Posted on 12/17/2012 9:31:42 AM PST by SeekAndFind
RE: His publisher replied “!” They couldn’t print them fast enough.
I guess “:)” was just too expensive to telegraph back then? LOL.
“RE: I won’t pay to see anything Anne Hathaway is in.
OK, I’ll bite because I don’t know much about her political views — how liberal is she?”
I think some posters are not as concerned with Anne Hathaway’s political views but her penchant for taking her clothes off ....but I’m OK with that.
I would put her in close proximity of Jamie Foxx. But, I could be wrong; she is extremely liberal, though.
RE: after being a hardened criminal to start.
19 YEARS FOR A LOAF OF BREAD !! I wonder how many years a few crumbs would be worth...
Funny thing about the R&J story is it covers just a period of three hours. Well I guess WSS could last as long. I think a musical about Hamlet would be interesting. I’ve seen the movie Hamlet with Mel Gibson and also from a different perspective was “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” the dark parody of what goes on behind the scenes throughout the story of Hamlet is at times ingenious albeit occasionally tedious.
“Just saying that LM is just too happy”
I’m not sure how you got that impression. It’s a tragic & very poignant story with a kind of happy ending.
You’re really misinformed if you think it’s “too happy”.
Hmmm - I’m Hungarian decent and should have known that.
Was the ‘35 version the first of the three played on TCM? That was the one I loved best too! Though I was a big fan of beautiful Debra Paget as a little girl, who played Cosette in the second TCM movie, I liked the first one best.
The third TCM movie that night was four hours long! I had to record that one to avoid staying awake until 3:00 in the morning! And then, guess what— we had new DISH boxes installed this morning so I lost the 4 hour version along with all our recorded programing, so I missed the final show.
We got the DISH thingy called The Hopper, where you can record on all TV’s in the home and can watch live programming independently from all other tv’s.
Thx.
I’m saying the musical version of the book is too happy. I’ve been seeing trailers on TV the last couple of days. I’ve read and had to do a book report on LM.
I had to read it in French in HS - that was a drag.
The musical version is not “too happy”. You’re getting the wrong impression. It’s a tearjerker & very poignant. Don’t let a song like “Master of the House” mislead you. It’s actually there to provide some emotional relief.
It isn’t a “musical”, it is an opera. Opera can be quite full of drama and heart rending, complex, full of the deepest endearments of the heart.
Being from all redneck country, all the time, I can appreciate resistance to opera, but for seeing this production live on stage, it became a memorable experience, for me as powerful as Tom Hanks movie, oh, what was the name of it? You know, the real version of the US military landing on D Day?
I don’t know if I will enjoy an all opera version either, but the story is so magnificent that it may carry the movie on its own in spite of the lyrical dialogue.
Thanks. I’m collecting the responses and will try to form a better opinion of the musical. I don’t like reading or listening to professional reviewers because they impose their values into their critique. I like to read what the people who’ve seen them have to say about it.
Would that be “Saving Pvt. Ryan”? Anyway having to have to read the story to me it’s all about the poor guy stealing a loaf of bread and the detective chasing him all over the place to arrest him. Must have been a really valuable loaf of bread. Then too, the French Revolution happening about the same time ... great mix.
And it was those 19 years that made him a hardened criminal, not the other way around. Apologies if I wasn't clear on that. He robs the street urchin (a petty, but damning, in terms of timing, theft) after robbing the bishop (IIRC) -- it is upon being caught for with the bishop's silver that he is offered the chance at redemption.
If you are turning the book into a movie or play, it has to center on Valjean. He is the thread that ties the various pieces of the story together, and through them, his path to redemption, self-sacrifice, and righteousness is played. Because of the nature of the medium and time constraints, other parts of the story must be simplified -- so the stage musical (and now movie) centers on this road to redemption and the other players fleshed out only to the point that tells that tale.
Upthread, someone discussed that this would be better material for an opera than a musical, but Les Miserables blurs that line. The vocal and arranging style is musical theater, but it is through-sung and staged in an operatic fashion.
If the stage production ever comes to a city near you, do yourself a favor and go see it.
I’m not sure how much I’ll like the movie, but I’m going to see it, knowing it will be a totally different experience from the stage production.
I’ll give it a try. I live in the Seattle area and they have several places where they do live theater. Love going to them. Same too, may not go and see it in a theater but might “borrow” a DVD if and when it comes out. That way I can always shut it off if I don’t like it. I had to sit through “Moulin Rouge” at a friends house and almost had a fit with all that singing. LOL Every time someone even moved or said something they’d burst into song.
Thank you! Yes! Good grief, Saving Private Ryan! That’s it! Crap, I can’t remember anything.
The loaf of bread is the instrument depicting the extreme severity of times we have never had to live through. Yet.
You would like the 1935 screen version best. Please see if you can find it. Let us know. Merry, blessed Christmas! Rita
Amen. When the best we can do this Christmas season is Quentin Tarantino, we're in a bad way.
Thank you and a Blessed Christmas to you as well. Janey
You're wrong.
Checking the book, the marriage happened on Mardi Gras day, and the stage play appeared to be like a Mardi Gras celebration; but I'd forgotten the Mardi Gras touch. The book had said it all (to me) with two post-wedding lines: "The best way to worship God is to love your wife" and "A little after midnight, the Gillenormand house became a temple."
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