Les Mis trailer!
Right here!
So, already, we know one thing's different from the stage version: "I Dreamed a Dream" has been moved. In the musical, it's sung right after "At the End of the Day", before Fantine sells her hair in "Lovely Ladies". Here, Fantine's already lost her hair.
That means one of three possible things: First, they cut "Lovely Ladies". I don't think that's going to be the case, as it's important exposition. Second, they cut "Lovely Ladies" into pieces and placed "I Dreamed a Dream" after she sells her hair, but before she becomes a prostitute. I could see that happening. Third, they placed "I Dreamed a Dream" after "Lovely Ladies" in its entirety. I could also see that.
Any way it goes, I'm not upset. Trying to be too faithful to another medium has ruined many a movie, or at least stunted it. West Side Story is one of the greatest movie musicals of all time, and there are significant changes between it and the stage show. I happen to think they're improvements in many cases. Adding the boys to "America", for instance, or moving "Cool" to after the fight, displacing "Officer Krupke" to before it. The latter is, IMHO, a very necessary change, as the movie has no intermission and a comedic number right after the fight would've been mood whiplash. Instead, we get "Cool", which is now changed from Ice's personal philosophy to his effort to calm things down and keep the Jets from doing something stupid in the wake of Riff's death. It's brilliant.
All of which is to say, they will inevitably make changes aside from allowing brunette beauty Anne Hathaway and Nordic beauty Amanda Seyfried to keep their hair colors. (Speaking of, it looks like Hathaway pulled a Portman, letting her hair get butchered for the sake of a scene. Dedication, yo.) And that's okay. I love the musical, I've seen it multiple times, and I hope they stay true to the spirit, if not the letter. But I don't expect it to be exactly the same.
Another change I'm noticing: Hathaway is playing the number sad and broken, rather than the half-pleading, half-defiant way most Fantines I've seen have played it on stage. That would make sense in accordance with the pushing of the number back to either after or within "Lovely Ladies", when Fantine is even more broken down and hopeless.
Anyway, I hope they did the musical justice, because I really want it to be good.
So, already, we know one thing's different from the stage version: "I Dreamed a Dream" has been moved. In the musical, it's sung right after "At the End of the Day", before Fantine sells her hair in "Lovely Ladies". Here, Fantine's already lost her hair.
That means one of three possible things: First, they cut "Lovely Ladies". I don't think that's going to be the case, as it's important exposition. Second, they cut "Lovely Ladies" into pieces and placed "I Dreamed a Dream" after she sells her hair, but before she becomes a prostitute. I could see that happening. Third, they placed "I Dreamed a Dream" after "Lovely Ladies" in its entirety. I could also see that.
Any way it goes, I'm not upset. Trying to be too faithful to another medium has ruined many a movie, or at least stunted it. West Side Story is one of the greatest movie musicals of all time, and there are significant changes between it and the stage show. I happen to think they're improvements in many cases. Adding the boys to "America", for instance, or moving "Cool" to after the fight, displacing "Officer Krupke" to before it. The latter is, IMHO, a very necessary change, as the movie has no intermission and a comedic number right after the fight would've been mood whiplash. Instead, we get "Cool", which is now changed from Ice's personal philosophy to his effort to calm things down and keep the Jets from doing something stupid in the wake of Riff's death. It's brilliant.
All of which is to say, they will inevitably make changes aside from allowing brunette beauty Anne Hathaway and Nordic beauty Amanda Seyfried to keep their hair colors. (Speaking of, it looks like Hathaway pulled a Portman, letting her hair get butchered for the sake of a scene. Dedication, yo.) And that's okay. I love the musical, I've seen it multiple times, and I hope they stay true to the spirit, if not the letter. But I don't expect it to be exactly the same.
Another change I'm noticing: Hathaway is playing the number sad and broken, rather than the half-pleading, half-defiant way most Fantines I've seen have played it on stage. That would make sense in accordance with the pushing of the number back to either after or within "Lovely Ladies", when Fantine is even more broken down and hopeless.
Anyway, I hope they did the musical justice, because I really want it to be good.