Soñé una vida para mí
December 18, 2022 5:26 PM   Subscribe

Les Mis in French. Les Mis in Japanese. Les Mis in Dutch. Les Mis in Portuguese. Les Mis in Norweigen (incomplete). Les Mis in Korean. Les Mis in Spanish. [With varying production quality.]
posted by eotvos (25 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Now link to each version's rendition of Mon Histoire please xd
posted by Perko at 5:28 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


(Damn - Korean link wasn't to the full playlist. Sorry. The whole thing is on youtube.)
posted by eotvos at 5:34 PM on December 18, 2022


I'll stop commenting on my own thread after this, but I forgot to say that I love hearing the way many languages treat the Thénardiers' parts. (I don't actually understand what they represent except in English and Spanish.)
posted by eotvos at 5:45 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


aaah, the miserables.
posted by wowenthusiast at 6:44 PM on December 18, 2022


I have this musical entirely Way Too Memorized, but only in English. I'm glad it's being localized. I recently saw that Sweeny Todd and Assassins also have localized productions in different countries. Assassins done in other countries is particularly interesting, as it's such an American story.

Anyway, hurrah for musicals in different languages! Creating that is such a difficult thing.
posted by hippybear at 7:05 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


And now I have One Day More running in my head as an earworm.
posted by hippybear at 7:12 PM on December 18, 2022 [3 favorites]




That's a very bold statement, blob.
posted by hippybear at 7:53 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


And now I have One Day More running in my head as an earworm.
I tried to do all the parts (in English, mimicking the British recording) in public yesterday, which is what brought this to mind. I am not sure I did a good job. I did remember most of the lyrics. =)
posted by eotvos at 8:08 PM on December 18, 2022


Here's what blob was likely linking to (take note of bell-pepper-munching Chairman Kaga from the original Iron Chef as Japan's Jean Valjean!)
posted by tzikeh at 9:56 PM on December 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


The Korean cast is amazing! I love their Eponine especially.
posted by lunasol at 11:37 PM on December 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


Les Mis from a warped dimension. (It's a "YouTube poop" edit of the movie).
posted by sixohsix at 1:05 AM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


Les Mis in Polish and a bonus flash mob in a mall. Damn but that was a good cast - had my issues with the show, but the cast was stellar.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 1:39 AM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


and a bonus flash mob in a mall
You've made my day. Possibly my year. I'm just starting on the stage performance, but am also very much enjoying it. Thanks!
posted by eotvos at 3:53 AM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


I approve.
posted by one more day at 4:18 AM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


Les Mis Bloopers. Performing live is hard, hee. (The best one is at 3:44)
posted by stray at 5:15 AM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


When I was in college, working a musical, one of the actors was French, so when Les Mis sing alongs manifested in the dressing rooms, he'd be doing it in the original language.

Which led me to looking up the translations and whatnot and discovering that there is much less explicit stating of plot points, as the audience was assumed to know the story (kind of like when Jack comes on in Into the Woods and announces that there are giants in the sky and everyone knows exactly what's up.)
posted by DebetEsse at 10:46 AM on December 19, 2022 [3 favorites]


kind of like when Jack comes on in Into the Woods and announces that there are giants in the sky and everyone knows exactly what's up
It took me a truly embarrassing amount of time to figure out what that meant. I really thought I'd missed something very strange in Les Misérables, despite having read at least three English translations, some multiple times.😺 (I guess I am just blatantly thread sitting now. Sorry.)
posted by eotvos at 11:59 AM on December 19, 2022


Now I want to see a Les Miz/Into The Woods mashup. Maybe Javert is pursuing the giant, Fantine could meet a prince in the woods, Valjean lives next door to a witch...
posted by hippybear at 1:23 PM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


there is much less explicit stating of plot points, as the audience was assumed to know the story

That's really interesting because one critique I have is that while the main storylines are pretty easy to follow, the historical/political context is completely opaque for most (presumably non-French) audiences. It was years after I saw it for the first time before I realized it wasn't about the French Revolution, for instance, and I think that's a pretty common misconception.
posted by lunasol at 1:42 PM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


Yeah, but if you read the book, you'll find that Hugo provides way more context than you might even want (and are often expurgated for the shorter version of the novel). Like, there's an entire history of the Paris sewers in the book, and when Valjean jumps over the wall into the convent garden, suddenly you're presented with an entire history of that particular order of nuns.

