Les Miserables DVD Review (Of Sorts.)

On Monday Les Miserables finally came out on DVD in the UK and I have proceeded to watch it every day... I have a problem, but at least I'm aware of it. Acceptance is the first step right?

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The only problem with this is you begin to notice more and more mistakes each time. Of course the bits you love just keep getting better and as much as I adore the movie, it just doesn't live up to the theatre version.

It's also given me the chance to think about why people seeing Les Miserables for the first time aren't as affected by it as say, myself and my crazy friend who basically started crying at I Dreamed a Dream and didn't stop until we'd had a couple of drinks afterwards!

Now there are a bunch of articles you can read on the cinematography and they all make the same point. Every shot in this movie is created to make the audience uncomfortable. The eye contact you'd get in a theatre does not work on film, the dutch angles (tilting of the camera to create suspense and unease.) I mean there is a dutch angle when they're in heaven at the end... literally nothing bad is going to happen next! Unless you count the end of the movie. I won't go into this and bore you but basically it creates an unconscious affect on the audience making them uneasy, and in a film like Les Miserables when you're asking the audience to accept a lot in a very short time this is the last thing you want to be doing!

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Next we have the insane amount of close ups. I mean seriously, I was trying to show my dad where the end barricade and Lamarque's funeral were filmed as we have been there and it was all close ups! In huge crowd scenes, close up after close up after close up. The camera is always in the actors face and while in some scenes it's perfect. I Dreamed a Dream... flawless! In most scenes it doesn't work, instead it feels choppy and takes you away from the emotions in a crazy way. 

The most used example for this is A Heart Full of Love, we have a love triangle and yet not once do we see all three people on screen at the same time. 

Finally the cuts made to the musical. I really missed Dog Eats Dog and feel we missed a lot of the Thenardiers potential when that was cut. Instead of showing how completely evil they are they became pure comic relief. 

The biggest thing I hated was all the cuts to the Barricade Boys parts. Mainly Grantaire's verse in Drink With Me... well in fact all the cuts to it! Re- watching this part I realise you do not get attached to these characters, you don't have a chance to with each cut being so quick and moving away from each boy so swiftly. Drink With Me shows the fear they have along with the comradary. They remember the past, accepting that this could be their last night and then Grantaire speaks what they are all fearing, what if your death means nothing. Cutting that just made them another death in a movie full of it.

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Every person I know who has seen the movie as their first taste of Les Miserables has been left unaffected by it. They didn't cry, sure they were sad but it didn't rip out their hearts like it does to me. Being so involved I can't put into words why someone wouldn't openly sob at Empty Chairs when all his friends have died, especially little Gavroche who died in vain as the students didn't even receive the bullets he died to retrive. Or Javert's suicide, nearly reaching out to the screen to pull him into a hug and pray he doesn't jump. 

I love the movie, mainly because I can watch Les Miserables whenever I like now. But I wish it could be done again, in a way that focuses completely on the emotions. Not trying to be ground breaking with live singing and in so doing having shaky cameras that pull you out of the emotions, just focusing on making something that pulls the audience in and smashes their heart to pieces! 

A great movie musical I think of is Moulin Rouge, that manages to be spectacular with it cameras and scenery and costumes etc etc and yet at the same time it pulls you right into the heart of the story. Having said this my dream director would be Joe Wright, he did Atonement, Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina. Especially after Anna Karenina, seeing how he incorporated the staging I think he would be perfect! He knows how to get to the emotional core of something and still make a beautiful film.

Okay, rant over. I could speak about Les Miserables for years. There's just so much to go into, so much I would love to see done with it and so many people I would want involved I would bore everyone to death!

Wish me luck, the same to you.

Annabelle.

xoxo

The Break

"They told me that the wiring was somehow all misfiring and screwing up the signals in my brain."

For the first time since starting this blog I missed posting on my allotted days. Last week I basically had a break down and so posting on here was the very last thing on my mind.

To be honest it's been a long time coming, the past couple of months have been rough and I managed to deal with them, or so I thought. Turns out I was doing my usual trick of pushing things back and ignoring them until they built up and I broke down.

Let me set the scene for you.

Annabelle gets a work experience placement, she begins working, actually doing something with her days. Then it dawns on her this is actually delaying her return to London. She feels like she's suffocating in the office. It's so quiet and she really does not fit in.

Then half way through the week her car breaks down. She does not have the money to fix it.

Add this on top of giving up a travel job and realising she could have been in Paris at this point, the fact that the auditions she gave up said job for fell through and the loss of her Uncle and you can see where this is going.

Except I couldn't! Now I'm a stickler for doing things by the rules, even if it screws me over, which it has done in the past. This time around... oh boy.

I left the office on Friday evening and just didn't go back. 

Never in my life have I ever done anything like that and it worried me! It also showed me it's not the end of the world if you don't do every little thing by the book.

So now I am back being unemployed, trying to sort out my head. Let's try and make light of this situation.

What I learnt:

-I can cope better with set backs, but I still need help.

-You are on the right path, so stop doubting it!

