by Lorain Blanken

Created on: February 22, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

Les Miserables

This dark story of moral temptation and ethical glory has, in my belief, been portrayed successfully by both film and Broadway adaptations. There is varying degrees in focus and tone, but I find they both achieve a story of epic proportions. Les Miserables seems to me a story that is very difficult to pull off in a believable manner, as there are so many delicate areas of emotion stirring around with a great amount of action.

It was interesting to view the play while already knowing the core story of Valjean and Javert. I had the basic understanding of what the play was to be about, but while watching, all these other stories and plot lines came through as though I'd been missing out on quite a lot of Les Miserables. This makes me curious as to what the novel itself is like, where perhaps I could get a better view of character thoughts and the emphasis behind their actions. Something I am sure of is that film can lose a kind of depth attainable for live production, and vice versa.

We are undoubtedly desensitized to some truly spectacular things which occur in film, taking advantage of special effects and scenery these days, though they surely cost millions to put together. It is interesting that when presented with cruder versions of these tools of spectacle, that we are truly amazed at witnessing it happen in the same room. The awe and pure magic of theatre was well represented in this production, and the story holds up wonderfully well to suit it.

The music of Les Miserables was a wonderful and pleasing surprise. When I imagined the story of Valjean set to music, after viewing the movie, all I could come up with in my head was the depressing drone of the blues. I found that with the addition of characters without spotlight in the movie, the music of Les Miserables proved to range from heart-wrenching to humorous. I cannot now imagine this production set without the music, which added so much to the emotion and intention of the characters within.

To display emotion that can only be exhumed in song, there were, of course, liberties taken with the film when needed. Within the live production the score gives plenty of room to make a strong impact on overall tone, and the lyrics and movement of dance work to express the emotion of the characters. Within the movie version, it is necessary to display more outward action to decipher the inner workings and motivations of the characters. For example, in Valjean's attempts to take Cosette, he was

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