I saw LES MIS in Paris (in French!) | ★★★★★ review of Les Misérables at Théâtre du Châtelet

[@PO139DD]

Because I am old (LOL), I saw the ORIGINAL production, staged by Robert Hossein at the Palais des Sports, in 1980. Rose Laurens, who created Fantine (she's also on the concept album), singing "L'air de la misère" is one of my Top Five greatest musical theatre moments EVER, right up there will Jennifer Holliday's Effie and Angela's "Rose's Turn." Back in the day I saw both the London and Broadway original casts (Patti!) and now, 44 YEARS after I first saw it, I'm off to Paris overnight the week between Christmas and New Year ro see it again! VERY excited!!

[@bookemdano7567]

I saw this production last month and it was phenomenal!! It has been a long dream to see my favorite musical in Paris and in French! The staging was brilliant and sooooo much better than the current cheap, sterile, amateurish staging in London. It was dark and gritty and I felt a lot of the scenes looked like a framed painting. If I couldn’t see the original stage revolve anymore, this staging was the next best thing! The singing from the entire cast was strong. Oceane Demontis as Eponine was SPOT ON!! After seeing Les Mis over 30+ times over the past 35+ years, I actually got teary eyed at the end. My only complaint would be that I wish they recorded the whole show for cd and not just 14 songs, but, I’ll take those 14 songs over nothing! I truly wish they would replace that inferior London staging with this staging because it does Les Mis right! Edit…the scene where Valjean lets Javert go… I didn’t see it the way you saw it. In the original staging he lets him go and shoots his gun in the air then quickly levels it to look like he shot him and because Javert isn’t there, its assumed that Javert was shot running away. In this production I saw it the same way except to cover up that there’s no body he tells the students that he tried to run. To me it didn’t come across that Javert ran and escaped. Edit edit… When Javert jumps from the bridge you can see Javert’s image on the scrim fall into the water, that is also projected onto the scrim. It isn’t just blacked out.

[@AgJn87]

I'm French and a huge fan on both the novel and the musical. I saw les Mis in London almost 20years ago and am seeing in Paris between Xmas and New year. I couldn't be more excited.

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

Thrilled for you! Hope you enjoy ❤️

[@lucyinthesky9]

Fun fact : Jacques Preiss who plays Marius is also a airplane pilot, because why not. Grantaire is played by Ryan Malcolm, he played Simba in "Le Roi Lion" in Paris too. Océane Demontis is indeed the greatest of them all as Eponine. She made me cry on "Un peu de sang qui pleure" ("A little fall of rain") which usually does not really work for me.

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

Those are very fun facts!!

[@amitmeir8109]

Great review as always. One thing, the Bishop doesn't just give Valjean the candlesticks, he gives him the entire bag of silver Valjean tries to steal. He adds the candlesticks to prove to the cops that he planned to give the silverware to Valjean. In the novel, Valjean did sell all the silver he got from the Bishop, however he does keep the candlesticks until the end as he looks at them (especially after the Bishop passes) as a reminder of the new purpose he has

[@minirth.maggie]

Oh, i love the changes to Eponine! Thank you so much for sharing the differences between the English version and the English translation of the French language version!

[@Gee-xb7rt]

I never really cared for the way the Thénardier children are handled in the musical, I don't think you even get much to recognize who their parents are, they are too busy abusing Cosette. I guess I would expect a French production to beef them up a bit, along with Grantaire, i mean the book is called Les Misérables for a reason, life has not been good to these people.

[@theblakesheep]

It's always been wolves in "J'avais rêvé", which I like way better than the "tigers" in English.

[@edfidk]

A lot of the changes mentioned don’t seem new to me. I listen to the 1991 French soundtrack all the time, and these sound mostly like differences that have always existed between the French and English lyrics

[@charliehorey9886]

Every critique makes me wish someone would tap into your talent and convince you to direct something

[@booksvsmovies]

thank you for holding space for the lyrics regarding valjean's soul

[@maddiemaccheese8170]

Your translation breakdown was so thorough!! I don't speak French so I'm sure I couldn't pick up on these lyrical changes myself, but you did such a great job describing them that I feel like I can envision it. I'm seeing the North American touring production with my family tomorrow night so although it'll be the same staging and lyrics we've been familiar with, I'm going to keep this breakdown in the back of my mind to see if I can picture it better. I'd love to visit Paris for a multitude of reasons, but the thought of seeing this new production tops the list!

