#LesMisWeek: From Page to Stage to Screen | Guest post

This wonderful post was written for me by the lovely Lisa :) I highly recommend that you go and peruse her blog 'Lisa talks about' and follow her on Twitter @LJBentley27.

I love Les Miserables. This may seem like a very redundant statement but I feel that we need to start off with a positive. I absolutely love it. However, my love affair with Les Mis has not always been a smooth one. Oh no, it has hit some bumps along the way.

I can actually remember the very first time I consciously heard or was aware of a song from Les Mis. I was 13 years old and Katie Holmes performed On My Own in the Beauty Contest episode of Dawson’s Creek. My friend Alison had spoken to me about it before because we both were stage performers but for some reason I just hadn’t understood just how amazing Les Mis was before this point. After hearing Joey singing the song secretly to Dawson I was hooked. Les Mis consumed me. I needed everything. I listened (and copied) Alison’s cassette(!) of the Original London Cast recording and I learned how to perform my favourite songs with the vocal score, heck I even sang On My Own to get my place in drama school.

Things, however, started to turn a little sour for me when I eventually got to see the stage show. I didn’t like it. Not only did I not like it but I seriously spent the evening depressed. I mean, ok, I get that the translation of the title means The Miserable Ones but still. It was just so dowdy, and the dark and the revolving stage – whilst metaphorically apt – became tedious and repetitious. It tainted the story for me somewhat.

Over the years I still would listen to the soundtrack and sing along with the songs which no one can argue over the sheer brilliance of. It was a few years back when I heard rumours of a possible filmic version of the musical. I will admit my inner drama geek got a little bit giddy. Even more so when I saw the wonderful cast of actors who were set to star in the movie.

It was here that faced a dilemma. When it comes to movies, I will not watch a movie until I have read the book. Now having seen the stage musical already would that qualify me as compromising my bookish morals? Would I be a cheater if I just watched the movie? In the end I did what any book nerd would do. I grabbed a copy of the Victor Hugo classic and I ploughed through it.

I won’t lie to you, it took bloody ages. It is a long and arduous task and I wouldn’t recommend anyone does it unless they are willing to lose a few weeks of their life, are a fast reader and are glutton for punishment. Don’t get me wrong the book is amazing and I feel better for watching it and I have taken things from the book that have given me a whole new perspective upon the musical but it was tough. Overall, I enjoyed the experience but I personally like my classical novels. The titillating factor for me was that I knew what songs would be playing during the scenes. I would be reading about how Fantine found that she was pregnant and then became a woman of the night and I heard I Dreamed a Dream. I met the Thernardiers and sang along to Master of the House. I wept reading about the demise of Eponine in Marius’s arms but heard the beautiful A Little Fall of Rain. So actually, I rescind my earlier statement. Read the book. Everybody. It is a must.

When the film was released I had a whole new appreciation for the musical. My love has been rekindled. The cast was 90% on the money with a special nod to Helen Bonham Carter who is just amazing.

I think that Les Miserables is the marmite of all musicals. You either love it or you hate it (my case being a slight exception to the rule). Those who hate it really should give the book a try, it might just change their mind.