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javertautismtruther · 1 year

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Who am I

TWO FOUR SIX OH OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE

In character.

Today I found out Who Am I is either AMAZING or absolutely terrible. Only a few are just a bit mid. Still, I loved most of them. You can find the playlist here as always, and I'll put my ratings below.

2008 Dutch

2012 Movie

2010 Live

2011 Madrid

2020 Live

10th Anniversary

1991 Paris

1989 Vienna

French Concert

1985 London

Symphonic Recording

And these are the ratings in no particular order:

2011 Madrid: The translation feels a little weird at times, but I love this Valjean's voice, as well as the orchestra on this one. But,,,, 23623??? 8/10

1991 Paris: Not my favourite Valjean, but definitely not bad. It's just there, nothing really special, but decent. 6/10

2020 live: It took me a while to get used to Alfie Boe's voice, and while he's still not my favourite, I definitely enjoy listening to this version. 8/10

2008 Dutch: I love René SO much. I might be a bit biased because I'm Dutch and have seen a lot of his behind the scenes stuff, but come on, this guy's amazing. 10/10

2010 Live: I'll be honest: I haven't listened to this version before, but??? Banger. I love this Valjean's voice and also the post-song part that's included??? 9/10

Symphonic Recording: I do NOT like this, at all. I don't like this voice, I don't like this way of singing "24601" (with each number being "short", they don't "flow into eachother" idk) and I don't like the 1 specifically. I'll add a point for the post-song tho. 2/10

10th anniversary: I know Colm is the OG but I only really liked him as the Bishop tbh (which was a PERFECT casting). Still, it's a decent version of the song. 7/10

2012 movie: I don't really like the movie in general but I LOVE what they did with this song. I don't really know how to explain but it feels more intimate and I can really feel Valjean's struggle like this. If it had been Dutch or Spanish Valjean singing like this (I don't like Hugh's voice that much) it'd be my perfect version I think. 9/10

1985 London: Colm again. At least in the 10th I kinda liked his way of singing, I don't in this recording. Besides, I don't like how slow it is. I feel so bad for always putting 1985 so low on the rankings but I just really don't like this version 😭 It's better than the Symphonic tho. 3/10

1989 Vienna: Ooohhh a pre-song!!! I love this, actually. Not the biggest fan of this Valjean's voice, but I love his way of singing. It's not terrible, but also not my favourite. The ending is very nice though. 6/10

French concert: Same as with the other French version. It's... There. It's alright, nothing special. I don't really like the 1 on this one though. 5/10

#les mis #les miserables #jean valjean #Who Am I?#Les Mis Rankings #les mis musical

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granhairdo · 3 months

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since u requested some les mis asks 😃

What’s your favourite song from the musical, and which version of it?

Favourite cast recording?

Favourite les mis related item you own?

Favourite scene from the book?

Favourite adaptation?

oh anon im so sorry this ask is ancient i just now found it. anyways, better late than never

paris/look down! it’s such a good song that displays all the central themes of the show quite well. my favorite version is the original french “donnez, donnez” and not the version on the album but the version from the production. there is something that invokes the such imagery of the time period throughout that song (that part where it fades into this sort of cacophony of whistles and yelps gives me chills) go listen to it. honorable mentions go to l’un vers l’autre, mon historie, and the original 1985 attack on rue plumet

ive been really into the concept album lately but my heart belongs to the 1991 paris revival album. it’s dear to me. though i do enjoy the symphonic recording quite a bit.

my eponine necklace! my mom got me a beautiful little necklace with eponines last words on it for me and even added a tiny little ruby charm to it. i love it.

eponine defending the rue plumet! such a pivotal moment for her and a beyond heartbreaking chapter to read.

the 1934 film! i do love 1972, 1925, and 1982 quite a bit though.

#les mis #sage answers #thanks for the ask!

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inmarbleimmobility · 5 months

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18 and 92 for spotify wrapped?

18: Icarus - Bastille

92: La morte de Fantine - Les Mis 1991 Paris Cast Recording

truly embarrassing how much of my wrapped is les mis

#and icarus is from my e/R playlist too oops #asks #ty!!!!

