Les Misérables in Concert [Blu-ray]

If you love music and life you don't want to miss this performance! Along with countless others I too have been an enthusiastic fan of this great work; I have had the opportunity to see it on stage and have owned the LaserDisc version of the 10th Anniversary Concert for many years. The power, beauty and drama of this work never fails to profoundly move me when I watch it and the melodies haunt me for days afterward. When I saw the 25th Anniversary Concert was available on Blu-ray I ordered it immediately; my first thought was how it would compare with the 10th Anniversary Concert that I had watched so many times on LaserDisc. I almost thought of myself as a judge who would sit in judgment and pronounce sentence. I wasn't very far at all into the performance before I lost that mindset; I was swept up by the beauty, power, and emotion of this performance. Yes it is different from the 10th Anniversary Concert but suddenly that was of absolutely no importance as I felt I was witnessing a glorious, emotional performance of fabulous music. To get the technical considerations out of the way; the video and audio are all you would expect from a contemporary Blu-ray recording. The picture is clear and crisp and the surround sound is a delight to the ears. The only real disappointment with this disc is the absence of any liner notes; no commentary, pictures, nothing. It doesn't really seem like too much to ask that something be added that gives information on the cast and performance. The performance itself left me feeling that I had received my money's worth and more; I noticed at the end of the disc, after the concert that people in the audience seemed to be milling about, not really ready to bring the evening to a close. I felt the same way as if a wonderful experience was over before I was really ready for it to end. The closing credits mentioned something I was unaware of, a movie version was in the works. Well hooray, finally a movie version of the entire musical! I had off and on been checking to see if a movie version with full staging and action was available but had always been disappointed to see that it had not. It appears that during an interview in Spain, last September, a journalist asked Cameron Mackintosh why a movie version of Les Miserable's had not been made. It is reported that he said a contract for a movie had been signed and he said in part,"We'll be working with a screenplay writer over the next few months and hopefully if all that comes together, we will find a great director and start." That is really good news to those of us who have loved the concert versions. I'll not make an attempt at evaluating all of the individual performances but will say that Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean brings a truly memorable voice to the part. The other roles are handled with emotion, power, and conviction; I found I had tears rolling down my cheeks at several points during the performance. Two tidbits of casting trivia, Lea Salonga, who sings the role of Fantine in this production sang the role of Eponine in the 10th Anniversary Concert; Jenny Galloway performs as Mme Thenardier in both performances. If you enjoy great music, well performed, you really owe it to yourself to buy this disc; if you don't have Blu-ray then get the DVD, just don't fail yourself by not buying it!

Les Miz is a morality play. In the Old Testament, God, the Creator of the Universe, feeds the hungry, comforts the broken-hearted, releases the imprisoned, and defends the weak. Justice is equated with mercy. In the New Testament, St. Joseph does not openly condemn Mary. his betrothed, (according to the custom of the times, the Blessed Virgin Mary, being pregnant out of wedlock, would have been stoned to death; her father, according to the Talmud, would have been the one to have to hand her over to the mob) because he was "a righteous man." Again, righteousness is equated with mercy. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells a parable. God separates the sheep from the goats. He turns to the sheep and says to them that when he was hungry, they had fed him, when he was in prison they had visited him, when he was sick, they had nursed him. The sheep were absolutely dumbfounded. "When did we see you hungry and feed you...et cetera, et cetera, et cetera?". Whereupon the Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, Creator of the heavens and the earth and all flora and fauna therein, informed them that whenever they had performed these acts of kindnesses toward any of the least of these their brethren, they had done it to the Master of the Universe. Heady stuff that. The goats did not fare so well. They were thrown on the trash heap of Gehenna, burned up and forgotten. There you have it: the moral conflict between Javert (the pseudo-righteous man) who equates justice and righteousness with The Law and Punishment versus Jean Valjean, (the truly righteous man; the sinner redeemed) who equates justice and righteousness with Mercy and Sacrifice and Protection of the Vulnerable. The 25th Anniversary Concert (Blu-ray) is magnificent. The voices are superb. Superb is an understatement. I was absolutely blown away. Although this event is a concert, all the songs are delivered by members of the London cast. The actors are never out of character. Les Miz is, essentially, an opera. Consequently, if all the songs are sung, the story line remains intact. And all the songs are sung. The first time I saw this performance, I downloaded it on my DVR--all 280 minutes of it--from PBS. I could not bring myself to erase it . I needed the minutes, so I finally ordered the Blu-ray version from Amazon. I still did not dare to erase anything until I viewed the DVD and was absolutely certain every minute was included. You see, at the end, after the curtain calls, the original cast (there have been 4 consecutive casts for the long-running London production) came out. The audience went wild. THEN the four tenors who sang the John Valjean part came out and sang "Bring Him Home". THEN, hundreds of young people who have participated in school productions marched in singing the stirring call to revolution. It was truly a night to remember, and I have not told you the half of it. The original playrights from France were there. All that was missing was Victor Hugo, risen from the grave, eager to see what West End London hath wrought with his masterpiece. Best of all, the entirety was recorded on Blu-ray with crisp, sharp video and audio. I erased the tv version and gained my 280 minutes. Without regret. BECAUSE.... Not only did I NOT have to convert dollars into pounds, cross the Atlantic Ocean, reserve a London hotel room, beg the concierge to scalp me some amphitheater tickets, hail a London taxi and tip people to see this historic event, I saw it in my own front row seat, at my own convenience, in my own living room. A bargain? No. A STEAL !!

