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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2019 12:56:01 GMT
Maybe we should let them battle out in duel... like a football match... oh wait 😂😂😂 honestly that is what the thread was about to be honest until I read it!! I miss the Phantom V Mis football I went to the last one they did and it was fab day out. Pistol vs Lasso |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 27, 2019 14:09:47 GMT
You weren’t wearing the mask and cloak again were you? Thanks for lending them to me...though the cloak is a little on the large size, and the mask gave me a strange rash. 🙂 I'll get them back to you first thing Monday morning, if that's alright? I've got a few bookings this weekend. 😉 Hmmm you sound very busy TallPaul. Dont you worry, I’ll carry on covering you for the Leeds Playhouse updates as well as doing Manc and the north west, we don’t want our man on the ground in Yorkshire to wear himself out. 😐 |
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Post by TallPaul on Jun 27, 2019 15:44:06 GMT
Don't you start, BurlyBeaR. It's bad enough with @theatremonkey! What I'm actually doing (or not doing) is keeping you in touch with your roots, and let's face it, now you live on the wrong side of the Pennines, it's not as though you've much else to do. I'll give you credit for Oliver Twist, but I've known about Dracula 🦇 for months, so it's hardly braking news. 🙂 |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 27, 2019 15:54:36 GMT
Didn’t post it though did ya! Too busy swishing your cape about!
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Post by TallPaul on Jun 27, 2019 16:15:25 GMT
Has anyone ever told you, BurlyBeaR, that you can be quite funny...sometimes? 😄 Jolly tiring it is too, with all that fabric! (And, strictly speaking, it's your cape. If it were mine, it would be much more stylish.) |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Dec 3, 2019 15:11:53 GMT
Bump
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2019 16:15:10 GMT
So I have been thinking about this since last night and mentioned in the Les Mis concert thread that I really feel Les Mis is starting to edge forward and one day will be the winner (to the extent that such a concept is useful) of the most successful musical of all time.
I do think objectively only Les Mis and Phantom can (currently) claim the crown of most successful musical ever. I am referring only to Britain as no idea of the situation worldwide.
Certainly Les Mis seems to be on a roll, and has been ever since the 2009 tour was launched. That breathed new life into the show and indeed into the London version. We had the weekend where both were in London and then the O2 show on the Sunday. Since then it seems the Queen's regularly sold better than Her Maj. And in the last year, the original closing, a new tour (now post cast change), the concert and the re-opening at the re-named Sondheim have really highlighted the success of the show.
Further, the new Les Mis tour has become iconic (not for me AS iconic as the original, but a most worthy successor). The 25th Phantom tour, which I thought was better than often credited on here, has not taken the world by storm in the same way the Les Mis one did.
BUT - the crucial question - is Les Mis BETTER or is it just MARKETED better. Cam Mac is of course linked to both. But few can deny his efforts with Les Mis are greater. Working with ALW on Phantom - it just seems to never get out there in the same way. Cam Mac's love for Les Mis is obvious. For Phantom, less so (certainly now).
As to which is better - I guess it comes down to personal preference. I am a massive ALW nut as anyone who knows me will be well aware. But for some reason Phantom is one of his shows I connect with the least (to be clear, I still love it lol, it's ALW!). I truly wish it was another of ALWs classics that was still in the West End but there we are....
Anyway, three areas where Les Mis wins for me:
The score. I love every note in Les Mis - it is just gorgeous from start to finish. I feel that way re most ALW stuff but sadly not Phantom. Phantom contains some truly incredible songs (Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again/Music Of The Night/All I Ask Of You/Point Of No Return/Think Of Me/Title Song) but some of the linking sections I really don't like at all. "You have come here..../stranger that you dreamt it...../magical lasoo/Don Juan Triumphant...." I find jarring. Total contrast to ALW's next show Aspects of Love where I literally adore every note. And the next one, Sunset in fact.
The production. Agree or disagree with getting rid of the original Les Mis, the new version is FRESH. I personally think Phantom is looking very aged now - effects that were impressive in 1986 just aren't now.
The story. This for me is the biggie. Les Mis is epic. An extraordinary tale spanning years. With central themes of forgiveness and redemption. Human nature at it's best and most raw. Phantom - well, I personally don't feel for any of the main characters. And The Phantom himself - I can never look past the fact that ultimately he is a murderer. And I really struggle to get past that and feel for him....
Still, ALW remains my fave composer of all time. But for me Les Mis would be the winner of Les Mis vs Phantom!
Be fascinated to hear other people's perspectives.
(I have booked the new tour of Phantom for Manchester and Birmingham as sometimes these tours breath new life into old shows and create a new buzz. And for the big musicals audience behaviour seems to be much better out of town - more people who WANT to be there I guess either that tourists ticking it off their list!)
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Post by viserys on Dec 3, 2019 17:09:41 GMT
I think that Les Mis stood the test of time better. The story of personal redemption is as truly universal and timeless as the quest for a better kinder world (just think of the students in Hong Kong singing "Do you hear the people sing" now, that was enough to make anyone bawl).
But Phantom boils down to "drippy girl being stuck between psychopath and handsome bland boy". Call it romantic if you like - I do think that "All I ask of you" is miles ahead of "A heart full of love" but at the end of the day it's just that, a slightly questionable love triangle.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2019 17:18:16 GMT
I think that Les Mis stood the test of time better. The story of personal redemption is as truly universal and timeless as the quest for a better kinder world (just think of the students in Hong Kong singing "Do you hear the people sing" now, that was enough to make anyone bawl). But Phantom boils down to "drippy girl being stuck between psychopath and handsome bland boy". Call it romantic if you like - I do think that "All I ask of you" is miles ahead of "A heart full of love" but at the end of the day it's just that, a slightly questionable love triangle. Agree! Les Mis is truly timeless and relevant. Another reason I guess why it has stood the test of time. And certainly one of the few surviving sung through musicals in an era where this is no longer fashionable! |
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