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cometomecosette · 4 months ago

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Standout moments from "Les Mis" recordings, 1993-'96

My Les Mis watch- and listen-through has reached the mid '90s. Once again, I'm citing the moments both from complete video and audio bootlegs and from official cast recordings that stand out the most for me. Again, thanks to @professorspork with her Wicked Punctum Project for inspiring me.

1993 South Korean proshot video

(unknown cast)

Valjean's death tableau from the novel recreated onstage.

Like the original Israeli and Hungarian productions, the original South Korean production of Les Mis was non-replica, and heavily cut too. But some of its inventive staging choices are worth noticing. This is one of the smaller ones, but it stands out the most to me. In the final scene, Marius is much more anguished than usual as he begs Valjean’s forgiveness and recounts how he saved him, fairly breaking down in remorse as he kneels by the dying man’s side. Meanwhile, Cosette is already kneeling at her father’s other side, and Valjean comforts them both. The result is a near-perfect recreation of the way Hugo describes Valjean’s last moments, with Marius and Cosette kneeling in tears on either side of him and holding his hands. A tableau that was one of the novel’s iconic images in its day, which inspired many 19th century illustrators to draw it, but which isn’t featured in most productions of the musical.

Honorable Mentions:

*In “Who Am I?” the courtroom appears behind Valjean from the beginning of the song’s main verses. As Valjean sings, we see a pantomime of Javert delivering his testimony, Champmathieu pleading in vain, and the judges listening impassively, in front of a red curtain that adds a hellish ambience.

*In the “Waltz of Treachery,” when the Thénardiers are pretending to fawn over little Cosette, Mme. Thénardier gives her Éponine’s doll. Cosette thinks the doll is really hers to keep and cradles it adoringly, but just before she leaves with Valjean, Mme. T. heartlessly snatches it back from her. This makes it all the sweeter when Valjean gives her a real gift (an anachronistic teddy bear instead of a doll, but whatever) a few moments later.

*In “Look Down,” Éponine works as a flower girl, like an even poorer and grubbier Eliza Doolittle. When Valjean and Cosette enter, she tries to sell them a flower, and in doing so, she glimpses Cosette’s face and recognizes her from their childhood.

*Javert wears a fake beard to the barricade, which Gavroche rips off during “Little People.” Really.

*During the wedding, Cosette is with Marius and the Thénardiers during their interaction, and Mme. Thénardier feigns excessive friendliness to her. Thus, she gets a shocking reminder of her childhood trauma, she hears the whole revelation of how Valjean saved Marius (although Marius still explains it to her in the next scene – presumably because she didn’t know that “Jean Valjean” was her father), and since Marius’s lines about Éponine are uncut, she’s visibly shaken to hear of Éponine’s death too.

1994 Japanese Red Cast Recording

Takeshi Kaga (Jean Valjean), Kunio Murai (Javert), Yuhko Ema (Fantine), Takashi Sasano (Thénardier), Rika Sugimura (Mme. Thénardier), Kaho Shimada (Éponine), Kazutaka Ishii (Marius), Akira Tomemori (Enjolras), Yuhko Miyamoto (Cosette)

Kaho Shimada’s “Attack on Rue Plumet.”

Of the six Japanese cast recordings of Les Mis, this one seems to be the only one easy to obtain in the US, and it features Kaho Shimada reprising her role as Éponine from the original 1987 Tokyo cast and from the Complete Symphonic Recording. As a seasoned performer in the role, and this time singing in her native Japanese, she brings a whole new level of passion and vividness to her performance on this recording, especially in “Attack on Rue Plumet.” Her (Japanese equivalent of) “I’m gonna scream, I’m gonna warn them here!” sounds frantic and feral, as does her half-spoken “Well, I told you I’d do it! I told you I’d do it!” Her raw fear, anger, and desperation transcend language, and though she’s never been an Éponine who can do a classic high-pitched scream, the fierce animalistic screech she utters instead is fully effective. Adding to the scene’s rawness is the fact that during Claquesous’ “What a palaver…” we hear Thénardier slapping her twice!

Honorable Mention:

*The Javert of Kunio Murai (a.k.a. the Japanese voice of Harrison Ford) softly yet madly laughing after “I am reaching, but I fall” in “Javert’s Suicide.”

10th Anniversary Concert

Colm Wilkinson (Jean Valjean), Phillip Quast (Javert), Ruthie Henshall (Fantine), Alun Armstrong (Thénardier), Jenny Galloway (Mme. Thénardier), Lea Salonga (Éponine), Michael Ball (Marius), Michael Maguire (Enjolras), Judy Kuhn (Cosette)

The moment of Éponine’s death.

