Your ideal new production

Vanessa20 · Your ideal new production

Since I�ve reached my 100th post, I thought I�d celebrate by starting a new thread with my 101st, and I hope it isn't a dead horse.

What would your ideal revival or regional production be like?

Here are the details of mine:

*I�d want the show to be performed complete, without any of the cuts. Either the original 80s version of the text or the revised 1997 version can be used- I like the Well Scene, but mostly it�s all the same to me. I also don�t care whether �Little People� or �10 Little Bullets� is used.

*The original orchestrations would have to be used.

*The set, costumes and staging would have to be completely original. No turntable, no red vest for Enjy, no overcoat for Eponine, no flying bridge for Javert, etc. Too many regional productions just feel like pale imitations of the original. I want to see one that handles the show as if it were being staged for the first time: one that, with all due respect to Trevor Nunn and co., creates a unique, equally valid vision of the story.

*The director must prepare by reading the Brick, the cast must be as informed about the Brick and the time period as the casts of the CamMack productions have been.

*It should have all the grittiness that the London production was famous for back in the day. Some people complain that the CamMack productions have felt watered down lately, and I don�t want that to be the case with any new one. It�s a show about miserable people, after all: why not go all the way in terms of filth and violence?

*At the same time, though, I�d want it to make the audience really feel the message of hope and optimism. One thing I liked about the recent revival was that certain staging details made the show feel less depressing and misanthropic than it sometimes can- e.g. the two factory workers who actually showed pity for Fantine. I thought little details like those throughout helped counteract the effect of �Turning/Empty Chairs.�

*All the casting would have to be as age-appropriate as possible. Judging by the photos I�ve seen of various regional and foreign productions, it seems like the young characters tend to be cast older and less pretty than they are in the standard productions. Like this Enjolras: http://www.musictheatreofwichita.org/gallery/photo.cfm?pid=2985. Or this Marius: http://www.roadsidetheater.com/mis/mis_home1d.htm. I don�t want that. The actors should look their parts.

I personally never fantasize about changing the actual show. I remember how when I used to lurk on the old Rue Plumet board, a guy once talked about how he�d cut the whole wedding scene and just have the Thenardiers come privately to visit Marius� I don�t do that. For all the show�s little flaws, I like it the way it is.

If anyone responds to this, feel free to give more specific details about your fantasy production than I did. My details are probably painfully broad and obvious, but I tend to have a hard time being creative.

Orestes Fasting

I agree with everything you said, especially about creating a unique and equally valid version of the show. Nunn and Napier did an amazing job with the original set, but the regional productions so far have mostly been slaves to their vision. Nobody's really started from scratch yet--Walnut Street was great in this regard, but IMO didn't go far enough.

However, I would not object to a production making some judicious cuts to Turning or Runaway Cart--for artistic reasons, not time reasons. Once you get into cutting for time reasons, you end up slicing the show down into a shadow of itself to try to get under three hours.

I would like to see Ten Little Bullets for the same reason I'd like to see a nice gritty version: down with cutesy, down with the watering-down of the misery and despair.

Ideally it should have, like Wolf Trap, a large orchestra and an ensemble that's 'padded' with a dozen or so extra members who don't have solo lines but sing with the chorus parts. Especially in the barricade scenes, because that would allow them to show the soldiers and guardsmen storming the barricade.

Cast should be age-appropriate in both directions: there's a trend lately of casting very young Valjeans and Javerts, and while some of them are amazingly good, they don't always look and sound the right age for their roles.

I'd like to see an entire cast of opera-caliber vocalists; or, failing that, Javert, Cosette, Enjolras, and maybe Marius and Fantine.

I have a lot of mental plans sketched out for how I'd like to see certain scenes staged, but describing the details would push this over the edge from "what I'd like to see" to "how I'd do it if I were directing." However, one element of those mental plans that I would like to see is a different perspective on the barricade: the traditional staging has the audience facing, as it were, the same direction as the revolutionaries, looking at the barricade straight-on from behind it. It would be interesting to flip that scene 90 degrees to show a cross-section of the fortified street, with the barricade viewed from the side on either the left or right of the stage. It might not be as visually impressive, but it would allow for creativity in staging the battles and the other barricade scenes.

curlyhairedsoprano91

Ooh, fun. Lemme think ...

