#Need a shirt that says ‘ask me about grantaire and gavroche in the les mis North American touring production’

[ancientbread]

Oh my god the OTHER thing I did yesterday was see the les mis us national tour and holy SHIT it was incredible. also if Kyle Adams who plays Grantaire needs anything- a kidney, my firstborn child, my immortal soul- he’s welcome to it

[landlessbud]

Maybe modern enjoltaire?? I haven’t read for les mis in a Long Time but they used to be my favorite ship!!

you said modern enjoltaire and my brain said camping chaos. here you are!

The camping trip had been Courfeyrac’s idea.

“Come on, E,” he’d prodded during their last meeting. “We all need a break, anyway.”

Despite the group’s average outdoorsiness level being practically nonexistent, more and more members pushed the idea until Enjolras finally relented. (He wouldn’t tell anyone that it was Grantaire’s final plea that did it for him, but he suspected that at least Combeferre had noticed that.)

So there he was, a week later, paging through the Discourse on Inequality for the millionth time, but this time in a hammock. He’d already managed to set up his tent—though Enjolras was not a particularly outdoorsy person himself, he prided himself in his capability to follow construction instructions. IKEA was no match for him.

He could hear Joly, Bossuet, and Musichetta squabbling over their tent (“Please don’t poke another hole in it, Bossuet, we only have so much duct tape,” Joly cautioned from his camping chair) as Combeferre and Courfeyrac talked their way through theirs. (“Courf, I think that pole goes into the opposite corner, not the closer one.”) They’d offered to share with Enjolras, but he’d respectfully declined—as much as he loved his friends, third-wheeling while hopelessly pining for someone else wasn’t particularly productive. Having his own tent was also useful for rereading his favorite “boring bricks” (quote courtesy of Gavroche, who’d tried to steal one from him once) of political philosophy by flashlight so he could sleep in and escape his friends’ potentially catastrophic hiking trips.

He thought the Discourse was a particularly apt choice: Enjolras found an entertaining irony in reading about Rousseau’s ideal return to nature while in the actual woods. Just as he was getting to the good part about pity and passion, his hammock began to tip and he lost his place in his book.

Enjolras would not admit to the pitch of the scream that may or may not have escaped his throat.

“Whoa, there,” Grantaire said, grinning mischievously and clutching the edge of the hammock. “Mind if I join you?”

Enjolras’s brain momentarily short-circuited. He was sure his lips were making shapes, but no sound came out.

Grantaire raised an eyebrow.

Enjolras finally managed to splutter out actual words. “Yeah, go ahead. Just don’t make me fall out.” He smiled in a way that he hoped came off as genuine.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Grantaire replied, more sincere than Enjolras had ever heard him. “Now, uh, can you scoot over a bit?”

Enjolras nodded, hopefully not too fervently, and rolled towards the far side of the hammock.

Grantaire awkwardly half-rolled, half-fell into the space beside Enjolras. After several attempts to untangle himself, Grantaire seemed to have given up.

His warmth pressed into Enjolras’s side was incredibly distracting. The fact that Grantaire was significantly shorter than him and seemed to have decided to rest his head on Enjolras’s chest certainly wasn’t helping.

“I was reading,” Enjolras halfheartedly protested.

“Unfortunate,” Grantaire grumbled into his chest.

Enjolras, still tense, was sure Grantaire could feel how quickly his heart was beating. He needed to come up with a distraction. Mentally grasping at straws, he let the first thing he could think of out of his mouth.

“You know, Rousseau idealized a total return to nature.”

Enjolras could feel the smirk on Grantaire’s face through his t-shirt. “That’s the Discourse on Inequality, right? You know he says it’s impossible in the Social Contract. And in the Discourse, too.”

Enjolras rolled his eyes. “I know that. Just trying to make a little conversation.”

“What, am I not enough for you?”

Enjolras wasn’t sure if Grantaire was flirting, making fun of his own insecurities, or some strange combination of both. “No! I just. I like talking with you.”

Grantaire looked up into his eyes. “Sure.” He paused. “What do you think about Locke?”

Caught off guard, Enjolras blinked. “Beyond his absolute fucking clownery? Like the way he implicitly creates a class system that’s still functionally in operation in the US today?”

 Grantaire hummed, probably to signal that he hadn’t fallen asleep, not that Enjolras would mind if he had.

“I can’t fucking stand it. At least Rousseau acknowledges that the ideal society needs to be classless to function, even if some of his takes aren’t great. Like, an ideal aristocracy? Really? You couldn’t—”

Enjolras had never been shut up with a kiss before. Once he’d overcome his shock, (Grantaire really was interested? What?) he enthusiastically reciprocated.

When they finally broke for air, Grantaire started laughing.

Enjolras recoiled, accidentally tipping the hammock over and making them both fall out. Grantaire landed beside him, still cackling wildly.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, hurt.

Grantaire suddenly stopped laughing, took Enjolras’s open hand, and looked him directly in the eye. “I’ve wanted to do that for ages.”

[firebird-and-pegasus]

Gavroche’s Angel

(So this is the first thing that I have written for Les Mis, and hopeful not the last. I really need to start writing more. It has been a while.)