Most Les Mis fans seem to agree that Lea Salonga and Michael Ball give us an especially poignant rendition of “A Little Fall of Rain” in this concert. And of that rendition, it’s the very end that stands out for me. The way Lea draws out her last note on “…flowers…” so that her voice sweetly blends with Michael’s, then gives him one last tender glance before her eyes close and her head falls lifeless against his chest. Michael’s soft, short “…grow,” which sounds as if Marius is so overwhelmed with emotion that he can barely utter the word. And the way he tenderly caresses her hair and kisses the top of her head, then mournfully cradles her body. Even though this is a concert with the performers standing in front of mics, this moment is just as tender and poignant as it is in any fully staged performance.

Honorable Mentions:

*Colm Wilkinson’s fearsome “I will see it DONE!!!” at the end of “Fantine’s Arrest.”

*Ruthie Henshall’s shimmering, ethereal tone as she trails away her final note on “…and I’ll see her when I wake!” We seem to hear Fantine’s spirit rising to heaven on that note.

*Hannah Chick getting startled by an accidental balloon pop during "Castle on a Cloud," but continuing the song without missing a beat.

*Alun Armstrong and Jenny Galloway’s pantomime bickering as the Thénardiers at the end of “Master of the House.”

*Michael Maguire’s “Lamarque is dead…” in which at first, he seems to reel in grief, but then suddenly realizes that this can be the catalyst for their revolution, and then rallies his friends with mounting excitement that finally becomes ecstatic fervor.

*Lea Salonga’s fierce and angry “Without me, his world will go on turning” in “On My Own.” The melancholy waif Éponine of the ‘80s is gone: this girl is a fiery urchin and she’s mad at Marius for not returning her love.

*Michael Maguire placing his hand on Anthony Crivello’s shoulder after the latter’s solo in “Drink with Me.” It’s a small gesture, but it shows that by this time in the musical’s history, everyone seems to agree that Enjolras and Grantaire should have some meaningful interaction in this moment.

*Philip Quast loosening one lock of his hair to convey the unhinging of his mind during “Javert’s Suicide.”

Original Duisburg Cast Recording

Jerzy Jeszke (Jean Valjean), Hartwig Rudolz (Javert), Cornelia Drese (Fantine), Tom Zahner (Thénardier), Anne Welte (Mme. Thénardier), Sanni Luis (Éponine), Felix Martin (Marius), Martin Berger (Enjolras), Deborah Dutcher (Cosette)

The Foreman’s “Right, my girl. On your way!” (or rather “Tja, mein Schatz. Raus mit dir!”)

Again, it’s not easy to choose a standout moment from a highlights recording. But I finally chose one, although it doesn’t involve any of the leads. It’s the way that Steffen Friedrich as the Foreman delivers the German equivalent of “Right, my girl. On your way!” (Which literally translates as “Well, my darling. Out with you!”) In my experience, very few actors deliver “On your way!” as a full-blown ferocious shout: yes, Michael McCarthy and Jeff Nicholson in the anniversary concerts both roar it, but that seems to be precisely because those performances are grand-scale concerts. Most actors in my experience either just snap it or else speak it in a chillingly quiet voice. This German actor is the first Foreman I’ve heard outside of a concert who truly shouts the line, in a vicious snarling tone. Poor Fantine.

1996 Duisburg proshot video

Felix Martin’s reserved grief for Éponine.

I’ve chosen the same moment here that I did for the 10th Anniversary Concert, but here it’s played very differently. Felix Martin is a reserved and gentlemanly Marius, nowhere near as amiable and effusive as Michael Ball, and Sanni Luis’s ruggedly vulnerable Éponine clearly belongs to a different world than he does. He treats her with amusement and sympathy, but not as a close friend. But as she brings him to Cosette, protects them from the gang, and ultimately dies for him at the barricade, he sees her in a new light and learns her true value. His reaction to her death suits this arc and his personality in general. At first glance it might seem cold: no tears, no kiss, no cradling, just a long, motionless, sadly disbelieving stare at her body. But as he stays in that stance even after she’s carried away, it becomes clear that he’s shaken to the core by her passing. Especially when he finally picks up her hat and gently presses it to his heart.

