Posted on 01/09/2013 9:08:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The "Les Miserables" soundtrack album jumps to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week with 92,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
It's the first No. 1 soundtrack on the Billboard 200 since the "Hunger Games" album opened atop the April 7, 2012, list. The last musical film soundtrack to the lead the chart was the "Hannah Montana: The Movie" album on May 2, 2009. The last stage musical-turned-movie musical whose companion album reached No. 1 was "Mamma Mia!" in 2008.
"Les Miserables" declined 32% in sales in the week ending Jan. 6, but that didn't prevent it from beating a surging "Babel" from Mumford & Sons, which zooms from No. 8 to No. 2 with 91,000 sold (a 34% leap).
With a little more than 1,000 copies separating the top two titles on the chart, it's the smallest gap between Nos. 1 and 2 since the July 14, 2012, list. That week, Linkin Park's debuting "Living Things" beat Maroon 5's also-debuting "Overexposed" by just a bit more than 1,000 as well.
When rounding sales figures to the nearest thousand -- as Billboard does with SoundScan figures -- it sometimes renders the difference between very small numbers indistinguishable. That said, the gap between Linkin Park and Maroon 5 was a few hundred units smaller than that of "Les Miserables" and Mumford & Sons.
(Excerpt) Read more at billboard.biz ...
If you want to hear the score from Les Miz, stay away from these non-singers and get a cast album. The Original Symphonic Recording or the 10th anniversary would do.
Anne Hathaway a “non-singer”? I think not. I also think Jackman did a creditable job and their decision to sing all of it “live” while filming was gutsy and added to the overall performance. Russell Crowe, on the other hand - well, never thought I’d see a show where Crowe was the weak link.
I have a love of original cast recordings. I don’t care for movie versions.
I really enjoyed the 25th Anniversary Concert version from London.
I'm sure (or at least I'm willing to entertain the idea) that I'm missing out on something wonderful, but I know the plot of Hugo's novel, and as a source for an international musical-extravaganza hit, it seems a little less likely The Guide to Incredibly Communicable and Really Messy Diseases, but what do I know?
You’re right, just get the 10th...but not the 25th. That Jonas kid who played Marius was atrocious.
Better yet get the DVD of the 10th Anniversary. The finale with the 17 International Valjeans was original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPpkTgMbhRU
The highlight of the 25th DVD was Valjean, Alphie Boe (he can sing!) And the 4 Valjeans were singing Bring Him Home was impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-0MS72uHSQ
As usual the play, and the two movies, try, and do a decent job, to convey the themes in Hugo’s novel...but IMO, they miss (or leave out) some important things. However, I really understand that you can’t condense an entire book into a 2.5 hour production.
But the theme law/grace is what intrigues me about Hugo’s novel, and all film and play versions did get this across. The nuances of the theme were sometimes lost in the lyric of the songs, or the lack of more of the story to put things in more context. But all in all, the screenplay, composers, and lyricists did do a fine job.
Thanks—the “Law/Grace” element is one I can get my head around!
Hathaway was fine but again when you have Patti Lupone or Ruthie Henshall singing Fantine...
Hathaway was fine but again when you have Patti Lupone or Ruthie Henshall singing Fantine...
Picking Crowe was like picking Gerard Butler for the Phantom. They look great on a movie screen, and they can sing, but they are rock singers, so they’re still pretty limited.
Ahhhh...Thank you for that.
You made my day! ;-)
I get what you are saying, and I don’t think you are missing much. I saw the live show around 1990. Aside from the sets, which were really incredibly clever, there was little there to impress me. I have no desire to ever see or hear the show again.
Singing?? SINGING?? There was NO singing in that GAWD awful movie... Rythmic grunting from Crowe. Word by Word Vocal toning from most of the others.
I can't think of a bigger WASTE of money than buying that sound track. UGH!
You may have seen a bad production. It’s filled with memorable music.
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