The Tartan Online: The movie adaptation of Les Misérables may be garnering plenty of critical acclaim, but last weekend Pittsburghers had the opportunity to see the musical as it was meant to be viewed: on the stage. PNC Broadway Across America presented a 25th anniversary production of Les Mis at the Benedum Center and proved that, despite the advantages big-budget Hollywood productions may have, there is magic in a live production that cannot be captured on screen.
3 comments:
Damn, I totally forgot that Les Mes was in Pittsburgh, I love that this show is pretty timeless. Not to mention this is probably a great time for the show to open in a city, as people's thirst for the show may not have been completely quenched from the movie. The trick that I found when going to see the movie version is to go in there with really low expectations and after seeing the reviews that is exactly what I did. And unlike many of my friends I came out perfectly content. It was a movie with some great acting. a few good singers, but all in all it was entertaining, it was not a brilliant movie.
The difference between the movie version and the stage version of Les Mis, to me, was that Les Mis had the opportunity to really show the surrounding area and have a stunning scenic design, where as the stage version can only show so much. I believe that the film version should have pulled the cameras away from their faces a bit more in order to show the surroundings, but instead, they focused simply on the faces of the actors and nothing more. The costumes, however, were gorgeous.
Having read the Les Miserables novel in highschool, I have always been a HUGE fan of this musical, but the movie was a bit disappointing. I always hope that with musicals made into movies that they will take the opportunity to simply make more real what can only be imagined on the stage. What the previous comment said about focusing on the actors faces is absolutely true. With the opportunity to really take in "the world of the play" they instead focused only on the contorted expressions made by the actors as they attempted - yes attempted - to sing those timeless songs. I only wish I'd known about this stage production so I might've been able to see again Les Mis as it was intended.
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