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jolselin · 2 years

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pitchfork is doing a readers' poll for best 90s albums. well let's see:

10. kiss of the spider woman 1992

9. tanz der vampire 1997 original vienna cast recording

8. merrily we roll along 1994 leicester haymarket recording

7. passion 1997 london recording

6. elisabeth 1992 original vienna cast recording

5. mozart! 1999 original vienna cast recording

4. parade 1999 obc

3. passion 1994 obc

2. les miserables 10th anniversary concert

1. les miserables 1991 paris mogador recording

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sailormoonandme · 3 years

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Where to start with Sailor Moon?

From time to time I’ve seen people ask about how to get into Sailor Moon or how they might introduce it to someone else.

As such I’ve made this to (hopefully) help people out.

Introduction

So first of all you should know that the official name for the over all franchise is ‘Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon’. This can (and has) been translated a few ways, but the current official name is ‘Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon’. Basically everything connected with Sailor Moon carries this full official name, but for the purposes of this post I’m just going to shorten things to ‘Sailor Moon’.

Moving on, there are in fact different versions of the Sailor Moon story, even putting aside the various attempts at translating the story into different languages. Each version is best viewed as its own entity, sort of how there have been various versions of Sherlock Holmes that exist independently of one another.

For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to mostly keep this post to the original Japanese iterations of Sailor Moon, albeit from the point of view of an English speaking audience member.*

The main versions of the Sailor Moon story are as follows:

1) The Manga

The manga iteration of Sailor Moon began around late 1991/early 1992. It includes around 50 chapters, a handful of side stories and a prequel manga of sorts called Codename: Sailor-V. There have been several different English translations of this material over the years. However, my personal recommendation would be to experience the story through the ‘Eternal Editions’. These are easily available in print and digitally. As of this writing Codename: Sailor-V is scheduled to be collected in at some point in 2021, thus collecting all the manga stories.

2) The 1992 anime

This is the most famous iteration of Sailor Moon and loosely adapts the manga to the point where it is its own entity. It spans 200 episodes across five seasons, with each season being given its own subtitle. E.g. season 2 is referred to as ‘Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon R’. Additionally there were a handful of shorts and specials connected with the anime and three films. I have already compiled a watch list for the show that I hope will help you navigate everything.

Like the manga, there have been multiple efforts to subtitle the show into English, particular among fan subbing circles. However, the easiest way to watch the show with English subs is to do so via a streaming service (last I checked it was available on Hulu and Crunchyroll) or to purchase the DVDs and Blu-rays from Viz Media, although you can also purchase them digitally on Amazon.com too.

3) The musicals

On and off since 1993 there have been stage musicals produced for Sailor Moon. If you ever see the term ‘Sera Myu’ being used by fans (or even official sources) understand that it’s shorthand for these musicals.

The musicals are based chiefly upon the manga and the original anime, although with some original embellishments here and there. The degree to which a musical cuts closer to the manga, or the anime or does something all its own varies from one production to another. I’m not very well read up on the musicals I must admit, but it is to my understanding that each production exists independently from one another beyond at times carrying over cast and staff members. In essence there is no particular order you need to watch the musicals in. However, if you want more info on the musicals see the below EDIT, which is more well informed than I am.

To my knowledge, (which is limited in this particular case) all the musicals have been filmed but there has never been any kind of official English release for them. There have however been fan subbed efforts made for all of them.

4) The 2003 live action TV show

In fan circles this show is referred to as ‘Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon’ or ‘Pretty Guardian’ or ‘PGSM’. This is because it was the first piece of Sailor Moon media to bear that particular English translation of ‘Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon’. Basically if you see ‘Pretty Guardian’ or ‘PGSM’, understand it is referencing this show.

The show exclusively adapts the ‘Dark Kingdom’ storyline, the first storyline in every version of Sailor Moon. The show was made in a similar vein to shows like Kamen Rider or Super Sentai and the latter’s American adaptation, Power Rangers. However, it also incorporates elements of Japanese soap opera dramas too, original elements that were never in any version of Sailor Moon beforehand and many different spins on the plot points that had been covered before.

To my knowledge, like Sera Myu, no official English release for this show exists, but English fansubs are out there somewhere. If you manage to find the show then you should watch the various episodes and specials in their original broadcast order. For this Wikipedia is your friend.

5) Sailor Moon Crystal

Sporadically since 2014 a new Sailor Moon anime has been in production. This new anime cuts much closer to the original manga (although it still makes some changes ) than any other version of Sailor Moon. As of this writing, the show has yet to be completed and still has material from the manga left to adapt. The show is available to watch with English subtitles from the same sources as the original 1992 anime, including DVDs and Blu-Rays from Viz Media.

