Archive for Musicals.Net Musicals.Net |
| Aimee |
Does anyone have copies of the original bad reviews?The title says it all really. Les Mis opened to really bad reviews. Does anyone have copies of or links to the original bad reviews as I'd love to read them.Also, on the Phantom documentary last night, it said that Trevor Nunn replaced Harold Prince, at one point, as director for Phantom, but, then was sacked because of bad reviews for the opening night of Les Mis. Yet CM often tells the story about how on the morning after Les Mis opened, he read the reviews thought 'Oh No!' and rang the theatre only to find the phone lines jammed with people booking tickets. So something doesn't ring true here. Any ideas about this? Cheers. |
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| Robin Hood |
Here are some original reviews on a Michael Ball website, also a few on a Colm Wilkinson website . . . these are the only ones I've been able to find. I'd love to see some more. 
God bless, ~Robin Hood |
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| Quique |
Damn, I remember finding a whole bunch of those original reviews online but I completely forgot where exactly. I have two original reviews but they aren't bad. I'll see if I can find them for you. | ||||
| LesMisForever |
Hello
Here you are : http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~lee54/lesmis/musical.htm Now, do i get cookies ? 
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| Quique |
That's it! Thanks!
*Hugs* |
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| Mme Fauchevelant |
Thanks for the link, LesMisForever .
-gives cookies-
No, you're right. No one asked me to like Les Miserables. I love it.
I'm pretty sure it "engaged" my emotion pretty well, thank you.
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| olly |
My God, some of the reporters are such shallow minded, egotistical pretentious old ass-holes:
"To try and guess what it was that attracted Trevor Nunn and John Caird to this load of sentimental old tosh in the first place, requires a flight of the imagination that would take you into the realms of the absurd. That they manage to stage it at all is a minor miracle." (Lyn Gardner) The language is far to melodramatic and forced to have any substance behind it, in my opinion: "Oblivious to the thinness of their material as the emperor was to the non-existance of his new clothes. John Napier's set, complete with tenements that become barricades shows what you can do if you take the money and run and a game cast just about hold the whole sticky mess together." (Lyn Gardner) David Nathan even talks about what happened and is trying to make the musical look bad. How unreaslistic it is for Javert to commit suicide just because he was struck my sympathy. It's not the composer / lyricist's fault you ass, it's Hugo's story. What a fool. I cringed at Broadway's review line by Frank Rich: "Mr. Wilkinson anchors the show from his first solo, in which he runs away from his identity as paroled prisoner 20601". Please to God, if you are a professional critic, get a simple grasp of a foundational plot point. Again, but the same critic: "Mr. Mann's forceful Javert, who at first acts with his sneering lower lip but soon gains shading in the soliloquy that passionately describes the authoritarian moral code driving him to stalk the hero obsessively for 17 years." For God sake. Though a few reviews were cynical, they weren't as bad as what I was expecting. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Someone unfamiliar with the material, though, wouldn't know where to place the blame. (Reminds me of when I saw Little Women...)
That's a typographical error, not a plot point. Everything else said there was correct. I'm also going to play devil's advocate once again and voice my annoyance at fans' tendencies to come up with 2nd-grade style name-calling and insults for critics (whether the reviews were written 20 years ago or 20 days ago) who happened to dislike something they enjoy. I'm not just talkin' 'bout you, Olly, but you provide a good example. |
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| Salome |
Frank Rich is simply the finest theatre critic who has written over the past 30 years. his only rival is Ben Brantley.
You may not agree with everything he writes (I don't) but the man is still smart, saavy, well read and knowledgable about theatre. you'll have to go along way back to find critics as strong as Rich and Brantley. |
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| LesMisForever |
Hello
I think most of "Les Miserables" fans can't help but to have little sneer at those generally bad reviews. However, i am afraid i agree with TVAW, Olly. There is no need to call them names. I disagree with the overwhleming majority of the London's critics, but they are entitled to their opinions (you might say that you are entitled to yours as well , but you know what i mean ).
I also agree that Frank Rich (personally, i don't know him) hit pretty much all the nails on their heads. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Agreed. Though I am tempted to make snide remarks about the reviewers who said the musical sucked because it was based off nothing more than a turgid melodrama--I could argue myself into circles about the musical's artistic merit, but even if a reviewer doesn't like the book, he should at least accord it some respect. |
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| Quique |
Frank Rich actually gave the show itself a pretty good review. Nothing at all like most of the original London reviews. | ||||
| Aimee |
Thanks for the links. They make interesting reading after the eventual succes of the show. | ||||
| olly |
Yes, I'm sorry. I do agree. You must sympathise, I'm used to students at my school writing reviews and I get frustrated at the fluency of them and the miscalculation of the drama. I appologise. Although, that is to say I don't agree with everything said, but I do respect critics' reviews. I also got really annoyed at a Broadway critic's review of Phantom when it first arrived. I saw the 'Behind the Mask' documentary and some of the stuff he was saying was, I'm quite happy to say this, wrong.
Also, Quique, I did note the fact that he did give the show a fairly good review - I wasn't criticising the substance of the review, per se. However, as Orestes pointed out, I feel a couple of the critics based their criticism on very flimsy ground. Yes, I do respect the critics' reviews and opinions, but you can't help getting annoyed at idiotic statements that, in your mind, are the equivalent to saying something like 'circles are square'. As for the name-calling, yes I do admit that was immature, however it's just frustrating when you do read something that really grinds into you. Although I respect the critics' opinions and agree with some of the issues raised, I stand by my point. |
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| Robin Hood |
Lol . . I had to laugh at this:
"Les Miserables" is superbly served. Instantly disposable trash. It is the difference between a fast-food hamburger and a great haute cuisine steak. Superficially they share something. And the difference, for most people, will be in taste rather than nutrition. New York Post 1987 Another gem: Behind their puzzlingly unmolested barricade, the students even spend time reminiscing about "...pretty girls who went to our heads/And witty girls who went to our beds." I'll swear one of the characters tells another "My song is you", and - in a moment of quasi-proletarian abandon - lyricist Herbert Kretzmer tries to rhyme "dear" with "monsieur". A show that's all singing needs better, fresher words than this. Listener - Jim Hiley October 17, 1985 If I was the RSC I'd forget about a West End transfer and settle for a made-for-TV American mini-series instead. It would work a treat. City Limits - Lynn Gardner October 18, 1985 Lol!!!! 
Frances Ruffelle as Eponine the Thenardiers' daughter who is Cosette's pure-hearted rival for the love of Michael Ball's Marius. Jewish Chronicle - David Nathan October 18, 1985 Grrrrrr! Now I need to hit something . . . pure-hearted, my foot. God bless, ~Robin Hood |
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| Eponine93 |
Les Mis isn't the only show or movie that became international successes but had terrible reviews. I'm going to post quotes from movie reviews then put the movies in white so you can highlight them. All of these are from the Stupidist Things Ever Said Calender.
It was a stinkeroo- Wizard Of Oz Dead in the water- Titanic I presume the shark was yawning, which was what I was doing throughout the entire movie- Jaws I think critics are completely opposed to saying something is good unless the public thinks it is good. |
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| LesMisForever |
I am sorry to bring an old topic, but there is something strange here.
How comes that "Les Miserables" won the" London Critics Circle" award for Best Musical despite those generally bad reviews? Were they secretly in love with it?
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