Les Mis was much kinder to its stage source than the Phantom movie. That said, I adore the live Royal Albert Hall production of Phantom released to video this past year. It squashed all memory of the Gerard Butler version. I kind of hope that eventually, a really good complete live staging of Les Mis will happen. (Not a concert.) I'm going to take in a second viewing soon, because I had mixed reactions to it, but now that I've calibrated, I might enjoy it more next time. (So much do I enjoy the show, I really want to get as much out of its imperfect film incarnation as I can.) The close-ups didn't bother me, either. Reviews had led me to expect something much more drastic than what I saw on screen. ("You can count their nose hairs and give them a thorough oral diagnostic exam!")
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