The Miserable Ones

After spending 2 hours watching Burlesque, I felt I was already miserable. The lack of interesting plotline and remarkable music has turned me wanting for a real musical treat for the night.

It was a good thing that I saw portions or Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert last sunday afternoon in one of the local channels, and it did grab my attention so I rented out the dvd.

Initially, I thought that I would be seeing the actual play captured in dvd, but the title mentioned that it was a concert and so, I knew that it wouldn't be the actual play itself but perhaps the music in it.

Alfie Boe (Jean Valjean) and Norm Lewis (Javert) battling it out on the opening act when Jean Valjean is about to be released in prison. Look down is hauntingly beautiful and as a song it captures perfectly an ex-convict's wanting of true freedom but is always tied up to their dark past. Alfie Boe is phenomenal in all his songs throughout the concert, but he remains unforgettable in his rendition of Bring Him Home. Indeed perfect to be the main the character that binds the whole story.
Jean Valjean was given by the bishop a chance to redeem his life before he broke his parole by stealing again.

Act II can be summarized in two words, Lea Salonga. She plays Fantine. On the past stage plays, she was Eponine singing On my own. This time she belts out I Dreamed a Dream and probably her best performance to date. Some even commented that it was better than the original by LuPone. Lea remains in perpect pitch throughout the belting of that song, not screechy for even a bit and face with changing emotions. Our miss saigon made Filipinos proud on that second act, captivating the whole 02 arena in London of people all over the world, something to be truly proud of.

Act III was about the war in France and the love story of Cosette and Marius with Marius' friend Eponine. I'm not totally sure of Nick Jonas and the one who played Cosette because she sounded pitchy in her solo, but Samantha Barks' (Eponine) rendition of On My Own reminds me of Lea's rendition in the past in a different tone and with better emotions.

Nick Jonas' best performance in that evening would have been his Epmty Chairs and Empty Tables. At this point, you would appreciate the quality of his voice and the emotion of losing all friends in the battle.

Then Alfie sings again Bring Him Home. This rendition is the heart of the entire concert. You will hear some of the other cast of the past productions sing this song in the encore part of the concert as a group. But for a solo, Alfie gives his best performance belting out this song.

Finally, he sings a trio with Fantine and Eponine in his death bed. At this point, it is impossible not to be touched by the music and the emotional renditions of the singers and by the message of redemption and freedom.

And for someone like me who had no idea of even a single page of the book of Hugo, and the immortal characters on it, I must say it indeed touched my soul. I'm actually trying to find an ebook of the literary piece to store in my kindle and get the taste of the real thing of this masterpiece.

Show me how you Burlesque?

I had a musical night last night.

I ran across the dvd rental and saw that Burlesque and Les Miserables were both available for rentals.

Considering it would be impossible for me to watch both of them in cinemas here, I took out my amex and rented them.

My first on the list was Burlesque. I remember hearing Cher on tv saying she can live without an Oscar because this musical film did not get any nomination even after it got a Globe.

I've never seen so many musicals of late, but I liked both Moulin Rouge and Chicago, and perhaps the local film Emir, and maybe some parts of that Indian movie that got best picture from the Oscars last year.

Burlesque turned out to be a story of a burlesque club in LA and the story of a girl who dreamt of performing onstage. Hohum, not the most original storyline is it, and the opening number for Aguillera had to be a pseudo dream sequence in a diner she was about to leave.

Then she finally makes it to LA and saw this Burlesque club downtown while looking for a job, gets inside the club and tries everything to get a job there even as a waitress waiting for her time to be a star. Clearly at the first 20 minutes of the film I figured out why Oscar snubbed it - there was nothing original or remarkable about the film. Even the music wasn't good enough. Remember Queen Latifah's act on Chicago? I swear, Cher's act in this film sounded like it!

Halfway of the film, Aguillera gets into the stage, after Cher gave her a chance to be part of the performers, tries to strut her butt onstage. Amidst this riveting (not!) development on stage, the bar is threatened to be closed for being bankrupt. Darn...the bar is to be closed out and Cher doesn't do anything at all except to avoid the people she is supposed to be talking to, to prevent it from being closed. Hahaha.

Then love stories here and there and its climax already with Aguillera trying to pull of a stunt of live singing when some b1tch cut off her music while onstage. Finally, everything is sorted out in the end with Aguillera getting her guy and Cher preventing the bar from closing because of Air rights? Huh?

That's it folks. Oh dear. No wonder it gets snubbed. Unoriginal. Nothing remarkable. No production number turned out to be special or well-thought of. And the music is so-so.

Cast performances - blah. Cher's acting wasn't really much of an acting. She did better in Mermaids. Aguillera...hmm..her voice..yeah...the part..maybe..but nothing really special, it was as if everything is really staged. Jennifer Hudson would have been more interesting on that role. The rest of the cast - forgettable.

Oh yeah, and the struggling songwriter guy finally finished his song and Aguillera gets to sing it...what do you know...the title "Show Me how you Burlesque"...and nothing really new to offer in the music industry nor to the entirety of the film.

It was a good thing I had Les Miserables dvd at hand.