Every Man Will Be a King...
Dec. 28th, 2012 12:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceebeegeeI saw Les Miz over Christmas with my Mom. I am not a huge fan of the musical, for a variety of reasons, but I'd seen the trailers and it looked very impressive. I came away thinking--the performances, for the most part, were terrific. The direction was decent (I do wish there'd been some more wide shots--the one of the rectory on the mount was pretty amazing, and those establishing shots in La place de la Bastille were incredible!). Anne Hathaway was astounding--ditto Eddie Redmayne. Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were HILARIOUS as the Thenardiers--every moment they were on the screen together was comedy gold. The young Cosette was absolutely precious. Really the only weak link was Russell Crowe--I don't even mind his voice, but he could've ACTED through the music! Lots of well-known singers are not perfect technically but they are *musical*--they act through the music. Russell, we KNOW you can act--let's see it!
I have a couple of difficulties with the show--for one, it's huge and not very well explicated. Now admittedly I was first introduced to it through the "Selections From..." album which cuts quite a bit but still, I've seen the show twice (I think--maybe just once?) and could not really follow what was going on without resorting to the program. Things I still don't get--the Dickensian concidences. Do the Thenardiers stalk/follow Valjean and Cosette to Paris? Or do they just *happen* to end up in the same neighborhood? Does M. Thenardier specifically target Valjean in the robbery or do he and his cronies just *happen* to end up in front of his house? It makes sense that Javert keeps running into Valjean because he's specifically looking for him--but are the Thenardiers? This isn't made clear. Another question--where does Valjean keep coming up with so much money? I get that the silver the Bishop gives him sets him up for his first fresh start, when he's the mayor. But when he escapes the hospital after the Confrontation, he can't have *that* much cash on him, and presumably Javert would've frozen his accounts. What does Valjean *do* in Paris (i.e., how does he make money)? And why does Fantine choose the Thenardiers, who are three whole days away, to house her kid? (I'll let slide the impression that all the major shit with Fantine--getting fired, selling your teeth and hair, and finally having to resort to prostitution--all seems to happen on one day! The reason I don't mind this so much is because plotwise Fantine is a one-off character--she exists for one purpose, to get Cosette into Valjean's hands so he can love her, grow as a character, and eventually learn mercy. Her big moment I Dreamed a Dream is basically a consolation prize :) Thematically, of course, Fantine is also a manifestation of the immense class inequities that persisted even after the Revolution.)
Another problem with the plotting again relates back to the size of the story--I'm not sure Les Miz earns the big emotional moments it keeps wanting us to experience. For example, On My Own--that is not just a song of unrequited love, it's a goddamn anthem. It starts off softly, builds, builds, there's this swelling musical high point ("I love him but every day I'm learning/All my life, I've only been pretending..."), a sort-of epiphany, a denouement...you get the idea. This is an anthem--but at this point we hardly know Eponine! (I'm going by the movie's plotting, since I saw the show so long ago.) We've seen her as a grownup in only 2-3 scenes, hardly enough time for us to really feel her pain and cheer on her growth in that song. It just doesn't feel earned--it feels like it should come later on, after some growth and change.
But my main problem with Les Miz has always been the lyrics--some of them just make me cringe. To me it is painfully obvious that the lyrics are translated from another language, and whoever translated them is either a poor lyricist or doesn't speak English like a native. Example: Javert's Suicide. Oh my God, this is awkward. "There is nothing on earth that we share"--okay, I'll sort of let this slide, even though it's unclear. What he means is there are no qualities that they share (generosity, diligence, whatever), no commonality of spirit. But then the very next line--the line that has the same melodic phrase and rhymes with it, so it's clearly meant to expand on the first line, anticipates a fight-to-the-finish thing: "It is either Valjean or Javert." What does that have to do with your reflexive refusal to acknowledge that you and he might be alike--that he is in fact human and showed that when he spared you, and recognized that in you when you let him go? It just feels awkward, and not specific enough. The worst is the line: "It was his right....it was my right to die as well." UGH. It wasn't your *right* to die! A right is an entitlement, it's implicitly a good thing. What he's trying to say is more along the lines of: "By the rules of engagement, he had a right to kill me--similarly, by those same rules, I had a duty to die." That isn't exactly euphonious, I realize, but at least it's specific. Start with that meaning and polish it, instead of an imprecise line that just happens to rhyme.
