Willow ,'Chosen'
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Oh, Kalshane! You're going to have to make an exception and see this in a big theater.
The issue for us is finding a babysitter.
I ended up having to wait for DVD for both Captain America and Thor and still haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises or Inception or countless other movies well-served by the big screen.
In high school, the first soundtrack for Les Miz that I heard was the London cast, and I listened to it repeatedly. But a bunch of my friends had the American cast, and it SOUNDED WRONG to me. I didn't like listening to that version at all.
I just had to go check my CDs, and I have the American version. I'm not sure if I have ever listened to the London cast version. All of this is making me very sad that I have lost touch with a high school friend who I used to listen to the soundtrack with and saw the live version with as well. I've tried to find her, but, for a geek, she seems to have no internet presence at all.
I ended up having to wait for DVD for both Captain America and Thor and still haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises or Inception or countless other movies well-served by the big screen.
Awww, big guy, the sad truth is that one of you goes one night and one of you goes the next night. When you got a pooter in the house sometimes just have to catch a few major cultural events.
It's about poor French people, right? And a bad haircut?
That's as far as my knowledge goes.
Replace "And a bad haircut?" with "And someone steals bread?" and you have me.
It's about poor French people, right? And a bad haircut?
Replace "And a bad haircut?" with "And someone steals bread?" and you have me.
I would have had to stop after the poor French people.
Here's a quick summary: the French criminal system sucks and the poor are oppressed. Love and generosity and forgiveness are more important than justice or legitimacy. Also, it sucks to be a street kid.
In more detail:
a French ex-con goes undercover when he realizes that keeping his own name means he can never get a paying job. One of his employees, a dying former prostitute, begs him to care for her illegitimate daughter. He raises her as his own, always aware that the police are after him, and hiding in plain sight as a successful man of business.
When the girl is full-grown, there is a populist uprising in the streets of Paris. The girl falls in love with one of the ringleaders; meanwhile the obsessive policeman is still searching for the ex-con.
The finale is a pitched battle in the streets between the poor and the forces of authority. The ex-con saves the life of the young man, and spares the life of the obsessive policeman, who kills himself in shame and outrage. Then he dies just as his adopted daughter marries her political activist, and the cast sings the tearjerking final songs.
It's quite melodramatic, but very sympathetic to the plight of the poor, and Javert & Valjean have a fascinating relationship.
Also, high-class people sing with a "genteel British" accent even though are French, and poor people sing with a Cockney accent, even though they, too, are French.
(I love it.)
I probably won't see The Hobbit OR Les Miz in the theater, but I might work it out. Holidays mean family means babysitters, so here's hoping.
I really need to finally read the whole book.
Fascinating fact: The barricade in the film was built when the cast were given 10 minutes to construct one from the furniture in the set houses. They were surprised to realize the next day it would be their actual set.