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| Quique |
Latest Tour and Movie News...Was checking-out Caf�Musain.com and ran into two very interesting articles. One involving a possible film adaptation and the other regarding the 3rd U.S. national tour's fate.Here's the tour article:
"Mr. Miz" has no regrets Producer is celebrating �final� big tour of �Les Mis�rables� By ROBERT TRUSSELL The Kansas City Star �Les Miserables� opens tonight at the Music Hall with a different kind of buzz. It�s supposed to be the last national tour for the show. Yet producer Cameron Mackintosh in a recent telephone conversation wouldn�t directly say that. Instead he said things like, yes, the show will fold its tent after this tour �as it stands at the moment� and he makes it a rule to �never say never.� �Certainly, at the moment, this is our absolute last one,� Mackintosh said. �There comes a point when you say you can�t go on forever. But whenever we�ve announced it�s over, there�s a flurry of business.� Mackintosh said that next year the show will mark its 21st year in London, making it the longest running musical in history. So it seemed a sensible time to shut down the North American national tour. Mackintosh is now looking ahead at new projects, including productions with the Shanghai Grand Theatre for a potentially enormous Chinese audience. Looking back, Mackintosh now sees the shows he produced with composers like Andrew Lloyd Webber (�Cats,� �Phantom of the Opera�) and Schonberg and Boublil (�Les Miz,� �Miss Saigon�) represented the last major wave of shows before we shifted into the current musicals-based-on-movies era. �Some of them have been terrific and some of them haven�t been terrific, but you could say the same thing about book musicals (from earlier eras),� Mackintosh said. �I do think there are talented young writers on both sides of the Atlantic trying to create a new form, but it hasn�t happened yet.� What the big Macintosh shows had in common is that they were fundamentally serious. Critics sometimes sniped at their air of self-importance, but they weren�t silly. �Serious musicals and musical plays are always the ones that last,� he said. As far as the fate of �Les Miz� is concerned, it will be years before anyone sees it in a community theater. (A few years ago he licensed a one-hour version for high schools.) �This is the same tour that�s been going on for 15 to 18 years or whatever,� he said. �It hasn�t been released to regional theaters at all. That would be the next thing to happen. And there would be another tour not produced by me. I�m afraid the old girl still has plenty of spring in her. What is great is the show never fails as long as it�s done with commitment.� And here's the film article:
Acclaimed French revolutionary musical (  ) LES MISERABLES is set to be turned into a blockbuster movie.
The theatrical production, written by CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHONBERG and ALAIN BOUBIL, was voted the UK's favourite musical earlier this year (05) and movie insiders are already predicting the film version will be a huge box-office success. But show producer CAMERON MACKINTOSH is refusing to let the musical sell-out with a popular Hollywood director, and is instead searching for a movie-maker who appreciates the musical genre. He says, "In the last six to nine months there has been renewed interest in the idea of a film adaptation and several big players want to be involved. "That doesn't necessarily mean we are going to hand the project over to a big name director. "We want someone who has a vision for the show that will put the show's original team, including me, back to work. "We don't just want an adaptation. We want a film audiences will find as fresh as the actual show." 02/10/2005 15:06 Thanks to Leanna and Evie, over at Caf� Musain, for posting these. 
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| The Very Angry Woman |
I'm not sure if Mackintosh is being vague or has changed his mind, but from what I heard first-hand from someone who has worked with (and is well-liked by) him, there would most likely be regional licensing before another tour.
But take this with a grain of salt. I heard this a few months before either of these articles were published. |
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| Quique |
Cam Mack...
Oh, I'm familiar with Mackintosh's style, hehe. He's business, business, business. Why else has his shows been even more lucrative than your average American hit musical? Smart guy. I never take anything he says at face value. What I get out of these news items, are the basic, given facts - such as the fact there will be a film version and the fact the tour will be disbanded soon. Anything else is subject to change with this guy, hehe. And don't keep your lips sealed, woman! 
Let us know all the latest news, at once! The worst thing that'll happen is people here won't say thank you or even comment on your generous submissions. Hello? I should know! 
