Flaws

Quique · Flaws

Naturally, as fans, we're always talking about the best of what Les Mis has to offer but let's take a moment to list anything we feel is a flaw or weakness within the show. No show is perfect and this one is certainly no exception.

I will list them slowly as I think of them but I'll start with what I feel is one of the show's bigger flaws...

It's book, as crammed together as it is, is unclear about many things. The audience is often left wondering about the why's and how's of certain situations and some of the plot can get confusing to those whom have no prior knowledge of the book or any of the many film versions.

I've read many, many reviews in which the creative team is praised for doing such a fine job condensing Victor Hugo's massive novel, into a mere 3 hour evening. I feel bad saying this because I too applaud their efforts but I can't deny that there are many minor subplots that are left up in the air, without a clear, concise explanation. This may seem demanding, since most of the public has been able to understand the story quite well just the way it is but I still feel some important details are left with loose ends.

Ouch. That hurt, lol. I LOVE this show and hardly ever find any flaw in it but this is something I've wondered about for years and would love to discuss it.

I will return a bit later and list all details within the show I feel suffer from lack of clarity.

Meanwhile, feel free to contribute anything you feel is a weakness within the show. This isn't limited only to the show's book, lyrics, or music - it could be anything at all.

eponine5

Yikes! Flaws? Nooo...really? Shocked

Well, to say it simply, there is absolutely nothing without flaws of some kind. I agree with you about some parts of the plot being unclear. Especially with 'General Lamarque who?' there are lots of things which are hard to explain to the audience. Even once the audience has gotten used to the fact that they have to listen to the lyrics of the songs to understand the story, most pepole just don't pay as much attention to them as they would to dialogue. Sung-through musicals are the hardest to explain.
As to the issue of some unclear or unfinished issues, I personally like it as it makes people think, something you don't get in many musicals. I love the way that even after seeing it and reading the book and the libretto, there are still some things that you just realise and think "oh yeah!" Some people hate this kind of thing, but personally, I love it!

flying_pigs

I just wished Cosette's part had been a little bigger, she's more central to the plot than Eponine but she has less stage time and songs. I feel she is such an under-developed character who could have a lot more depth than what it given.

eponine5

Yeah, Cosette needs her solo back! Or she could have a new one, some time before the wedding, or maybe they could extend Every Day.

Les Mis moves very fast, and that can be a problem for some audience members. Usually there is some time, in a light-hearted song possibly, when an audience can relax and reflect on what is happening. I wouldn't exactly call it a flaw that Les Mis has none, but some people might.

Orestes Fasting

The musical did a good job at condensing the plot of the novel into a 3-hour show, but I can't help but feel that the message has been almost completely destroyed. Social criticism, progress, hope for the future, history, politics, spirituality, what are those? Who cares about the fate of the lower classes when some lovelorn street rat is singing her heart out about her unrequited twu wuv?

I mean, yeah, the plot makes good melodrama material, as evidenced by the success of the musical, but the melodrama is only a part of what makes LM a great book instead of merely a good book. And I invite anyone who thinks that digressions and social criticism can't be updated to the present day, or have no place in musical theater, to look at the musical of Notre-Dame de Paris. It has its own flaws, but the sans-papiers subplot is a much more sophisticated bit of criticism than the random "poverty sucks!" ensemble numbers in Les Mis.

Moci

I think that one of the flaws is that the audience don't really get a chance to understand Valjean until well into the second act. 'Bring Him Home' is the first chance that you can really understand who Valjean really is. True, he has solos in act one, but it's set up in such a way that it's cries of 'UNDERSTAND ME!' and you can't really fully do that. It's not until 'BHH' that the audience can realise why he lifted the runaway cart, why Fantine entrusted him with her child, why he took Cosette in and why he is the person he is.

Aimee

Flaws = the cuts!! Put them back!!

I am referring to things like all of 'Come to me' and all of 'In my life' etc.

Mademoiselle Lanoire

BHH doesn't help the audience to understand his character, it muddles his character. He hates Marius. His other solos go a lot further for that purpose.

MmeJavert

I think the biggest problem I have with the musical is that all the characters are pretty ... flat. None of the characters are as interesting as their book versions.

Valjean is probably the closest but I have a lot of issues with him. Cosette, Marius, Javert, Eponine, Enjolras -- so one-dimensional!

A lot of the character traits Boublil and Schonberg seemed to have focused on are not necessarily the best ones, and they seem to have forgotten a lot of other interesting bits. I mean, I can't blame them, a 1200-page novel in three hours? Damn near impossible. But I'd've liked to see the characters a bit more three-dimensional.

Moci

Orestes Fasting

But the musical doesn't illustrate that, since it gives no indication that he hates Marius at all. Indeed, he refers to him as "the son I might have known," which isn't very hateful, is it?

Moci

olly

I don't think the musical demonstrates that Valjean hates Marius, but simply evokes Valejan's sincere, genuine love and custodial gurdianship over Cosette.

