How Susan Boyle's song "I Dreamed A Dream" played a role in the revival of Les Miserables.
Posted below are the thoughtful and sensible posts written by David Francis (davclas). When you read through them, you will realize what an impact Susan Boyle had on the show "Les Miserables" when she sang "I Dreamed A Dream" on Britain's Got Talent on April 11, 2009. Way before and up to 2009 the show ran its course, was downsizing and slowly fazing out. Then along came Susan Boyle in 2009 with her IDAD song that landed the video on YouTube where millions (600,000,000) and millions of people watched it and cried. So many people "hit" YouTube that the video become the #1 most watched video in 2009, and is still being watched today. Today, almost four years later, we are on the threshold of a gigantic opening of the movie "Les Miserables" at the end of December, early January. So big, that the Academy Of Motion Pictures will probably give it its highest awards. It will receive all kinds of honors, accolades and, no doubt, overwhelming acclamation. It will rake in loads of money for everyone involved.
I, and I believe David, as well as many other fans, are wondering and want to know if Susan Boyle will be recognized for her enormous role in the revival of "Les Miserables". Is the music industry going to continue to ignore and not award her again and again? Many fans will want to keep their eye on the events and be vigilant as to what will be done to recognize Susan's impact on the revival of this musical. We must insist on fair play here, because during the past three years, Susan Boyle has been greatly ignored by the music industry. Even though Susan Boyle has been extremely outstanding in her field, she has been overlooked by the radio and recording industry. When it comes to handing out awards and playing her music on the radio broadcasting stations, it doesn't happen. Worldwide fans must demand the respect for their star and not tolerate the oversight. It is not acceptable to fans to see this inspiring world-wide professional singer ignored in her achievements. Susan has proven her caliber with her tremendous success as a professional recording artist and must be recognized as the super star she is. She deserves and qualifies to be included in any awards handed out to others in the field. Let's see this happen.
Below are David's transcripts:
davclas (David Francis)
Posted by davclas on November 30, 2012
After years of fighting the critics who would make Susan Boyle out to be less than what ‘we’ know her to be, I decided to take the time to make a definitive statement about what I believe to be the true nature of the Susan Boyle phenomenon. Over a period of weeks I have gathered the known record of available information on her and captured multiple videos in the real time in which they were made as this epic story unfolded.
What I ended up with is a narrative that acts like a movie within a movie of Susan’s dramatic appearance on the world stage. It tells, as well as shows, both the cause of Susan Boyle and the effect of Susan Boyle after she was caused. There are 15 panels (posts) each numbered in sequence according to the story that is being told. Included are 5 videos, 9 linked articles from various published accounts along the way as her story was unfolding. Information comes from personal accounts of producers, directors, actors, friends, acquaintances and Susan Boyle herself.
It will take about 25 minutes of undivided attention to read / watch this epic story. This is not a quick drive through McD’s for a burger on the run to somewhere else. In order to get the full impact of one of the greatest personalities to ever step onto the world stage, the narrative needs to be followed from beginning to end like a movie that you would pay good money to go see without interruption until after the final scene. If you don’t have 25 minutes, skip the whole thing until you do.
Susan Boyle already has a fantastic play about her long, circuitous journey to get to ‘her day’ here in the world. This presentation takes her story beyond that day and shows the incredible impact that this single, simple little lady in sensible shoes from anywhere has had on the world. She grabbed ‘hope’ out of a song that has now become, unmistakably, identified as her own and then gave it back to untold millions through the pure, angelic soothing sound of her voice and in the process gaining a loyal fan base second to none. It may be that the movie that will be made about her in the coming years will focus on this incredible aspect of the “Amazing Susan Boyle”.
………………………No. 1………………………………
SOURCE: ---LES MISERABLES.WIKIA.COM-- ---INTERNATIONAL NEWS 1980’s--
HEADLINE: ----LES MISERABLES - 'A MUSICAL ERA BEGINS AS A POLITICAL ERA ENDS'----
The world had never experienced anything like it, as the decades passed under a worldwide cloud of future uncertainties. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was a half century of military build-up, political maneuvering for international support, and behind-the-scenes military assistance for allies and satellite nations that began in the late 1940s and continued into the early 1990s. After a whole generation had faced that subtle background possibility of a worldwide mutually assured destruction, things began to change. Finally, in December 1989, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President George Bush officially ended the Cold War at a summit in Malta.
Theater offers a temporary escape from a troubling world such as we had during the Cold War. Into this discouraged era came a new musical era with a storyline set against the backdrop of 19th-century France. It told an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption–a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit in its fight within itself to do good over evil. In Les Miserables, the ex-prisoner Jean Valjean is hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert after he breaks his parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever. In the end, as all the pieces of Valjean’s life are understood for their purpose in one final reunion, he is able to realize that he has won life’s battle and is now able to pass in peace. The audience is carried through every emotion known to man but in the end is left with a resounding ‘hope’ to carry on. Thus, in 1985 came the transformation of that message of ‘hope’ just resting in the pages of a often forgotten book to live action musical drama on the stage in London. People instantly identified themselves with the triumphs and tragedies played out before them as they followed that spark of ‘hope’ weaving relentlessly onward to the end.
That powerful story continued its draw year after year until it eventually became the longest running musical in the world.
The musical opened at the Barbican Centre in London, England on October 8, 1985. By 2006, after 21 continuous years, it became the longest-running musical in the world. It is also the third longest-running show in Broadway history.
A new tour, in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the London Production, ‘Les Miserables’ began performances at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on December 12, 2009. The tour continued in 2010 with performances in Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Paris and London again. In January 2010, it played its 10,000th performance in London, at Queen's Theatre in London's West End. On October 3, 2010, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary Les Miserables has been seen by over 60 million people in 42 countries and has been translated into 21 languages (English, French, German (two from Austria and Germany), Spanish (three from Spain, Argentina and Mexico), Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian (two in Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Swedish, Dutch (two from the Netherlands and Belgium), Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan).
Including singles and promos, there have been over 55 official recordings from its worldwide productions including the multi-platinum London cast recording and the Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast album as well as complete symphonic albums. The video of its 10th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall Gala Concert sold nearly 2,000,000 copies worldwide.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
……..'LES MISERABLES DOWNSIZES TO STAY ALIVE IN LONDON…….
……………...............No. 2................................
SOURCE: ---WhatsOnStage.com----
HEADLINE: ---LES MISERABLES BEGINS TO DOWNSIZE IN ORDER TO STAY ALIVE---
By: Terri Paddock 13 February 2004<< As the years passed no film adaptation of the stage musical was ever produced. A film adaptation had been in development several times since the late 1980s. Alan Parker was reported to be connected to an adaptation at an early stage. In 1992 Cameron Mackintosh announced early planning for a film to be directed by Bruce Beresford and co-produced by Tri-Star Pictures, but the project was ultimately abandoned.
According to Terri Paddock’s article below impresario Cameron Mackintosh confirmed that Les Miserables would move as planned from the grand 1,400-seat Palace Theater to the smaller 990-seat Queen’s Theatre in April 2004. The transfer appeared somewhat threatened when members of the Musicians Union protested over a reduction in the show’s orchestra.
The Musicians Union was “vehemently opposed” the introduction of the Sinfonia, which stores samples of every instrument in a score and then allows an operator to simulate performances without conventional musicians.
‘Les Miserables’ became the first show to employ the Sinfonia in the UK, and many feared that it would set a dangerous precedent. A similar dilemma arose later on Broadway, when theatre owners and union officials wrangled over a proposed abolition of orchestra quotas causing a 4 day strike that cost millions in lost revenue.