Like the original anime, Crystal’s story arcs and seasons have gone under different names. The first two seasons/arcs are officially just called ‘Sailor Moon Crystal’, whilst the third is explicitly titled ‘Sailor Moon Crystal Season III’. In place of a fourth season two films, Sailor Moon: Eternal Part 1 and Part 2, were produced. As of this writing, the Eternal films have yet to have any kind of English release. To make your life easier, watch this show in the order of the original air/release dates. Just remember the Eternal films are to be viewed after Season III.

Which version should you start with?

Whilst that is how the franchise breaks down, it is not the order a Sailor Moon newbie should try experiencing it in.

My personal recommendation would be to begin with the original 1992 anime and then move on to any of the other versions from there. This is because the original anime is aimed at a younger audience and was incredibly influential on basically every other version of the story.

However, if 200 episodes or more is too intimidating for you, then simply check out the manga. It’s far shorter, skewed a bit older and tells a concise and complete story.

And if you are still apprehensive then I’d highly recommend watching the first Sailor Moon film, Sailor Moon R The Movie. This is a very good film unto itself but it is a microcosm of the characters and themes that define the franchise as a whole. If you dislike this Sailor Moon just isn’t for you.

P.S. If you are simply dead set against subtitles then you should know the original 1992 anime and Crystal have in fact been dubbed into English by Viz Media. In fact, the first four seasons of the original anime, along with the first three films, have two English dubs, variously produced by DiC, Cloverway and Pioneer. These dubs were made in the 1990s and early 2000s and are currently not legally available anywhere.

*Things get more complicated when we consider that even in Japan there have been updated and altered versions of the Sailor Moon manga, anime, etc. We aren’t going to worry about that in this post though. They exist and maybe someday you might be inclined to check them out, but you know...baby steps...

EDIT #1: The following information comes from https://euribear.tumblr.com/

Just something I want to add on about the Sailor Moon Musicals.

If you see a musical with the word Kaiteiban (revision) at the end of the name, that means it’s a revised version of the previous musical. Things added or taken away, different cast members at times, etc.

Also, there are three musicals (technically four) that have a continuous storyline. Starring Miyuki Kanbe as Sailor Moon, Last Dracul, Transylvania no Mori (and its Kaiteiban), and Death Vulcan should be viewed in order.

The Bandai era of musicals were from 1993 to 2005.

The Nelke musicals started in 2014 and there was one each year for five years. One musical for each arc of the manga.

There are also the NogiMyu. These are musicals that solely focus on the Dark Kingdom arc and they star various members of the pop idol group Nogizazaka46.

There were two teams of cast members for the inner senshi for both years, 2018 and 2019. The same story overall, just different actresses.

There was also Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Super Live. My personal favorite, this was a musical performed only a few times. A couple of days in Japan in 2018 and then once in Paris in 2019 and then in Washington D.C. and later in NYC. I got to see this in person on one of the three showings in NYC. A dream come true. Unfortunately, this was never recorded, though they did release an instrumental musical album of the show.

#Sailor Moon #pretty soldier sailor moon #pretty guardian sailor moon #bishojo senshi sailor moon #bishoujo senshi sailor moon #Sailor Moon Crystal #PGSM #SeraMyu #Sera Myu #naoko takeuchi #Toei Animation

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tatyana-dreaming · 3 years

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Music Ask Meme!

thank you @tortoisesshells and @lieutenantnorrington for tagging me!! :D I LOVE these sorts of tag games.

You can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to.

Put your favorite playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 songs then tag ten people! No skipping! (or maybe some skipping. I’m not your dad, do what feels right)

Currently my favorite playlist is all Sondra Radvanovsky/Dmitri Hvorostovsky duets and solos, so to mix it up I just shuffled the music I have on my phone :) and yes I edited out xmas music and such

1) Le Bagne: Pitié, Pitié - Les Misérables (1991 Theatre Mogador)

2) Sunrise - In the Heights Original Broadway Cast Recording

3) Justice - Ragtime Original Broadway Cast Recording

4) Lune - Notre-Dame de Paris (2001 Theatre Mogador)

5) Verdi: Il trovatore - Act I: Tacea la notte placida (1959 Rome - Leontyne Price)

6) Beethoven Piano Sonata #8 in C minor, Op 13., “Pathétique,” 2. Adagio Cantabile - Ekaterina Murina

7) Verdi: Il trovatore - Act IV: Udiste? (1959 Rome - Leonard Warren)

8) While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles (1967-1970 collection)

9) If I Were a Rich Man - Fiddler on the Roof Original Broadway Cast (Zero Mostel)

10) Someone Who Loves Me - Amidst the Chaos (Sara Bareilles)

Classical, showtunes, and opera, plus some Beatles and Sara Bareilles? I’d say it’s and eerily accurate cross-section of my music taste haha!