[@TheJoya1234]

This is a wonderful review! I’m a Les Mis junkie. Lucky enough to have seen 10+ productions in the US over the years. I am excited to see it again if there is another tour.

[@BethanW]

I lovedddd this production, the lyrics were so much more specific and the characterisations were so refreshing

[@robbriner9575]

Some people are fundamentally inspired by the Bible; I was fundamentally inspired by Le Miserables (back in the early 1990s). I eventually saw it a half dozen times -- in California productions -- and still own CDs of the score in (1) English; (2) French; (3) Czech; (4) German; and (5) Japanese. For many years I searched for a Le Miz tour that would include a ticket to productions in different countries, but that never happened. At this point I wouldn't really want to see it again as a repeat, so this review of a revisited production in Paris was a major discovery. BTW I also read the original novel (fantastic) and saw the 2012 major motion picture (well-intentioned but way too many close-ups).

[@danielwinch2986]

Fascinating translation section ❤️❤️

[@extatis]

Hey ! Thanks so much for that ! I have been listening to the album and I love it. About the French and musical about their culture I would maybe not agree as Notre Dame de Paris was one of the most famous musical in France 20 years ago (another victor Hugo story)

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

A great point! I can't speak to that of course, just what I'd been told by one French individual!

[@lucyinthesky9]

As a French person^^, very interesting comparison between the English and French lyrics! I feel like the new French lyrics at trying to be even closer to the English ones, sometimes to their detriment (one example is "Mon histoire" / "On my own", now it has less allusions to the fact that she is imagining a sort of fairy tale). On the other hand they haven't corrected lyrics that I hate such as "Comme un homme" / "Bring him home" which doesn't make any sense. Also they now say "sur la pierre d'une barricade" (on the stone of a barricade) which bothers me because barricades are NOT made on stone !! But on the whole the news lyrics are not that different from those of the 1991 French version I felt. 24601 is actually "vingt-quatre six-cent un", there is no "o", it's as if in English they were saying "twenty-four, six hundred and one". Also you are accurate when you talk about the vowels, one annoying thing in the French version of Les Mis is that silent "e"s are pronounced in a way that is not natural at all : "il est une deuil que je porTE", "et la vie passait comme un rêVe", etc. Very interesting video as usual (but there is an added layer when you review Parisian shows that I have seen^^).

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

Comme un homme left me more than a little puzzled!

[@lucyinthesky9]

@@MickeyJoTheatre don't get me started, I don't know what that stuff about living "as a man" has to do with anything

[@doudouard1132]

Great review, it would be interesting to compare the original 1980 lyrics with the West End show and even with this 2024 Paris version. Also I'd like to hear your take on the original songs that were dropped out for the West End show, like "L'un vers l'autre".

[@aurelienelizabeth4709]

Oooh you should have told us, I'm parisian. I would have been so happy to see you.

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

Apologies - this was an incredibly brief visit!

[@yankee04]

Awesome. Sounds like an excellent production. Thanks for this video.

[@lorenbennington4952]

So my understanding is that due to the translation... Everybody in Les mis is just a bit more honest 😂❤

[@VeronikaHer]

So interesting! Les mis was the first West end show I've ever seen and at the end of this year, I'm going to see it exactly 10 years later again. Idea for a game. Have someone use Google translate to translate famous musical songs from foreign languages and then guess what it is 😅 I would never guess I dreamed a dream from the below (translated from Czech lyrics) My dream book where do I have you? I want to read you again and read you for the hundredth time like before, when the world was a miracle itself and breathing in it seemed simple. 😅😅

[@gavindean6708]

I love this review.. did you see Australia’s own Caroline O’Conner in Hello Dolly?? I’d love love love to hear what you thought.. even a comparison to the current London production!!!

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

That is exactly what I will be talking about next week!

[@kdhoude]

Wait I am confused, Wasn't the musical originally written in French and translated to English? So this one Translates it from English back to French?

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

@@kdhoude correct! New French lyrics updating the original!

[@theblakesheep]

There was the ORIGINAL original from 1980 which was in French. Then, they completely adapted it and changed about 30% of the music and 50% of the lyrics to make the the Original London production, in English. Then in 1991, they took that English production and just translated the lyrics into French, which was the Paris Revival. Now, they've updated those French lyrics again, which is this production. Basically, the original 1980 French was a different show, and everything since has been an adaption of the London show.