Les Miserables' final performance at the Palace Theater was on 27 March 2004, and its first performance at the Queen’s Theater was on 1 April, 2004. Years later, Mackintosh admitted that he could have pulled the plug on Les Mis but didn’t.
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……..'LES MISERABLES DOWNSIZES TO STAY ALIVE IN LONDON…….
.................................No. 3………………………
SOURCE: ---PLAYBILL.COM ---
HEADLINE: ---PRODUCER MACKINTOSH ‘GOB-SMACKED’ BY BOYLE’S “I DREAMED A DREAM”---
BY: Mark Shenton POSTED: April 15, 2009
The rendition of Les Misérables' "I Dreamed a Dream," performed on the U.K. weekly ITV Channel TV show "Britain's Got Talent" by unemployed singer Susan Boyle, has turned the song into a hit tune all over again. The performance by the 47-year-old on the show, which aired April 11 and was watched by an average of 10.3 million viewers, has been viewed over four million times on YouTube already
In a press statement, producer Cameron Mackintosh has echoed the comments of judges Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden, saying, "Just like the judges and audience I was gob-smacked by the emotional powerhouse performance of Susan Boyle's show stopping rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream.' Vocally it is one of the best versions of the song I've ever heard. Touching, thrilling and uplifting. I do hope she gets to sing it for the Queen."
“I Dreamed a Dream” is the show-stopping song performed early in the first act of Les Misérables by the ill-fated Fantine. Patti LuPone created the role on the West End stage
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
….PRODUCER MACKINTOSH GOB-SMACKED BY BOYLE'S I DREAMED A DREAM SONG ON YOUTUBE......
.................................No. 4………………………
SOURCE: --- The Telegraph (London)---
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE CAUSES ‘LES MISERABLES’ IN LONDON TO SELL OUT---
POSTED: 3:09PM BST JUNE 11, 2009
Susan Boyle is causing sell out performances of Les Miserables in London's West End after her rendition of “I Dreamed A Dream” for Britain's Got Talent.
Sales of tickets for the long-running musical have increased by 46 per cent since Boyle performed the song in the first round of the talent show.
Mark Bower, head of lifestyle products for LASTMINUTE.COM who discovered the rise said: " There has been a clear knock-on effect from Susan Boyle singing 'I Dreamed a Dream’.
"After her performance ticket sales shot up almost overnight and have maintained a consistent level of popularity."
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
…SUSAN BOYLE CAUSES 'LES MISERABLES' TO SELL OUT IN LONDON….
..................................No. 5………………………
SOURCE: ---GLOBE AND MAIL POST (TORONTO) ---
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE SENSATION SENDS VANCOUVER LES MIS SALES THROUGH THE ROOF---
Knestruck Published Friday, April 17, 2009 5:38pm, EDT
By now, you've no doubt heard about or just plain heard Susan Boyle, the older-than-40-year-old virgin whose astounding and inspiring rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables on Britain's Got Talent has turned into one of the hottest viral videos of all time. I mentioned Boyle here on Wednesday, but I was just one of hundreds of thousands of people who have Twittered, blogged or emailed the link around.
Boyle is a bona fide celebrity now and her story has spawned reams of media coverage in the past week. And all that attention - 21,249,741 YouTube views and counting - is not just benefiting Boyle and Britain's Got Talent, but also increasing awareness of the show she sang from: ‘Les Miserables’. Now, ‘Les Miserables’ doesn't really need a boost - Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel has been running on the West End in London for a whopping 23 years and counting. Since October 2006, it has held the title of the world's longest running musical.
But publicity never hurts. In Vancouver,the Arts Club theatre is about to open a production of Les Miserables on May 14 and since Susan Boyle's video started being emailed around, they've seen ticket sales for the show double. Yes, double. The Arts Club box office staff started to notice sales something was up on Wednesday. According to spokesperson Nicole McLuckie, "Tuesday [the box office]was up about 40%. Wednesday was up by about 115%. And yesterday it was about 250%." Incredible! No wonder they're calling Boyle the "The Scot heard round the world". Sara-Jeanne Hosie, the actress playing Fantine (who sings "I Dream a Dream"), has been forwarded the Boyle clip so many times that she's started answering the phone "Susan Boyle's understudy." "I'm excited that, with her spirit and incredible voice, Susan Boyle has connected people to the beauty and power of this song," says Hosie. "But mostly it's a relief that if I get hit by a bus, the Arts Club knows exactly who to ask to replace me!"
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
.....SUSAN BOYLE SENSATION SENDS VANCOUVER TICKET SALES FOR 'LES MIS' THROUGH THE ROOF…..
..................................No. 6………………………
SOURCE: ---TECHDIRT.COM---
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE’S YOUTUBE STAR TURN REVIVES INTEREST IN LES MISERABLES---
POSTED: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 9:17am
BY: "from the we’ll-check-that-out dept"
As the recording industry continues to freak out about videos on YouTube without compensation, the whole media sensation Susan Boyle phenomenon is showing how such videos on YouTube clearly act as promotion for the music. Paul Kedrosky notes that Boyle's now famous rendition of a song from Les Miserables has shot the Les Mis CD up from the previous rank of 1,000 to number 32 on Amazon's sales charts, while Mathew Ingram notes that tickets for the live performance of Les Miserables have also skyrocketed.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
….SUSAN BOYLE'S YOUTUBE STAR REVIVES INTEREST IN 'LES MISERABLES'…..
..................................No. 7………………………
HEADLINE: ---LES MISERABLES COMPOSER CLAUDE-MICHAEL SCHONBERG on SUSAN BOYLE PHENOMENON----
TRANSCRIPT:
>>Never in my life have I felt such an ‘Amazing’ connection between a person and a song.
>>Even as a conductor, I can tell you that the words of this song, I Dreamed A Dream, are just as important as the music, maybe even more.
>>Someone who sings her life so well, I have not seen that.
>>I’ve seen an actor find the role of his life, or a singer find the song of their life. But, to this extent, I have not seen that.
>>For us (as composers) it was a gift from heaven for the show (Les Miserables), as well.
>>The first time in my life, without doing anything, I wake up and I have 40 emails.
>>I had no idea what was going on.
>>Then she sold 5,000,000 albums!
>>There is a show about her life called “I Dreamed A Dream”.
>>Reality TV was never my thing, but it caught up with me really fast.
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
..................................No. 8………………………
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE’S ‘I DREAMED A DREAM’ ALBUM SETS WORLD RECORD----
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
..................................No. 9………………………
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE SETS MORE RECORDS WITH 2ND ALBUM ‘THE GIFT’ IN 2009----
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
………........................No.10........................
SOURCE: TV.BROADWAYWORLD.COM
HEADLINE: ---WEST END’S LES MISERABLES’ UPGRADE---
BY: MamasDoin'Fine POSTED: Feb 17, 2011
As you read this piece by MamasDoin’Fine it becomes clear that Les Miserables was in the middle of an unexpected resurgence away from the direction that it was headed in back in 2004. It was throwing off the old handicapping baggage (the sinfonia or virtual orchestra) that had been used in its downsizing in 2004 in order to keep it alive and was now expanding the orchestra once again. What high powered locomotive engine was now driving the world’s greatest musical to renewed heights after 25 years even though it was supposed to be in its twilight years, as stage musicals go?
‘Les Miserables’ composer, CLAUDE-MICHAEL SCHONBERG clearly knew the answer within a few months after the appearance of Susan Boyle on the world stage with her spellbinding performance of IDAD. He said “For us it was a gift from heaven.” By the time of this article in 2011, the original “I Dreamed A Dream” YouTube video by Susan Boyle had been viewed 600,000,000+ times and she had produced 3 No.1 albums with sales of 18,000,000 or more and had become only the second person ever to match the Beatles with 2 separate No.1 albums in both the US and the UK in the same year (2009).