Honorable Mentions:

*At the end of "Master of the House," instead of the standard closing comic business (i.e. Thénardier drinks his own bad homemade wine, runs to the kitchen, and throws up), Mme. Thénardier withdraws into the kitchen gulping the wine, and her husband follows her, angry that she just humiliated him in front of everyone. He snatches the jug from her, and they get into a vicious pantomime argument, seeming about to come to blows as the turntable sweeps them out of sight.

*Felix’s Marius putting his hand on Enjolras’s shoulder as the latter sings “…before the barricades arise?” and smiling idealistically at Enjolras’s vision. This one quick moment establishes Marius’s devotion to Enjolras as a friend and to their cause, setting the stage for his inner conflict when romance threatens to interfere.

*Valjean hugging Cosette on “Cosette, my child, what will become of you?” and Cosette resting her head on his chest, as if she really did just have a bad fright and wants comfort. A sweet, tender father/daughter moment in a scene that’s not always played for tenderness… yet with a double edge, because Cosette is lying to Valjean to hide Marius’s presence.

*Enjolras rallying his friends during “One Day More!” Martin Berger doesn’t just stand with his rifle aloft throughout his solo lines: he does it briefly at first, but then he turns and interacts with the other Amis, touching their shoulders, addressing them individually, and actively being a leader and friend to them, not just a figurehead of revolution.

#les mis #les miserables #musical #standout moments #recordings #bootlegs #audio recordings #video recordings #1993 #1994 #1995 #1996 #south korea #tokyo #10th anniversary concert #london #duisburg #tw: violence #tw: death

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cometomecosette · 5 months ago

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Standout Moments from "Les Mis" Recordings: 1985-'87

In honor of the 40th anniversary year of the musical of Les Misérables (not counting the original French version), and following the example of @professorspork's Great Wicked Watch, I've decided to do a Great Les Mis Watch and Listen. Over the course of this year, I want to explore as many complete video and audio recordings of Les Mis as I can find, both official and bootleg, in chronological order from 1985 to the present day.

I've also decided to draw inspiration from @professorspork's Wicked Punctum Project. In her Wicked watch-through, she picks out small moments (or "punctums") from each bootleg that stand out for her the most. I've decided to do the same thing for Les Mis. As with the Wicked project, this one will cover some moments I love, some I dislike, and some that just stand out as unique, But since I can't resist going on and on, I'm writing longer rambles about each moment, and instead of just one at a time, I've decided to share a few at a time.

Let's start with the recordings from the musical's first three years, 1985, '86, and '87.

Original London Cast Recording

Colm Wilkinson (Jean Valjean), Roger Allam (Javert), Patti LuPone (Fantine), Alun Armstrong (Thénardier), Sue Jane Tanner (Mme. Thénardier), Frances Ruffelle (Éponine), Michael Ball (Marius), David Burt (Enjolras), Rebecca Caine (Cosette)

The beginning of “Look Down.”

That’s right. My moment doesn’t involve Colm Wilkinson, Patti LuPone, Michael Ball, or any of the other leads. It’s the opening verse of “Look Down,” because the way it’s performed sums up the tone of the OLC recording. The tempo is slower than it would later become on Broadway, and the beggars sing their pleas in an intimate, understated way. It doesn’t sound like a grand chorus in a mega-musical: it sounds like real homeless people on the street quietly begging for help. The prevalence of rough-sounding, unpolished voices among them enhances this quality. At this point, the show wasn’t Les Miz, The World's Most Popular Musical, it was just Les Misérables, A Musical, as its original poster read. Not a polished, mass-produced theatrical hit, but an intimate, gritty, earnest new adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel. At least that’s the impression the OLC recording creates for me, and the slower, more understated rendition of “Look Down” typifies it.

Honorable Mention: The fact that in "On My Own," Frances Ruffelle sings "This world will go on turning" instead of "His world..." At first, I thought she was just singing "His world..." with her Cockney accent, dropping the H, but having seen video clips of her singing the song, I can confirm now that she sings "This." It means that the final verse isn't about Marius anymore: it's about Éponine feeling excluded by and insignificant to the whole world, with her unrequited love as just one aspect of it all.

1985 London audio bootleg (original cast at the Barbican Centre)

Colm Wilkinson’s soft and gentle “You will learn. Truth is given by God to us all in our time” in “In My Life.”