- I would probably reinstate the full "I Saw Him Once/In My Life" from the Barbican production, but I'd use the Broadway AHFOL lyrics (you know, the ones that make sense). I'd also probably give Cosette a break from the God-awful "Cosette dress" and put her in that thing Ali wore. That was cute.

- Making "Runaway Cart" cuts is good, especially if it means the whole awkward "slow-motion" thing is gone.

- FULL ORCHESTRA. None of that "string quartet with synthesizer" [/exaggerations] crap from the revival.

- Valjean should be absolutely no younger than thirty-five and Javert should probably not be younger than forty. Enjolras, Marius, Cosette, Eponine, and, if possible, Fantine should all be under twenty-five. I don't want to see Enjolrases playing Javert anymore ... they should be entirely different age categories.

- Agreed with Orestes about the opera singers, and about the "toning down the cutesy." For the love of God no more "cutesy" Eponine, and I'd love it if Gavroche weren't so "cute," either (which would argue for the "Little People" cut, because that is a sickeningly "look at me I'm cute and spunky!" song.).

Brunnhilde

- First of all, singers who have _good_ voices and look the part.

- BLONDE!Enjy! Vest is not so important, bbut he should be blonde and angelic.

- No stupid march during ODM. I hate it. With passion.

- SIDEBURNS for Javvie, and not Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name beard. Ahem. (Wim, Christian, Chris, Paul, I'm pointing to you.)

- Nice, light-colored clothes for Cosette, not that horrible black dress. Light blue, pink or violet.

- I'd totally like a worker cap for Spy!Javvie. Like in most movies.

- No soldier uniform for Th�nardier. The Brick never mentions he wore it in the inn...

- Waterloo painting in the inn.

- No long haired sexy young bishop. He should be a nice, short, and a little plump old man.

- No cuts.

- HUGE orchestra, original orchestrations.

- And yes, I'm with Orestes. I want to see some National Guards during the battles.

- The Arrest scene should take place in snow and snowfall. So Bamatabois can be book-like. Very Happy

- And yes, no more kid!Valjean and kid!Javvie. I totally adore Christian M�ller, but usually, it's laughable when a Javvie in his twenties sings: "Served my time in the days of my youth". WTF poor Javvie was a child soldier?
And he's younger than most barricade boys.

- For tenors, Javert is forbidden. Seriously. I need a dark, low voice.

- For Valjean actors: don't be a Colm clone! Twisted Evil

- Operatic voices: yes, yes, yes! *opera addict*

High-baritonne

Quique

Well, I have a soft spot for the original production, so of course I'd be THRILLED to have it come back whether on tour or Broadway as long as it's not too soon.

But since this is about new productions with new staging concepts, I basically agree with most everything the OP said. I'd love to see a total re-envisioning. The only thing I'd keep the same are John's orchestrations.

I'd definitely have The Runaway Cart rewritten and toned down. It's not only cheesy, but it follows an already way dramatic scene. It's bombastic and over the top.

I'll think of and add more later.

Monsieur D'Arque

The trouble with Les Mis, in terms of casting by voice, is that it teeters in the edge between rock opera and mock-opera. Much like certain parts of ALW shows, it has a rock composition presented in classical terms, or vice versa.

Just as interesting as the all-operatic would be a Les Mis that actually embraces its rock edge. IDK how well it would work, but the music and voices always seem mismatched one way or the other.

Brother Marvin Hinten, S.

Okay, I'm with M D'Arque on this, I'd wanna see a Les Mis that embraced its rock edge, and that would mean a few things:

1) Sorry, John Cameron fans...re-orchestrating for a simple rock band (6 keyboards/synths, 2 guitars, 1 electric bass, 2 percussion--1 of whom is a full drum kit). That way, the comparison of "One Day More" to "Welcome to the Black Parade" will be easier, AND the rock/pop roots can be more easily discerned.

2) With the OP on sets, costumes, and staging being completely original. No more turntable. The age of 33 1/3 RPM is long gone.

3) Complete show, no cuts. Gonna go with revised '97 version here so it looks like more was changed from the original production to make it unique for the uninitiated.

4) "Little People" is f***ing gone! Gone with the wind! Dead dead dead! "10 Little Bullets" is restored to its rightful place. "But the show's so depressing by then! Why can't the cute kid sing a cute song? WAAAA!" -smacks complainant- That's why! Any questions?

