Product Description

A performance of Les Miserables by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, for a 10th Anniversary Concert celebration.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #402 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-02-19
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 148 minutes

Amazon.com
The 10th anniversary concert video of the international musical sensation Les Misérables might be the best thing to appease fans until a full-fledged movie comes along. Or it might be even better, as feature films are often subject to extramusical casting considerations and this 1995 dream cast is superb. Reprising their roles from the original London company are Colm Wilkinson (Valjean), Michael Ball (Marius), and Alun Armstrong (Thenardier). From Broadway come Judy Kuhn (Cosette), Lea Salonga (Eponine), and Michael Maguire (Enjolras); from a later London production comes Ruthie Henshall (Fantine); and from Australia comes Philip Quast (Javert).

Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's score vividly captures the passion of Victor Hugo's epic tale of post-Revolutionary France, combining tear-jerking ballads ("I Dreamed a Dream," "Bring Him Home") and rousing anthems ("Do You Hear the People Sing"). The format of this concert is closer to that of a dramatic cantata rather than a fully staged production; the singers stand at their microphone stands with an orchestra and chorus behind them, but they do wear costumes and participate in some movement. At certain points such as the climax of the barricade scene, the video switches to action from a stage production. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra sounds great, and it can be thrilling when 200 choristers (dressed in logo T-shirts) rise to their feet for a full-company number such as "One Day More." Also, subtitles provide date and scene information and help move the story along.

The 147-minute video contains footage not seen when Les Mis was a PBS pledge-drive staple, most notably the encore in which a progression of 17 actors who have played Valjean around the world share "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Each sings a line in his native language, a testament to the enduring power of this show to audiences everywhere. --David Horiuchi

DVD features
The 2008 two-disc edition presents the concert on a single-sided disc (the original DVD split the concert over two sides) with optional English subtitles. It's also in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1 aspect ratio) comparied to the original's 1.33 full-screen. The second disc has Stage by Stage: Les Miserables, the hourlong documentary from 1988. Unfortunately the sound is only Dolby Digital 2.0. Early editions of the DVD had an odd omission (compared to the earlier Sony DVD)--the first 10 seconds of Gavroche's "Little People" were missing ("Good evening, dear inspector, lovely evening, my dear...")--that has now been corrected. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Great in some ways, but disspointng in others...
This new edition of the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert (taped in 1995 at the Royal Albert Hall in London) is a welcome new edition for any person who found the original concert enjoyable and thrilling. The 2-DVD set comes in a good quality hard case with new artwork. The performances continue to be mostly excellent and one really does not miss the staging too much. There are several new positive additions to this edition. First is the wide-screen presentation of the concert. It was painfully obvious at certain points during the original release (especially the bigger numbers) that you were missing some of the singers on the sides. The new wide-screen presentation opens up the experience so you can watch the concert as it was originally taped. The second positive aspect of this issue is that the whole concert is on one side of one disk, which makes it much more convenient to watch. The third is the inclusion of the "Stage By Stage" Documentary from the late 80s tracking the recording of the Complete Symphonic Recording as a supplement on the second disk. Finally, for those who want to, you can follow along with new (optional) on-screen lyrics.

However, this edition is not without its disappointments. The first and by far the biggest disappointment is how it's only presented in stereo and not Dolby Digital 5.1 or better. Not having a digital audio option in 2008 is ridiculous and I would have greatly put up with changing disks if it meant having a better quality performance. The second disappointment is the deletion of parts of the concert previously available, which include part of "Little People" and the speeches by the creative talent behind the show at the end of the concert before the encore. Even if space was limited on the first disk, these deletions could have easily been put on the second disk as supplementary material.

So, while the concert itself continues to be quite enjoyable and there are some new additions that makes it a must have for any Les Miserable fan, there are some basic disappointments that keep this edition from being perfect.

a disapointment
Wow, I have waited forever for this concert to be released on DVD, I have worn out two VHS tapes, and I can't express my disapointment. It arrived today and my wife and I disconected the phones and prepared to watch on our new 1080p with a Blu-Ray player. The DVD is very grainy a lot of the time, like looking through a screen, much of the time there are ghosts around the actors. It appears to be simply a copy of the VHS with no enhancement. It has been edited, for instance Gavroche's song exposing Javert to the students has been shortened, the entire part between the end of the concert and the entrance of the international Jean Valjeans has been cut. (It may be on the second disc, but if it is then the "additional material" is misleading) In this day of digital enhancement there is no excuse for this poor quality, my old VHS is superior. The sound track is not enhanced at all. I will only hope someone will eventually offer a real quality DVD of this great, great event.

There is no exuse for the poor quality of this release.
While it is nice to have this on DVD, with a widescreen picture, it isn't enough to make up for the poor quality of everything else that comes along with this release. In fact, the video quality isn't better in any way to the original VHS release.

Les Mis is one of my favourite musicals and I listen to the concert CD soundtrack all the time. I was looking forward to getting this on DVD so that I could watch it with DVD quality audio, which would be a vast improvement over the original VHS release. Boy, was I ever wrong with that assumption.

The audio is embarassingly terrible, with actual distortion in the mix. The original 2CD soundtrack to the concert sounds infinitely better, so there is no excuse for a new DVD release to actually sound worse. Somehow, they managed it with this.

And the commemorative booklet that comes inside is a joke! Grainy screenshots and the same old regurgitated text does not a commemorative booklet make. Once again the packaging doesn't live up to the CD packaging, which came with a marvelous booklet that was truly special.

And then there is the issue of footage being cut out which is, quite simply, a blunder of the highest order. Skip this, send the message that this travesty of a release should not be tolerated.