919 Pleasing to the eyes
“The story of "Les Misérables" has been widely circulated and familiar thanks to the Queen's Theater version of the play; however, the details of the original novel have gradually been lost in word of mouth, and only a vague outline of the story remains in my mind. Has catchy song melody.
There is no doubt that this is a victory for commercial promotion; but at the same time, it is also a decline of literature and art. Today, the Almeida Theater shows its arrogant and bold courage, truly re-presenting the Paris described by Victor Hugo Ukiyo-e.
The first act of the story, in the Queen's Theater version, lasts less than twenty minutes; in the movie, it is condensed into a fourteen-minute clip, with Jean Valjean as the absolute protagonist, connecting the story line and plot development. .At this time, the Almeida Theater took a full forty minutes to present the entire story in a magnificent way..
Jean Valjean was an honest and diligent worker who had been helping his poor sister to raise seven poor children. However, one winter, he could not find a job. In order to prevent his children from starving to death, he took a desperate risk and stole a piece of bread. Sentenced to five years in prison.
While serving his sentence, Jean-Ajean couldn't bear the pain in prison and escaped four times, but he never succeeded. He also stood on the opposite side of morality and law with Javert..
Javert was born in prison and was a descendant of prisoners. In order to wash away the shame brought by his bloodline, he became an unswerving advocate of law and order, even if the social order at that time was decadent and backward, even if he I discovered the backwardness of the law and the consequences in my eyes, but the paranoia in my mind still stood on the side of the traditional old forces without hesitation, maintaining the social pathology and crumbling system..
Under Javert's oppression, Jean-Valjean's sentence was increased from five years to 19 years, and he was also branded with an indelible mark as a hard labor prisoner. Even though Jean-Valjean was later successfully paroled and released from prison, he could not find a job. , there is not even a place to stay; even if they do the same hard work, the parolees' pay is only half of others..
Jean Valjean, who was not willing to be bullied in this way, felt very distressed. When he was feeling discouraged, he met Bishop Myriel. Bishop Myriel was an upright, kind and compassionate man who still had a great interest in society. With a glimmer of good hope, he kindly took in Jean Valjean and let him spend the night in his home.
However, the desperate Jean Valjean stole the bishop's silverware in order to make a living and prepared to abscond. On the way to escape, Jean Valjean was caught by the police again and was twisted back; at the critical moment, Bishop Miriam... Claiming that the silverware was not stolen by Jean Valjean, but was given to him by himself, and he was also presented with the silver candlestick, thus saving Jean Valjean from prison..
Faced with the generosity and kindness of this bishop, Jean Valjean was inspired and gained new courage, determined to do good from evil and do good from now on..
In the original novel, Victor Hugo used four volumes to present the first stage of Jean Valjean's transformation, which was vast and majestic; today, in the Almeida Theater , the entire story revolves around the three characters of Jean-Valjean, Javert and Bishop Miriam. It magnificently presents the essence of the original work and injects its own reflection and exploration..
The biggest innovation of the Almeida Theater version is that in the first act, the role of Jean Valjean is weakened, and the two characters of Javert and Bishop Miriam are more vividly and fully outlined..
Javert represents a sick conservative; while Bishop Miriam represents a firm believer..
In the Queen's Theater version, both characters became supporting characters in the plot in the first act. In a sense, they became Jean Valjean's personal epic, just like the movie "Gladiator"; and Al In the Meda Theater version, the two characters form an iron triangle with Jean Valjean, showing the various aspects of life in society, with great momentum and eloquence..
What is even more commendable is that after reducing his role, Jean Valjean not only did not dim, but became more distinctive.：
Under the oppression and pursuit of the conservative forces, Jean Valjean was reduced from a hard-working and sincere worker to a criminal, and gradually slipped into the abyss of crime, with no place to stay; but under the pull of faith and hope, he peeled off the corruption The festering remnants of society regained a glimmer of hope, changed their minds, and returned to the original track..
Everyone knows that in history, the Parisian people's uprising broke out, and finally promoted the French Revolution and overthrew the rule; now, the audience has a preliminary glimpse of the future historical context in Jean Valjean. Undoubtedly, this is The success of the Almeida Theater version.
What's more important——
“Where did John Corder find these outstanding actors? How to successfully train？”
Alistair Smith's eyes showed a hint of excitement. For London's West End, a pioneering and innovative play and a group of powerful new stars are equally important, because it means artistic creation and also means future development.