[@thomasmneff]

@@theblakesheep Exactly this! The original French score and lyrics by Schönberg, Boublil and Natal were released as a concept album which you can still scrounge on eBay or play directly on KZbin, and then produced for several months at the Palais des Sports. The original lyrics were sharp, often bitter, and colloquially/untranslatably French. (I’ll take “J’avais revé d’une autre vie” or “A la volonté du peuple” over their London counterparts any day.) Mackintosh heard the album and hired Kretzmer to write an English version. It’s not a translation but a rewrite to the London producer’s purposes. “The original version we all know and love” is neither original nor universally loved. None of this takes away from the new production, which I have yet to see. But I would row across the Atlantic to see the Palais des Sport show revived.

[@UlfPFK]

I have that same sweater! Looks better on a skinnier body like yours, though ☺️

[@kathleenewing3673]

Jealous, I'd love a full recording, even with new translations. And yes, from what I remember of the concept album, the French is more direct at points. Enough that I wish it hadn't been cleaned up for London.

[@samuelblachon95130]

The problem here in France when we have huge Broadway/ west end shows it's Always translated because it's choice from stage entertaiment they did the lion king mama mia cats all of them were translated

[@lucyinthesky9]

When I saw it, Javert's fall was different! He begins to fall is slow motion and then we switch to a sort of video projection of a huge shadow fallling (don't really know how to describe it). I though it was ugly honestly and was thinking I would have preferred a black out. 😅 I also love the fact that Valjean sees Javert when he dies, I have been saying for years that I would include that if i were directing Les Mis!!

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

I think that is the same fall, I just misremembered the ending / explained it erroneously!

[@williamstevens6512]

Mickey Jo I have the same shirt you wore in this review video.

[@ryebread9299]

HURRAY

[@charmedx3219]

Ahh the traditional French surname "Theatre" 😂... Oh it's "Boucher" 🤔 👍

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

🤣🤣🤣

[@owenespejo6401]

Are you reviewing Dolly?

[@MickeyJoTheatre]

Yes! Should be up next week!

[@samuelblachon95130]

I'm tired to see the lion king in Paris

[@rozzellakolbegger9476]

1st have to say, love your shirt. I want one (I'm a woman, don't care). My two favorite musicals are Les Mis and Hamilton. Don't see that ever changing at this point. I am British but have lived most of my life in the UK, so Hamilton probably hits me in a different way. But Les Mis is #1 for decades. Least favorite part of the show? Master of the House. I HATE the comedy thrown in my beautiful couple of hours of despair. I wish that song would be played darker, more menacing. So if they did that in this production, good. The Thenardiers are, after all, really awful people. Wish it was clear too that Gavroche is apparently their son per the book.... abandoned in Paris, Eponine expected to be part of the thieving gang. I wish the original British production hadn't been so rigid. I didn't like Alfie Boe (go ahead and shoot me, I know). Beautiful voice, never felt the emotion, the character, especially the despair. Hate that the show is now shorter, right? NOOOOOOO! Other than aforementioned song I want it all. I would have loved to see this in France... what a fabulous experience.... thanks for sharing!

[@filipv.5019]

Your diner argument makes no sense. There are 8 opera houses in Paris, Châtelet being one of them, and a lot of théatres and concert halls. Performances all start at 7 or 8 PM. Musical is in origine American and has never been part of French culture. There have been some popular French musicals (Les parapluies de Cherbourg, Les demoiselles de Rochefort), but not many. I think that théatre du Châtelet is the only theatre that brings musicals regularly, but almost always in English, and maybe mostly visited by expats and tourists. Anyway Operas are also sung in the original language. Translating English lyrics to French is very difficult because of the prosody of the language. In French the accent of verbs is on the last syllable, where it’s on the penultimate in English. Speaking = parler, Loving = Aimer, etc. That’s why French people are so horrible at speaking English. And when popular songs are translated, they often just use only the melodie. The meaning of “My way” is completely different than Claude François’ original “Comme d’habitude”, a song that he wrote after his breakup with France Gall. Petulant Clarke sung ‘Downtown’ in French as ‘Dans le temps’ (in early days)

[@malomi794]

Yes, the diner argument makes no sense at all. We just eat earlier or after. It is just that it is not deep in the culture. The musicals would rather go to several cities than stay in a building. There have been a lot of famous musicals in the 2000 and 2019 but lately not much.