MamasDoinFine quotes the producers as saying, "This new (expanded) line-up does require us to look again at the make-up of the orchestra. I am terrifically grateful to the current orchestra for the work they have done over the years and I hope that as many of them as possible will be able to remain with us for the next stage of the show’s life".
The London version of 'Les Miserables' is currently the only production of the musical that does not use the new (expanded) orchestrations, and producer Cameron Mackintosh, who is also set to bring a new sound design into the West End show, said he owes it 'to both new audiences and the fans to incorporate them'.
Nicholas Allott, managing director of Cameron Mackintosh Limited, explained that he had met with the players recently to discuss plans to introduce the new orchestrations. He said the updated score has new 'doubling and trebling', which relates to the number of instruments each musician is required to play as part of the orchestra Allott said that, contrary to rumors within the industry, none of the players is on notice.
Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, the show’s authors, said the new orchestrations 'are in parts more difficult to play than the original and require some adjustments to the orchestra line-up'.
"Nevertheless we fervently hope that many of the current orchestra will remain with us in the continuing life of Les Miserables", they said.
When the show moved to the Queen’s Theatre in 2004, Mackintosh came under criticism for scaling back the orchestra size and introducing a sinfonia - described as a ‘virtual orchestra’ - instead.
However, Allott said the new orchestrations are 'more acoustic in nature and rely less on electronic sounds', which will mean the sinfonia (virtual orchestra) will no longer be used.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
....'LES MISERABLES' EXPANDS ORCHERTRA - ELIMINATES SINFONIA….
...................................No. 11………………………
SOURCE: ---VARIETY.COM 2011---
--International News—
HEADLINE: ---MARATHON SUCCESS FOR ‘LES MISERABLES’----
26-Year-old Musical Resurges on London’s West End and on the Road
POSTED: Sat., Apr. 9, 2011, 4:00am PT
BY: David Benedict
--LES MISERABLES--
LONDON -- Now in its 26th year, the original London production of "Les Miserables" is the world's longest runner -- and currently carries its largest box office advance ever at £5 million ($8.2 million), an astonishing figure for a show of that vintage.
Meanwhile, the three-year worldwide tour of the new version is playing to audiences between 97% and 105% of capacity across the U.S., with further incarnations set for Spain, Japan, South America and South Africa. Later this year, Tom Hooper (Director -"The King's Speech") will direct the movie version from a script by William Nicholson.
The "Les Miz" resurgence is a surprise even to the show's producer, Cameron Mackintosh.
He admits he could have pulled the plug. But the musical got traction and began to build. "It was partly the 21st anniversary, partly Susan Boyle," he says, crediting her version of one of the show's big hits.
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.....SOURCE.....
...................................No. 12………………………
SOURCE: ---EXAMINER.COM ---
HEADLINE: ---BROADWAY GLOBAL ANNOUNCES 2012 MOVIE AWARD FOR ‘LES MISERABLES’---
BY: RICHARD CAMERON OCTOBER 14, 2012
The old days of taping the sound like Grease, Chicago, Nine, Victor Victoria, Evita... then having the characters match the songs they had sung months before, is just memories of the past. Movie musical characters were stale or robotic as they tried to match a recorded studio performance with acting beats to songs that the stars would lip sync to.
But now Les Misérables, the movie, has changed all of that, by having the story told live, with the characters singing the songs live as they are filmed. Les Misérables film version is the most talked about movie musical of this century.
Who knew a story on revolution would be revolutionary for the future of movie musicals. Les Misérables is one of the longest running musicals of all time, producer Cameron Mackintosh opened the English version in London in 1985. When the Broadway version opened in 1987 the musical was nominated for twelve Tony Awards, winning eight of them, including "Best Musical" and "Best Original Score." Now the Academy Awards, Oscars could be in the mix because "At the End of the Day" Les Misérables is groundbreaking for musicals.
Les Misérables, the movie musical version, is inspired by the most popular Broadway musical of all time and has broken the sound barrier.
Highlighted with a 70 piece orchestra this movie is ground breaking for musical theatre, as the Les Misérables characters tell the most beautiful love story ever told, singing live as they were filmed. It has received the "Broadway Global 2012 Movie Award" and is the”Theatre Chat” top pick for one of the best musicals ever written.
Les Miserables is a tale that makes you think about the kind of person you want to be. The main character chooses a very difficult path. He chooses to do good and be honest and have integrity at a time when many around him are corrupt, desperate and immoral. It's a path that leads to all kinds of adventures and, in the end, is more rewarding than he could ever have imagined. And that's why this story really gets people in a very deep place. That's why audience members are on their feet with tears in their eyes. Because in a way, Les Mis is about all of us.
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…BROADWAY GLOBAL ANNOUNCES 2012 MUSICAL MOVIE AWARD FOR LES MISERABLES….
...................................No. 13………………………
HEADLINE: ---OFFICIAL ‘LES MISERABLES’ MOVIE TRAILER 2012---
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
..................................No. 14………………………
SOURCE: ---COLLIDER.COM---
HEADLINE: ---LES MISERABLES FIRST SCREENING EARNS APPLAUSE AND STANDING OVATION---
BY: Dave Trumbore
POSTED: November 23, 2012 7:07pm
Not since 2002′s Chicago has a musical feature been a serious Oscar contender for Best Picture, but early reactions indicate that the trend could change this year. Each musical number of ‘Les Miserables’ was followed by raucous applause with the principal cast taking the stage to a standing ovation at the end of the film. It looks like Christmas has come early for the cast and crew.
The film stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Les Miserables opens on December 25th.
The first audience reactions to Les Miserables were reported by THR from the first screening at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Tom Hooper, director, who had just finished his first Thanksgiving meal, shared what he was thankful for this year:
“I’m grateful that I finished it [the film]… I’m grateful to the thousands of people who have been on this journey, particularly the wonderful cast… and I’m grateful to Victor Hugo[who wrote the novel upon which the Broadway play upon which the film is derived], who unfortunately can’t be with us.”
Scott Feinberg, THR reporter, also highlights Hooper’s strong chances for Best Director, names Hathaway as a frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress, says that Jackman’s Valjean role was custom-made for him though it may not be enough to earn him even a nomination this year in a crowded category, commends Crowe’s vocal abilities as Javert and says that Barks, Seyfried and Carter could also contend for Best Supporting Actress nominations. There is also the original song, “Suddenly,” that was written specifically for the film and will likely be a contender.
Let’s take a look at some of the reactions from viewers via Twitter:
Kristopher Tapley @kristapley Hathaway wins. GOD. I wept. Film’s a triumph. They’re on their feet here. NYC crowd ate…it…up. #lesmiserables
Wilson Morales @blackfilm Standing O for #LesMiserables! Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks are on stage now
for Q & A.
For those who are theater purists, you will LOVE #LesMiserables! Hooper did it right. Having Barks play role again but on film was great!
DaveKarger @davekarger First #LesMiserables screening went over extremely well. I’d call it a sure thing Picture nominee for Oscar and the
probable Globe winner. Hugh Jackman has a great shot to bump out Denzel or Joaquin in the Best Actor race. His singing is quite impressive.
#LesMiserables
Anne Hathaway could easily win supporting actress. Her “I Dreamed a Dream” is the showstopper. #LesMiserables
Steven Zeitchik @ZeitchikLAT Hathaway is a stand-out, albeit in very few scenes; Jackman and Crowe singing is solid but doesn’t reach for as much.
#LesMiserables
Julie Stone @Julie_Stone #LesMiserables screening audience burst into applause after songs and gave a long standing ovation during the credits.
