This is a long one folks - it's a review of a review - that's right - Mr. David Denby of the "New Yorker" tore apart the movie "Les Miserables" and now I will take this opportunity to tear apart Mr. Denby's review, which, by the way, is actually quite a good read!  I apologize for typos - I was just so excited to write this I did it in one quick sitting.  Enjoy!!!

Ah David Denby – nicely done!  You have picked apart the movie Les Miserable, actor by actor, song by song and scene by scene in a well written seemingly fairly intelligent review.

Mr. Denby’s review is extremely entertaining to say the least.  Unfortunately for Mr. Denby he makes a number of what can politely be described as horrific errors in judgment when attempting to review what is in effect a two to three hour musical composition set to drama.    I will attempt to briefly and simply dissect his arguments paragraph by paragraph starting with his statement “I had never seen the show or heard the score; I came to the material fresh, without preconception…..”.

Now I’m no expert on how someone who is putting together a review should do their job.  I do realize that a normal movie review might be done after one viewing of the movie but in most of those cases the reviewer is focused on acting, drama, story line.   In this case however, we have the element of music so integral in what is happening that it is utterly bewildering that he could highlight his complete lack of knowledge of the musical score going into the movie.    Forgive me if I’m off base but would this not be the equivalent of attending the Rite of Spring or even a Wagner opera and on one hearing putting out a review as though your “preconception” would somehow put you at a tremendous advantage in evaluating the worth of a massive piece of music for the theater.   This is flat out silly. 

Paragraph two is used to explain to us how utterly gloomy the story line is.   OK Mr. Denby – you wanted song and dance as you later explain in your article.   Wrong show.   I suppose a few tap numbers in the Godfather would have helped alleviate some of the doom and gloom in that movie as well.  Mr. Denby - there are plenty of good dance companies throughout the country.   If I was going to a musical to see some dance I would go to a musical that centered around dance.   This is not a pre-requisite for a Broadway show whether you like it or not.   Again sir, wrong show…..poor argument.

Mr. Denby’s third paragraph is simply an exercise in name calling.   He tells us everything that is wrong with the singing and the expression used by the characters but does it in general terms that you are likely to hear from a 4th grader.   When reading this paragraph you quickly realize that the author is still upset at the miserable nature of the entire story line and he will be unable to get past this at all cost.  He even goes so far as criticizing extreme close ups on singers throughout the duration of a song.   Words and musical expression are usually a few of the main elements in expressing a song correctly.   I like to see my singer's eyes and emotion and I don't need to see anything else during that time.  Sorry if that bothers you.

I will choose to pick the fourth paragraph apart the most.  Having been a classically trained pianist and orchestra conductor all my life, and having conducted a number of operas and musicals in addition to the symphonic repertoire I feel qualified to comment on the musical content of Les Miserable.   I will start by saying that the work is by no means a forward looking or progressive masterpiece in terms of how the piece is constructed or even how individual songs are put together.   However, that being said, Mr. Danby chooses to simply list all of his own favorite shows and how they are more musically progressive and in fact better musically than Les Miserable.   Yes, Bernstein is rhythmically and harmonically inventive.   All of his works are heavily influenced by jazz.  That’s his style and it worked great for West Side Story which is perhaps one of the top musicals that combine song, dance and a plethora of emotion.   The other shows he mentions are strong as well but let’s focus on his complaints about Les Miserable.

