Nine Hundred and Forty-Four Sleepless Nights

The premiere night of "Les Miserables" has come to an end. After the performance, thunderous applause from the audience lasted for 15 minutes. The crew members took the stage five times before and after the curtain call, but they still failed to meet the audience's expectations and excitement. After the five curtain calls, the applause still reverberated for nearly Two minutes later, it ended reluctantly.

A true interpretation of the enduring. It was a splendid sight the West End had not seen for many years.

After entering the 21st century, the West End has been deeply immersed in the quagmire. In the past twelve years, only two plays have achieved real success. ”, the 2010 musical “Matilda,” both works with children as the main point of view.

But even for these two works, their success is still a long way behind compared with fifteen or twenty years ago - they simply can't match the peak dramas such as "Miss Saigon" and "The Phantom of the Opera". , can only barely be regarded as reaching the industry average level of that year.

Tonight, the "Les Miserables" at the Almeida Theatre has once again returned to its glory, even if it is compared with the "Les Miserables" at the Queen's Theatre at its peak. What's more, it's a six-hour play, such a dauntingly lengthy experimental work, that it has the most successful audience response of the twenty-first century.

Five curtain calls! Fifteen minutes of applause! Thunder all over the place! At the peak of the 1970s and 1980s, this was the first performance feedback that shocked everyone.

Of course, this is just the premiere, it's just the audience. The reason why the Queen's Theatre version of "Les Miserables" is called brilliant; the reason why "Out of My World" and "Matilda" are considered to have failed to reach their peak performance is naturally not the brilliance of the premiere night , but in the follow-up performances and the persistence of the box office.

Take "Jump out of my world" as an example.

This play was officially staged in 2008, and it has been staged until now, and it has never been offline. After the first version starred by Tom Holland, the young actor team has changed several batches, and there is still no crisis of withdrawal in the short term. Their attendance is very stable, not a hit, but they are always profitable and attract new audiences.

There is indeed a gap between such achievements and the popular repertoires at their peak.

The premiere night of the Almeida Theater recreated the grand occasion of twenty-five years ago, but this is only the first step; then, what is the overall release momentum of this play, and how is the overall reputation and box office? After the cast, how attractive it is to the audience is the real test.

This is the first hurdle that the new version of "Les Miserables" must pass before the test of the future, the snarky critics.

In the film industry,

The opinions of film critics are one of the important reference standards, but they are not the key to determining the direction of the box office.

For example, critics of popcorn movies often face more challenges. The more fierce the critics are, the better the box office performance is, the "Twilight" series and the "Transformers" series are typical representatives; Some movies that are not too popular may hit the preferences of certain groups of people, romantic movies, movies that spread religious beliefs, and certain black movies, they can still get good box office.

At the end of the day, a movie is a commodity. This product, as long as it caters to the preferences of its own audience, can achieve good results. Critics are only part of the audience.

But drama is different. The opinion of the critics is the key factor in determining the outcome.

Although it is said that there are many amateur audiences in the West End of London and Broadway, they may be tourists, or they may be onlookers who join in the fun, but for them, how to choose the play is a difficult problem, so they often choose the most popular play, or get close to them. The promotion of a friend, or the recommendation of an authoritative person.

In other words, the audience of drama is originally very narrow, that is, those specific groups of people who have a deep love and research on art, literature, and performance. This art form is inherently relatively niche and special, and can be compared to literary films and independent films.

Therefore, professional audiences or senior fans are actually the same audience group as drama critics. The only difference is that drama critics make a living from it. They are more professional, authoritative, and profound. Their opinions can often provide first-hand reference materials to the audience, and the audience will buy it.

It is precisely because of this that the works highly praised by drama critics can often obtain a correspondingly excellent market response. Even those experimental works that are high and low, as long as they have real materials, can occupy a place in the West End of London.

On the contrary, the bad comments of drama critics will quickly evolve into a flood of negative feedback. Some audiences may enter the theater with curiosity or research, but often the performance time cannot last.

People in the industry always say this: the pen of a drama critic is enough to ruin a drama.