Samantha Massell @smassellsings Still reeling from the amazingness that was today. #lesmiserables#firstEVERscreening
In case I wasn’t clear, the #lesmiserables movie is absolutely UNREAL. Ten million points to #TomHooper for doing this musical movie RIGHT.
Jennifer Ravalli @JennNYU Got to be one of the first people to see #lesmiserables today @SAGscreening! It was amazing! Totally love the brilliant
#eddieredmayne
Jo Foster @jo1foster Sobbed my eyes out. Les Miserables. WHAT AN EPIC MOVIE. #lesmiserables
Lucy Gibson @LucyRGibson Can’t say too much about #lesmiserables until its release but I will say this: it grabs your heart and squeezes it till you
cry like a baby I’m going to call it early but #lesmiserables has Best Picture written all over it
I’m going to call it early but #lesmiserables has Best Picture written all over it
In December 2012, the world’s longest-running musical brings its power to the big screen in Tom Hooper’s sweeping and spectacular interpretation of Victor Hugo’s epic tale. With international superstars and beloved songs–including “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Bring Him Home,” “One Day More” and “On My Own”–Les Misérables, the show of shows, is now reborn as the cinematic musical experience of a lifetime.
NOTE: Currently, ‘Variety.com’ ranks, by volume, the online views of all ‘new movie trailers’ (those within 10 weeks of their release date) and has the new Les Miserables Movie Trailer listed in its ‘Top Ten’ of all movie trailers. YouTube’s numbers show the trailer averaging about 15,000 views a day and currently standing at 2,398,046 views as of Nov 26.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
...'Les Miserables' Movie Reviews...
....................................No. 15………………………
HEADLINE: ---‘SUSAN BOYLE SAGA’ IN HER OWN WORDS----
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
.................................No. 16………………………
SOURCE: ---THE HEART ---
HEADLINE: ---MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD”---
BY: David Francis November 30, 2012
As we gather together at this time of year with our family members and others that we love, it is worth our while to contemplate those who forced to go through loses of one kind or another that they have not chosen for themselves. If we were in their shoes, how would we cope? What would we do with similar circumstances to those that they have found themselves in? Well?
What if it was not just us, but thousands all around us, or millions in our country or even 100’s of millions around the world who were all suffering with economic and personal losses the likes of which had not been seen in a hundred years? That was just exactly what condition the world was in at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Headlines read “Markets Fall as Slump Spans World”, “Manufacturing Tumbles Globally”, “Crisis Deepen as Banks Fail” and “Families Feel Pressure”.
In the midst of all this worldwide disquiet and discouragement lived a lonely, middle-aged little single lady who had lost the last remaining member from her family home (her mother) a year earlier and who was now forced to live completely alone in the home that had been her life for 47 years.
She faced the very kind of discouraging circumstances that multitudes were facing on an unprecedented scale. How would she ever make a difference in life at her age and circumstance? Let’s see.
Upon her mother’s dying wish, Susan Boyle took the one gift that she knew she possessed as a natural gift (from God) and made an offering of it to a gathering of 2,000 people assembled in an auditorium who for the most part were looking for hapless dreamers to laugh at and make fun of. As Simon Cowell stated later “The audience could smell blood”. She chose the one song that perfectly told her life story, I Dreamed A Dream. When she opened her mouth she began the process of slaying misjudging hearts, first by the thousands in that auditorium but over time growing to hundreds of millions around the globe as her YouTube video broke records almost daily until reaching in excess of 600,000,000 views of her performance.
Susan Boyle took a depressed and discouraged world by storm without looks or fame but with a voice that uttered ‘hope’ in every breath and people responded by the countless millions. But that was just the beginning. Against all odds and in spite of plenty of skeptics, she stayed her intended course and roared out the gate with this fastest selling album in history. Then she turned out a second No. 1 album in the same year
(2010) something that hadn’t been done since the Beatles. But an even greater impact than all of these may be to have ultimately been responsible for the resurgence of the longest running musical in the world, ‘Les Miserables’. After running continuously for 19 years at the same theater in London, it was moved to a theater one third smaller and reducing the orchestra in response to smaller audiences (2004). A movie that was to be based on the musical had been considered at different times during the previous years but was ultimately abandoned.
Today, in light of the powerhouse presence of the Susan Boyle phenomenon planted right in the middle of Les Miserables because of her impact on the song I Dreamed a Dream, new life has exploded around the world for this musical to such an extent that a movie based on the musical has risen out of the ashes of long abandoned hopes, much like the resurgence of ‘hope’ that has been experienced by millions on a personal level.
Finally, I can think of no better example of someone who took her adversities in stride and, though sometimes buckling but never breaking, said to the wide world “I” “Have” “Hope” and then set out to prove it. So, this Christmas, when you take your family to see the blockbuster movie about the greatest musical to ever have been staged (and you should see it) remember that somewhere in a small town in Scotland sits the one person on the planet who just might be more responsible for all this grandeur that you are watching on the screen than all the multitudes who actually were able to create what you are looking at. Awards may flow like honey in the wake of the early reviews for this movie but it was dead in the water before Susan Boyle took the chance to make a difference in her circumstances and the world. Has she made a difference in your life? She has made an incredible difference in mine!!
....... David Francis
After years of fighting the critics who would make Susan Boyle out to be less than what ‘we’ know her to be, I decided to take the time to make a definitive statement about what I believe to be the true nature of the Susan Boyle phenomenon. Over a period of weeks I have gathered the known record of available information on her and captured multiple videos in the real time in which they were made as this epic story unfolded.
What I ended up with is a narrative that acts like a movie within a movie of Susan’s dramatic appearance on the world stage. It tells, as well as shows, both the cause of Susan Boyle and the effect of Susan Boyle after she was caused. There are 15 panels (posts) each numbered in sequence according to the story that is being told. Included are 5 videos, 9 linked articles from various published accounts along the way as her story was unfolding. Information comes from personal accounts of producers, directors, actors, friends, acquaintances and Susan Boyle herself.
It will take about 25 minutes of undivided attention to read / watch this epic story. This is not a quick drive through McD’s for a burger on the run to somewhere else. In order to get the full impact of one of the greatest personalities to ever step onto the world stage, the narrative needs to be followed from beginning to end like a movie that you would pay good money to go see without interruption until after the final scene. If you don’t have 25 minutes, skip the whole thing until you do.
Susan Boyle already has a fantastic play about her long, circuitous journey to get to ‘her day’ here in the world. This presentation takes her story beyond that day and shows the incredible impact that this single, simple little lady in sensible shoes from anywhere has had on the world. She grabbed ‘hope’ out of a song that has now become, unmistakably, identified as her own and then gave it back to untold millions through the pure, angelic soothing sound of her voice and in the process gaining a loyal fan base second to none. It may be that the movie that will be made about her in the coming years will focus on this incredible aspect of the “Amazing Susan Boyle”.
………………………No. 1………………………………
SOURCE: ---LES MISERABLES.WIKIA.COM-- ---INTERNATIONAL NEWS 1980’s--
HEADLINE: ----LES MISERABLES - 'A MUSICAL ERA BEGINS AS A POLITICAL ERA ENDS'----
The world had never experienced anything like it, as the decades passed under a worldwide cloud of future uncertainties. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was a half century of military build-up, political maneuvering for international support, and behind-the-scenes military assistance for allies and satellite nations that began in the late 1940s and continued into the early 1990s. After a whole generation had faced that subtle background possibility of a worldwide mutually assured destruction, things began to change. Finally, in December 1989, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President George Bush officially ended the Cold War at a summit in Malta.