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| Sairin |
*starts JOJ for movie Valjean campaign*
I'm hoping Mackintosh will take his cue from ALW's mistakes and not completely sell out and ruin his own show. Or employ Joel Schumacher, oy vey. |
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| Jordan |
Regards the movie, I'll believe it when I see it on screen. Too many false starts like there was woth POTO. | ||||||
| Descartes |
Hear hear. Des. |
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| piscesmoni |
I'm guessing that article was dated as 2 Oct 2005, correct? Or the other way? | ||||||
| NotoriousFunnt |
Ugh, if they end up going through with a Les Mis movie and making it anything like the Phantom movie, I shall be furious indeed. Bad enough they ruined one of my favorite musicals. *grrr*
I saw the tour back in June of 2004 and miss it so much  I really want to see it again, and as I cannot go to London, living here in yonder States, I cannot. *sniffle* Nat, you have to kidnap me and take me to London with you.
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| The Very Angry Woman |
What's stopping you from seeing the tour? It's certainly closer than London. |
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| Kragey |
Count me in! And I heard someone say they wanted Charlotte Church to play Cosette...I almost cried. |
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| NotoriousFunnt |
1. I can't drive. Technically I have my permit, and can get my license because I am going to be 18 in January, the last time I drove I hit the curb 3 times, nearly got into an accident, and almost killed my poor bassoon when making a turn. 2. Parents. They're not going to let me go anywhere that's hours away just to see Les Mis. I would; they wouldn't let me. They wouldn't let me buy the tickets either. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
I wish I could help you on the second one, but if you live in an area with decent public transportation (and I don't know where you live), it can be done. A good friend of mine has done several Les Miz trips and she hasn't had a car for at least six years. | ||||||
| Orestes Fasting |
Someone on IMDb said they wanted Emmy Rossum to play Cosette. I almost cried, and then I did cry when everyone agreed with her. |
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| nicnikniki |
Wow, I've been in that forum too - hi!
I was pretty horrified by the Emmy Rossum as Cosette thing, but that was nothing compared to Nicole Kidman (or was it Kylie?) as Fantine and Russell Crowe as JVJ. Of course you can't miss the clincher - Orlando Bloom as Marius. I mean, why not just get Lindsay Lohan as Eponine and, oh, Hugh Grant as Javert? EDIT: I'm just making an edit here so people know I'm joking about those suggestions. |
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| Jordan |
Hugh Grant: Oh um... err... Gosh, you would sooner see me well, err... dead actually. Now the wheel has somewhat turned um... around. Jean Valjean is well, nothing actually now. Gosh. | ||||||
| Mim |
*dies* Personally the suggestions for Emma Watson as Eponine, Heath Ledger for Marius and Robin Williams as Thenardier were my favourites. |
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| Annaliese |
You know what I think. I think that Les Mis is like the Macbeth to the movies. It has been made into a movie a million times, and yet, it always seems to fail. | ||||||
| javertsw |
I think they should get stars to play the roles that require less singing, and then leave the leading roles to the talented people. I really hope it can be a cast of unknowns.
No Emmy Possum please. |
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| Moci |
If there is a Les Mis movie, I would want her to be in it. In the ensemble, perhaps as one of the 'Lovely Ladies'.
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| Aimee |
Oh sod it, I'll play Fantine too. [I just need to lose a few pounds and about 15 years]
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| NotoriousFunnt |
They should just stick all of us in a Les Mis movie. No doubt us chaps here could do a much better job than Emmy, and we know Les Mis pretty damn good enough. 
If they put Emmy in the movie I swear, I'd go Mysterious Oboe Murderer on the caster and they'd find him the next morning, dead, with a reed tied in red string next to his head. And they'd have to never cast Emmy, or fear the wrath. |
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| nicnikniki |
Ha, why dump a horse's head in their bed when you can put in an oboe reed - invoke the wrath of Les Mis fans worldwide by casting Emmy Rossum.