LES MISERABLES 25th Anniversay Concert is beautifully done and a lovely rendition of this musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's incomparable novel. Though the staging of this new version has been revised from the 1995 concert version, and the cast is not as widely known, yet, (except for Lea Salonga, imho) as the stellar 1995 Concert Performance, this is still a magnificent and glorious performance, always deeply touching and heart-wrenching. The singer/actors are superb: Alfie Boe, Lea Salonga, Jenny Galloway, Norm Lewis, Samantha Jane Barks, Ramin Karimloo, and a surprisingly sweet and warm performance as "Marius" by pop singer Nick Jonas. LES MISERABLES is a stunning, extraordinary musical, my personal all time best-loved favorite, and that by far, since the 1980s. This 25th Anniversary production is, hands-down, far and away THE FINEST performance of Les Miserables that I have ever seen in my life, whether on stage or a concert version, and it is well-worth having in your DVD library and I might add, well-worth watching as often as you can. The spirit always needs a re-ennobling from time to time, and this beautiful story always accomplishes that. LES MIS' is the most intense, yet tender, loving, merciful and, in the end, uplifting musical ever composed for the stage. A metaphor for the victory of God's Mercy over Justice (yet not in conflict with real justice, of the Redemption of sinners triumphing, instead of their destruction. It is the story of a man who, by Divine Aid (grace) goes from being a vengeful and hate-filled man, to a living saint whose heart and mercy and kindness are as immense, as his humility is profound. LES MIS' is every bit as monumental, as a theatre-piece, as is Victor Hugo's novel as a literary work. It simply, far and away, has no equal in the musical theatre, and I believe that it never will. LES MISERABLES is, truly, incomparable. When the good souls from heaven (the Garden of the Lord) sing the saintly Valjean into the Kingdom at the end, the crusade that they are calling you and I to join is not one of politics, bombs, or armed revolts or Political Parties or ideologies, but rather one of reverence and of mercy, kindness, forgiveness, compassion and generosity for each other that has never been heard of, or equalled before, in this Life. This play is gentle, touching, charming, painful at times, and warm. It openly advocates faith, repentance, self-sacrifice for others's sakes, it advocates decency, goodness, and kindness; it promotes cleansed and generous hearts. As Victor Hugo put it, regime changes are never enough: HEARTS MUST CHANGE. That is a "crusade" well worth joining: Tomorrow, Come!!

