The musical "Les Miserables"-a victory for the masses and English

Kennith 2021-10-20 17:34:15

The musical "Les Miserables"-a victory for the public and English.

Liao Kang's


musical "Les Miserables" film broke the box office record, almost full of games. And almost at the end of the scene, the audience applauded the empty screen, which is rare in the history of film. Of course, the film only further popularized the musical, and the original drama itself was very popular with the public. Since its appearance in 1985, it has been performed in London for 27 consecutive years, and it is still unfailing today. It also performed on Broadway in New York for 16 consecutive years. After a three-year pause, it was rerun from 2006 to 2008. The success of the musical "Les Miserables" in the English-speaking world almost makes people forget that it was originally composed by the Frenchman Schoenberg (Claude-Michel Schönberg) and the light lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. opera. But in France, the play came out in 1980 and only lasted three months. After the great success in Britain and the United States, the adapted work was staged again in Paris in 1991. The fate was still not good, and it ended after only a short period of time. This strange phenomenon reminds me of the fate of the original author Hugo. He was forced to live in exile due to his opposition to the dictatorship of Napoleon III. Starting in 1851, he lived on the British islands next to France for 19 years. The novel "Les Miserables" was completed during this period (1862). Of course, the reason for the cold reception of this operetta in France is by no means politics. It can't even be said that it has been coldly received. After all, it has played more than a hundred times, but it is not as successful as it was in the United Kingdom and the United States. This phenomenon of "scent outside the wall" should be attributed to the love of English-speaking people and the strength of English itself.

The French are more critical in art, and are especially sensitive to the adaptation of French classics. Les Misérables is a classic in French literary classics. No matter who adapts it, no matter what it is adapted into, it has been severely criticized and mercilessly ridiculed. Critics are not only disgusted with the reduction of the complex and simplified, but also especially angry at the destruction of the beauty of the language. But for those who read translation, all the readers who have talked to me agree that if half of this huge essay is deleted, the literary value may be higher. There are too many arguments and anecdotes outside the story in the novel. Regardless of the criticisms that smashed current affairs, the comments on historical events, or the scandals that disturbed Paris, the readers of the year looked at the excitement, just like we are fighting on the Internet today, but it has nothing to do with the readers of future generations. Now what we care about is the fate of the characters in the novel. Apart from the scholars who study history, who cares about the old sesame seeds and rotten millet? And scholars who really study history have to go to the annals of history and classics, and novels are at best for reference. As for the beauty of language, Les Misérables is written in French after all. The beauty of it is difficult to fully reproduce in translation. The adaptation into a musical may make French literary critics very dissatisfied. But for foreigners, anyway, we haven't fully grasped the beauty of the original text before, and we can definitely feel much less lack of the beauty of the text. What we admire is the novel's exposure and criticism of unfair society, the author's sympathy and care for the weak, the bishop's kindness inspiring power, the contradictions faced by Jean Valjean and his noble behavior, which are portrayed by Hugo. Distinctive characters and the romantic stories he tells. And all of this is vividly reproduced in the play and has a touching performance through music.

The French are also particularly curious and innovative in art. The word "avant-garde" comes from the French avant-garde, they are tired of artistic repetition, even just some approximations are unbearable. The main composer and lyricist of the musical "Les Miserables" had co-produced the rock opera "La Révolution Française" (La Révolution Française) as early as 1973, seven years earlier than "Les Miserables". On a much larger scale, from the capture of the Bastille, the overthrow of the Bourbon dynasty, to the tyranny of Robespierre. The music is much more novel. Although there are also passages from traditional operettas, the main songs are very catchy rock music. The box office is also much better in France. Not only was it a smash hit in the 1970s, but also various versions of albums have been released continuously over the past 40 years, and they are still hot today. However, the rock opera "French Revolution" involved many historical events and characters in France, lacking personal encounters and ups and downs, and emotionally not touching enough, so it has never been translated into English, and few people in the English-speaking world know it. Although the musical "Les Miserables" is not about the French Revolution, the last barricade was the Paris uprising in June 1832, but its historical background is still very similar, and the music has returned to more traditional and slightly outdated operettas. The style of the big opera, coupled with the French being picky about adapting their classical literature, it is not difficult to understand that this work has received a relatively cold reception in France.

However, the majority of English-speaking audiences do not have such picky and scrupulousness, nor do they have the familiar feeling and impression. What we hear and see is the anger of those who have lost their dignity in prison, the sadness and grievances of humiliated women, the pitiful hope of innocent children, the angry roar of the oppressed in that cruel dynasty, and freedom The strong desire for equality, fraternity, and fraternity is the most universal and fundamental aspiration of all mankind. When Fantine lost her job, she had to sell her hair, her teeth, and her body in order to raise her daughter, and she was punished for rebelling slightly. When she sang the sad song "My Dream", even a stone-hearted would Shed tears for it. When the petite Cosette struggled to pick up the huge mop and wooden barrel, and when she sang the hopeful song "The Castle in the Clouds", even the stone-hearted would shed tears. When the bullet-picking boy fell under the gun of the suppressor, when he sang the heroic song "Children" in a childish voice, who wouldn't be excited about it? When those revolutionary youths erected barricades and stood on top of them and sang the passionate war song "Do you hear the people's singing", who wouldn't be excited about it? Such an excellent musical was received coldly in its birthplace. Even if I could understand it, it would be difficult to accept emotionally, and the original admiration for France has also diminished.

