What should I do beforehand to best enjoy a production of Les Misérables?

March 8, 2006 12:20 PM

I'm going to see a production of Les Misérables next week. I want to be able to get the most out of the performance, so I'm doing some background on it. What should I know or read beforehand for the best experience?
posted by tozturk to Media & Arts (19 answers total)

the novel itself is a good start. (free online version) : >

Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, or anything set around the Revolution might be good too.
posted by amberglow at 12:24 PM on March 8, 2006

If you're not into that whole reading thing, you could watch the very good 1935 film version.
posted by goatdog at 12:27 PM on March 8, 2006

Dude. I really like the show and all, but it's just a show. Just go.

On the other hand, I highly recommend the book.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 12:28 PM on March 8, 2006

There's plenty of exposition in the show itself. Check out the Wikipedia entry and go enjoy yourself.
posted by Gator at 12:39 PM on March 8, 2006

I'm a big Musical Theatre buff, and I prefer to be familiar with a score before I see a show. There are many recordings of Les Mis, and your local library probably has one, so I'd say take a listen to the music and a gander at the lyrics before you go.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:50 PM on March 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

I'd tell you to read the book, but really, I agree with LittleMissCranky, just go. There will be plenty of background in the exposition and the playbill. Afterwards, if the show inspires it, read the book and find some histories of post revolution France in the 19th century.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:03 PM on March 8, 2006

The book is rather long for a week's reading (assuming that you have Other Things to Do) but I really, really recommend it. At least, if your taste runs to the old-school novels (like Three Musketeers or and the like) in which the heroes are all Heroes--insanely cool people who are allowed to be insanely cool, without all of that silly realism getting in the way.

Valjean's superhumanly strong, superhumanly Good, has a superhuman tolerance for pain... he practically has heat vision. And don't get me started on Javert, the one-man army with an obsession for the letter of the law...

This all sounds like a 60's comic book, except that the writing and the ideas and the novel as a whole rise up to meet and support the over-the-top elements. Kind of like good opera, really.
posted by Squid Voltaire at 1:14 PM on March 8, 2006

FWIW, I went and saw Les Mis many years ago at the Fox in Detroit. I knew nothing about the show before seeing it and really enjoyed it. I didn't find myself lost at any point, but maybe slightly confused here and there. If you still want to be surprised by the story, I'd just recommend reading up on French history.
posted by Roger Dodger at 1:37 PM on March 8, 2006

I'm a big Musical Theatre buff, and I prefer to be familiar with a score before I see a show.

I agree. It would be like going to a concert without ever hearing the band before. You might enjoy it but you'd miss a lot.
posted by smackfu at 1:52 PM on March 8, 2006

I'm definietly in the 'just go' camp, it's not like it's some impenetrable and obscure work (but if you don't read the novel first, you may end up resenting the musical for being rubbish in comparison and colouring your reading.)

It would be like going to a concert without ever hearing the band before.
Er, isn't that the wrong way around? Half the bands I see don't have records out yet - the gigs are how you know which records to buy...
posted by jack_mo at 2:28 PM on March 8, 2006

I haven't seen the musical YET, but I am obsessed with the soundtrack and I'm really really looking forward to watching the production now.

I've had issues in the past watching Phanton, Miss Saigon, etc with no experience with the score. It was just too hard to understand the basic story while trying to take in the music and stage production at the same time. Plus I think it'll be fun to sing along with the actors at the same time (silently in my head of course!)

This is the version I listen to and I adore it.
posted by like_neon at 2:28 PM on March 8, 2006

Like like_neon, I freaking ADORE the 10th Anniversary Concert version. (I wore out the cd, and I have the video, and still watch it everytime it's on PBS). I knew it by heart with all the voices by the time I saw a production of the play. Since that recording is an "in concert" type of thing, and I'm kinda dense, a lot of the plot points were lost on me until I actually saw actors act it out.

I don't really have an opinion on the justseeit/listenfirst debate. I think it depends on the person and the play. I'm glad I didn't hear Avenue Q before seeing it, because every joke was new and hilarious. But I can't imagine my middle school and high school years without listening to and singing les mis, WAY before seeing it.

I just wanted to second the recommendation for the 10th Anniversary Concert version, whether you get it before or after.

(I am a nerd).
posted by lampoil at 2:42 PM on March 8, 2006

All you need to know is Jean ValJean was a ciminal, imprisoned for stealing bread. He is now a wealthy business owner, but becamse so by breaking parole. Oh, and he stole silver from a priest but was forgiver on the condition that he becomes an honest man. He has an adopted daughter named Cosette. He is being chased by a suspicious cop named Javert. The story is set on the eve of the French Revolution. In the musical, people go around in circles quite a lot thanks to a rotating stage, the sets are sometimes quite imaginative, and "Master of the House" is the showstopper.

All the rest is commentary.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:54 PM on March 8, 2006

The story is set on the eve of the French Revolution.

Unless you mean "the eve after," that is not the case.
posted by Gator at 2:58 PM on March 8, 2006

Eve after.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:05 PM on March 8, 2006

The story is set on the eve of the Paris uprisings in 1832.

The French Revolution was 1789-99.
posted by desuetude at 3:25 PM on March 8, 2006

And this user shares something in common with Jean Valjean.
posted by horsewithnoname at 3:39 PM on March 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

Remember: "Master of the House" almost drove George Costanza insane.

Les Miz is very easy on the ears, eyes, and brain. No study necessary. So I agree with everyone else.
posted by milquetoast at 3:40 PM on March 8, 2006

"I Dreamed a Dream" is definitely the song you'll come away remembering, i think.
posted by amberglow at 5:38 PM on March 8, 2006