Theater offers a temporary escape from a troubling world such as we had during the Cold War. Into this discouraged era came a new musical era with a storyline set against the backdrop of 19th-century France. It told an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption–a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit in its fight within itself to do good over evil. In Les Miserables, the ex-prisoner Jean Valjean is hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert after he breaks his parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever. In the end, as all the pieces of Valjean’s life are understood for their purpose in one final reunion, he is able to realize that he has won life’s battle and is now able to pass in peace. The audience is carried through every emotion known to man but in the end is left with a resounding ‘hope’ to carry on. Thus, in 1985 came the transformation of that message of ‘hope’ just resting in the pages of a often forgotten book to live action musical drama on the stage in London. People instantly identified themselves with the triumphs and tragedies played out before them as they followed that spark of ‘hope’ weaving relentlessly onward to the end.
That powerful story continued its draw year after year until it eventually became the longest running musical in the world.
The musical opened at the Barbican Centre in London, England on October 8, 1985. By 2006, after 21 continuous years, it became the longest-running musical in the world. It is also the third longest-running show in Broadway history.
A new tour, in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the London Production, ‘Les Miserables’ began performances at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on December 12, 2009. The tour continued in 2010 with performances in Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Paris and London again. In January 2010, it played its 10,000th performance in London, at Queen's Theatre in London's West End. On October 3, 2010, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary Les Miserables has been seen by over 60 million people in 42 countries and has been translated into 21 languages (English, French, German (two from Austria and Germany), Spanish (three from Spain, Argentina and Mexico), Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian (two in Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Swedish, Dutch (two from the Netherlands and Belgium), Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan).
Including singles and promos, there have been over 55 official recordings from its worldwide productions including the multi-platinum London cast recording and the Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast album as well as complete symphonic albums. The video of its 10th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall Gala Concert sold nearly 2,000,000 copies worldwide.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
……..'LES MISERABLES DOWNSIZES TO STAY ALIVE IN LONDON…….
……………...............No. 2................................
SOURCE: ---WhatsOnStage.com----
HEADLINE: ---LES MISERABLES BEGINS TO DOWNSIZE IN ORDER TO STAY ALIVE---
By: Terri Paddock 13 February 2004<< As the years passed no film adaptation of the stage musical was ever produced. A film adaptation had been in development several times since the late 1980s. Alan Parker was reported to be connected to an adaptation at an early stage. In 1992 Cameron Mackintosh announced early planning for a film to be directed by Bruce Beresford and co-produced by Tri-Star Pictures, but the project was ultimately abandoned.
According to Terri Paddock’s article below impresario Cameron Mackintosh confirmed that Les Miserables would move as planned from the grand 1,400-seat Palace Theater to the smaller 990-seat Queen’s Theatre in April 2004. The transfer appeared somewhat threatened when members of the Musicians Union protested over a reduction in the show’s orchestra.
The Musicians Union was “vehemently opposed” the introduction of the Sinfonia, which stores samples of every instrument in a score and then allows an operator to simulate performances without conventional musicians.
‘Les Miserables’ became the first show to employ the Sinfonia in the UK, and many feared that it would set a dangerous precedent. A similar dilemma arose later on Broadway, when theatre owners and union officials wrangled over a proposed abolition of orchestra quotas causing a 4 day strike that cost millions in lost revenue.
Les Miserables' final performance at the Palace Theater was on 27 March 2004, and its first performance at the Queen’s Theater was on 1 April, 2004. Years later, Mackintosh admitted that he could have pulled the plug on Les Mis but didn’t.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
……..'LES MISERABLES DOWNSIZES TO STAY ALIVE IN LONDON…….
.................................No. 3………………………
SOURCE: ---PLAYBILL.COM ---
HEADLINE: ---PRODUCER MACKINTOSH ‘GOB-SMACKED’ BY BOYLE’S “I DREAMED A DREAM”---
BY: Mark Shenton POSTED: April 15, 2009
The rendition of Les Misérables' "I Dreamed a Dream," performed on the U.K. weekly ITV Channel TV show "Britain's Got Talent" by unemployed singer Susan Boyle, has turned the song into a hit tune all over again. The performance by the 47-year-old on the show, which aired April 11 and was watched by an average of 10.3 million viewers, has been viewed over four million times on YouTube already
In a press statement, producer Cameron Mackintosh has echoed the comments of judges Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden, saying, "Just like the judges and audience I was gob-smacked by the emotional powerhouse performance of Susan Boyle's show stopping rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream.' Vocally it is one of the best versions of the song I've ever heard. Touching, thrilling and uplifting. I do hope she gets to sing it for the Queen."
“I Dreamed a Dream” is the show-stopping song performed early in the first act of Les Misérables by the ill-fated Fantine. Patti LuPone created the role on the West End stage
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
….PRODUCER MACKINTOSH GOB-SMACKED BY BOYLE'S I DREAMED A DREAM SONG ON YOUTUBE......
.................................No. 4………………………
SOURCE: --- The Telegraph (London)---
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE CAUSES ‘LES MISERABLES’ IN LONDON TO SELL OUT---
POSTED: 3:09PM BST JUNE 11, 2009
Susan Boyle is causing sell out performances of Les Miserables in London's West End after her rendition of “I Dreamed A Dream” for Britain's Got Talent.
Sales of tickets for the long-running musical have increased by 46 per cent since Boyle performed the song in the first round of the talent show.
Mark Bower, head of lifestyle products for LASTMINUTE.COM who discovered the rise said: " There has been a clear knock-on effect from Susan Boyle singing 'I Dreamed a Dream’.
"After her performance ticket sales shot up almost overnight and have maintained a consistent level of popularity."
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
…SUSAN BOYLE CAUSES 'LES MISERABLES' TO SELL OUT IN LONDON….
..................................No. 5………………………
SOURCE: ---GLOBE AND MAIL POST (TORONTO) ---
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE SENSATION SENDS VANCOUVER LES MIS SALES THROUGH THE ROOF---
Knestruck Published Friday, April 17, 2009 5:38pm, EDT
By now, you've no doubt heard about or just plain heard Susan Boyle, the older-than-40-year-old virgin whose astounding and inspiring rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables on Britain's Got Talent has turned into one of the hottest viral videos of all time. I mentioned Boyle here on Wednesday, but I was just one of hundreds of thousands of people who have Twittered, blogged or emailed the link around.
Boyle is a bona fide celebrity now and her story has spawned reams of media coverage in the past week. And all that attention - 21,249,741 YouTube views and counting - is not just benefiting Boyle and Britain's Got Talent, but also increasing awareness of the show she sang from: ‘Les Miserables’. Now, ‘Les Miserables’ doesn't really need a boost - Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel has been running on the West End in London for a whopping 23 years and counting. Since October 2006, it has held the title of the world's longest running musical.
But publicity never hurts. In Vancouver,the Arts Club theatre is about to open a production of Les Miserables on May 14 and since Susan Boyle's video started being emailed around, they've seen ticket sales for the show double. Yes, double. The Arts Club box office staff started to notice sales something was up on Wednesday. According to spokesperson Nicole McLuckie, "Tuesday [the box office]was up about 40%. Wednesday was up by about 115%. And yesterday it was about 250%." Incredible! No wonder they're calling Boyle the "The Scot heard round the world". Sara-Jeanne Hosie, the actress playing Fantine (who sings "I Dream a Dream"), has been forwarded the Boyle clip so many times that she's started answering the phone "Susan Boyle's understudy." "I'm excited that, with her spirit and incredible voice, Susan Boyle has connected people to the beauty and power of this song," says Hosie. "But mostly it's a relief that if I get hit by a bus, the Arts Club knows exactly who to ask to replace me!"