5) "Turning" is really just a song about the turntable and using its effect. It really is. Especially the way it's staged. No turntable, no "Turning." Simple as that.

6) Like the OP, I want grit crossed with hope. Simple as that.

7) STUDY STUDY STUDY! Again, like the OP, everyone reads the Brick. Everyone is as informed of the Brick and its times as they can possibly be. Everyone worships the Brick. Everyone will want to break the Brick in half with a karate chop by the end because they can't forget anything they learned from it.

Cool

Ted Neeley as Valjean. That's all I ask.

Orestes Fasting

Heh, everyone seems to agree that the show needs to be taken in an entirely different direction, we just can't agree on what that direction should be.

While I'd totally go see a rock Les Mis, I'm not sure how it would work in places. One Day More with guitars and a drumkit would be epic, so would most of Valjean and Javert's parts (I can just picture "Take an eye for an eye, turn your heart into stone!"). But the ballads and faux-recitative seem like they would just cause cognitive dissonance.

Also, what do you think about a rock version moved to a modern setting?

curlyhairedsoprano91

I'm not liking the rock thing. Maybe that's just because I really dislike rock music and rock musicals. Full orchestra is the way to go. With tympani.

OldDeuteronomy

Standard Les Mis sets and Orchestrations (none of this Broadway Revival crap those orchestrations SUCKED!)
Find some way to re-introduce "I Saw Him Once" into the score GOD that song was beautiful!

Ulla Dance Again!

Vanessa20

Yakko

Maybe there should be one called Les Mizzel: the Rap version of Les Miserables and of the lyrics is "Please do not send me out alone, there is a rapist in the trees"

Tenalto

Yakko

Well it was with the other cast members.... Laughing

Brunnhilde

Rapist? Cosette knows too much for her age...

Maybe the rock version could have even more subtext-filled lines... *dreamy sigh*

*imagines Javert in black leather pants/boots and Manowar T-shirt, with long, black hair, with a lot of chains and on a Harley*
*dies*
And imagine EMO �ponine.
And hippie Valjean.
And Cosette in Japanese school girl uniform.

*is evil*

(Well, I saw a lot of weird modern performances. I saw Wotan sitting before a computer, in a modern office, but he had the spear...)

The Pirate King

bigR

I'm really split with this issue.

On one hand I would really love to see a new, renovated version of the show.
On the other, I love so much the old one, that I don't want to see it change.

I mean, I love to see what the different regional productions do with the show, but I kind of think that I love it because "it is not the real thing". I don't know if I manage to explain myself...
example: the wonderfulness of the Qu�bec wardrobe made me squee with joy, but at the same time I am too attached to the old anachronic wardrobe of the show, and I wouldn't want it to go...

Allright, maybe, what i would like is to see a big broadway or west end production of the show, with a radically different approach (if you are only going to do small alterations don't touch anything, it's not worth it), and have it running for a short period, while the old production is the one that remains.
Yes, I think that that's what I mean: I want to see something new but i don't want it to replace the old production.

Also, I agree that the regional productions should be more adventurous. They change the wardrobe, they change a few sets, but at the end of the day we end up having les Amis planning the revolution around a table with the red flag as tablecloth...

Just one thing I don't agree on. Even if the do a radical change, i don't want to see the turntable go. i know, I know that it would force the new approach, but I just hate it everytime I see a show without it. No matter what they do, it always seems paralytic and slow. The show needs the dinamism of the turntable.

Orestes Fasting

Wolf Trap managed to keep the energy and motion up without use of a turntable, but it was also much, much closer to Broadway-caliber than most of the other regional productions. And they relied heavily on the Broadway blocking--although, in the places where they didn't, they often managed to do interesting things without looking slow and stilted.

That was what convinced me that it's possible to do the show without a turntable and have it turn out all right. I think Walnut St Theatre in Philly also did well without a constantly-running turntable, and Qu�bec in some places made the lack of motion deliberate: for example, all the monologue songs were distinctly separate from the action so the characters could just stop and tell their story.

I don't want to see the original staging die either, but I also really don't want it to be the only one out there. It had a long, proud run as The One and Only Les Mis, and now I want to see the show done differently.

(By the way, Signature Theatre's version in Washington, DC looks like it's going to be radically different. It would almost have to be--I saw a couple shows there and it's a tiny black-box theatre where you probably couldn't even fit half of the original London barricade.)

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