Emma Watson is the Harry Potter girl right? Has anyone actually checked whether these people can SING?! I mean, I've got nothing against any of these actors but if they were cast in a musical movie, I'd kill myself. Or them. By the way, Aimee (referring to your quote about losing 15 years to play Fantine) - I always got the impression you were like, my age! (Sixteen). I don't mean that as an insult, by the way. Did anyone else get this impression? |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
http://www.google.com |
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| nicnikniki |
Doesn't anything you do on your computer stay on your computer forever? See, I don't my computer to stuff up one day, and have a technician come in who can discover that I googled Emma Watson. Lame. But thanks to a Sydney Morning Herald article yesterday, I discovered that she IS in fact the Harry Potter girl.
But thanks for the link, most helpful. |
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| Sairin |
...does it really matter? |
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| Aimee |
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| Descartes |
That gets the Descartes Award for Best Reply. Des. |
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| Sairin |
It also gets the Sairin's Random Award For Things Sairin Likes.
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| Aimee |
LOL  Why thank you, both of you.
"I'd like to thank my agent, my parents all my friends but most of all..... my darling fiance.   "
*puts awards on mantelpiece*
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| nicnikniki |
Sadly enough, I'm sure there are some websites with pictures of that... ew. On another note, I have two questions that are kind of unrelated but I don't want to start a new thread in case the topic already exists and people get angry at me
1. I own the TAC video AND DVD and I was wondering is there any particular reason why the video occasionally cuts to commentaries by various directors etc. and cuts out bits of certain songs? 2. Since the tune from "On My Own" is actually previously used, as a full song, in "Come To Me", why is OMO the more famous song, and CTM not? Is it just because OMO is a solo and because everyone loves Eponine? |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
I have NEVER heard of this. Where did you buy your copies?!
Yes. And it's easier to promote on talk/variety shows and concerts. |
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| nicnikniki |
I think my parents bought the video in England, and I bought the DVD in Singapore.
The video occasionally cuts out bits - the ones I can remember are... cutting out basically everything with the Bishop, the confrontation, and bits of In My Life (but that's only what I can remember). I also think they may have cut parts of Lovely Ladies. During the cuts, the camera goes to random French or English men sitting in red seats in the audience (by themselves), saying things about Les Miserables (during the "In My Life" cut, a French man was talking about the love triangle between Marius, Eponine and Cosette). But the DVD doesn't have any of this. I'm pretty positive that both copies are legal. |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
That sounds like what was shown in a documentary made when the Asian/African tour went to South Africa in 1996. But still, strange. And totally unfamiliar in a TAC context, at least to me. | ||||||
| olly |
The DVD is definately legal. I bought the DVD of the Tenth Anniversary Concert (Held in Royal Albert Hall) this time last year. As I live in England, I bought it from WHSmiths (I don't know about the US). Surely they wouldn't just release the DVD of the TAC just in the span of one month? (Well, if I did I'm lucky) As nickinicki said, there is no cuts on the DVD - all the songs are there. It's a brilliant DVD - when people talk about the TAC, I was thinking that they were talking about the DVD of the concert, I didn't know there was an audio recording of it?! Oh well, they'll be the same, though one with the picture.
Olly |
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| Moci |
The speeches are a bit boring and probably inspire people who aren't incredibly interested in Les Mis to hit the off button. I take it that you realise that the TAC was performed with parts missing and are referring to the missing part of, I think, 'Turning'. I'd imagine that it's because the women singing 'Turning' are out of tune.
Pretty much I'd have thought. Songs about unrequited love tend to be more popular than those about dying anyway. The orchestration for OMO is more interesting too.
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| Megan the Phantom Girlie |
I'd actually be curious to see Emma Watson as Eponine, but for God's sake there's enough Christine/Cosette cross-casting as it is without creating an Emmy!Cosette.
(Actually, I wish they'd made Phantom with Anne Hathaway in the first place so that nobody would groan at Emmy!Cosette, because I think Emmy really is more of a Cosette than a Christine.) |
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| Sairin |
Amy Nuttall would have been brilliant - she played the role on stage and proved she can handle it, plus she's known in TV verse so is not totally un-famous. | ||||||
| Moci |
And she has a lovely voice. I thought she was great when she performed 'I Could Have Danced All Night' to promote the new tour on CiN. |
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| OldDeuteronomy |
"And there would be another tour not produced by me. "
TROIKA perhaps |
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| The Very Angry Woman |
Or NETworks. |