Tagging: @monotonous-minutia, @lizlensky, @notyouraveragejulie, @klingonegin, @revedebeatrice, @solraneth, @babinicz, @sweatershowgirl, @muchadoabout, @maggzblair, and anyone else who wants to join in! Apologies if you are already tagged, and of course please ignore if you prefer! :D

#music #i can't believe pitié pitié (look down) was first like way to start it off #and also so much trovatore and from the same album too (also I was today years old when I realized the recording is from the FIFTIES!??!)#(i just grabbed the cds my dad had in the family bookcase and imported them into my itunes library)

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comediesmusicales · 3 years

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youtube

Rodolphe Briand was part of the 1991 Paris revival production of Les Misérables. He played the roles of the Bishop of Digne and Claquesous, among others.

In May 1992, Robert Marien went back to Canada and Rodolphe Briand, who was also a Jean Valjean understudy, got to play the role at Mogador for a month.

He recorded one of his performance on a digital audio tape and recently shared it on youtube ! (recently as in april 2020... sorry I haven’t been much on the internet this year...)

It’s probably the best audio recording of the 1991 french cast you’ll currently find out there, so enjoy !

(There is no information about the cast apart from Jean Valjean, but I’m pretty sure the rest of the characters are played by the principal actors).

#les misérables #Les Miserables #paris revival cast #rodolphe briand #jerome pradon

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midasinc · 3 years

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Top 5 musicals

omg idk why this is so hard for me. i was super into musicals when i was like 13-15 and my line up from that time would be so horrible omg. like absolute cringe. anyway.

1.) rent. SJDNWOCNWOS I DONT WANNA HEAR IT BUT I JUST LIKE THE MUSIC!!! my friend and i hate watched it and it became a tradition for us and whenever we hear something related to rent we would give each other The Look and bc of that, it gets top status

2.) billy elliot. i actually prefer the movie but the musical is cute and i love it all the same. if you havent seen the movie i recommend it 1000000% percent

3.) cats. i love choreography and the choreography is fucking insane i LOVE IT!!!! AND THE COSTUMES ARE SO COOL!!!!!!!

4.) hadestown. the music is lovely. i prefer the 2017 original cast recording to the new broadway version, though. i just think it sounds nicer on that album in particular

5.) im gonna say les mis bc ofc but specifically the 1991 paris revival. usually i prefer the brick to the musical but the 1991 revival cast…. oh my fucking GOD!!!! LE CASSE DE LA RUE PLUMET????? marius is fantastic. his last belt at the end of that song makes my thoughts turn to fizz, that man is so fucking talented. THE EPONINE IS SO GOOD TOO. MON HISTOIRE- DONT GET ME STARTED

#tysm for the ask!!!!!#<3333

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sybright · 4 years

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A Comprehensive List of Cats Bootlegs on Youtube

Hey y’all, so yesterday someone was saying how they wish they had been informed of Cats Moscow being up on youtube. After seeing this, it occurred to me that many people might not know of several boots that are on youtube, so I thought I’d make this list with links to each show to help some people out. Please note that this is not EVERY boot on youtube, just the ones I’ve come across, so there might be more that I missed. Fyi, this list does not include high school productions or amateur productions. Also please note that I myself did not upload any of these lol, I just found them, many of them have been online for several years.

Cats Vienna 1989/1990

Cats Paris 1990

Cats Zurich 1991/1992 Part 1 | Cats Zurich 1991/1992 Part 2 |

Cats Zurich 1991/1992 Part 2/1? (these are the missing bits from part 2, ending bit of Growltiger/Gus, start of Skimble) | Cats Zurich 1991/1992 Part 3

Zurich IS a complete boot, it’s just cut up weirdly because it seems the vhs was glitching at some points while be recorded. There’s moments where the video lags and jumps around (end of pekes and pollicles and start of Jellicle ball jumps a lot, but everything is there), nothing major is missing other than the Growltiger fight scene. Also, EPIC PLATORICOPAT MOMENTS DURING BUSTOPHER JONES, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Cats Buenos Aires 1993

Cats Budapest 2001 Act 1 | Cats Budapest 2001 Act 2 (Warning: strobe lights are used quite a lot during some of Grizabella’s entrances).

