I don't have a Les Miz icon yet

[heidi]

I am fascinated that they chose I Dreamed a Dream as the song for the first trailer. It's such a sad and tragic song, and Anne Hathaway sings it beautifully - as I understand it all the songs were recorded live during the filming, which is amazing and rare - but unless you already know and love Les Miz, will this trailer bring you into it?

But so many people around the world have seen Les Miz already, on stage, or on one of the DVDs, is there really anyone who'll see the movie as soon as it's released, who hasn't already at least seen one of the concert versions on YouTube or tv? It's an interesting marketing approach, and I'm curious to see the trade press perspective on it.

Regardless, it's LES MIZ! With an amazing cast! In December!

I've seen Avengers seven times so far, and I think that's my record for the most times I've seen a particular film in theaters - PoA was the prior winner, with six - but it's very possible that Les Miz may take the title, if not by the end of the year then by my birthday in January.

Can I preorder the cast recording on iTunes yet?

How about now?




Now?

Seriously, the first time I saw Les Miz, I was fifteen years old, it wasn't on Broadway yet, and my parents took me to see it in the West End and I started crying about ten notes into I Dreamed a Dream and I didn't stop until about an hour after the show ended and we were at dinner and my mom gave me wine to try and calm my crying.

I've seen it on stage sixteen times since then - once every year of college with classmates, on Broadway, and from the second to last row in London, in Miami and LA and on DVD and tv and youtube and back in the days when I had a battery-powered walkman, if it ran out of batteries, I would just sing the libretto in my head.

I don't have one single favorite musical - Joseph and Into the Woods and Chess all transport me in different ways - but Les Miz will always be my mental, emotional and social go-to hearts-in-my-eyes show, and I cannot wait to see this version of it.

Comments

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaaaah!!!!!

*Runs to IMDB*

March 17th in Denmark :(

RATS!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Come to Florida for a few days before or after Christmas - we'll go to the WWoHP and see Les Miz a few times!


Not actually kidding.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

Oh wow... that would be so, so, so, SO cool!

Note that I'm not saying no. I'm not saying yes either, but it's tempting enough that I'm not saying no :-)

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

Going around Christmas/New Years is expensive as, but going the week after actually isn't too bad....

Yes, I'm looking at prices....

The main issue is that Florida is far enough away that going "for a few days" seems a bit silly - it's a 9+ hour plane ride each way. If you lived in Europe, I'd be there in a heartbeat! :)

Let me think about it. If we STILL haven't moved by the time autumn/winter rolls around I might just need something to look forward to to cheer me up. And this would be... well, amazing.

(I can't believe I'm actually thinking seriously about this!)

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Well, so stay for a week. What about the week before Xmas? It opens here on the 12th, so if you came earlier that week...

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

So tempting!!! Like you said, especially since we missed out on meeting in NYC.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've thought about it, and talked to Lars about it.

Here's the deal. I really, really, really, really, really want to move. It's getting rather ridiculous how much I want to move. I've thought up a plan to get Lars to agree to it (see my latest post), and if that works out (fingers crossed) it might just happen sometime this year. If that's the case, I'm afraid I won't have neither the money nor the vacation time necessary.

However, if it doesn't work out - Lars disagrees, the bank says no, what have you - then I'll have both the time and the money PLUS a desperate need to do something out of the ordinary to cheer myself up... and in that case, I would LOVE to come! :)

I realize that this pretty much amounts to telling you that you're plan B, and that's REALLY not my intention! I hope you can understand and forgive me for it :-/

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I would love to be your fallback option! <3!!

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

You're a darling! Thank you :) ♥

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

I am ridiculously excited.

I must have seen it over thirty times on the London stage, including the original production at the Barbican, with baby Michael Ball in it...

But, yes, who is this trailer going to attract, as passing trade.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I've only seen it three times in London - no, wait - four! but it will be so different from the concert versions that everyone's seen, and if half the people who've seen it on stage or in a concert version on DVD or tape or DVD see this, it'll do well enough. And who cares, really, because it will clearly be awesome and that'll be enough.
Did you see Colm Wilkinson will be playing the Bishop?!?!