This bootleg of the show’s original, longer form is fascinating in many ways. But for me, the standout moment is a familiar one; Valjean’s response to Cosette’s plea to learn about the past in “In My Life,” which can be delivered gently, sternly, or even harshly depending on the actor. I prefer it sung gently, but I didn’t know what to expect from Colm Wilkinson in this early performance, especially because he sounds a bit stern in that scene on the Original Broadway Cast Recording. But that was probably because Judy Kuhn was a more forceful Cosette than Rebecca Caine. Here, he sounds impeccably soft, gentle, and fatherly on those final lines, which works perfectly with Rebecca’s always gentle, dignified, and sweet-toned Cosette. It’s also a striking contrast to the brooding intensity of his scenes with Javert. This early performance of Colm’s particularly contrasts the fire of Jean Valjean the convict with the calmness and kindness of his gentleman personas.

Honorable Mention: The different version of Gavroche’s death, which is more like the version on the French Concept Album. In it, Gavroche sings a reprise of "Look Down," in which he first dismisses the National Guardsmen as idiots and again insists that he "runs this town," but then gets shot and realizes he's dying ("They've got Gavroche at last"), and then sings just two feeble lines of "Little People" with his last breaths.

1986 London audio bootleg

Colm Wilkinson (Jean Valjean), Roger Allam (Javert), Jackie Marks (Fantine), Alun Armstrong (Thénardier), Zoe Bright (u/s Mme. Thénardier), Frances Ruffelle (Éponine), Simon Bowman (u/s Marius), David Burt (Enjolras), Rebecca Caine (Cosette)

Jackie Marks’ “HOLY GOD, IS THERE NO MERCY?!!” in “Fantine’s Arrest.”

This performance still features most of the original London cast, but with Jackie Marks and Simon Bowman in place of Patti LuPone and Michael Ball. The standout performance is Jackie Marks’ Fantine, and the standout moment in her performance is this line from “Fantine’s Arrest.” It stands out because her Fantine has been an especially soft-spoken and delicate one; less passionate and powerful than either Patti LuPone before her or Randy Graff after her, and more girlish, frightened, and pitifully sad. Yet gradually, she reveals her inner fire and passion, first in the later verses of “I Dreamed a Dream,” but most of all in her arrest scene. When she sings her desperate, sobbing-toned pleas to Javert, and then wails “HOLY GOD, IS THERE NO MERCY?!!” with a raw anguish not heard from many other actresses, we know that this Fantine has truly been torn inside-out by all she’s been through.

Original Broadway Cast Recording

Colm Wilkinson (Jean Valjean), Terrence Mann (Javert), Randy Graff (Fantine), Leo Burmester (Thénardier), Jennifer Butt (Mme. Thénardier), Frances Ruffelle (Éponine), David Bryant (Marius), Michael Maguire (Enjolras), Judy Kuhn (Cosette)

Randy Graff’s ad-libs in “At the End of the Day”: “Give me that letter back! Give that back to me! AAAAGGGHHH!”

The OBC recording has a unique rugged intensity to it, which I think is what makes it a “love it or hate it” recording among the fandom. Personally, I like it. This quality is typified by Randy Graff’s controversial Fantine. I’ll admit that her voice isn’t always “pretty,” but her warm and rich yet slightly rough timbre suits the character of a suffering woman, as well as the passion she brings to the role. Nothing sums up her Fantine better than her ad-libs during her fight with the Factory Girl, as she fiercely shouts for her letter back, then breaks into raw, strangled screams, presumably as the Factory Girl pulls her hair, twists her arm, or some such thing. It’s different from the first impression of gentle grace and refinement that other Fantines create, but it’s an honest and visceral portrayal of a poor mother fighting for her daughter’s life while facing unbearable brutality from others.

Original Tel Aviv Cast Recording

Dudu Fisher (Jean Valjean), Elior Yeini (Javert), Riki Gal (Fantine), Albert Cohen (Thénardier), Tiki Dayan (Mme. Thénardier), Shlomit Aharon (Éponine), Avi Toledano (Marius), Yovel Dor (Enjolras), Tal Amir (Cosette)

Tal Amir’s distraught “Papa!” at the end of "Attack on Rue Plumet."

This is a live recording of a non-replica production, with many unusual tempos, musical choices, and acting choices. One such acting choice is this brief yet effective moment from Tal Amir’s Cosette. At the end of “Attack on Rue Plumet,” after Dudu Fisher’s Valjean orders her to prepare to leave Paris – in much too harsh and impatient a tone for my personal taste, but that is a valid acting choice considering how terrified Valjean is at this point – she lets out a distraught, strangled half-shriek of “Papa!” as he pushes her into the house. Hardly any other Cosettes convey such raw anguish at suddenly being torn from Marius. I’m not sure it would even have been allowed in the London or Broadway productions, especially not in the early years, when Cameron Mackintosh was allegedly stricter about what the actors in replica productions were allowed to do. But in a foreign, non-replica staging, more freedom was allowed, and in the case of this Cosette, that freedom was used to good effect.

