As a big fan of all things musical, when I heard the rumours in the grapevine that Les Misérables was being made into a film, I was excited but I was also met with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Musicals can work in film, such as Hairspray, which actually resurrected the musical and it ended up having a few seasons in the West End. But they also can not, such as Phantom of the Opera. It wasn’t dreadful, but having seen it on stage, it didn’t do it much justice.
As a big fan of the Olivier-award winning producer Cameron MacIntosh, who has also produced Cats, Oliver & My Fair Lady, I knew this film would be in safe hands. I just had to wait with baited breath and hope for the best. I have seen Les Misérables in the West End and it blew me away. The songs are catchy but also very heart warming. I came out feeling a mix of emotions but amazed by how the story was told on stage. This is why I was so worried about this piece of art being turned into a Hollywood film.
With a star studded line-up, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen Bonham Carter, and Oscar nominees Hugh Jackman & Anne Hathaway, it had the making of being a huge film. We know that these actors and actresses can act, but can they sing? You see, the producers all decided instead of recording the songs before hand and getting them to mime like most musical films have done before, they wanted them to sing “live”. This is to hopefully capture the raw emotion that this sad story holds and capture the audiences unawares.
Now onto the review…