I should also mention that Budapest is a non-replica, so the costuming and characters are pretty different. Special guests appear in Act 2, I think they are original cast members from when the show first opened in Hungary. However, the special guests are not in costume when they come on stage, which might be bothersome to people but I just thought it was funny.

Cats Madrid 2004 Part 1 | Cats Madrid 2004 Part 2 (Warning: THIS IS NOT THE COMPLETE MADRID BOOT! The channel didn’t upload all of it, part 2 stops about halfway through Skimbleshanks.)

Cats Moscow 2005 Act 1 | Cats Moscow 2005 Act 2 (I know this was the one people already discussed, but just in case people didn’t see the original post, I wanted to put it here).

Cats Moscow 2005 (This is a separate recording with zooms, the previous recording, the one above this one, is filmed showing the full stage with some minor zooms to showcase the main action).

Cats Boston 2007 Act 1 | Cats Boston 2007 Act 2 (This is the US Tour 5, Troika production).

Cats UK Tour 2013 Act 1 | Cats UK Tour 2013 Act 2

Cats Broadway Mega Edit | This is a fanmade bootleg of the original Broadway production of Cats done by @rumplteazer! Made using available footage, audio, and pictures of the original Broadway run. An actual Broadway bootleg doesn’t seem to exist as far as anyone knows (except for that professional taping the NYPL is holding hostage), so this is the next best thing if you want to see the original Broadway production of Cats!

Even though everybody knows about it already, I might as well link the playlist for the 2016 Broadway Revival too, since I’m already this far lol. Hopefully this list was helpful to someone. Feel free to add more if y’all know of any others, I’ll probably update this if I find more boots on youtube.

Edit: Cats Zurich, Madrid, and the Broadway fan edit have been added! There’s also a list of places to watch Cats here, which was based off of this post here, they include Cats St. Louis, as well as the 1998 film and the 2019 movie. I didn’t know people had already made lists when I originally put this together, so I’m trying to give credit where credit is due.

#cats the musical #cats bootlegs #cats musical bootlegs #cats vienna 1989/1990 #cats paris 1990 #cats buenos aires 1993 #cats budapest 2001 #cats hungary #cats moscow 2005 #cats boston 2007 #cats uk tour 2013 #cats 2016 revival #cats zurich 1991/1992 #cats madrid 2004 #cats broadway #cats obc

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morethanboomtschk · 3 years

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Since 1991, Tresor has provided a home for artists to germinate their ideas for advanced new sounds and broadcast them to the world. The pioneers that first traversed the Detroit-Berlin connection and were at the forefront of a new cultural movement gave to Tresor its original and continuing mission: community, resistance and reshaping the world to come. - The Tresor 30 compilation represents 2021 a major land- mark in this continuing history of electronic music. This unique collection of music profiles some of the artists that gave the previous three decades of Tresor its sound and foundation, but it also casts its gaze forward. Writing new postcards from the future, this collection brings new artists who main- tain a connection to that original mission to the fore, charting ways in which this ethos can contin- ue to build bridges and break walls in the next 30 years. Bringing together 52 essential tracks - both classics and exclusive commissions - each of the 12 records in this box-set charts a unique line of flight from those artists that helped define the shape of this new music to those who continue to pattern its landscape further.