(This is supposed to be Gavroche telling a story to someone in heaven after he and the rest of the crew dies. I am picturing Valjean but it can be anyone really.)

     I first meet the Les Amis when I had been living on the streets for almost a year. It was a very, very, cold day in the middle of winter. I was not as familiar with the city outside of the few blocks that I normally stuck to, but that day it was doing nothing for me in terms of begging or stealing so I decided to wander for a bit. The begging was a bit better in this strange area, but I also managed to myself lost in it. I hate to admit it, but I panicked. Then the blizzard started, which made me get even more lost than I already was. Then I started crying, which looking back was pretty embarrassing too, but I was only five, lost, cold, and soaked from the flying snow, so that was okay I guess. My tears also froze to my face, making me notice that this was not just cold but dangerous, small-child-who-doesn’t-own-a-coat killing, cold. Of course, this made me panic and cry some more. Every ally that I tried to hide out in was already occupied by older beggars who all yelled at me for taking their spot and kicked me out. So, naturally, I cried some more and started wandering aimlessly. As I was doing this, someone slammed into me from behind.      A muffled voice yelped and said, “What the… Oh, shiiiiiooot, I meant to say shoot. Hey kid! Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Say, ummm, you alright?”      I blinked up at the man who was wearing a thick black cloak with a hood and a green scarf.      “I… um… I don’t know where I am and its really cold...” and I am crying in front of a complete stranger.      The man knelt down so he was on eye level with me. He pulled his scarf down so I could see his face with one hand and put the other one on my shoulder.      “Do you need help, kid?” He asked, gently.       I nodded. Then, to my shock, the man picked me up and tucked me into his cloak. He smelled like alcohol, not the cheap stuff that some of the adult beggars drink, but a nicer alcohol smell, also fire smoke, and like the buckets of paint that me and some of my friends stole (after the painter was finished with the sign!) and dumped on each other.      “What is your name little one?” He asked.      “Gavroche, who are you?”      “I am Grantaire.”      Despite that I was still shivering and that he was still a complete stranger, I fell asleep in his arms.      When I woke up, I was the warmest I had been in months. I was wearing an adult’s shirt, which was like a dress on me, and was covered in thick blankets on a mattress on the floor. Next to me was a roaring fire that lit the crowded room that I found myself in. The other people looked like university students and were talking loudly about something. I couldn’t quite grasp what that something was because I was still half asleep and deep in my own thoughts. I got up and wrapped one of the blankets around me before wandering over to where Grantaire was sitting. Everyone was so focused on whatever they were talking about that no one noticed that I was up until I tugged on Grantaire’s waistcoat.      “Oh, hello little friend! I got you some food.”, he said to me before turning back to his own conversation, “And, Bossuet, that is officially the worst idea I have heard all day.”      As the bald man sitting across from him responded, I climbed into his lap and started eating. The food was warm, filling, and the best tasting thing I had eaten since I got on the streets.     “Grantaire?” I asked as a sudden thought hit me, “Am I dead? Is this heaven? Are you an angel?”      Everyone seemed to find the last question amusing.      “No kid, you are definitely alive and well. Combeferre said that you may have some frost bite and slight hypothermia, but neither is bad enough to kill you. This is also definitely not heaven. This is the Café Musain, and I am most definitely not an angel.”      “I still think you’re an angel though.” I said.      Another man spoke up, laughing slightly, “You really think that Grantaire, who drinks more than the rest of us combined, cusses like a sailor, and is the most pessimistic person I have ever met, is an angel?”      I nodded, confused.      Another man, who looked poorer than the rest of them, spoke up. “Courfeyrac, lay off him, he is a street child. There is an old street kid legend that anyone who helps them more than just giving them cheap bread or a spare coin, is an angel.”      “It’s not a legend it’s true!” I immediately responded, shocked that they didn’t know about it. “One time a lady gave my friend a new pair of shoes, with no holes in them or anything, and he swears that when she turned around, she had white feathers on the back of her dress, like they had fallen off of her wings or something! Angels can make their wings invisible you know, but if a feather falls off it won’t change. At least that is what the older boys say, and they are never wrong.”      “So R is definitely and angel?” the bald man asked.      I nodded, “Defiantly! He saved me from freezing to death, and got me good, yummy, food, and is nice to me. He has to be an angel! No one else goes that far out of their way to help street kids.”      Some of the men seemed to be surprised what I had said about only angels being nice. Finally the blond man in the corner said, “Alright kid, whatever you say. Now about this new police activity…”      Grantaire cut him off. “Wait, Apollo, can we keep him?”      “No, you do not need any more encouragement.”      “Awwww….”, “But he is cute!”, “Please Enjolras!”, The other men spoke up.      The blond sighed, “Fine.”      We all cheered. I spent the rest of that winter sleeping in Grantaire’s apartment. That spring is when I found the elephant, which is where I lived the rest of my life, except for when it got really cold or I got sick. Then ‘Taire would insist that I stayed with him. I am still convinced that he was an angel. In fact, I think that they all were. The Les Amis were my guardian angels while I was on earth, and they still are actually. Hey Enjolras! Can I talk about that one time…      No Gav, that is never to be spoken of again, remember?      No not that, the time you helped me with that mean cop.      Oh, yes. That is fine.      Ok, so this story happened a few days after I moved into the elephant…

[mwahahahahahahaa]

Les Mis 10th July 2019!!!