However, my respect for Hugo has not diminished due to the above shortcomings. Those shortcomings are aimed at the broad readers of the novel, but they are of great value to scholars who want to understand the customs of the French society at that time. In addition, this epic novel also embodies the tragic tradition of ancient Greece, and is a tragedy of conflict of ideas like Antigone, which Hegel respects as a model. The two contradictory sides in the play are not simply representatives of justice and evil, they represent different ideologies. Jean Valjean instinctively felt that the world was injustice. He should not be punished so cruelly and dehumanizingly for stealing a piece of bread and smashing a shop window. Javert firmly believed in the laws of the empire. He maintained the majesty of the law for the stability of the country, not for personal benefit. Neither of them are gangsters. Therefore, when Javert thought he had admitted the wrong person, he insisted on asking the Mayor of Madeleine to punish him. Therefore, when Jean Valjean had a chance to execute Javert, he let him go. Therefore, when Javert realized that there was something wrong with his beliefs, and when he saw that "the justice of God and the justice of man are running counter to each other," his spiritual world collapsed. Jean Valjean and Javert are not simply good and bad people, but like Hugo’s other novel "1993", the commander of the Communist Party of China, Govan, the leader of the royalist rebels, Rontenac, and the special representative Simultan. That kind of honest people with different beliefs. They are capable of self-examination and self-sacrifice because of their incompatible principles and the humanitarian spirit that transcends their beliefs. Based on this, the musical film added Javert's scene of watching the dead in a barricade battle, and added a close-up of him seeing the corpse of the heroic boy. Let viewers who have not read the original book and do not know Javert’s psychological contradictions further understand why he committed suicide. Such conflicts and tragedies that transcend ideology and struggle for their own ideas seem to have never appeared in Chinese works. In the past, Chinese literature always portrayed enemies as morally corrupt criminals, and always portrayed their actions as selfish and selfish behaviors. The root of this simplification lies in observing the world without prejudice. Hugo is not without prejudice, he despised and belittled the people like the Thenardiers. They are like crows eating dead bodies, plundering the remains of fallen soldiers on the battlefield. They squeezed Fantine and Cosette for money. I think Hugo described them too much, too single. In this regard, the musical has made appropriate adjustments to make the couple more ridiculous, not so hateful. This obviously inherits the tradition of the British musical "Oliver!", in which the abettor Fagin was jokes, not ugly.

Some people blamed too many coincidences in Les Misérables: Thenardier killed Marius’ father on the battlefield of Waterloo; Javert came to the city where Jean Valjean pretended to be a factory in Madeleine and saw him. Carrying a carriage to save a person, so he was suspicious; Jean Valjean jumped into the monastery and just hit the person he rescued; Thenardier’s daughter Eponine also met and fell in love with Marius, and found Cosette for him. ; Jean Valjean escaped by drilling the underground channel with Marius on his back, and met Thenardier at the exit, and so on. There are so many coincidences that may not be obvious in the five-volume long story, but in the adaptation of the three-hour musical, the plot seems very unreal. But I see "Les Miserables" not as a realistic novel, but as a romantic story. "Romance" is mistaken by many people for just love. In fact, in the history of Western literature, romanticism is a literary movement that is opposite to neoclassicism, emphasizing feelings over reason, and describing the common people's literary movement. The characters in "Les Miserables" are typical representatives of the oppressed and toiling masses, are typical representatives of kind Christians, are typical representatives of those who have been inspired to be kind, are typical representatives of faithful implementation of the dynasty's laws, are insulted A typical representative of thousands of women, a typical representative of pure children suffering from fate, a typical representative of a greedy and shameless scum, and a typical representative of bloody young revolutionaries. Their collision, communication, contradiction and integration, their emotional interweaving and conceptual conflicts constitute a huge picture of history. This picture scroll does not reflect the real events of the moment, but the spirit of the times throughout the first half of the 19th century in France, which is a higher level of artistic reality. The adapted musicals use moving music and arias to further express the spirit and art of this era. Compared with the ten kinds of adaptations of "Les Miserables" I have seen, I think the choice of English musicals is the best, no more, no less, and the structure and rhythm of musical films are more compact, and they also give full play to the delicate performance. Movie specialty.

