#les mis staged concert 2.0

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earl_carpenter When you get back to your dressing room and find @j_robyns trying to scare me while socially distancing.

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☕️ fave movie musicals? Any old musicals you wanna recast?

I feel like, on some level, movie musicals TEND to be burdened by celebrity casting, even more than the average Broadway run, because they have to sell on the box office and justify all the costs of a film. As a result, they tend to be stronger visually (I still GASP every time I hear the opening of Les Mis and see THAT SHIP come out of the water), but weaker vocals. 

As a result, I think my favorite movie musicals are the ones that really made a point of casting, if not ALL Broadway talent, then 98%. (I’m primarily talking Broadway here because, while filming musicals is more or less a staple in Japanese and French musical theatre, they focus on pro-shots more than movie musicals, even if the former in PARTICULAR uses a lot of star power). 1776 and Cats are probably two really strong examples of musicals that did get movie musicals, but kept the FEELING of a musical intact. 

1776 in particular gets kudos for keeping most of their Broadway cast (Who are all impeccably cast to begin with), so while you do get less stage-ey sets and effects, it’s still a Broadway-standard vocal performance. For example, The Lees of Old Virginia is going to be hilarious no matter what you do, but getting to see him trying to handle a horse just adds another level to it. I’m not saying that a movie musical HAS to be exactly like you see on stage, but there has to be some sort of compromise involved, and I think 1776 beautifully managed that.

 Cats...it gets a lot of grief, particularly in recent days (and NO, I will NOT comment too much on New Film VS Old, since I think both are going to offer something different and 99% of the people who were making “funny” memes about the new film have no background with the show anyway), but, despite not being as much of a Film™ as 1776, still was very strong with its casting and with doing things that you couldn’t necessarily do on stage (primarily talking about a few things during Magical Mister Mistofelees that give it that added pizzazz here and there). Even if there are times I would like to have multiple words with whoever was in charge of Those Camera Angles. Elaine Page as Grizabella is probably considered the main go-to for the role, but she is for a reason. 

As far as what I’d recast...I know it’s a go-to, but Phantom of the Opera. There were so many other options. And yet. In particular...Emmy Rossum did a great job with the role, but she was a kid. She shouldn’t have been cast in a role that they were going to sexualize so much, especially when her voice really wasn’t developed enough to sing it. The show proper was content to make Christine a grown woman; there was really no reason for the movie to change that. 

Who I would cast...I don’t know. I know that’s a cop out, but any film on POTO would have to have star power behind it, and I can’t...really think of anyone in Hollywood right now who could deliver. We have a few who can sing, even a few who can sing WELL, but the roles we’re looking at here are very vocally demanding. (Either that, or we’d have a 25th Anniversary Concert 2.0 situation, because those three are considered, by many people, to be the standard). Which I also wouldn’t want, because I would want to see some more people in the role. (I will say, though...if you’re going to have Ramin Karimloo in the film...just cast the damn man, don’t let him just cameo as her dead dad. That was sad.)

We were robbed of Nicolas Cage as the Phantom, though. Robbed, I tell you. 

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Luke and Earl’s first show together!!!

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Drink with me...

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(AUDIO) LIVESTREAM!—

Saturday 3rd July 2021, 4pm BST/11am EST

Featuring: Understudy bonanza; Javearl 2021™

Les Miserables - Sondheim Staged Concert - 29th June 2021 Jon Robyns (Valjean), Earl Carpenter (u/s Javert), Lucie Jones (Fantine), Danny Colligan (u/s Marius), Jenna Innes (u/s Eponine), Charlie Burn (Cosette), Leo Miles (u/s Enjolras), Gerard Carey (Thenardier), Josefina Gabrielle (Mme Thenardier)

The theatre gods answered our collective prayers and Earl Carpenter went on once again as Javert, along with a host of much-loved/lauded understudies from the most recent Sondheim full production & UK Tour, making this possibly one of the most multigenerational principal casts ever! Lucky @fleaswillbite​ caught this #blessed show and is now generously sharing it with all of us.

Room: https://cytu.be/r/boxfivestreams (open ~15 mins before) Password: javearl

Again, this is audio-only, but this is such a fantastic mix of actors, and Earl’s voice is a Whole Experience and then some- it’ll be fun hearing them in this special concert format.

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“earl carpenter’s dream come true”

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just so happy that dean’s playing valjean again!

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8th December 2020

full soliloquy with bonus bishop interaction

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robhouchen #Paris with brad

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Leo Miles

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Set design for Les Mis Staged Concert (Sondheim Theatre, 2020)

i.e. I trawled social media for good pics so you don’t have to! lol

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jean valjean’s got places to be!

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Earl Carpenter as Bishop of Digne (Sondheim Theatre, 2020)

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Earl Carpenter will not dance.😪

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les mis concert backstage tour ft. EARL’S STARS