The book is similar to Moby Dick in this respect, in that there is a lot of stuff given to the reader that isn't the plot, but does provide all kinds of context to what the story is about which makes the reading experience all the richer for it.
posted by hippybear at 1:51 PM on December 19, 2022 [3 favorites]


I sometimes skip Waterloo. Paris sewers are actually more exciting than some of the human interaction to me. =)

(I love the part of Notre Dame where the author tells you which chapters you can skip if you don't care about city planning.)
posted by eotvos at 2:52 PM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


Les Mis in Klingon is brilliant. Someone should make a post about this woman
Now I want to see a Les Miz/Into The Woods mashup.
I'm absolutely threadsitting now in a way that might get deleted, (I won't be offended.) Here's GPTchat output. I think I'd do better, but much more slowl.
Write a song in the style of Les Misérables that includes both Jack an and the Bean Stalk and also Gavroche
n the streets of Paris, a boy named Gavroche
Was just trying to survive, no life of luxury
He sang and he danced, and he stole what he could
Just to get by in this cruel and cruel world

Chorus:
Oh, Gavroche, oh Gavroche
He was just a poor boy, living in the streets
Oh, Gavroche, oh Gavroche
He was always on the run, trying to find his feet

Verse 2:
One day, Gavroche met a man named Jack
He had a magic bean, and a plan that was wack
"I'll trade you this bean for your cow," he said
And Gavroche, he thought, "What have I got to lose?"

Chorus:
Oh, Jack, oh Jack
He was just a simple man, with a dream in his head
Oh, Jack, oh Jack
He climbed up that beanstalk, and his life was changed forever

Bridge:
Gavroche and Jack, they both had their struggles
They both had their dreams, they both had their troubles
But they never gave up, they never surrendered
They fought for their future, and they never let it be squandered

Chorus:
Oh, Gavroche, oh Jack
They were just two misfits, trying to find their way
Oh, Gavroche, oh Jack
They never gave up, no matter what came their way

Outro:
In the streets of Paris, a boy named Gavroche
Was just trying to survive, no life of luxury
And on that beanstalk, a man named Jack
He found his fortune, and he never looked back.
posted by eotvos at 11:49 PM on December 19, 2022


Lovely, MollyRealized.

Since chatgpt is broken at the moment and I can't sleep, I'll give it a very silly try by hand:

Look up, look up.
There's a beanstalk at your feet.
Look up, look up,
You've sold your cow for meat.

How do you do, my name is Jack.
This is my beanstalk, in my patch.
Something to look at
You might say "gosh"
You might try claimbing it
Trying to there find *high* society
Here in the farms of the English Country
We live on beans and animal husbandry
Not much to eat, but what the hell
Think your poor? plant a tree.
Follow me, follow me!
posted by eotvos at 11:43 PM on December 22, 2022


One more very silly insomniac chatfilter attempt (sorry):

I climbed a stalk and nearly died.
I went up high and kept on living.
It seems that giants never die.
And they are not at all forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid.
And beans were easy for the taking.
There was gold treasure to be stole.
And golden eggs there to be looted.

But the giants sure will fight.
With great violence and bluster.
And my mother was agast
As she used my my beans to shame.
I spent an hour in his realm.
In a world of endless wonder.
He tried to crush me in his stride.
But I was gone when vengeance came.
posted by eotvos at 12:02 AM on December 23, 2022


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