I just keep replaying this, wearing my headset and listening to it over and over. It's amazing. *** YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THIS RANT *** Long story short on how I learned about this amazing show (He's lying, it's still kind of long). I heard all the talk a while ago about Susan Boyle singing a song "I dreamed a dream" on the X-factor. I Love to Hate Simon Cowell so I had to go see what he's up to and to listen to this song. I was blown away by the song and Susan Boyle's voice, listening to it over and over. Then I decided to go see what this "Les Miserables" was. I looked it up and still didn't think much about it, but one night I saw it was going to be on PBS and decided to record it. Days, maybe weeks later, I was bored and as I flipped through my recordings and saw Les Miserables. I saw the recording time, and it seemed really long. I didn't know if I wanted to invest that much time into this thing I really had never heard of. Well, I decided to play this "Les Miserables" recording, thinking I'd probably hate it and end up just skipping through to see the song Susan Boyle sung, then deleting it. WOW, I was so wrong. I watched it non-stop, and then watched it again. I must have watched it 5 times now and listened to it 50 times over the past few months. I am still amazed at how I went through life without even knowing about this, never mind not seeing it. I would always bring my daughters to new shows or other forms of art as they grew up, but for some reason I totally missed this over the last 26 years. I have to thank Simon Cowell, Susan Boyle and PBS for eventually leading me to this show. I even donated to PBS for bringing me this (AND Celtic Women). I have been repeatedly watching my PBS recording of the 25th anniversary version and got tired of the breaks and donation requests (I donated already, geesh), so I ordered this. I also ordered the 10th anniversary edition AND the standard DVD version. My daughters with each get one and I'll keep one to replay one over and over. *** END RANT *** Overall, I think the cast was amazing. It was so good that I wanted to do some research just to see who all these amazing people were. Nick did seem to have some tough spots, but he wasn't THAT bad. However, he was a bit overshadowed by the rest of the amazing cast. Lea Salonga and Katie Hall were good. Jenny Galloway, Matt Lucas and Ramin Karimloo were amazing. Even the younger actors Mia Jenkins and Robert Madge did an amazing job, and on such a big stage. I REALLY enjoyed Norm Lewis and Alfie Bow - all I can say is WOW. But Samantha Banks was WICKED amazing. With all three of these actors, their amazing voices along with their mannerisms and facial expressions really made you *feel* what they were going through, and you could really sympathize with them. I am SO glad Ms. Banks got that part in the upcoming movie. I can NOT wait to see that. If you go through life without seeing this, you will have missed something REALLY special. I almost did. Thank gawd I love to hate Simon Cowell...

I didn't think I would enjoy the 25th Anniversary Concert because the 10th anniversary concert was near perfection--but I loved this concert, too! The quality and resolution of this DVD is superior to the recording that was done of the 10th anniversary concert. It's a shame that the production qualities of the 10th anniversary concert were not that good. I didn't think anyone could play the part of Jean Valjean as well as Colm Wilkonson, but Alfie Boe was simply outstanding. He was a brilliant casting gamble made by Cameron MacIntosh, and I understand why MacIntosh made the gamble. His voice and his acting were simply wonderful. Norm Lewis was good as Javert, but no one ever has or ever will play the part as brilliantly as Philip Quast. I definitely mourned the fact that Mr. Quast wasn't a part of this production. Also, I don't mean to be politically incorrect, but a black Javert simply isn't credible. I didn't like Lea Salonga as Fantine, although she is a great singer. Ruthie Henshall's performance as Fantine in the 10th anniversary concert set the bar for pathos and acting. The part requires a tragically beautiful, throaty voice and Lea simply doesn't have that kind of voice. I was surprised that Jenny Galloway was Madame Thenardier again (as she played the part in the 10th anniversary concert). I'm not complaining--she OWNS the part, is truly revolting and hilarious at the same time. Matt Lucas was good as Thenardier, but Alun Armstrong (from original London cast and 10th anniversary concert) again owns the part, always will. I was happy to see Mr. Armstrong at the end of the concert singing with the rest of the original London cast. I loved the young beautiful girl who played Cosette--her youthful soprano voice was pitch-perfect. Nick Jonas as Marius was pure celebrity casting of a mediocre talent. The quality of his voice and breath control were poor. His voice stood out as the weakest link among the other excellent voices he mixed with, ex: Ramin Kamirloo as Enjolas. I loved the bonus at the end, the "Bring Him Home" quartet featuring Colm Wilkonson, Alfie Boe, and the two actors who play the part of Jean Valjean in the 2010 London productions. As good as the others were in this piece, Alfie Boe once again stole the show. I would recommend this DVD to even the most ardent 10th Anniversary Concert fans. Nothing can replace/upstage the 10th Anniversary Concert, but this one is still really, really good.

Wonderful presentation of Les Miserables, the musical. This is a video to watch again and again. Good performances, music and of course, the story which is presented well in this form.

