Chapter 920

The story of "les miserables" benefits from the drama version of the Queen's Theatre, which is widely spread and familiar; However, the details of the original novel have been gradually lost in word of mouth, leaving only a vague outline of the story and catchy melody in my mind.

Undoubtedly, this is a victory of commercial promotion; But at the same time, it is also a decline of literature and art. Today, the Almeida theater shows the arrogant and bold courage, and truly re presents the Paris ukiyo painting by Victor Hugo.

The greatest innovation of the Almeida theatre version is that in the first act, Jean Valjean's part is weakened, and the two roles of Javert and bishop Myriel are more vividly and fully outlined.

Javert represents a morbid conservative; The bishop of miriere represents a firm believer.

In the version of the Queen's Theatre, the two characters are reduced to supporting roles in the first act, which makes Jean Valjean's personal epic in a sense, just like the movie "Gladiator"; In the Almeida theatre version, the two characters and Jean Valjean form an iron triangle, presenting the life of the society in a grand manner.

What is more valuable is that Jean Valjean, after reducing the number of scenes, not only did not have a dim light, but became more distinct

Under the oppression and pursuit of the conservative forces, Jean Valjean became a criminal from a hardworking and sincere worker, and gradually slipped into the abyss of crime; However, under the traction of faith and hope, he stripped away the decadent social debris, recaptured a glimmer of hope, reformed himself and returned to the original track.

Everyone knows that in history, the people's uprising broke out in Paris, which finally promoted the French Revolution and overthrew the rule; Now, in Jean Valjean, the audience has a preliminary glimpse of the future of history. Undoubtedly, this is the success of the Almeida theatre version.

More importantly——

"Where on earth did John cod find these outstanding actors? And how did it succeed? "

There was a trace of interest in the bottom of Alistair Smith's eyes. For the west end, a pioneering and innovative play and a group of powerful new stars are equally important, because it means artistic creation and future development.

In the first act, Ezra Miller plays Javert, slightly immature. His strength lies in his figure, and his weakness lies in his aria. Compared with the other two actors, the rhythm and strength of the whole performance sometimes seem to go too far and sometimes seem to be inadequate. This is a pity for the audience who pursue perfection; But objectively speaking, it does not affect the viewing effect.

Because of Ezra's evil spirit and madness, Javert is injected with a different kind of paranoia, and the distortion of dark temperament bursts out a new charm.

This play has been performed in the Queen's theatre for nearly 30 years. The 15th Anniversary Edition and the 25th anniversary edition have been performed in turn; But today, Alistair has once again explored the charm and infinite possibilities of Javert's role. This is definitely a big gain.

However, Javert's real test has not yet come. According to the version of the Queen's Theatre, the end of the second act is Javert's aria, a "stars", which shows his inner entanglement and struggle, paranoia and madness. Whether Ezra is strong enough to be an important jigsaw puzzle for Almeida's premiere night depends on this.

In addition, Andy conaghan plays bishop Miriam. Almost all of the aria is new, and almost the whole role is new. Solid basic skills, excellent control, and excellent performance, in the soliloquy of bishop miriere shortly after the opening of the first act, his strength is fully displayed, which is impressive.

If there is no Langley, Andy is undoubtedly today's premiere night in the first act of the biggest harvest. In the confrontation of the iron triangle, this role is really impressive; But, just not if.

For the average audience, in the first 35 minutes of the first act, Langley was undoubtedly mediocre.

People's attention may fall on Bishop miriere. This is a brand new role. Both the aria and the plot are refreshing; People's attention may also fall on Javert, whose unique twisted dark temperament presents the whole story of the character in the expanded plot, which is extremely complete and clear.

In contrast, Jean Valjean, who did not have much breakthrough in the content of the performance and the context of the plot, was simply too familiar for every audience to be familiar with, but lost its attraction. What's more, lanli intentionally restrained the performance and maintained the balance and integrity of the whole play, so the light did not show.

But for senior audiences and professionals, the first 35 minutes of the first act are undoubtedly the most brilliant.

The whole performance is integrated, handy and skillful, from aria to posture, from step to action, from lines to expression, from stage space to body movement control, without any effort. The solid and steady basic skills and perfect expressiveness really make the stage art of drama enjoyable.

Yes, it's enjoyable. That's the best thing Alistair can think of right now.

The details of lanli's performance are undoubtedly the most moving. It may be just a look up, a look in the eyes, or a step or a pause. Every detail is integrated with the role, plot and story. Finally, through the emotional outburst of aria, the finishing point is to close when it should be closed and put when it should be. To capture the vividness and profundity of those details is a pleasure for such old fans as Alistair.

Alistair has spent most of his life in the drama circle, watching countless plays and actors, not thousands, but tens of thousands. For him, in fact, the interest of watching plays is gradually decreasing, not to mention surprise. After reading the first ten minutes of many plays, he will start to feel sleepy - because he can predict the average level of the whole play.

For Alistair now, there is not much interest in drama. The actor's performance is one of them.

Today, Lansley's performance really brightened up for Alistair. It's not because of the Berlin Film Festival or the Oscars, it's not because of the praise of John corder or the desperate gamble of Emma Fielding, it's just because of Langley. Absolute strength, let the performance become a kind of enjoyment, also let watch the performance become a kind of enjoyment.

In Cameron Macintosh's version of "les miserables", Alistair can't remember how many times he has seen it. Eighty times is the least. He strongly suspects that the number is close to three digits. So he knew very well that the end of the first act was coming. John still draws on the classic version of Cameron Macintosh and takes Jean Valjean's monologue as the ending of the first act.

"Valjean's soliloquy", which is the last segment of the first act, truly and profoundly presents Jean Valjean's inner transformation: bishop Myriel's kindness and integrity moved him, and the character was really sublimated. The difficulty of this segment is comparable to that of "Hamlet", which puts forward super high requirements for emotion and performance.

Alistair is now looking forward to, looking forward to, what will happen to the Langley version of the monologue?