01. Underground Resistance — The Final Frontier (Nomadico Remix) 02. Huey Mnemonic — Transmutation 03. D. Strange — Metal Mono 04. Speaker Music — focus.point.shoot 05. AFRODEUTSCHE — CAN’T STOP 06. Juan Atkins — I Love You 07. rRoxymore — MULTIPLICITY 08. Helena Hauff feat. Paris The Black Fu — Electronic Future 09. Lara Sarkissian — In The Form Of A Sphinx 10. Jeff Mills — Late Night 11. K-HAND — Boiler 12. Claude Young — In Circles 13. Porter Ricks — Anguilla Electrica 14. Basic Channel — Phylyps Base 15. Moritz von Oswald — Segment 16. Donato Dozzy — Le Confort Electronique 17. Verraco — Umbral de dolor 18. KMRU — neutral points 19. Surgeon — Berlin Disease 20. Regis + James Ruskin present O/V/R — Natural Enemies 21. Claudia Anderson — Track 3 22. machìna — Trio 23. Robert Hood — Master Builder (Sandman Option) 24. Function — Mirror Hour 25. LSDXOXO — Love In Allegiance 26. Sophia Saze — Curtains 27. Blake Baxter — One More Time (Acid Mix) 28. SHE Spells Doom — Splash 29. DJ Minx — Dequindre Cut 30. Whodat — Grit 31. Anthony “Shake” Shakir — Madmen 32. Daniel Bell — Still Buggin’ 33. Bergsonist — Tout Maintenant 34. Loidis — In The Place I Sit 35. Drexciya — Jazzy Fluids 36. Russell E.L. Butler — James Stinson On A Beach In The Mid-Atlantic 37. DJ Stingray — Bioplastics 38. Jensen Interceptor — Seas Of Rage 39. Terrence Dixon — The Way I See It 40. Nandele feat. Roberto Chitsonzo Jr. — 42567 41. Ectomorph — It Knows Your Name 42. Simulant — The Purpose Of Simulation 43. TYGAPAW — Diffusus 44. Joey Beltram — GameForm 45. Nene H — Only Words Break Silence 46. FJAAK — Lovers 47. Yazzus — Turn Of Speed 48. Grand River — Santa Loria 49. TV Victor — Change On 50. Carlota — Breakfast On The Moon 51. Torus — Deep Mid 52. Mareena + JakoJako — 30 Perlen

Pre-order Tresor 30 here in advance of its 1st October release.

#Releases #Tresor #Berlin #Techno #Electronic #Compilation #Bandcamp

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ihavegaysex42069 · 3 years

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You dont have to answer this but i saw you like musicals in your carrd and was wondering which ones you like?

oh god. ok im gonna preface this by saying that bootlegs are your friend and i have lots i am open to sending people but also i have only actually Seen like 10 musicals and instead i mostly like to just read synopses and listen to them. that said heres a list of my favorites:

hadestown

shrek the musical

carrie

six

waitress

the guy who didn't like musicals

twisted: the untold story of a royal vizier (like wicked except its about jafar and it's actually good)

hairspray (watch the movie its an amazing adaptation and it has queen latifah)

chicago (same as above)

next to normal

fiddler on the roof (2016 recording is amazing)

aida

bring it on

mean girls

heathers

billy elliot

les mis but very specifically the 10th anniversary recording or the 1991 paris cast the others suck shit and the movie is awful

cabaret

kinky boots

jekyll & hyde

the lightning thief (criminally underrated)

tuck everlasting

the prom

legally blonde

chess

also if ur interested i have a 30+ hour spotify playlist w songs from over 100 musicals :) i update it frequently and its only the good songs so i think its pretty good

#its very cringe for me to like musicals but sadly i do hopefully you can all forgive me

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clarasimone · 4 years

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Iain Glen nailing Hamlet (1991)

In 1991, after winning the Evening Standard Film Award for Best Actor, Iain Glen gave his soulful all, not on the stage in London, no, not yet, though really he could have, but at the Old Vic in Bristol, donning the persona of the Dane, Hamlet. He won the Special Commendation Ian Charleson Award* for his performance and yet it appears we will never see but stills from this production as no video recording was made, not even by and for the company. The University of Bristol has the archives of the production: the playbook, the programme and black and white stills. The V&A archives have the administrative papers. In our day and age, this sad evanescent corporeal sate of affairs is unimaginable. The memory of the play, of this performance fading away? We rebel against the very thought. We brandish our cell phones and swear we shall unearth and pirate its memory, somehow, somewhere. Even if we have to hypnotize patrons or pull out the very hearts of those who saw Iain Glen on stage, those few, those happy few, to read into their very memory and pulsating membrane just how brilliant he was. Because he was, he was. That’s what they’ll all tell you...

Below, those pics and testimonies....

