Les Miserables: The 10th Anniversary Dream Cast in Concert at Londons Royal Albert Hall

Product Details

Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's score vividly captures the passion of Victor Hugo's epic tale of post-Revolutionary France, combining tear-jerking ballads ("I Dreamed a Dream," "Bring Him Home") and rousing anthems ("Do You Hear the People Sing"). The format of this concert is closer to that of a dramatic cantata rather than a fully staged production; the singers stand at their microphone stands with an orchestra and chorus behind them, but they do wear costumes and participate in some movement. At certain points such as the climax of the barricade scene, the video switches to action from a stage production. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra sounds great, and it can be thrilling when 200 choristers (dressed in logo T-shirts) rise to their feet for a full-company number such as "One Day More." Also, subtitles provide date and scene information and help move the story along.

The 147-minute video contains footage not seen when Les Mis was a PBS pledge-drive staple, most notably the encore in which a progression of 17 actors who have played Valjean around the world share "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Each sings a line in his native language, a testament to the enduring power of this show to audiences everywhere. --David Horiuchi

DVD features
The 2008 two-disc edition presents the concert on a single-sided disc (the original DVD split the concert over two sides) with optional English subtitles. It's also in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1 aspect ratio) comparied to the original's 1.33 full-screen. The second disc has Stage by Stage: Les Miserables, the hourlong documentary from 1988. Unfortunately the sound is only Dolby Digital 2.0. Early editions of the DVD had an odd omission (compared to the earlier Sony DVD)--the first 10 seconds of Gavroche's "Little People" were missing ("Good evening, dear inspector, lovely evening, my dear...")--that has now been corrected. --David Horiuchi

Product Reviews

(5 stars) - magic
This is a brilliant dvd. Les Miserables is magical music. The only problem I had was that I had to fix the region on my dvd player but that wasn't a big drama. Well worth the price.

(3 stars) - Slightly disappointing...
I knew that this would be 'in concert' as the title states, but I wish that they'd recorded a live version of the performance...acting and staging. I'd rather watch that than the singers at microphones far apart from each other, disconnected, singing outward.. It was just a performance of voices, interaction with each other was rare, which made their emotions hard to buy. Also, though it was supposedly the video version of the complete symphonic recording, every note was NOT on here. They parts they cut were so weird!! The ones that stood out most: Gavroche's death!!, Eponine getting shot (it just suddenly, very jarring, cut to "Little Fall of Rain" with none of the "there's something wet upon your head, oh god, it's everywhere" bit), and Marius/Cosette's wedding. It was just awkward, and I found myself being upset that some of the highlights weren't there!! I don't know how often I'd watch it, as it's not incredibly more/better than just listening to the recording. However, it is better than no DVD at all.

(5 stars) - Replacing VHS Tapes
Due to the change over of VHS to DVD, we had to replace our favorite Les Miserables. This was the exact presentation we had before and we are very happy to have been able to order it from Amazon and put it in our collection.

(4 stars) - Not The Play!
If you know the music of Les Mis, and want to appreciate the songs themselves, only, this is a superb buy. But it is NOT the play. I have made this mistake twice. I do think that the "10th Anniversary Dream Cast in Concert" could easily be taken to mean that this is a film of the play itself which it is NOT. Perhaps they should change the wording. I feel a bit duped, and now can't seem to find this performance on DVD anywhere; a pity, it's a long way to London for us!

(4 stars) - Fast Service!!
thank you for the swift service Amazon!
What a wonderful dvd to watch on a rainy day with the family!

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