Let experts and scholars study Hugo's original "Les Miserables". Let the public enjoy the adaptation of the simplified version. I have read the original book twice, 30 years apart, I guess I won’t read it again in this life. But I still watch musicals and movies that have been adapted countless times. In the theater, I believe that many audiences, like me, appreciate more vocal art. Although the sound and some chants of the movie are not as effective as the theater, it gives full play to the advantages of the close-up shots, and shows the delicate emotions that cannot be seen on the stage. Weeping mourning, the twitching corners of her mouth, the flashing humiliation, resentment, despair and anger in her eyes. It may be because seeing clearly in the movie also helps to understand the lyrics. Not only me, but a few of my friends also find it easier to understand lyrics in the cinema than in the cinema. The movie also takes advantage of the convenience of scene conversion, showing scenes that cannot be reproduced by text descriptions and stage art; for example, the very creative shot of pulling the boat at the beginning. It not only shows the hard labor of those prisoners, but also metaphors that the restored France is as irreparable as the leaning broken ship.

The success of the musical is also thanks to Herbert Kretzmer's free translation of French lyrics into catchy English; thanks to English being the most powerful and international language in the world, the musical "Les Miserables" is not only in the UK It has achieved great success with the United States, and is popular in Canada, Australia and many other English-speaking countries. It has been translated into 21 languages ​​and performed in 42 countries in different forms. With the success of the film, I believe that there will be more audiences who want to watch musicals. Just as online literature promotes the publication of print media, the relationship between movies and musicals will change from the previously feared competition to mutual promotion. After seeing the shadows of the plane, some friends' interest was aroused, and they also hope to see real people's performances. There are also some friends and myself, even though I have seen musicals for a long time, I still want to see how the movies are performed, and also want to see the performances of different teams. Dramatic art has this kind of charm; someone can watch a play hundreds of times, but few people read a novel ten times.

If you pay attention to the artistic form of musicals, you will notice that "Les Miserables" is different from most musicals: there is no light song and dance, the music and arias are either stormy or intense, or they are so sad that they cry; there is no speech, there is a gap between the songs. It is connected with recitatives like the Grand Opera, but it is not as difficult as the aria of the Grand Opera; there are no glorious scenes and bright costumes, every scene is dim, almost everyone is in tattered clothes; There is no gag, even when the Thenardiers play, they are funny and ironic, not jokes or humor. In a word, in addition to music, all aspects of this play are closer to the big opera. But unlike the big operas with high and few songs, this musical is very popular with the public. After all, I have to thank Hugo. The French missed the opportunity to make their own literary classics shine in the world. In fact, they can't blame them, but because French is going downhill, but English is going up.

If you pay special attention to musicals, you will also think that, in a sense, "Les Miserables" is similar to the first real musical "Showboat" in the United States. The literal translation of Showboat is "showboat", I translated "showboat" because the musical is really about the careers of several artists who use ships as their homes. The similarity is that that work also expresses suffering to a considerable extent. As soon as it opened, the audience saw a group of black stevedores on the dock sing angrily on the American stage: "Whites wander around all day, and blacks are busy at work all day. Sweat fell into Mississippi and was busy until the end." The theater owner and producer Florence Ziegfeld (Florence Ziegfeld) on the night of the 1927 premiere, when the audience watched quietly and silently, he thought that he would be defeated if he was noble. However, the shocking art of "The Performing Arts Boatman" won the audience's appreciation and performed 572 shows for a year and a half. This was considered a great success at the time and earned the name of musical for this art form, turning this adjective into a noun. After 60 years, "Les Miserables" premiered on Broadway. On the American stage, musicals went from cheerful singing and dancing back to heavy singing, from banter back to solemnity, and from relaxed back to seriousness. The success of the musical "Les Miserables" shows that this art form has greater expressive power and possibilities.

The follow-up work "Miss Saigon" by the composer Schoenberg and the lyricist Burberry is proof. This is also a serious work, which can be called "Madame Butterfly" in English, and it is the tragedy of Vietnam's Joe Qiaosang. The success of the musical "Les Miserables" in the United Kingdom and the United States led the lyricist to directly create "Miss Saigon" in English, and the producer decided to stage it in the United Kingdom and the United States. A total of 4264 performances were performed in London from 1989 to 1999, breaking the record of the longest musical performance at the Royal Opera House on Drury Street, which was previously held by "The Fair Lady". "Miss Saigon" also performed 4092 shows on Broadway in New York from 1991 to 2001, and it was also made into a movie. The success of the musical film "Les Miserables" will surely promote the early stage of the musical film "Miss Saigon" and further popularize this work. English has long become the most important communication tool in all other fields. The success of the musicals "Les Miserables" and "Miss Saigon" and the phenomenon of "Scent Outside the Wall" more clearly indicate that English is also the leader in literature and art.

December 29, 2012

View more about Les Misérables reviews

Extended Reading
  • Olen 2022-03-23 09:01:23

    A cold-blooded person like me cried four times! ! ! Just like this kind of movie! ! ! ! I have to go to the cinema to watch it again! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

  • Kellen 2022-03-25 09:01:06

    A bit long. Get paper towels ready, I really like it. From appearance to the end, the little boy is very special and very fond of it.

Les Misérables quotes

  • Javert: My heart is stone, and still it trembles.

  • Jean Valjean: You are wrong, and always have been wrong. I'm a man no worse than any man. You are free and there are no conditions. no bargains or petitions. There's nothing that I blame you for. You've done your duty, nothing more.