Nel-ii - An Homage To My Thirteen-year-old Self

congrats to the Les mis châtelet team for winning best musical! :)

Idk how many non theater nerds will understand how huge this is but holy fuck

I absolutely love how Marguerite, in Chauvelin’s eyes, is a symbol of wisdom and freedom in the musical.

He wants her. He objectifies her not as a woman, but like a national treasure. He is possessive of what was once her ideals. He wants her to be like him. He wants her to become a martyr. He wants to eternalize her into a symbol of their new society.

I believe this is also what the 1982 film tried to portray (the musical is directly inspired by this film adaptation).

They got rid of Marguerite’s agency over her own sins and completely antagonized Chauvelin in order to put an emphasis on this form of objectification.

As the story nears its end, Chauvelin loses all interest in Marguerite, upholding his own ideals above his yearning for her. He was to make an example out of her. Instead of a symbol of the revolution, he would turn her into a national traitor, a symbol of evil, everything that goes against his idea of “democracy”.

R doodles from the past months!!!

Been in a crisis about his design eurgh

Behrouz Gharibpour's 1997 Les Misérables tele-theatre | تله‌تئاتر بینوایان

Behrouz Gharibpour is well renowned in theatre (especially in traditional Persian puppeteering!), and he directed Bahman Cultural Center's 1997 production of Les Misérables. (Link to the recording of production at the bottom of this post)

Gharibpour had previously worked on a Farsi translation of Les Misérables in 2006.

The location of the 1997 play was important as the Bahman Cultural Center was in the capital’s less affluent southern district. To contrast, the theatre audiences would mainly comprise of the wealthy sector of society.

Around about ten years later, he directed and wrote a stage adaptation of 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin' in the same center.

“My aim in staging this play was not just to depict poverty— I also wanted to call attention to ignorance, because I believe ignorance to be more painful than poverty." [...] “The media censorship of blacks in the United States and the U.S. government’s behaviour towards racial minorities in housing and also the slowness in delivering relief after the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina indicate that discrimination still exists in the society. [Uncle Tom’s Cabin] raises many other important issues and questions. Our behaviour towards Afghan immigrants in Iran is an example of one of the main issues touched on in the drama."

Available at: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/163730/Ignorance-is-more-painful-than-poverty-in-Uncle-Tom-s-Cabin

By 2007, Gharibpur resigned as director of the Iranian Artists Forum "following criticism of certain performances staged at the venue which highlighted Iranian and foreign scholars and intellectuals."

"[...] About dealing with the ancient and traditional rituals of Iran; I must say that it is not the only issue of dealing with ancient and ritual roots. The main issue is reconciling the audience with the theater. Many people are still afraid of the theater and think that the theater belongs to a certain class, and this special class is intellectuals and book readers. I attracted a large number of audiences to the theater by performing the plays "Les Misérables" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin".Therefore, my concern has not changed since I entered the world of theater at the age of fourteen, and that was to attract the audience as much as possible."

Available at: https://theater.ir/en/165680

From these statements, we can see that there are political ties and messages conveyed from the stage adaptations of Les Misérables in Iran. In fact, in the later 2019 production, the same issues were raised about the wealth disparity and the irony of the theatrical performance of Les Misérables when it was only available for the wealthy.

It seems that, even after twenty odd years, similar sentiments are expressed by the public.

At the end of the day, Gharibpour fought to have his plays be more accessible to combat these struggles, of which he places responsibility in Iranian cultures on the relationship between class, wealth, and theatre.

He has additionally compared his translations and works to the current socio-political environment of Iran.

However, there had been criticisms to the above:

“Other social classes can attend other plays; you shouldn't expect the entire public to come and see this particular production. Of the 150,000 people who saw our work, are all of them wealthy, privileged, and without pain? I strongly disagree with the claim that we are producing this for only a specific group."

Available at: https://www.tebyan.net/news/458977/%D8%A8%DB%8C%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D9%82%DB%8C%D9%82%D9%87-%DB%B2%DB%B5-%D8%AC%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA

To watch the tele-theatre (I don't think all of the episodes are uploaded, but I haven't watched it yet so I don't know in confidence):

YouTube

بینوایان

les mis enjoltaire fans will find the worst, grainiest, blinded by stage lights, most corrupted 30 seconds of bootleg on the world wide web and go "THEY HELD HANDS HEREEE"

forever my favorite part of west end productions- the handshake :)

(again, sorry for the mediocre quality, this is from 2011!!)

Feeling normal about Javert and Eponine today

Want to watch an Asian Les Misérables, but don't know which to pick?

Here are some options!