“The music is juvenile stuff – tonic-dominant without harmonic richness”.   I don’t have enough time in this article to start listing the number of well-known Broadway shows that center around “tonic – dominant without harmonic richness”.   While straying from tonic and dominant and being a bit daring harmonically certainly provides interest in any piece of music it is certainly not a requirement for a work to be considered outstanding (see Mozart, Wolfgang A. for tiring us out with that tonic dominant crap).  What Mr. Danby really fails to notice since he has decided to approach his review with such fresh ears is that composers are often influenced by the popular music of the time.   Whereas Bernstein and other mid 20th century musical theater composers were influenced by Jewish Musical Theater, European Art Music and even jazz of the early 20th century the more current musical theater composers are often influenced by what is the most popular music of our time – and that is in fact pop music.   For the past 50 years our society has been pelted relentlessly with what is played on the radio and one cannot help but to consider incorporating the popular sounds of our time into musicals, symphonies, operas and other art works.  This may mean simple tunes, predictable harmony, a steady beat.   This has worked throughout history….it works in the music of most cultures and it still touches us most people today.   There may be a reason that tonic dominant is used so much in the show.  Perhaps it stirs something in human emotion.   Perhaps there is a reason why Mozart seems so well balanced but not necessarily very creative.    A composer has a right to draw on his or her own influences and whether you like it or not, something about the melodic contour, harmonic predictability or flat out beauty of the tunes in this show strikes a chord in many who see and hear the show.

The fifth and sixth paragraphs are used to criticize the work for stripping the novel apart to its bare bones and again letting us know that the plot basically makes no sense.   This is a great point but staying true to a book has never been Hollywood’s forte and any prerequisite for a logical story line in anything that is a called a musical can be thrown out the window.   I would love to write on and on about the absurdity of some shows but I won’t .   All this being said, Mr. Denby STILL doesn’t like the story line even when it does in fact stay true to the original written plot.

“That the story has nothing to with our own time makes the emotions in it more—not less—accessible, because feeling is not sullied by real-world associations.”   And so the author of the review simply cannot handle the fact that the story line and music combined somehow magically pull tears out of audience members on a routine basis.   Why is that?  And is the composer wrong in playing with our emotions?  The heart of the material’s appeal is perhaps potential love between young man and young woman….perhaps it’s straightening out one’s life and becoming a better father…..perhaps it’s standing up for what one believes……perhaps it is all of that combined.  Yes, you are correct…..the movie producers, original book writer and composer are simply manipulating us in every way possible.  And guess what?   Good for them…that’s entertainment!     We might want to discuss all of the musicals that manipulate us into laughter through the most infantile goofy gags….or perhaps those that make us smile constantly by breaking into crazy dance sequences at any given moment!

I laugh how time and time again the Mr. Danby’s article chooses to quote moments from his favorite shows in tearing down Les Miserable.    This is someone who has developed a preconceived idea, whether he likes to admit it or not, of what a good musical needs as part of its requirements.    Les Miserable is different.   It truly is written in the vein of opera as it centers around a much more serious story line than any other show without really giving itself up to the normal conventions of musical theater.  It is in this case that I feel the show is entirely unique and more than any other work except perhaps Bernstein’s own “Candide” or “Trouble in Tahiti” really straddles the line between opera and musical theater.

Sadly Mr. Denby ends the article by once again showing how much he knows about the history of musical theater by giving us a little listening list.  I find this part of his review rather pathetic.  This would be like me reviewing a new orchestral work by a current composer and using the entire second half of my review  to tell people to go listen to Debussy, Mozart, and perhaps a little Brahms if they want to hear some real music.   You don’t have to teach us about musicals of the past according to your value judgment Mr. Danby – just tell us why Les Miserable is such an awful movie.

Mr. Denby’s final paragraph gives us the author’s brief history of great musical moments from what most student learn in their very first Music Appreciation class in college.   I have re-read his final two paragraphs over and over and can do nothing but laugh at his attempt to show of a very basic knowledge of the history of music even so far as telling us what recording of Rigoletto we should buy.   I’m just glad that no other composers in the history of operatic literature ever used small melodic motives repeated over and over (Wagner), story lines that bordered on the absurd (Mozart), and arias and extended musical passages that lacked harmonic ingenuity (Puccini) such as the composer of Les Miserable did in his work.

I have absolutely no problem in saying that I love West Side Story, I love Singing in the Rain, I love Beethoven's 6th Symphony and I love Shostakovich's 5th symphony.   I love the music of Sibelius and the music of Webern.   I love many of the songs of the Beatles and I like the Beastie Boys.  I love La Boheme and I love Wozzeck.   In all of these works I find some deep rooted musical value.  These works and composers have their own individual goals in what they hope to achieve.  Les Miserable is no different.