Les Miserables

[Mugwump101]

I finished the book and I'm going to go see the broadway version of Les Miserables. Has anyone seen it? If so, how is it compared to the book? What parts are in the theater version?

[metal134]

Les Miserables is one of my absolute favorite books but I refuse to go see a theatrical version of it. It's always a musical and I hate musicals with a fiery, fiery passion.

[khalakh_the_3rd]

I thought the musical was really good (I saw it before I read the book though - in fact I went and bought the book because I enjoyed the musical) It follows the same storyline, only in a much simplified form - e.g. most of Fantine's history is left out - or rather summed up in the song 'I dreamed a dream'; the detail of Valjean's re-emprisonment and the whole nunnery section are left out, and the rest of the story is generally shortened and simplified in the same fashion.
However, I don't think this really impairs the musical - the form of a musical must naturally be much simplified from that of a novel - and overall I thought it was very good.

[MusicalMad-x]

Les Miserables Is Brilliant On Stage! I Would Definitly Reccomend it hehe! Ive seen it twice and i want to see it again! I also have th CD and DVD lol im not obsessed.. honestly! xxxx

[hedbanger]

I've never seen it, and really I don't like things like that xD But I've never heard a bad thing about it.

[Lag866]

I love both, it had been a while since I had read the book when I saw the play but from what I could remember it was acurate. But the play by itself is a wonderful and moving play.

[Charles Darnay]

don't go to the play just to see how it compares to the book. The play is fantastic, the music is absolutly incredible - and as a fan of the book, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

[Wandering_Child]

I love both, though, of course, the book is much better just because it is so much more complex and in-depth with the characters.

However, the play simply had to be simplified. You could not cram over a thousand-page book into two hours. Impossible. I know people who have seen the musical and are still confused.

Go to the play. Just don't try to compare it with the book, or else you'll be a bit disappointed. A lot of things are left out, but they follow the storyline fantastically for what they had to work with.

[AngelofPhantoms]

The musical is wonderful! The only thing I would compare is that they are both classics. It's better than most of the movie versions (cringes at thought of the 1998 one.) I like it because it really displays Eponine well, this is important to me because she's my favorite in both versions. Go see it, you'll leave the theater feeling that you spent your money well.

[kiwiscai]

All of Le miserable are wonderful!
I just want to finish my thesis with it,any suggestions?

[Bramblefox]

I read Les Mis because I heard the musical first. I love the musical to itty-bitty bits, but it does leave out a lot of stuff. Mostly what bugs me is leaving out all the Marius/Cosette romance, saying that they fell in love after one day when in the book Marius stalked Cosette for over a year before he even summoned up the courage to speak to her...And all the Amis are pretty much skimmed over. That's sad. It is basically a very simplified and condensed version of the book, but very good nonetheless. Philip Quast has made me fall in love with Javert. Period.:D

[Catperson]

Both the book and the musical are absolute masterpieces! I love the music in the musical, though I was disappointed at some of the bits that were changed. The part where Eponine dies, for example. In the musical she keeps going on to Marius about how much she loves him, and he starts going all mushy too. (I do still love the song 'A little fall of rain', though!) Whereas in the book Hugo makes it a point that Marius is not doing Cosette a disservice by kissing Eponine on the forehead after she is dead. On the other hand, it does add more drama to the production. They could never fit all of the story into a 3 hour musical, so I think every last note is an achievement, and I love every bit of it :)

[kelby_lake]

The musical is classic. Even people who don't think much of musicals like Les Mis :D