And don't get me started on On My Own--I know it's sacrilege to say, but those lyrics make me shudder. The phrase "on my own" just doesn't work for me--it implies an understanding that you used to be with someone else, or you will be with someone else. It implies a comparison. Eponine isn't talking about how she used to live with her family, but now she's on her own--she isn't saying I used to be with Marius, but now I'm on my own. Instead she starts off the song by essentially saying "I'm alone...but I'm imagining I'm with him." So say that--instead of the phrase "on my own," say "all alone" (which is used in the second line) or "by myself." I sound like a nitpicker, I know, but I just do not like that phrasing. (It's even weirder at the end with her "I love him...but only on my own." As it's used here she means her love is unrequited--but that's really not at ALL what "on my own" means!) And why does 'Ponine sing "still I say there's a way for us"--and then let that drop? Really, girl? From what we've seen so far, he is just not that into you! If you think "there's a way for us"--ELABORATE. Has he given you mixed signals? Did he ever get drunk and fool around with you? Did he confess that you would be his perfect female except that you're like a sister to him? ELABORATE. Or at least say "still I HOPE [or dream] there's a way for us..." In general I feel that a good chunk of the Les Miz lyrics feel like dummy lyrics, shoved in there to make a rhyme or to scan--not because the lyricist sweated and agonized over choosing just the right word to convey the exact meaning.
I must sound like a maniac. This is not to say I hate Lez Miz--I don't at all. (I just don't have that immense love for it that so many others do, but that's fine, it takes all kinds.) I LOVE some of the songs--Stars is probably my favorite, God I'd love to play Javert!!! I'd rather play him than Valjean!
And so it has been and so it is written
On the doorway to paradise
That those who falter
And THOSE who fall
Must paaaaay
The priiiiiiice!
I also love the first Do You Hear the People Sing--it's just an awesomely catchy little marching song and it SOUNDS SO FRENCH. Oh my God, when I first heard it I was like SOMEONE knows their Marseillaise!
Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!
This is pretty much the antecedent of that great, so-French line "The blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of Fraaaaaance!" I've actually become quite interested in the history of France because of this--I've read a couple of novels that take place then and the general idea I got was that a lot of crazy shit was happening in the streets of Paris in the 19th century. I gotta learn more about this--I am very French (on my Mom's side) after all! Although I believe our family is Breton, which is really Celtic.
I have a couple of difficulties with the show--for one, it's huge and not very well explicated. Now admittedly I was first introduced to it through the "Selections From..." album which cuts quite a bit but still, I've seen the show twice (I think--maybe just once?) and could not really follow what was going on without resorting to the program. Things I still don't get--the Dickensian concidences. Do the Thenardiers stalk/follow Valjean and Cosette to Paris? Or do they just *happen* to end up in the same neighborhood? Does M. Thenardier specifically target Valjean in the robbery or do he and his cronies just *happen* to end up in front of his house? It makes sense that Javert keeps running into Valjean because he's specifically looking for him--but are the Thenardiers? This isn't made clear. Another question--where does Valjean keep coming up with so much money? I get that the silver the Bishop gives him sets him up for his first fresh start, when he's the mayor. But when he escapes the hospital after the Confrontation, he can't have *that* much cash on him, and presumably Javert would've frozen his accounts. What does Valjean *do* in Paris (i.e., how does he make money)? And why does Fantine choose the Thenardiers, who are three whole days away, to house her kid? (I'll let slide the impression that all the major shit with Fantine--getting fired, selling your teeth and hair, and finally having to resort to prostitution--all seems to happen on one day! The reason I don't mind this so much is because plotwise Fantine is a one-off character--she exists for one purpose, to get Cosette into Valjean's hands so he can love her, grow as a character, and eventually learn mercy. Her big moment I Dreamed a Dream is basically a consolation prize :) Thematically, of course, Fantine is also a manifestation of the immense class inequities that persisted even after the Revolution.)