Similar plots even appear in the creation of films and plays. Theater managers implored critics to be merciful, and they were willing to pay a high price for delaying negative reviews for a few days; or maybe the critics had a personal feud with an actor, say, because of love and hate, and then Deliberately writing a bad review completely ruins the actor's future.

It sounds magical, but in the drama world, it's real. The present in 2012 still exists, but thanks to the existence of the Internet, the comments of drama critics are no longer the only criteria for judging, and people can also communicate and understand through the Internet, which relieves drama critics to a certain extent. Hands cover the sky.

Now, the Almeida Theater version of "Les Miserables" is facing such a test. How will the critics evaluate it?

After the performance, Alistair-Smith was not in a hurry to go home, and immediately began to write a drama review; instead, he left the Almeida Theater for a walk, walking on the cold and lively London streets at night, without purpose, Just using his own feet to explore in the dark.

When we left with the crowd, the clock of midnight had already struck, but the faces of all the audience were filled with excitement and excitement, and they could not disperse for a long time; the reporters watching at the entrance of the theater couldn't wait to interview the audience's thoughts. , trying to piece together the full outline of today's repertoire.

Alistair bids farewell to his colleagues and wanders alone in midnight London. He needs to calm down and clear his mind. The six-hour repertoire is full of countless contents, and the huge information is vented down. He needs to digest and understand it well, and find a clear clue among the complicated thoughts to connect everything together.

It is precisely because I like this work that I need to be more cautious.

After walking for more than an hour, he waved a taxi and returned home. However, after returning home, Alistair still did not rush to write. He opened a bottle of red wine, sat on the sofa, let the sound from the TV come, savored the red wine carefully, and enjoyed such a beautiful day.

Such days are really long gone; once again enjoying the beauty of drama, and once again seeing the essence of drama, this is irreplaceable and eroded by Internet culture in the era of fast food, and it is also the core of art that can be passed down for a long time. He admired John Codd's courage and Renly Hall's steadfastness.

It wasn't until three o'clock in the morning that Alistair, who was full of emotions, was still feeling overwhelmed, and only then did he start writing.

"I've been trying to find the right language to express this play, but I've failed.

Because this is not only a work of art, but also a picture scroll of the times. It magnificently outlines the era when people were struggling, life was ruined, and morals collapsed, and then it outlines the people who lived at that time. Such a work is really too grand, too beautiful, and too moving, so that the language loses its color.

Needless to say, this is a masterpiece. Is it perfect? I reserve my attitude; but I am willing to pay the highest respect and respect for this work. So, perhaps, perfect is the right word.

John Codd really got his hands on the screenplay, and both the script and the stage reached their peak, starting with a small character and ending with a small one. The little characters at the beginning, bearing the weight of the times, struggled; the little characters at the end broke free from the shackles of the times and reborn.

As Charles Dickens wrote: This is the best of times, this is the worst of times; this is the age of wisdom, this is the age of stupidity; this is the age of faith, this is the age of doubt.

Dickens once sketched the scenes of London and Paris in the industrial age with strong and profound brushstrokes. In the same way, Victor Hugo sketched the Paris era with his sympathetic and delicate brushstrokes.

Now, John Corder has brought the era back to life and interprets the core of Dickens and Hugo. There is no doubt that this artistic exploration and adventure, Codd has achieved a great victory.

This may be the most worthwhile show in London's West End in 26 years since the Queen's version of 'Les Miserables' debuted.

If viewers still have doubts about the six-hour run, I'll give you one reason you can't say no: Renly Hall.

The 22-year-old actor presents the greatest and most moving part of his performance, perfectly combining emotions and characters, characters and stories, and stories and the times, in a flexible and delicate, vast and magnificent way. The performance, which has injected soul into the whole play, truly belongs to the soul of Victor Hugo!

Watching Hall's performance is a real enjoyment, like a symphony, soft and majestic, harmonious and agitation, that dazzling light has become the eternal light on the stage of the Almeida Theater. Admittedly, my vocabulary is so barren and impoverished that it cannot describe, even a tenth, the brilliance of watching it live, because the play always belongs to the theatre.

Everyone in the audience is welcome to walk into the Almeida Theater, watch the show, and enjoy six hours of beauty. Jesus Christ, I discovered for the first time that six hours is too short. "