*(The Charleson Awards were established in memory of Ian Charleson, who died at 40 from Aids while playing Hamlet at the National Theatre in 1989)

- Iain Glen is a rampaging prince, quixotic, technically sound, tense as a coiled spring, funny. ‘To be, or not to be’ results from throwing himself against the white walls, an air of trembling unpredictability is beautifully conveyed throughout. ‘Oh, what a rogue and peasants slave’ is blindingly powerful. My life is drawn in angrily modern post Gielgud Hamlets: David Warner, Nicol Williams, Visotsky, Jonathon Price. Iain Glen is equal to them. He keeps good company. THE OBSERVER, Michael Coveney

- Paul Unwin’s riveting production reminded me more strongly than any I have ever seen that the Danish Court is riddled with secrecy. Politics is a form of hide and seek: everyone stealthily watches everyone else. Iain Glen’s Hamlet is a melancholic in the clinical sense: his impeccable breeding and essential good nature keep in check what might be an approaching breakdown. His vitriolic humour acts as a safety valve for a nagging instability, his boyish charm is deployed to placate and deceive a hostile and watchful world. Glen brings out Hamlet’s fatal self absorption: the way he cannot help observing himself and putting a moral price tag on every action and failure. He is a doomed boy. And his chill but touching calm at the end is that of a man who has finally understood the secrets behind the closed doors. The Sunday Times, John Peter

- This is an excellent production of Hamlet from the Bristol Old Vic. The director Paul Unwin and his designer Bunnie Christie have set the play in turn of the century Europe. Elsinore is a palace of claustrophobically white walls and numerous doors. All this is handled with a light touch, without drawing attention away from the play. Our first encounter with Hamlet shows him bottled up with rage and grief. Glen gives a gripping performance. The self-dramatising side of the character is tapped to the full by this talented actor. The Spectator, Christopher Edwards

**************************************************************************************************

The following though is my favorite review/article because it situates Iain Glen’s creation is time, in the spectrum of all renowned Hamlets.

How will Cumberbatch, TV’s Sherlock, solve the great mystery of Hamlet? by Michael Coveney - Aug 17, 2015

In 1987, three years before he died, the critic and venerable Shakespearean JC Trewin published a book of personal experience and reminiscence: Five and Eighty Hamlets. I’m thinking of supplying a second volume, under my own name, called Six and Fifty Hamlets, for that will be my total once Benedict Cumberbatch has opened at the Barbican.

There’s a JC and MC overlap of about 15 years: Trewin was a big fan of Derek Jacobi’s logical and graceful prince in 1977 and ended with less enthusiastic remarks about “the probing intelligence” of Michael Pennington in 1980 (both Jacobi and Pennington were 37 when they played the role; Cumberbatch is 39) and emotional pitch and distraction of Roger Rees in 1984 (post-Nickleby, Rees was 40, but an electric eel and ever-youthful).

I started as a reviewer in 1972 with three Hamlets on the trot: the outrageous Charles Marowitz collage, which treats Hamlet as a creep and Ophelia as a demented tart, and makes exemplary, equally unattractive polar opposites of Laertes and Fortinbras; a noble, stately Keith Michell (with a frantic Polonius by Ron Moody) at the Bankside Globe, Sam Wanamaker’s early draft of the Shakespearean replica; and a 90-minute gymnastic exercise performed by a cast of eight in identical chain mail and black breeches at the Arts Theatre.

This gives an idea of how alterable and adaptable Hamlet has been, and continues to be. There are contestable readings between the Folios, any number of possible cuts, and there is no end of choice in emphasis. Trewin once wrote a programme note for a student production directed by Jonathan Miller in which he said that the first scene on the battlements (“Who’s there?”) was the most exciting in world drama; the scene was cut.

And as Steven Berkoff pointed out in his appropriately immodestly titled book I Am Hamlet (1989), Hamlet doesn’t exist in the way Macbeth, or Coriolanus, exists; when you play Hamlet, he becomes you, not the other way round. Hamlet, said Hazlitt, is as real as our own thoughts.

Which is why my three favourite Hamlets are all so different from each other, and attractive because of the personality of the actor who’s provided the mould for the Hamlet jelly: my first, pre-critical-days Hamlet, David Warner (1965) at the Royal Shakespeare Company, was a lank and indolently charismatic student in a long red scarf, exact contemporary of David Halliwell’s Malcolm Scrawdyke, and two years before students were literally revolting in Paris and London; then Alan Cumming (1993) with English Touring Theatre, notably quick, mercurial and very funny, with a detachable doublet and hose, black Lycra pants and bovver boots, definitely (then) the glass of fashion, a graceful gender-bender like Brett Anderson of indie band Suede; and, at last, Michael Sheen (2011) at the Young Vic, a vivid and overreaching fantasist in a psychiatric institution (“Denmark’s a prison”), where every actor “plays” his part.