I caught the second act of this concert on P.B.S a while back and I liked it so I bought it. Unfortunatley I wish I had seen the first act. I was very unhappy with the Vulgarity and Raunchy-ness of Lovely Ladies and Master of the House. Also the excessive use a certain swear word was Very unnecessary. But despite this it is a beautiful story with a gloriouse score and I enjoyed it Immensly so here is my character by character review. Jean Valjean- The main charcter in the story of les Miserables and let me tell you Alfie Bow was PERFECT!! His voice is AWESOME and he puts sooo much into his performance. His Bring him home was GORGEOUS and a definite highlight of the show. Javert- Norm Lewis is fantastic in this role his Star actually had me crying. He may be an unconventional Javert to most of you Philip Quast fans but no one can deny that he should have been in the movie instead of YOU KNOW WHO. Norm Lewis is great as Javert and shall forever be THE Javert in my mind. Fantine- In the role of fantine wwe have another Huge name Lea Salonga. Her facial emotions were spot on and her voice is beautiful. I literally cried when she became a prostitute. I was like "POOR FANTINE" Her I dreamed a dream was also another tear jerker (In case you haven't guess I cried a WHOLE LOT while watching this) Marius- Now there has been a lot of angry word about Nick Jonas in the role of Marius and I will admit I was Horrified when I saw he was in this but I still watched it and Nobody kill me but I really liked his Marius. He brought a softness to the character that I feel was laking in Michael Balls Legendary performance in the 10th anniversary concert. Overall he did a great job and his voice is very smooth. But I can never forgive Marius for not loving Eponine :). Cosette- Oh Cosette as beautiful as you are I can never forgive you for stealing Marius from Eponine. but Katie Hall I can forgive because her voice is lovely and she captures all of the innocence sweetness a cosette must have. Eponine- Now we are onto my favorite female Character in the show. Samantha Barks IS Eponine she has crazy awesome vocals and she can belt like insanity. Her on my own is Great and I weeped when she and Nick sang a little fall of rain. Enjolras- I will tell you straight off Enjolras is my favorite person in the show he has all the best songs and he is awesome. But the best thing about this Enjolras is RAMIN KARIMLOO IS HIM!!!!! Ramin Karimloo is my favorite singer ever so this Enjolras obviously is AMAZING he can sing like.... I can't even explain how Awesome he is! Just look him up on youtube or something. The Thenardians- I will tell you right off the bat I don't like these characters. I just don't but I will admit I laughed once or twice so I guess they did there job. This is the end of my review so I hope it helps. If you do buy this movie I would caution you on the Raunchy-ness of certain parts and the over-usage of swear words. But overall it is a heartwarming story with great music and....RAMIN KARIMLOO. He makes everything better :)!

I have been a fan of this wonderful musical since the day I first saw it at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle; and have attended every performance that has performed in Seattle since that time (five or six performances? With tickets to see it this coming August when it returns). To me, this musical is truly the greatest ever made! Inevitably, there will be comparisons between the original cast from the 10th Anniversary Concert and this one; that is to be expected (my review will be along those lines as I have watched the 10th and 25th anniversary performance back-to-back). Trying to meet or exceed the performance of the original cast is almost an impossible task; however, most of the performers rose to the occasion and at least met the performance demands! There were a few parts where the performances seemed a little weak; I would like to know if this is the recording of the first performance or the second performance, I suspect that fatigue was wearing on a few of the performers toward the end. Alfie Bow (Jean Valjean) and Norm Lewis (Javert)have to put a LOT of energy into their respective parts and I think it was showing toward the end of the show; but, for the encore they had to have found their second wind as they brought their vocal power to full strength! I felt that the parts of Thenardier and his wife were a little on the weak side as well; nothing I can really put my finger on, but it did seem a little underwhelming. While I know little about the Jonas brothers, other than they are pop singers, I would have to say that casting Nick as Marius was a mistake. While I'm sure that Nick may have a very good voice for pop singing, it is not of the caliber necessary for a stage musical; this became VERY evident when Michael Ball (the original Marius) came on stage for the encore and sang one of his parts. Sorry Nick, you have the looks for the part but you need to concentrate on your voice to get it up to strength for the task of a stage musical. Saving the best for last, Lea Solonga as Fantine was marvelous!! Lea played the part perfectly, though I do admit to some nostalgia in wanting to have seen her play Eponine one more time (as she did with the original cast). Overall, even with the few misses, this is a hit and I shall enjoy watching this many times over. The even more exciting part about the disc though was at the end of the credits it was announced that Universal will be making the musical into a movie!!! This is something I have wanted for so long and I'm ecstatic to see it finally come to fruition!

DVD importado dos EUA, não pega no aparelho brasileiro! Não reportado isso no anúncio

Vale la pena! Llegó antes de lo esperado.

素晴らしい！ 感動で、涙がでました。 それぞれのアーティストの配役もピッタリだし、個人個人の実力が素晴らしい上に、そのハーモニーが更に素晴らしく、この作品に出会えたことに感謝します。

Just what I was looking for, thanks

Très bien