Another problem with the plotting again relates back to the size of the story--I'm not sure Les Miz earns the big emotional moments it keeps wanting us to experience. For example, On My Own--that is not just a song of unrequited love, it's a goddamn anthem. It starts off softly, builds, builds, there's this swelling musical high point ("I love him but every day I'm learning/All my life, I've only been pretending..."), a sort-of epiphany, a denouement...you get the idea. This is an anthem--but at this point we hardly know Eponine! (I'm going by the movie's plotting, since I saw the show so long ago.) We've seen her as a grownup in only 2-3 scenes, hardly enough time for us to really feel her pain and cheer on her growth in that song. It just doesn't feel earned--it feels like it should come later on, after some growth and change.
But my main problem with Les Miz has always been the lyrics--some of them just make me cringe. To me it is painfully obvious that the lyrics are translated from another language, and whoever translated them is either a poor lyricist or doesn't speak English like a native. Example: Javert's Suicide. Oh my God, this is awkward. "There is nothing on earth that we share"--okay, I'll sort of let this slide, even though it's unclear. What he means is there are no qualities that they share (generosity, diligence, whatever), no commonality of spirit. But then the very next line--the line that has the same melodic phrase and rhymes with it, so it's clearly meant to expand on the first line, anticipates a fight-to-the-finish thing: "It is either Valjean or Javert." What does that have to do with your reflexive refusal to acknowledge that you and he might be alike--that he is in fact human and showed that when he spared you, and recognized that in you when you let him go? It just feels awkward, and not specific enough. The worst is the line: "It was his right....it was my right to die as well." UGH. It wasn't your *right* to die! A right is an entitlement, it's implicitly a good thing. What he's trying to say is more along the lines of: "By the rules of engagement, he had a right to kill me--similarly, by those same rules, I had a duty to die." That isn't exactly euphonious, I realize, but at least it's specific. Start with that meaning and polish it, instead of an imprecise line that just happens to rhyme.
And don't get me started on On My Own--I know it's sacrilege to say, but those lyrics make me shudder. The phrase "on my own" just doesn't work for me--it implies an understanding that you used to be with someone else, or you will be with someone else. It implies a comparison. Eponine isn't talking about how she used to live with her family, but now she's on her own--she isn't saying I used to be with Marius, but now I'm on my own. Instead she starts off the song by essentially saying "I'm alone...but I'm imagining I'm with him." So say that--instead of the phrase "on my own," say "all alone" (which is used in the second line) or "by myself." I sound like a nitpicker, I know, but I just do not like that phrasing. (It's even weirder at the end with her "I love him...but only on my own." As it's used here she means her love is unrequited--but that's really not at ALL what "on my own" means!) And why does 'Ponine sing "still I say there's a way for us"--and then let that drop? Really, girl? From what we've seen so far, he is just not that into you! If you think "there's a way for us"--ELABORATE. Has he given you mixed signals? Did he ever get drunk and fool around with you? Did he confess that you would be his perfect female except that you're like a sister to him? ELABORATE. Or at least say "still I HOPE [or dream] there's a way for us..." In general I feel that a good chunk of the Les Miz lyrics feel like dummy lyrics, shoved in there to make a rhyme or to scan--not because the lyricist sweated and agonized over choosing just the right word to convey the exact meaning.
I must sound like a maniac. This is not to say I hate Lez Miz--I don't at all. (I just don't have that immense love for it that so many others do, but that's fine, it takes all kinds.) I LOVE some of the songs--Stars is probably my favorite, God I'd love to play Javert!!! I'd rather play him than Valjean!
And so it has been and so it is written
On the doorway to paradise
That those who falter
And THOSE who fall
Must paaaaay
The priiiiiiice!
I also love the first Do You Hear the People Sing--it's just an awesomely catchy little marching song and it SOUNDS SO FRENCH. Oh my God, when I first heard it I was like SOMEONE knows their Marseillaise!
Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!
This is pretty much the antecedent of that great, so-French line "The blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of Fraaaaaance!" I've actually become quite interested in the history of France because of this--I've read a couple of novels that take place then and the general idea I got was that a lot of crazy shit was happening in the streets of Paris in the 19th century. I gotta learn more about this--I am very French (on my Mom's side) after all! Although I believe our family is Breton, which is really Celtic.
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Date: 2013-01-04 06:29 pm (UTC)