Les Misérables: The Staged Concert

The recording is the concert version of a musical. In a theatre in London, without sets, the orchestra on stage and the performers standing at the front with microphones. The story is the same: a man in nineteenth century France imprisoned for years for stealing bread, an inspector who will not let go of him, a woman thrown out of a factory, the girl he raises and an uprising. Nick Morris directs with James Powell. It was made while the theatre where the musical was staged was being refurbished; the show was presented temporarily as a concert and this records that run. What the concert form changes is this: there is almost no set and no stage movement, and the weight goes entirely to the singing. The orchestra is visible and the performers lean on performance rather than acting. The musical is among the longest running productions in the world and its source is Victor Hugo's novel. The cast includes people who have played the same parts on stage before, which is one reason the recording drew interest. The narrative is heavily cut from the novel; for anyone who knows the book many strands are missing. Who it is for: those who like musicals and watch recorded stage work. Who it is not for: it is a recording rather than cinema, there are no sets, and three hours is long for a viewer unused to the form.