Ok, before I go on and talk about how obsessed I've become, I need to say that I had never seen a production of Les Miserables before. I'm seeing it in May on stage. But I really wanted to see the movie too. And since patience is not a virtue I have, I didn't want to wait until after I saw it on stage. I also didn't know if I should see it first on stage or in the movies. First world problems, I tell ya!
One of my friends had seen both the play (several times) and the movie. She said to see the movie. So I did.
Holy cow! How have I never seen Les Miz before??!!
I instantly became obsessed!
Here's my basic knowledge of Les Miz pre movie watching:
I roughly "knew" the story of Les Miz, so there were no major surprises for me. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing.
I've loved the song "On My Own" since Joey Potter sang it at the beauty pageant.
I've heard most of the famous songs since I listen to a lot of Broadway music on Pandora (I refuse to call them show tunes).
I really, really like the movie.
Remember, I've never seen the stage production.
I know everyone is hating on Russell Crowe and his singing skills. I do agree that his voice was not necessarily the strongest and he may not have been the best choice in that sense. However, I do feel as though his persona was spot on. I believed that he would spend his life hunting Jean Valjean.
But remember I have nothing to compare it to.
My biggest concern/issue was Amanda Seyfried. I felt that she didn't really commit to the singing. Yeah, she can sing, but I just think there may have been a better choice. Maybe I just don't like the character of Cosette, Maybe whenever I see Amanda all I can think about is Karen from Mean Girls.
Remember, this is the only version I've seen.
So basically I'm now obsessed with Les Miz and have been listening to the music on my newly created Les Miz Pandora station.