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
.....SUSAN BOYLE SENSATION SENDS VANCOUVER TICKET SALES FOR 'LES MIS' THROUGH THE ROOF…..
..................................No. 6………………………
SOURCE: ---TECHDIRT.COM---
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE’S YOUTUBE STAR TURN REVIVES INTEREST IN LES MISERABLES---
POSTED: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 9:17am
BY: "from the we’ll-check-that-out dept"
As the recording industry continues to freak out about videos on YouTube without compensation, the whole media sensation Susan Boyle phenomenon is showing how such videos on YouTube clearly act as promotion for the music. Paul Kedrosky notes that Boyle's now famous rendition of a song from Les Miserables has shot the Les Mis CD up from the previous rank of 1,000 to number 32 on Amazon's sales charts, while Mathew Ingram notes that tickets for the live performance of Les Miserables have also skyrocketed.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
….SUSAN BOYLE'S YOUTUBE STAR REVIVES INTEREST IN 'LES MISERABLES'…..
..................................No. 7………………………
HEADLINE: ---LES MISERABLES COMPOSER CLAUDE-MICHAEL SCHONBERG on SUSAN BOYLE PHENOMENON----
TRANSCRIPT:
>>Never in my life have I felt such an ‘Amazing’ connection between a person and a song.
>>Even as a conductor, I can tell you that the words of this song, I Dreamed A Dream, are just as important as the music, maybe even more.
>>Someone who sings her life so well, I have not seen that.
>>I’ve seen an actor find the role of his life, or a singer find the song of their life. But, to this extent, I have not seen that.
>>For us (as composers) it was a gift from heaven for the show (Les Miserables), as well.
>>The first time in my life, without doing anything, I wake up and I have 40 emails.
>>I had no idea what was going on.
>>Then she sold 5,000,000 albums!
>>There is a show about her life called “I Dreamed A Dream”.
>>Reality TV was never my thing, but it caught up with me really fast.
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
..................................No. 8………………………
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE’S ‘I DREAMED A DREAM’ ALBUM SETS WORLD RECORD----
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
..................................No. 9………………………
HEADLINE: ---SUSAN BOYLE SETS MORE RECORDS WITH 2ND ALBUM ‘THE GIFT’ IN 2009----
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
………........................No.10........................
SOURCE: TV.BROADWAYWORLD.COM
HEADLINE: ---WEST END’S LES MISERABLES’ UPGRADE---
BY: MamasDoin'Fine POSTED: Feb 17, 2011
As you read this piece by MamasDoin’Fine it becomes clear that Les Miserables was in the middle of an unexpected resurgence away from the direction that it was headed in back in 2004. It was throwing off the old handicapping baggage (the sinfonia or virtual orchestra) that had been used in its downsizing in 2004 in order to keep it alive and was now expanding the orchestra once again. What high powered locomotive engine was now driving the world’s greatest musical to renewed heights after 25 years even though it was supposed to be in its twilight years, as stage musicals go?
‘Les Miserables’ composer, CLAUDE-MICHAEL SCHONBERG clearly knew the answer within a few months after the appearance of Susan Boyle on the world stage with her spellbinding performance of IDAD. He said “For us it was a gift from heaven.” By the time of this article in 2011, the original “I Dreamed A Dream” YouTube video by Susan Boyle had been viewed 600,000,000+ times and she had produced 3 No.1 albums with sales of 18,000,000 or more and had become only the second person ever to match the Beatles with 2 separate No.1 albums in both the US and the UK in the same year (2009).
MamasDoinFine quotes the producers as saying, "This new (expanded) line-up does require us to look again at the make-up of the orchestra. I am terrifically grateful to the current orchestra for the work they have done over the years and I hope that as many of them as possible will be able to remain with us for the next stage of the show’s life".
The London version of 'Les Miserables' is currently the only production of the musical that does not use the new (expanded) orchestrations, and producer Cameron Mackintosh, who is also set to bring a new sound design into the West End show, said he owes it 'to both new audiences and the fans to incorporate them'.
Nicholas Allott, managing director of Cameron Mackintosh Limited, explained that he had met with the players recently to discuss plans to introduce the new orchestrations. He said the updated score has new 'doubling and trebling', which relates to the number of instruments each musician is required to play as part of the orchestra Allott said that, contrary to rumors within the industry, none of the players is on notice.
Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, the show’s authors, said the new orchestrations 'are in parts more difficult to play than the original and require some adjustments to the orchestra line-up'.
"Nevertheless we fervently hope that many of the current orchestra will remain with us in the continuing life of Les Miserables", they said.
When the show moved to the Queen’s Theatre in 2004, Mackintosh came under criticism for scaling back the orchestra size and introducing a sinfonia - described as a ‘virtual orchestra’ - instead.
However, Allott said the new orchestrations are 'more acoustic in nature and rely less on electronic sounds', which will mean the sinfonia (virtual orchestra) will no longer be used.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
....'LES MISERABLES' EXPANDS ORCHERTRA - ELIMINATES SINFONIA….
...................................No. 11………………………
SOURCE: ---VARIETY.COM 2011---
--International News—
HEADLINE: ---MARATHON SUCCESS FOR ‘LES MISERABLES’----
26-Year-old Musical Resurges on London’s West End and on the Road
POSTED: Sat., Apr. 9, 2011, 4:00am PT
BY: David Benedict
--LES MISERABLES--
LONDON -- Now in its 26th year, the original London production of "Les Miserables" is the world's longest runner -- and currently carries its largest box office advance ever at £5 million ($8.2 million), an astonishing figure for a show of that vintage.
Meanwhile, the three-year worldwide tour of the new version is playing to audiences between 97% and 105% of capacity across the U.S., with further incarnations set for Spain, Japan, South America and South Africa. Later this year, Tom Hooper (Director -"The King's Speech") will direct the movie version from a script by William Nicholson.
The "Les Miz" resurgence is a surprise even to the show's producer, Cameron Mackintosh.
He admits he could have pulled the plug. But the musical got traction and began to build. "It was partly the 21st anniversary, partly Susan Boyle," he says, crediting her version of one of the show's big hits.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
.....SOURCE.....
...................................No. 12………………………
SOURCE: ---EXAMINER.COM ---
HEADLINE: ---BROADWAY GLOBAL ANNOUNCES 2012 MOVIE AWARD FOR ‘LES MISERABLES’---
BY: RICHARD CAMERON OCTOBER 14, 2012
The old days of taping the sound like Grease, Chicago, Nine, Victor Victoria, Evita... then having the characters match the songs they had sung months before, is just memories of the past. Movie musical characters were stale or robotic as they tried to match a recorded studio performance with acting beats to songs that the stars would lip sync to.
But now Les Misérables, the movie, has changed all of that, by having the story told live, with the characters singing the songs live as they are filmed. Les Misérables film version is the most talked about movie musical of this century.
Who knew a story on revolution would be revolutionary for the future of movie musicals. Les Misérables is one of the longest running musicals of all time, producer Cameron Mackintosh opened the English version in London in 1985. When the Broadway version opened in 1987 the musical was nominated for twelve Tony Awards, winning eight of them, including "Best Musical" and "Best Original Score." Now the Academy Awards, Oscars could be in the mix because "At the End of the Day" Les Misérables is groundbreaking for musicals.
Les Misérables, the movie musical version, is inspired by the most popular Broadway musical of all time and has broken the sound barrier.
Highlighted with a 70 piece orchestra this movie is ground breaking for musical theatre, as the Les Misérables characters tell the most beautiful love story ever told, singing live as they were filmed. It has received the "Broadway Global 2012 Movie Award" and is the”Theatre Chat” top pick for one of the best musicals ever written.