-There are so many more options than you knew, start grabbing for them.

Wish me luck, the same to you.

Annabelle

xoxo

The Radio in my Head

On Friday night Broadway boy Aaron Tveit performed is first concert at 54 Below. He has cleverly named his show 'The Radio in my Head" and all the songs he performed hold a special place in his heart, they tell his story of performing and it got me thinking.

 As Musical Theatre performers our job is to tell a story through song, after all that is why we prefer it over straight plays. The addition of music heightens the emotion for us. So why not tell our own stories through music? Aaron's genius inspired me to make my own playlist documenting my story.

1. Good Morning Baltimore- Hairspray.

-This was my first taste of Broadway. At 18 years old on a school trip I saw my first Broadway musical and got to do a workshop with some of the cast. It was at that moment I knew New York was the place I would one day call home.

2. Born to Try- Delta Goodrem

-At 11 years old there was a character on the TV show Neighbours that spoke to me more than anyone ever had. She was called Nina Tucker, a shy girl who came alive when she sang. Two years later the actress released her first single, Born to Try and I knew I wanted to perform for a living.

3. Over the Rainbow- The Wizard of Oz

- This was my first show in high school. I played Glinda but desperately wanted to sing this song! It was my first taste of being in a musical and I was in love.

4. Idaho- Nerina Pallot

- When I was 19 I was lucky enough to record with a professional sound engineer and this was the song. I learnt it in less than an hour and since then it has been one of my favourite songs to both sing and listen to.

5. I Miss the Mountains- Next to Normal

- For a long time I avoided this show, the issues in it and this song in particular hit too close to home and upset me far too much. When I was finally in a good enough place to listen to it I was completely blown away. Since then Diana has become a role I would love to play one day.

6. On My Own- Les Miserables

- The Musical and role that started it all. (See last weeks post for a full length ramble on how much this musical means to me! I shan't bore you again.)

7. Dark Blue- Jack's Mannequin

- I adored this band in high school but I hit a creative slump in university and stumbled across the front mans documentary. It inspired me just as much as Delta had ten years earlier and they have done ever since. So much so that I got their symbol tattooed onto me!

8. Out Tonight- Rent

- It took me a long time to get into this musical. My friends would always play me the songs and while I enjoyed them I was far too innocent to really appreciate it. Now I am obsessed! While I'm still quite timid whenever this song comes on I let loose and Mimi has become another dream role.

9. Memory- Cats

- This was the first song I ever performed. It was my first year at high school, I was 11 years old and my music teacher asked me to sing it for the class. She saw something in me that day and all through high school continued to push me to my fullest.

10. With You- Ghost

- I wrote about this musical for my final year dissertation and fell head over heels with the music. This song in particular is just so stunningly beautiful and surprise, surprise. Molly is another dream role!

11. Candyman- Christina Aguilera

- This is my go to karaoke song! I heard this album in my first year of university and became obsessed with all things vintage, as well as the different ways I could use my voice. Up until then it had been all musical theatre or Delta Goodrem. Now I started learning how to growl and riff and really expand what I could do.

12. No Good Deed- Wicked

- During my second year of university I was feeling unfullfilled. I was doing a Drama degree and missed singing. My parents completely supported me when I applied to do a short course in Musical Theatre and this was the first song I performed with them. I barely remember the performance because for the first time I got so into character I didn't think and afterwards I was hit with such a high I just knew I was doing the right thing.

Encore. They Just Keep Moving the Line- Smash

-This show gives me my weekly dose of Broadway and this song in particular really hit home. I get a degree, but that's not good enough I need to keep going. I get experience but there's always something else to complete. They just keep moving that dammed line!

So there we go! If I were to perform my own show, that would be the set list. It may be interesting to come back to it when I'm 30 and see what songs I would choose then. What would be added and what would be taken away?

Wish me luck, the same to you.

Annabelle

xoxo

Hell Week

Every performer has a hell week, whether it is that one overly intensive week when you're in from 7am to 2am or the one where everyone stresses over costumes and lighting and props etc etc. I've also noticed that despite the name most people come out on a high, knowing that through their suffering things have become infinitely better. After all, haven't we fought long and hard to get there? No matter how hard the week is, we still enjoy it.

My hell week was not enjoyable, nor was it based around a production.

This week marked the first in my new work experience placement. I have been put into an office to get some admin experience and I hate it. As a creative person being stuck in a silent office doing mundane tasks with nothing to stimulate me it's been awful but that's not all!

 Half way through the week my car broke down, as a struggling artist I do not have the money to pay for a new one or repairs which wouldn't be a problem as I can usually get the train except just tonight I was offered a paid job in a place you need your own transport to reach! Typical!

 The rest of my problems are silly and little, being sick on Thursday, the train being delayed by nearly an hour, blisters from new shoes but add them all together and you get a very grumpy, very stressed Annabelle on this Friday evening.

 One who will never complain about an acting hell week again because quite frankly I would take ten of them over another day in an office!

 Is it time for my big break yet? I'm ready for my close up!

Wish me luck, the same to you.

Annabelle

xoxo