rec.arts.theatre.musicals

On Sep 11, 5:56 am, Stephen Farrow < ...@ > wrote:
> Steve Newport wrote:
>
> > fmom...@ (fmomoon)
> > <<<87 LES MISERABLES: It's better in French>>>
> > -----------------------------------
> > I imagine it would be.
> > -----------------------------------
> > Is it any shorter in French?
>
> The first French staging was about an hour shorter. Subsequently, the
> Nunn/Caird version played in Paris, and was the same length it was
> everywhere else, which was three and a quarter hours, give or take -
> this was before they revised the show mid-run on Broadway. It was three
> hours forty minutes when it opened at the Barbican, and they trimmed ten
> minutes out when it transferred to the West End, and a further fifteen
> minutes before it transferred to Broadway. Then at some point relatively
> late in the Broadway run the show was trimmed by another 15 minutes or
> so to bring it in under three hours and so save overtime.

Unfortunately, in the initial expansion of the original french for the
Barbican, the writers didn't write any new music to cover the book
expansion (with the possible exception of lifting the humming chorus
from MADAMA BUTTERFLY to fashion "Bring Him Home") which is why the
recits ( ., the stuff that wasn't recorded on the OLC or OBC) has
such a patchwork feeling about it. A pity because if they had actually
put more work into it then, it would have been ten times the show it
is today.