Les Miserables is a tale that makes you think about the kind of person you want to be. The main character chooses a very difficult path. He chooses to do good and be honest and have integrity at a time when many around him are corrupt, desperate and immoral. It's a path that leads to all kinds of adventures and, in the end, is more rewarding than he could ever have imagined. And that's why this story really gets people in a very deep place. That's why audience members are on their feet with tears in their eyes. Because in a way, Les Mis is about all of us.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
…BROADWAY GLOBAL ANNOUNCES 2012 MUSICAL MOVIE AWARD FOR LES MISERABLES….
...................................No. 13………………………
HEADLINE: ---OFFICIAL ‘LES MISERABLES’ MOVIE TRAILER 2012---
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
..................................No. 14………………………
SOURCE: ---COLLIDER.COM---
HEADLINE: ---LES MISERABLES FIRST SCREENING EARNS APPLAUSE AND STANDING OVATION---
BY: Dave Trumbore
POSTED: November 23, 2012 7:07pm
Not since 2002′s Chicago has a musical feature been a serious Oscar contender for Best Picture, but early reactions indicate that the trend could change this year. Each musical number of ‘Les Miserables’ was followed by raucous applause with the principal cast taking the stage to a standing ovation at the end of the film. It looks like Christmas has come early for the cast and crew.
The film stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Les Miserables opens on December 25th.
The first audience reactions to Les Miserables were reported by THR from the first screening at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Tom Hooper, director, who had just finished his first Thanksgiving meal, shared what he was thankful for this year:
“I’m grateful that I finished it [the film]… I’m grateful to the thousands of people who have been on this journey, particularly the wonderful cast… and I’m grateful to Victor Hugo[who wrote the novel upon which the Broadway play upon which the film is derived], who unfortunately can’t be with us.”
Scott Feinberg, THR reporter, also highlights Hooper’s strong chances for Best Director, names Hathaway as a frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress, says that Jackman’s Valjean role was custom-made for him though it may not be enough to earn him even a nomination this year in a crowded category, commends Crowe’s vocal abilities as Javert and says that Barks, Seyfried and Carter could also contend for Best Supporting Actress nominations. There is also the original song, “Suddenly,” that was written specifically for the film and will likely be a contender.
Let’s take a look at some of the reactions from viewers via Twitter:
Kristopher Tapley @kristapley Hathaway wins. GOD. I wept. Film’s a triumph. They’re on their feet here. NYC crowd ate…it…up. #lesmiserables
Wilson Morales @blackfilm Standing O for #LesMiserables! Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks are on stage now
for Q & A.
For those who are theater purists, you will LOVE #LesMiserables! Hooper did it right. Having Barks play role again but on film was great!
DaveKarger @davekarger First #LesMiserables screening went over extremely well. I’d call it a sure thing Picture nominee for Oscar and the
probable Globe winner. Hugh Jackman has a great shot to bump out Denzel or Joaquin in the Best Actor race. His singing is quite impressive.
#LesMiserables
Anne Hathaway could easily win supporting actress. Her “I Dreamed a Dream” is the showstopper. #LesMiserables
Steven Zeitchik @ZeitchikLAT Hathaway is a stand-out, albeit in very few scenes; Jackman and Crowe singing is solid but doesn’t reach for as much.
#LesMiserables
Julie Stone @Julie_Stone #LesMiserables screening audience burst into applause after songs and gave a long standing ovation during the credits.
Samantha Massell @smassellsings Still reeling from the amazingness that was today. #lesmiserables#firstEVERscreening
In case I wasn’t clear, the #lesmiserables movie is absolutely UNREAL. Ten million points to #TomHooper for doing this musical movie RIGHT.
Jennifer Ravalli @JennNYU Got to be one of the first people to see #lesmiserables today @SAGscreening! It was amazing! Totally love the brilliant
#eddieredmayne
Jo Foster @jo1foster Sobbed my eyes out. Les Miserables. WHAT AN EPIC MOVIE. #lesmiserables
Lucy Gibson @LucyRGibson Can’t say too much about #lesmiserables until its release but I will say this: it grabs your heart and squeezes it till you
cry like a baby I’m going to call it early but #lesmiserables has Best Picture written all over it
I’m going to call it early but #lesmiserables has Best Picture written all over it
In December 2012, the world’s longest-running musical brings its power to the big screen in Tom Hooper’s sweeping and spectacular interpretation of Victor Hugo’s epic tale. With international superstars and beloved songs–including “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Bring Him Home,” “One Day More” and “On My Own”–Les Misérables, the show of shows, is now reborn as the cinematic musical experience of a lifetime.
NOTE: Currently, ‘Variety.com’ ranks, by volume, the online views of all ‘new movie trailers’ (those within 10 weeks of their release date) and has the new Les Miserables Movie Trailer listed in its ‘Top Ten’ of all movie trailers. YouTube’s numbers show the trailer averaging about 15,000 views a day and currently standing at 2,398,046 views as of Nov 26.
MAIN SOURCE LINK:
...'Les Miserables' Movie Reviews...
....................................No. 15………………………
HEADLINE: ---‘SUSAN BOYLE SAGA’ IN HER OWN WORDS----
SOURCE: ---YOUTUBE ---
.................................No. 16………………………
SOURCE: ---THE HEART ---
HEADLINE: ---MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD”---
BY: David Francis November 30, 2012
As we gather together at this time of year with our family members and others that we love, it is worth our while to contemplate those who forced to go through loses of one kind or another that they have not chosen for themselves. If we were in their shoes, how would we cope? What would we do with similar circumstances to those that they have found themselves in? Well?
What if it was not just us, but thousands all around us, or millions in our country or even 100’s of millions around the world who were all suffering with economic and personal losses the likes of which had not been seen in a hundred years? That was just exactly what condition the world was in at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Headlines read “Markets Fall as Slump Spans World”, “Manufacturing Tumbles Globally”, “Crisis Deepen as Banks Fail” and “Families Feel Pressure”.
In the midst of all this worldwide disquiet and discouragement lived a lonely, middle-aged little single lady who had lost the last remaining member from her family home (her mother) a year earlier and who was now forced to live completely alone in the home that had been her life for 47 years.
She faced the very kind of discouraging circumstances that multitudes were facing on an unprecedented scale. How would she ever make a difference in life at her age and circumstance? Let’s see.
Upon her mother’s dying wish, Susan Boyle took the one gift that she knew she possessed as a natural gift (from God) and made an offering of it to a gathering of 2,000 people assembled in an auditorium who for the most part were looking for hapless dreamers to laugh at and make fun of. As Simon Cowell stated later “The audience could smell blood”. She chose the one song that perfectly told her life story, I Dreamed A Dream. When she opened her mouth she began the process of slaying misjudging hearts, first by the thousands in that auditorium but over time growing to hundreds of millions around the globe as her YouTube video broke records almost daily until reaching in excess of 600,000,000 views of her performance.
Susan Boyle took a depressed and discouraged world by storm without looks or fame but with a voice that uttered ‘hope’ in every breath and people responded by the countless millions. But that was just the beginning. Against all odds and in spite of plenty of skeptics, she stayed her intended course and roared out the gate with this fastest selling album in history. Then she turned out a second No. 1 album in the same year
(2010) something that hadn’t been done since the Beatles. But an even greater impact than all of these may be to have ultimately been responsible for the resurgence of the longest running musical in the world, ‘Les Miserables’. After running continuously for 19 years at the same theater in London, it was moved to a theater one third smaller and reducing the orchestra in response to smaller audiences (2004). A movie that was to be based on the musical had been considered at different times during the previous years but was ultimately abandoned.