These three actors – Warner, Cumming, Sheen – occupy what might be termed the radical, alternative tradition of Hamlets, whereas the authoritative, graceful nobility of Jacobi belongs to the Forbes Robertson/John Gielgud line of high-ranking top drawer ‘star’ turns, a dying species and last represented, sourly but magnificently, by Ralph Fiennes (1995) in the gilded popular palace of the Hackney Empire. Fiennes, like Cumberbatch, has the sort of voice you might expect a non-radical, traditional Hamlet to possess.

But if you listen to Gielgud on tape, you soon realise he wasn’t ‘old school’ at all. He must have been as modern, at the time, as Noel Coward. Gielgud is never ‘intoned’ or overtly posh, he’s quicksilver, supple, intellectually alert. I saw him deliver the “Oh what a rogue and peasant slave” soliloquy on the night the National left the Old Vic (February 28, 1976); he had played the role more than 500 times, and not for 37 years, but it was as fresh, brilliant and compelling as if he had been making it up on the spot.

Ben Kingsley, too, in 1975, was a fiercely intelligent Royal Shakespeare Company Hamlet, and I saw much of that physical and mental power in David Tennant’s, also for the RSC in 2008, with an added pinch of mischief and irony. There’s another tradition, too, of angry Hamlets: Nicol Williamson in 1969, a scowling, ferocious demon; Jonathan Pryce at the Royal Court in 1980, possessed by the ghost of his father and spewing his lines, too, before finding Yorick’s skull in a cabinet of bones, an ossuary of Osrics; and a sourpuss Christopher Ecclestone (2002), spiritually constipated, moody as a moose with a migraine, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

One Hamlet who had a little of all these different attributes – funny, quixotic, powerful, unhappy, clever and genuinely heroic – was Iain Glen (1991) at the Bristol Old Vic, and I can imagine Cumberbatch developing along similar lines. He, like so many modern Hamlets, is pushing 40 – as was Jude Law (2009), hoary-voiced in the West End – yet when Trevor Nunn cast Ben Whishaw (2004) straight from RADA, aged 23, petulant and precocious, at the Old Vic, he looked like a 16-year-old, and too young for what he was saying. It’s like the reverse of King Lear, where you have to be younger to play older with any truth or vigour.

Michael Billington’s top Hamlet remains Michael Redgrave, aged 50, in 1958, as he recounts in his brilliant new book, The 101 Greatest Plays (seven of the 101 are by Shakespeare); Hamlet, he says, more than any other play, alters according to time as well as place.

So, Yuri Lyubimov’s great Cold War Hamlet, the prince played by the dissident poet Vladimir Visotsky, was primarily about surveillance, the action played on either side of an endlessly moving hessian and woollen wall. And in Belgrade in 1980, shortly after the death of Tito, the play became a statement of anxiety about the succession.

There’s a mystery to Hamlet that not even Sherlock Holmes could solve, though Cumberbatch will no doubt try his darndest – even if he finds his Watson at the Barbican (Leo Bill is playing Horatio) more of a hindrance than a help; there are, after all, more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in his friend’s philosophy.

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Oh! Did I say that we were never going to see Iain Glen in the skin of the great Dane? Tsk. How silly of me. Meet IG’s Hamlet in Tom Stoppard’s postmodern theatrical whimsy ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, shot the year before the Bristol play.

Though almost surreal and most often funny as the film follows the Pulp Fiction-like misadventures of two forgettable Shakespearian characters, crossing paths with other more or less fortunate characters, their time with Hamlet makes us privy to the Dane as we never quite see him in the Bard’s play... but for one memorable scene, in which Iain Glen absolutely nails it, emoting the famous “To be or not to be” which you see tortures his soul, brings tears to his eyes and contorts his mouth; the moment made all the more memorable by the fact that it is a silent scene. You never hear him utter the famous line, but you see the words leave his lips and feel them mark your soul.

I’m kinda telling myself that it’s 1991 and I’m sitting in the Old Vic, in Bristol, not London. Not yet.

#Iain Glen #hamlet

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