Musical to film, and back to musical again

The scene in Les Miserables when Valjean escapes through the sewers, carrying Marius’s body. / Courtesy of Les Miserables Korea

Seoul’s Blue Square theater offers another

chance to fall into ‘Les Miserables’ fever

By Kwon Mee-yoo

While the Korean boom for musical theater was sparked by “Phantom of the Opera” about a decade ago, this could be the year when it’s permanently replaced by “Les Miserables” as the nation’s favorite musical.

Since the December release of the Hugh Jackman-Anne Hathaway movie, which sold nearly 6 million tickets, Les Miserables fever has shown no signs of abating.

Bookstores were enjoying brisk sales of Victor Hugo’s original novel, while cable television channels were rerunning the older movie that stared Liam Neeson. Figure skater Kim Yu-na liberally used the Les Miserables sound track during her dominating performance at the World Figure Skating Championships in March.

So the Blue Square Theater in Hannam-dong, Seoul, deciding to stage Les Miserables was simply inevitably becoming a reality. Theatergoers who have already watched the movie could enjoy comparing it with the musical.

In the current production of the musical, Chung Sung-hwa, a comic-turned-musical actor, stars as Jean Valjean, while Cho Jung-eun plays the role of Fantine. While the musical has no prayer at competing with the spectacle of the movie, the cohesion between the actors and the nuances they are able to express are rooted in the strength of the theater genre.

There are subtle differences between the movie and the musical as the drama progresses. The movie puts a lot of focus on the emotional ties between Valjean and Cosette, while the musical emphasizes Valjean’s conflict with the evil innkeeper Thenardiers.

Another different sequence is Fantine’s signature song “I Dreamed a Dream.” In the musical, Fantine sings the song after being kicked out of the factory. In the movie, Hathaway doesn’t sing it until she is desperate enough to sell her locket, hair, tooth and eventually herself.

For both the musical and movie, the core strength of Les Miserables comes from the great music and how they build up the drama between them.

“The music in Les Miserable is distinguishable that it gives a sense of cohesiveness between the characters and how they are tied in faith, which also makes it easier to produce a show with consistent quality,” said Kim Mun-jung, music director of the show.

“The songs are interconnected as well. For instance, Eponine’s ‘On My Own’ first appears at Valjean’s first solo and the bishop’s song begins with a melody from Marius’ ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.’ Fantine’s ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ shares a theme with ‘One Day More.’”

The current Les Misrables staging in Seoul is a new version celebrating the original’s 25th anniversary. The creators continue to put in some changes here and there.

In the recent version, Gavroche, the young street urchin, is shot dead by soldiers after going out of the barricades to gather ammunition for revolutionary students. In the previous version, Gavroche’s death was unseen by the audiences.

Laurence Conner, the director of production, made Gavaroche’s death more dramatic in the Seoul version. Now Gavroche climbs up the barricades from the back after being shot, falls into Enjolras’ arms after another gunshot and his brotherly friend Grantaire carries the boy’s body.

The director said he wanted to show the audience how the students react to Gavroche’s death and share the moment with the audience.

Musical “Les Miserables” will run through Sept. 1. Tickets cost from 50,000 won to 130,000 won and are on sale through June 16. For more information, visit www.lesmis.co.kr or call (02) 547-5694.