[aome.livejournal.com]

My in-theater record is four, for Return of the Jedi, Mulan and FotR; however, I suppose you could say I've seen RotJ six times - four the first time it came out, and twice more on the re-release in 1999.

I've read a slightly abridged version of Les Miz, but have never seen it performed. I admit to being underwhelmed by the book - it was fine, but not mania-inducing. Yet I know the musical is HUGE, like Phantom of the Opera or perhaps even more so. What makes it so amazing?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I saw Phantom a day or two after seeing Les Miz and it was...

It was pretty and I was entertained but it did not seize my soul and make me weep for bravery and stupidity and true love and true beliefs and things that shatter them and found families and...

I'd send you one of the Concert versions (okay not the one with the Jonas) but I kind of want you to see this, without having seen the concert versions or heard all the music, as a sort of guinea pig. Would you be willing to do that, to see this without knowing the musical, and share your thoughts?

OH ALSO I just emailed you re Orlando!!!

[aome.livejournal.com]

Sure, if you want to send me a copy, that's fine!

And I just responded to the Orlando email - sorry for the delay.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll bring it to Orlando ;)

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I think they picked that song because it's still in the collective unconscious from Susan Boyle.

Also, it's a gorgeous song. ;)

[stinaleigh.livejournal.com]

That is what I thought too. Hook the people who liked her version but have no idea of the story.

[mawaridi.livejournal.com]

Damn, the video won't work for me and I can't seem to find it anywhere else online. Whyyyy I want to seeeee.

I Dreamed A Dream was the first song I ever performed as a soloist, and Les Mis was the soundtrack of my high school years, so I'm pretty excited (although a bit o_O at the casting of Russel Crowe as Javert. The perfect Javert will always be Phillip Quast to me). I've only seen it live twice (the one and only time in my memory that it has been in Melbourne) but I love it to bits.

I want to see the trailer!!!

[dragonrider7.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnLSG5t_dc8 Try that one? Worked for me just now.

[mawaridi.livejournal.com]

Aha! Excellent, thank you :)

Wow, I am really impressed by Anne Hathaway's singing. Excellent. This is going to be great!

[mars-daydream.livejournal.com]

I am so, so excited for this. If they can capture the thrill and the emotional punch-to-the-kidneys sensation of the stage version then it will be one hell of a movie!

I saw it 4 times in high school when it was playing long-term in LA and cried through every single one.

[zorb]

I suppose they're saving "One Day More" for the full trailer. A teaser does tend to cater to existing fans. I'm not sure how I feel about this rendition (or her in the role, but I always have that problem with her for some strange reason even though I know she usually ends up killing it), but eeeeeeeeeeeeee the teasing images!

SO EXCITED!

[graycie23.livejournal.com]

Er, didn't mean to reply in the thread! Sorry, Zorb! Phone screen excuses...

[graycie23.livejournal.com]

One of my best childhood friends is a performer in the current Les Miz tour (they were just in West Palm Beach!) and she loved everything about this trailer *except* Anne H.'s singing. So...we will see! But it is exciting!

[dragonrider7.livejournal.com]

I have never seen Les Miz, I know no songs from it and I don't know the plot at all except I think it's french? So, from an outsider's perspective, I shall watch the trailer.

Having watched, yes it's a good song (and one I vaguely recognise) but the trailer tells me nothing about the plot or why I should watch it. Les Miz remains, to me, something that I only want to watch because it's a classic that everyone has to see.

That said, I felt exactly the same way about Phantom of the Opera until I went to see it, and I loved every single second of it. It was so beautiful I cried several times. I imagine Les Miz would be much the same for me.

[quidditchref.livejournal.com]

Will people get the message, and be able to translate it to today? If not, the urban wars coming in the USA will be a big surprise.

[airemay.livejournal.com]

I agree with the comments above about I Dreamed A Dream. I read somewhere that Cameron Macintosh said that before Susan Boyle performed that song, Les Mis never had a hit like that before.

Personally, I can't wait to see more of Valjean & Javert in the trailer. They carry the show. And yea Hugh Jackman!!