Les Mis: Taking the Stage to the Screen

Les Miserables is a Tom Hooper movie based on the hit musical.  Set in the early 19^th century, the story follows an ex-prisoner, Jean Valjean, who breaks parole.  He is constantly being chased by a persistent police officer, determined to bring Jean back to prison.  His life soon changes when he takes custody of a young girl, Cossette.  The story is full of sadness and struggle. Hooper put together an all-star cast for this movie, and has been the most talked about movie musical to date. 

Lately, movie musicals have been popping up everywhere.  What stands out about Les Mis, is the singing.  During the production of many movie musicals the actors must match their pre-recorded vocals while filming.  This process works great, but doesn’t allow for the actors to perform on impulse.  Hooper wanted all real and live performances for Les Mis. The cast performed the music live while filming, as opposed to recording the songs months in advance. This type of filming allowed the actors to be spontaneous in their performance, giving it a more authentic feel.  Luckily for Hooper, the entire cast had the musical chops to pull it off.  If anyone needs proof that this type of filming works, check out Anne Hathaway’s version of “I Dreamed A Dream”.  This tear-jerking performance is by far the best I have seen in a movie musical. 

I loved both the singing and acting.  The live vocals resulted in very vulnerable and emotional performances, which is important for this musical. I have seen this musical on-stage as well.  As a musical theatre buff, I usually prefer to watch an on-stage version of a musical as opposed to on-screen.  In my opinion, this movie can go toe-to-toe with the musical.  No, the singing wasn’t perfect, but what musical has perfect singing? I have yet to see one, but that’s the beauty of musical theatre.  With an adequate cast and director,  I would love to see this process of filming a live-singing movie musical done again.