Les Misérables Peking Opera | 2 hours 12 minutes

There's action! Parkour! Cosette and Jean Valjean being a sweet family! Marius dressed up as Enjolras! Valvert content!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Dhb9x6w3g&t=1081s

Mandarin Les Misérables play soundtrack | 1 hour

It's an original stage adaptation that was made in collaboration with France! Because of this, it's super accurate, and the characters sometimes code switches to French. It's so accurate, in some parts they just quote passages from the book!

Plus the songs and music are so calming!

Unfortunately I don't have the full footage of it, only the soundtrack ⬇️

Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kmdPwVy_md0_liubPYnBKmAp5uZTnT9o4&si=ilXnx-hPVkmcsCr4

Kundan | 2 hours 36 minutes

It's. So. Good!! Do you want to learn more about the Quit India Movement and the political state of India during the British colonial rule?

Do you want to see how other countries in the world incorporated the themes of social injustice and revolution? No one does it better than Kundan! Goated.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4HQe9vNwA8&t=1837s

Iranian Musical production | 1 hour 32 minutes

Do you want to watch the famous musical of Les Misérables through the eyes of Iranian theatre? You get to see how they portray stage art, costuming, singing, and much more!

It is definitely a very unique adaptation of the famous stage production!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03tXbvE7HZA

Jean Valjean monogatari | 1 hour 25 minutes

No comment (because I haven't watched it yet sadly!)

But I hear the animation can be unintentionally goofy! And that it's an alright adaptation. That's a good enough sign for me!

Link: https://archive.org/details/lesmis_202102

Japanese Ballet production

You guessed it, it's a ballet adaptation of Les Misérables! What more is there to say about it? Watch it!

Unfortunately, there's not a full production of it uploaded, but there are long clips of them in the latter halves of these rehearsal videos. There are longer clips the further down in the playlist you get ⬇️

Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLde0XoLxyblVGUDxdjBgPjFjCMiohKJgJ&si=zQn_BNUmUYRnwZwb

Owarinaki tabiji | 2 hours 23 minutes

Welcome to Les Misérables set in contemporary Japan! The movie begins with Jean Valjean stealing laundry, and an earthquake happening; a trauma which pushes him to become a better man. Also there's Valvert content.

What's more Japanese than laundry theft and earthquakes?

Link: https://www.bilibili.tv/en/video/2047742481

Les Misérables (1992) | 11 hours

Even though this was a French production, the animation was made in North Korea. So if you're interested in how the art may look, you can go and explore! Plus, if you're learning French, perhaps this experience would be a good language practice!

Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBqc73oQ4bMPU1KXsTg3QwzbTidZgjJDh&si=0o8gou_QpXpl4fsL

1996 Korean TV series

Les Misérables set in 70s-80s Korea! I haven't watched the whole way through due to the buffer time, but so far, it follows the story quite closely, all the while finding unique, creative ways in telling the story!

Link: https://programs.sbs.co.kr/drama/thief/vod/74918/22000462834

Korean Original Musical soundtrack | 42 minutes

Javert has an electric guitar accompanying him! I sometimes like to imagine him with a literally electric guitar while he's on the stage.

This musical sounds very modern and is super different from the sounds of Boublil and Schonberg's musical adaptation.

Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lk2Bsybb7A-TjgcbtPX3RBGJd_DJ-jpaE&si=BIoMfMXqwtrw-J6q

Les Misérables (1974) | 12 hours

There's no English subtitles, so I haven't watched it (yet)!

I have seen some translated scenes, and wow, does it look beautiful! If you can understand Arabic, or don't mind watching without understanding the dialogue, then please have a look and tell me about it!

I would LOVE to hear what people have to say about this adaptation!

Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFbmr0IDXgqsyfkOOY3eH4YbMVfmcLf0t&si=2ijFa11N3n5Jo9ay

Sefiller | 1 hour 25 minutes

We have seen many AUs being explored, but have we ever thought about MariusIsChampmathieu'sSon!AU and JeanValjeanDoesn'tConfessInTime!AU?

Well, worry not, this most famous retelling of Les Misérables in Türkiye has got you covered! Watch this to find out why this story became so famous in the country!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxb-mEt5ZyQ

Ngọn Cỏ Gió Đùa (1989) | 2 hours and 41 minutes

Set in late colonial Vietnam, based from the book of the same name with the author having been born during the colonial period and grew up with Vietnam after the French had left, we can see how Les Misérables looks through the eyes of a country who was a victim of the French Empire.

Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOTJoiItzQApxi2IhK64kqYF_6GiyrLy8&si=tb5bzWUaeho7pO2s

Ngọn Cỏ Gió Đùa (2013 TV series) | 30 hours

Because the above movie was a success, they brought the same director in to make a longer, more detailed exploration of this world.

This might be the most famous adaptation of Les Misérables known in Vietnam.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj8dhOHha7U&list=PLs7jy9QFiFOK97yJTxti1ozmjBJypfqX3

stay tuned