be mildly entertained again by the singing.
There really isn't much of a climax in the film- I think the most hype generated was at the beginning when everyone was on stage- I mean I watched this film for all the stars, and that's what I got then. From that point onwards, it all went downhill.
The ending was an anticlimax- I thought it would finish with a dramatic number, but no, it just built up so much tension for nothing, just to flash to the credits which made me quite angry actually...
~~~CAST~~~
Daniel Day-Lewis - Guido Contini
Marion Cotillard- Luisa Contini
Penelope Cruz- Carla Albanese
Fergie- Saraghina
Kate Hudson- Stephanie Necrophorus
Nicole Kidman- Claudia Jenssen
Also stars Sophie Loren, Judi Dench and Ricky Tognazzi.
The star of the movie was Penelope Cruz who had the role which gave her most potential, and thus a well deserved Oscar nomination. Marion Cotillard and Nicole Kidman were sidelined and their talent purely wasted. In the few scenes that she's in, Nicole Kidman does manage to showcase her glamour, class and personal style.
~~~PRICE~~~
The DVD can be purchased for under £5 on Amazon.
~~~OVERALL~~~
This film was a complete let down, a waste of money and a waste of a good cast. This is no way near being a musical. It is just a film with good singing, but bad music. Did not enjoy the storyline one bit, and if I wanted anything remotely similar, I'll go back to Chicago. Having seen it three times already, I doubt it will bore me seeing it a fourth as much as this film did.
Read the complete review |