In the first act, Javert, played by Ezra Miller, is a little immature. His advantage lies in his figure, and his disadvantage lies in his singing, and the rhythm and intensity of the entire performance, in contrast to the other two actors, occasionally It seems slightly overdone, and occasionally slightly insufficient. For viewers who pursue perfection, this is a pity; but objectively speaking, it does not affect the viewing effect..
Because Ezra's evil charm and madness injected Javert with a distinctive paranoia, the distortion of his dark temperament burst out a new charm..
This play has been performed at the Queen's Theater for nearly thirty years, with the 15th anniversary celebration version and the 25th anniversary celebration version taking turns; but today, Alistair once again discovered the charm and infinite character of Javert. Maybe. This is definitely a big gain..
However, Javert's real test has yet to come. According to the Queen's Theater version, the end of the second act is Javert's aria, a song "Stars", which presents all his inner entanglements and struggles, paranoia and madness. .Whether Ezra is good enough to be an important piece of the puzzle on Almeida's opening night depends on this.
In addition, almost all the arias of Bishop Myriel played by Andy-Conaghan are newly written, and almost the entire character is also newly created. Solid basic skills, excellent control, and excellent His expressiveness was vividly displayed in Bishop Myriel's one-man show shortly after the opening of the first act, which was impressive..
Without Renly, Andy is undoubtedly the biggest gain in the first act of today's opening night. In the confrontation between the iron triangle, this character who emerged out of nowhere did leave a deep impression on people; but, it was just no if.
For the average viewer, Renly is undeniably mediocre during the first thirty-five minutes of the first act..
People's attention may fall on Bishop Miriam, a brand-new character who is refreshing both in terms of arias and plot; people's attention may also fall on Javert, whose unique twisted and dark temperament is reflected in the expanded plot segments. , the ins and outs of the character are presented in an extremely complete and clear way.
In comparison, Jean Valjean, whose performance content and plot context did not have much breakthrough, is simply too familiar to every audience, and has lost its appeal. More importantly, Renly The performance was intentionally restrained to maintain the balance and integrity of the entire repertoire, so the brilliance was not noticeable..
But for veteran viewers and professionals, Renly undoubtedly shines most in the first thirty-five minutes of the first act.
The whole performance was seamless and easy to perform, from the arias to the figures, from the steps to the movements, from the lines to the expressions, from the use of the stage space to the control of the body movements. There was no effort at all. Solid and steady basic skills and a perfect performance. Powerful, truly interpreting the art of drama and stage art in a pleasing way.
Yes, it's pleasing to the eye. This is the best evaluation in Alistair's mind right now.
The details of Renly's performance are undoubtedly the most touching. It may be just a look up, a look, or a step or a pause. Every detail is integrated with the character, plot and story. Finally, through the emotional explosion of the aria, The finishing touches are collected when necessary and released when necessary. Capturing the vividness and depth of those details is simply a pleasure for an old theater fan like Alistair..
Alistair has been in the theater circle for most of his life, and has watched countless plays and countless actors, not thousands, but tens of thousands. For him, the interest in watching theater is actually gradually diminishing, let alone Surprisingly, he often starts to feel sleepy after watching the first ten minutes of many plays - because he can already predict the average level of the entire play..
Now for Alistair, there is really not much interest in theater. The actor's performance is one of them..
Today, Renly's performance really shined in Alistair's eyes. Not because of the recognition from the Berlin Film Festival or the Oscars, nor because of John Cord's praise and Emma Fitting's desperate efforts, but just because of Renly's performance. Etiquette. The absolute strength makes performing a kind of enjoyment, and also makes watching performances a kind of enjoyment..
Alistair has lost count of how many times he has watched Cameron Mackintosh's version of "Les Misérables," eighty times being the minimum. He strongly suspects that the number is approaching three digits. Therefore, he knows We knew that the end of the first act was coming. John still drew on Cameron Mackintosh’s classic version and used Jean Valjean’s monologue as the end of the first act..
“"Valjean's-Soliloquy", this is the last fragment of the first act, which truly and profoundly presents Valjean's inner transformation: Bishop Miriam's kindness and integrity moved him, and the character truly It has been sublimated. The difficulty of this segment is comparable to that of "Hamlet", which places extremely high demands on both emotion and performance..
Alistair was now looking forward to what Renly's version of the monologue would be like.？
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