Where does the musical suggest that he hates Marius? Bring Him Home completely contradicts this argument. Yes, one could say that it illustrates his progression to forgiveness, but I don't feel he hated Marius in the first place.

flying_pigs

Cloudy This Morning

Doesn't hate him?? Shocked

Valjean was practically doing a jig on Marius' farewell note to Cosette! He was ecstatic that Marius was going to die! I quote : "...without any fault of his own, that man was going to die".

...sounds like hate to me. Of the homicidal kind. Good thing Valjean's Cosette-induced conscience kicked in. Very Happy

Ghost

I can't remember. Does Valjean reveal in the book that he is in love with Cossette like he does on the french mini-series with Gerard Depardieu?

That would certainly add to his "hate" towards Marius.

Cloudy This Morning

olly

Orestes Fasting

No, he doesn't, because he's not in love with Cosette. He loves her enough to be fiercely jealous of Marius, but not in that way. *shudder*

eponine5

I think that compared with the book, the characters are perhaps a little two dimensional, but if you put them beside virtually any other character from a musical, they have far more depth than in most musicals. Because Les Miserables has to focus on so many different characters and plots at once, there is not enough time to develop the characters as much as would be preferred. I have to say that I'm satisfied with the musical though.

PublicFlogging

Well... its very different from the book.
For one, Marius. In the book, he almost hates Eponine. Yet in the musical Eponine is like his best friend.
And Valjean doesn't hate Marius enough.
They left out one of my faverite revolutionarys, Bahorel. And Alzema, too.
Speaking of Azelma, I think I know where she went, they squeezed her inside of Eponine. In the musical, they made Eponine way too whiney. In the book Azlema was kinda whiney... So I think they just squeezed the two sisters together so they only had one Mademoiselle Thenardier to worry about.
And musical!Eponine isn't insane enough. I should sit there wondering if the actor playing Eponine smoked crack before appearing on stage. Not wondering why she doesn't just slit her wrists and be done with it.
Oh, and Montparnasse! The Charmer of the Shadows! He's suppose to be pretty! Too often do I see him protrayed as just another thug.
And Cosette! Where is she? She was like... one of the main characters last time I checked. Cosette has a volume of the book named after her. Javert, Eponine, and Thenardier don't. Why do they are get solo's, yet Cosette's was taken out? (Accutally, I don't like "I saw him once", anyway, but its the idea)

I can go on... Yet I still love the musical. Thats obsession for ya...

Orestes Fasting

PublicFlogging

Orestes Fasting

Etoile

The only flaws I can really think of are in the characters. Of course it's hard to develop book characters in a matter of minutes on the stage, but some of the changes were unecessary. Marius, for example, is a complete asshole in the book, but in the musical he becomes an all around nice guy who doesn't kick his father in law out of the house and actually cares when someone who just saved him is dying. But still...those are very minimal changes compared to some other book-musicals...*coughwickedcough* *coughjekyllandhydecough*

What Is This Feeling?

Lol, yes , yes. Ummm.. Les Miserables does have flaws...! It does... some more obvious and irritating than others though. The thing about Les Miserables that just get annoying, is like somone mentioned earlier the constant "Poverty sucks" numbers that are overdone. Yes, I know this takes place during the Napoleanic Wars, but the lyrics are just a little extreme in my opinion. Another, flaw, and yes, I'm going to get shot at for this, is the character Eponine. Eponine= annoying,complaing, irritating, emotional, bitch. The musical could have faired without her, and given way more attention on pivatol characters such as Cosette. I feel more pity and sorrow for Cosette than I do for Eponine. More is coming, you can swallow that for now, or not lol.... But all in all, this is the second best musical of all time,IMPO, so I still would die for it and love it with all my heart Very Happy

olly

What Is This Feeling?

awwww hope you feel better. (I really mean that). But yes, I still believe quite strongly that she was given way to much attention in the stage production. (IMPO) But please, when your feeling up to it, I would like to hear your opinions. Very Happy

Cloudy This Morning

Well, I'm in complete agreeance with you that Eponine did, indeed, get for too much stage time. It wouldn't have been so bad had they not raped her character with a freakin' stick. The Mary-Sue stick.

I actually, in all my young naivete, went to see Les Miserables in January, truly believing in the deepest part of my heart that Eponine would actually lead Marius to the barricade with the intention of killing him. I also retardedly believed that she would NOT die by just having a dumb-ass moment and running over the barricade. I also believed that Marius would not give a flying-f**k about her as she died, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BOOK. I ALSO believed that Les Amis would go, "Eponine? Who the hell is that? Oh, your sister, Gavroche? Meh, get her out of here. She smells," considering they never even met her, with the exception of Courfeyrac.

Of course, I could just be a dumbass, because I spent like an hour before the show squealing because I thought I'd get to see Javert (the funny, calm, near-atheist, GYPSY Javert) prance around happily in the Gorbeau tenement while screaming something along the lines of, "But I have claws like a woman!"

When that never happened, and Javert started mentioning 'God'...

I was never the same again. (weeps)

	Musicals.Net Forums -> Les Miserables
Page 1 of 1

The Resource For Musicals

Flaws