Today, in light of the powerhouse presence of the Susan Boyle phenomenon planted right in the middle of Les Miserables because of her impact on the song I Dreamed a Dream, new life has exploded around the world for this musical to such an extent that a movie based on the musical has risen out of the ashes of long abandoned hopes, much like the resurgence of ‘hope’ that has been experienced by millions on a personal level.
Finally, I can think of no better example of someone who took her adversities in stride and, though sometimes buckling but never breaking, said to the wide world “I” “Have” “Hope” and then set out to prove it. So, this Christmas, when you take your family to see the blockbuster movie about the greatest musical to ever have been staged (and you should see it) remember that somewhere in a small town in Scotland sits the one person on the planet who just might be more responsible for all this grandeur that you are watching on the screen than all the multitudes who actually were able to create what you are looking at. Awards may flow like honey in the wake of the early reviews for this movie but it was dead in the water before Susan Boyle took the chance to make a difference in her circumstances and the world. Has she made a difference in your life? She has made an incredible difference in mine!!
....... David Francis
As Posted on
http://theamazingsusanboyle.magnify.net/messages/view/S8KH7C1CK9C75SLZ
Sir Cameron Mackintosh explains the success of Les Miserables
As Les Miserables celebrates its 25th anniversary with a concert at the O2 Arena, Sir Cameron Mackintosh explains the secret of its enduring success.
Would Les Miserables have reached its 25th anniversary without Susan Boyle? Yes. Would it have sold 57 million tickets? Sir Cameron Mackintosh thinks not.
"Until Susan Boyle it was the great score that never had a hit song. How wonderfully ironic that it took someone who was just an ordinary person to give a song a hit life," he says.
Sir Cameron believes that Boyle's choice of I Dreamed A Dream for that Britain's Got Talent audition was the biggest blessing his show could have received.
"Her connection with the material was quite extraordinary. There was something in the lyric and something autobiographical in that song that she released, and she took the public imagination with it – not by trying to have a hit but by trying to get a job and do something with her life. And that's something that no so-called expert can ever understand.
"It was so wonderful, it was completely artless and yet unutterably powerful."
But did she really boost the popularity of the world's longest-running musical to a significant degree? "Oh yes. Of course! She reawakened it in people. The show had been doing pretty well but it definitely jumped up there. This ricocheted around the world and it was the publicity shot anyone would dream of, although of course it would never happen if you tried to make it a publicity stunt.
"It was 'I Dreamed A Dream from Les Mis' and they don't normally mention where a song comes from. Everywhere in the world people went, 'Oh, I know that song, I didn't know it was from there, I'd like to go and see it'."
Boyle or no Boyle, the success of Les Mis is staggering. It has played for 45,000 performances in 42 countries, been translated into 21 languages, including Mauritian Creole, Icelandic, Japanese and Hebrew.
No wonder Sir Cameron has staged a month of celebrations. A revival at London's Barbican – where the show began, as an RSC production – in 1985 – ended on Saturday and today sees a lavish concert at the O2 Arena. The cast included Lea Salonga, who first played Eponine on Broadway; Matt Lucas, the Little Britain star; Nick Jonas, the teen pop sensation; and the Tony Award-winning Alfie Boe.
Why do theatregoers fall in love with Les Mis? "It's all about Victor Hugo's story. Sometimes I think, 'I can't possibly watch more than 10 minutes tonight' and I find myself 45 minutes later completely drawn into it. And it's a story that's entirely contemporary because it's a brilliant observation of human nature."
Sir Cameron is good company. He'll happily sally forth on any topic, from television reality shows like I'd Do Anything ("I used to dream of getting shows plugged on television. Here is the BBC giving the musical theatre a showcase on a Saturday!") to the pointlessness of many university degrees ("it's not the panacea for people getting a job any more, and the creative arts are, actually").
The one blot on the landscape is the ongoing feud with Sir Trevor Nunn, who has accused Sir Cameron of a grand "betrayal" by leaving him out of the 25th anniversary celebrations. Sir Trevor and John Caird directed the original Barbican production and Sir Trevor is furious that he has not been invited back.
With the worst possible timing, Nunn has been appointed as the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at St Catherine's College, Oxford. He is due to give his inaugural lecture in two weeks. Sir Cameron has no plans to attend.
I ask if they are back on speaking terms? "No, actually, and given that Trevor Nunn is about to take over the chair this month of my professorship at Oxford, I just think Trevor's been very silly.
"Trevor is entitled to his own opinion, but it's sad. He hasn't actually directed Les Miserables on his own, or at all really, since 1987.
"I sent him a little note saying, 'Don't be so silly. Your memory is as bad as your manners'. But listen, I've got nothing to talk to him about. Trevor sees the world the way he sees it." Won't the two men have to speak to each other at Oxford? "Not necessarily."
His relationship with Andrew Lloyd Webber is in ruder health. "We are friends and rivals. But as we're both in our sixties now we're much more friends than rivals. We've survived in an extraordinary world and the fact that our shows still wanted 25 years after it's amazing. There's nothing for us to be rivals about now.
"Andrew and I have been going on so long now that of course we've gone in and out of fashion. For years everyone said we'd ruined musical comedy because everyone sang through everything. That I've lived long enough for musical theatre to become fashionable is the biggest surprise of my career."
Clearly a man still in love with his job at 64, he believes musical theatre is "remarkably buoyant" and will survive any downturn.
"I suspect people will just be more careful what they spend. For 20 years we've been told by the government and every advert on radio, 'You can have that', but do we need it? Certainly with the Great Crash of the 1930s, entertainment was one of the things that actually did stay reasonably buoyant, because in the end people are not going to pack up and just face the wall. The majority of the country will carry on, if not as usual, then trying to enjoy life as much as they can because that's what we're like as human beings."
Les Mis, along with Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Oliver! and Mary Poppins, have helped to make Sir Cameron rich. He claims never to read his own press but says the last Rich List estimate of his wealth was "fairly accurate". The figure was £635 million. "But you know, none of these figures means a light unless you want to sell them and if you've got a buyer, and I'm interested in none of it. I don't spend a fortune."
He has "some lovely houses" including a farm in Somerset and an estate in Scotland, but doesn't go mad with his money. "I've taken considerable gambles on shows but they're very considered gambles. I don't like being in debt and I wouldn't borrow money for anything. I try and make every pound I put on the stage look £5. Early on I never had any money to lose, but in those wonderful days before the web and the net I had cheques rather than bank transfers so nobody ever realised how much money I didn't have."
A one-time Labour donor who voted for Tony Blair in 1997, Sir Cameron switched his support to David Cameron and is now scathing about the New Labour project. "At that time I thought it was time to get rid of the Conservatives. Now I'm totally thrilled we've got rid of the Labour people. New Labour, Old Labour, whatever. It was just hard labour. I hate waste and there's no point having new ideas if you don't know how to implement them."
The one Labour figure for whom he does have great affection is Peter Mandelson. "He's just the best fun. He's one of the brightest men you'll ever meet. I don't necessarily agree with all his politics but I think if I had to choose someone to go and spend time with, he'd certainly be very high on my list because he really is a terrific guy."
Next up on Sir Cameron's endless to-do list is a film version of Les Mis, from the people at Working Title, and a new London production called Betty Blue Eyes, based on the farce A Private Function. It is directed by Sir Richard Eyre and opens in April 2011. The film starred a real life pig. Sir Cameron is keeping his porcine star under wraps for now. "Believe me, we're going to make sure Betty is one of the most marvellous stars of the West End stage. Betty's not to be truffled with." And he bursts out laughing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/8039636/Sir-Cameron-Mackintosh-explains-the-success-of-Les-Miserables.html
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