Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Concert

The Movie:
Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Concert [Blu-ray]

Their Description:
Experience the event of a lifetime with this spectacular 25th anniversary celebration of one of the most popular musicals ever written, Les Misérables. Honoring 25 years of this incredible show, this momentous film captures the excitement of two magnificent sold-out performances that were watched live around the world. With a phenomenal all-star cast, including pop star Nick Jonas (Jonas Brothers), Tony® Award winner Lea Salonga (the voice of Disney’s Mulan and Princess Jasmine), and over 500 additional artists and musicians, revel in the songs of the unforgettable characters as they struggle for redemption and revolution.

My Description:
A musical that is about the downtrodden people trying to find love and to make it in the world they live in. Repression, injustice, and tragic events that is bringing together people that want to start a revolution. Here prostitutes, factory workers, and many others fight (by singing) about how they must fight with each other for the revolution.

What’s Going On Here:
I have no real idea of what’s going on here in Les Miserables. This concert that clocks in at 2:49:50 tells a story through songs, a whole lot of songs. Starting off with a man Jean Valjean has been in prison for 19 years, 5 for stealing some bread to feed his sister and the baby and all the other years for trying to escape. From that point on it goes into songs about love, friendship, lost dreams, and so many others that end with the whole cast singing.

Though I really didn’t fully understand this musical, I was still pretty interested by it. The singing is done with a lot of skill and talent. So many times I was really impressed with the sound of the vocals of all the talent on this cast that sing. From young kids to adults, everyone on this cast has major talent in bringing their characters to life through song. This is a remarkable group of talent telling this story with some amazing songs.

Did I Miss Something:
What did I miss? I asked myself this a lot throughout the playing of this concert. I got the jest of it, the people are being treated unfairly by the government, or at least that’s what I think is going on. But that’s just it, I really don’t fully understand it. I’m constantly questioning myself when I try to figure out what’s going on. I’ve never been one for musicals, they’re ok at times, and I really do see the appeal of them, but for me I get bored really quickly from the cast just standing there. And this happens throughout the whole concerts, the cast just stands in front of the microphones and sing.
With this being almost 3 hours long, even with a intermission thrown in the middle, it would be tough on the cast to be running around the whole time but come on, throw some action in there. Not only that but when they are singing they are facing the audience rather than each other. Les miserables really is a concert and not a play or musical as I’ve been calling it. I say this because with musicals and plays the cast will move around on the stage, they wear the head set microphones to be heard, and there are sets and props. Here in this concert, the microphones are stand up ones, they don’t run around any, the cast stand facing the audience and sing to them, just like a concert. There are costumes being worn but it’s just not enough for me to really get to liking this.
Maybe if this had been more of a play or musical, I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more. But right now I just come away with a mild liking of it and a feeling of missing a lot of the point of the show. Though the songs are performed really well, the orchestra plays the songs just as well as the cast sings, and the drama is so thick in the air that it could be cut, I just would have liked it to be a little more movement.

How Does It Look and Sound:
Beautiful. That’s the best word that I can say on describing both the visual aspect and the sound to Les Miserables in Concert on BLU RAY. From what I understand this is a huge play so the lighting is of course done perfectly and the audio levels are just as superb. In fact with the audio I had to turn it down to 10 and at one time down to 8. This is remarkable considering I usually have to have the levels up between 15 and 20. It’s a shame though that as beautiful as this concert looks in the picture quality that there’s so little movement and action involved.
There’s different camera angles but with a lot being wide shots all that’s seen is the darkness and the backs of the audiences heads. Then there’s the close ups that show how clear and sharp the picture is but all that’s being shown is the talents face and microphone. There are some medium shots but again, they just show the full body of the talent who is still just standing there.

Finishing Words:
I liked it, the picture is sharp with some beautiful lighting and excellent audio, but I would have liked it to had more movement. Though I was pleasantly surprised by how some of the songs are a little infectous on how fun they sound when being sung that it made me want to sing along with them.