Honorable Mentions:

*The fact that the Hebrew translation of "Bring Him Home" uses the prayer-word "Elohai" ("My God") in place of "God on high." A beautiful poetic choice that preserves the same vowel sound as the English version, yet makes the song sound almost like a traditional Jewish prayer.

*Fisher’s Valjean sobs uncontrollably over the students’ deaths after “The Final Battle,” with a violent coughing fit between his sobs to foreshadow his own death. That's a moment I do like: I can imagine it was powerful onstage.

1987 Szeged proshot video

Vikidál Gyula (Jean Valjean), Makrai Pál (Javert), Kútvölgyi Erzsébet (Fantine), Szombathy Gyula (Thénardier), Hámori Ildikó (Mme. Thénardier), Nagy Anikó (Éponine), Sasvári Sándor (Marius), Kaszás Attila (Enjolras), Csarnóy Zsuzsa (Cosette)

Vikidál Gyula’s tearful “Bring Him Home.”

No, believe it or not, I didn’t choose the end of "Who Am I?" That’s the most unintentionally funny moment, but the real standout moment comes later. This is another non-replica production, with some unusual musical choices. As Jean Valjean, Vikidál Gyula is a rugged-voiced rock singer with a baritone range, so he can’t sing the high notes with the soaring sweetness of other Valjeans. (This is why at the end of “Who Am I?” he shrieks “ONE!!!!!” in the most hilariously melodramatic way instead of singing the note.) How does he cope with “Bring Him Home,” then? He acts his way through the song. He cuts notes short, sing-talks some lines, wails other lines, and lets his voice crack and go off pitch. Through at least half the song he sounds as if he’s crying. It’s not a pretty rendition, but it vividly conveys Valjean’s desperation to save Marius for Cosette’s sake, and his anguish in knowing he’ll lose Cosette and in facing his own mortality.

Honorable Mentions (Serious):

*Near the end of "Attack on Rue Plumet," as Marius introduces Cosette to Éponine, Cosette reaches out her hand to Éponine, but she pulls away. But then Marius takes both their hands and joins them together: he wants his two girls to be friends, having no idea of the history between them.

*Grantaire sings “If I die, I die with you” as a solo line, then clasping hands with Enjolras. Unfortunately, for some reason Grantaire is cast as a gray-haired, bearded old man, but at least they gave him this.

Honorable Mention (Funny): One guess. It never gets old.

1987 London video bootleg

Martin Smith (u/s Jean Valjean), Clive Carter (Javert), Kathleen Rowe McAllen (Fantine), David Delve (Thénardier), Myra Sand (Mme. Thénardier), Jayne Draper (Éponine), Maurice Clark (u/s Marius), Martin George (Enjolras), Jacinta Mulcahy (Cosette)

Jayne Draper's Éponine rudely shoves Gavroche in "Look Down."

Usually, during Gavroche's lines about Éponine in "Look Down," one of two things happens. Either Montparnasse comes on to Éponine but she fights him off, establishing her toughness, or else she exchanges friendly, teasing gestures with Gavroche, establishing her lively, playful nature. Neither happens here. Instead, it looks like Gavroche tries to pal around with her, but she just shoves him aside before wandering off. Now, the video quality is abysmal, so we can’t see the actors’ facial expressions. Maybe that shove was more playful than it looks, or maybe it was protective – Éponine trying to keep her little brother away from the unsavory “work” their parents force on her. But I wonder if they were trying to make Éponine still seem like a rude brat at first, like she was as a child, only to reveal her sympathetic side gradually through her love for Marius. I just wish I could see her face clearly to know for sure!

Honorable Mentions:

*In the Work Song, Martin Smith’s Valjean shields the “I know she’ll wait…” convict from being beaten by the warden. Even before he meets the Bishop, we see his heroic instincts.

*In "Confrontation," Clive Carter's Javert taunts Valjean with a "Yes, bring it on!" hand gesture when Valjean first threatens him with the chair, only to skitter backward in shock and fear when Valjean reminds him of his strength by breaking it.

#les mis #les miserables #recordings #bootlegs #standout moments #audio recordings #video recordings #1985 #1986 #1987 #london #broadway #tel aviv #szeged

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