Oh, I never tire of this...

[anghara]

I stumbled upon THIS clip quite by accident and was totally blown away by the fact that this particular piece of musical theatre works so well in so mindbogglingly many languages:

...but then they ended up with "One more day", and MAN, I remember the first time I saw that in a theatre, half the audience was about ready to scramble up over their seats and join the barricades on stage. They used that song to unexpectedly good effect in the run-up to the election (the "One more day" set in a campaign headquarters for Obama, I posted a link to it here at the time) - but this second clip, this is a new one for me:

And here's another - it won't let me embed it but I hope that this gets you there.

Amazing stuff. "Les Miz" the musical - I've seen it on the London stage six times now. And if I ever get another change, you bet your bottom dollar I'll be there again.

Comments

[maryrobinette.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing that. The song is always moving, but that multi-language clip, well that's amazing.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I will neverevernever tire of Les Miz. I've seen it 3 times now, in three different productions, and loved it every time. And yes, careswen and I can sing every song in this musical, know all the lyrics for all the parts, and will happily sing it at the drop at a hat.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

Are you coming to Wiscon? We can sing it together [grin]

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Sadly, no. With careswen back in graduate school, we are not doing any out-of-state conventions this year. We are going to World Fantasy in 2010.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

Those were some great clips, especially the first one. Thanks!

Some of my favorite Les Miz songs, and to see the song sung in so many different languages, and how each singer approached his piece... wow. There's something about that tune being belted out, especially in some of the languages. I couldn't help but notice how militant the Austrian guy made it, especially. :>

[anghara.livejournal.com]

What blew my mind is that it was even POSSIBLE to translate the lyrics into a language like Polish or Icelandic or Hungarian and still manage to fit it to the tune and sing it with such passion.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

I thought the LOTR one was strangely mismatched, because in the Peter Jackson scenes from Helm's Deep, it's an international conflict, and the heroes are sitting in defence. Whereas in Les Miserables, it's a class conflict within a country, and the heroes are about to "attack".

A better match would have been the Scouring of the Shire, but Jackson never filmed it :-)

'If I hear not allowed much oftener,' said Sam, 'I'm going to get angry.'

Can't say as I'd be sorry to see it,' said Robin, lowering his voice. 'If we all got angry together something might be done.'

[anghara.livejournal.com]

You're right, of course.

I was just somewhat astounded at the juztaposition of the music and the video in the first place - Lord of the RIngs is NOT what first comes to mind when "les Miz" is invoked...

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

"you bet your bottom dollar I'll be there again."

Um, wrong show... ;)

Seriously, Les Miz is the only show I've seen more than 5 times, and watching those makes me want to see it again.

[mela-lyn.livejournal.com]

Awesome... I love Les Mis. And I saw that first clip on PBS ages ago... so awesome.

[karenthology.livejournal.com]

That musical changed my life when I was 13 and on a school trip to Broadway. It was just as wonderful a year and a half ago when I went down to New York to see it again. Thanks for the links!

[countesslovlace.livejournal.com]

The international clip is quite amazing, I've listened to it five times now.

We did a medley from Les Mis for a choral society concert several years ago (I got to do Fantine!) and as moving as it is to hear, it's even more moving to sing.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

That was wonderful! Just what I needed! Thanks :-)