So good! Fantine's voice was amazing (so was everyone else’s, but I just loved Carley Stenson’s voice?)

Things I noticed :

When Valjean sang 'Cosette will have a father now', he paused before saying 'father' and booped her on the nose

He did this again in his death scene, the bopping, can't remember exactly when but it was really sweet. I think it was 'Yes Cosette, forbid me now to die! I'll obey' and then he booped her nose as he sang 'I will try'

When Fantine was being arrested and singing to Valjean about being sent away, she was clutching his shirt and shaking him in anger. I think she spat in his face at one point?

One of the women was reading over Fantine's shoulder before the woman came to steal it

Thernadier in master of the house kept smacking women on the bum and then pointing at someone else, as if I needed more reasons to hate him.

Similarly, Madame Thernadier kept trying to hit Cosette :(

When Red and Black happened, I think Prouvaire had a notebook in front of him on the table? I liked that.

I wasn't great at being able to tell which Amis was which-without specific lines mentioning them it's hard-but at one point a woman came on and was spun around by one of them, so I've decided that was Musichetta (though it could probably also be Bahorel's laughing mistress) (or just a random student but I like connecting it to book characters)

Grantaire was to the side a lot with a bottle, as expected.

When they sang 'don't let the wine go to your brains!' he raised his arms as if to say 'who, me?' and someone else stole his bottle. The minute Enjolras looked away he took another one out from under the table

When Eponine went to get Marius and take him to Cosette, she went to Grantaire first and spoke to him and he called for Marius.

In her death scene, everyone continued as if nothing was happening (apart from Marius ofc) until Grantaire came on, he took some wine from the table and was walking across the stage when he saw them. For a moment he stared before hurrying to get other people to go and try to help, he looked really upset by it. It seemed to again hint that they were friends (which I know isn’t book canon, but a lot of the fandom like the idea including me)

After Eponine died, Gavroche went over and lent his arm and head against the wall with his back to the audience and didn't look up for a while, reacting to his sister’s death.

After Gavroche revealed who Javert was, Grantaire picked him up and carried him round in piggy back. It was really cute. He did this as he sang ‘Bravo, little Gavroche you’re the top of the class!

After Attack on Rue Plumet, when Eponine and Cosette are briefly introduced, they just kept staring at each other through the gate as if they both recognised the other, not just Eponine.

When Valjean was letting Javert go and Javert refused to believe it, Valjean ended up pushing him back against the wall to try and get him to go.

When Eponine delivered the letter, she snuck through the gates when she couldn't see anyone, only for Valjean to come up behind her and grab her thinking, presumably, that she was there for nefarious reasons.

After she gave him the letter and she was turning to go, he grabbed her hat off her head (revealing her long hair) before telling her to be safe.

During Drink with me, Enjolras was at the top of the barricade but was watching Grantaire. When Grantaire was singing and it became clear how upset he was, Enjolras rushed down the barricade and stopped the other student from arguing with Grantaire, and they stood facing each other with the last two lined of the verse directed at Enjolras, before they grasped each other and hugged tightly. They took a while to pull away and it was really lovely

Enjolras was played by Joe Vetch in this performance BTW, he usually plays Feuilly I believe? I'm not sure who played Feuilly instead.

In Master of the House, when Thernadier was singing at the side at one point he refilled a bottle to resell by peeing into it. He then gave it to a drunk guy who didn't seem to notice - but then when they were all toasting at the end, Madame Thernadier switched the drinks so Thernadier ended up with the urine bottle, which he drank from and then threw up. Just what he deserves, really!

In the scene where Marius and Cosette first meet and the Thernadier's recognise Valjean, whilst Thernadier and the others were fighting with Valjean, Montparnasse grabbed Cosette and tried to drag her away (presumably kidnapping her?) but Marius stopped him and punched him in the face.

When Fantine was singing 'Come to me' she left the bed and crawled towards where she thought Cosette was and it was heartbreaking

When Fantine was in the factory and Valjean was trying to leave, she went up to him and kept trying to show him the letter, pleading with him

Also when Fantine tried to get the letter back from the woman who took it, the woman pushed her away and shouted 'Get away from you, you slut!'

During Fantine's arrest, the other prostitutes were gathering around her and trying to check if she was alright and protect her

For Javert's suicide - it really built up to it. He was quite composed and stern for most of the show but after the barricade, you saw him walking around it and seeing all the carnage, before looking for Valjean and trying to get in the sewer. He couldn't lift the grate, but you could see that his uniform was rumpled and undone, and it seemed even more undone as it went on. When he and Valjean were facing each other and Valjean was asking to take Marius to safety, Javert was falling apart, shouting lines. 'the man of mercy comes again and talks of justice' was bitter and mocking, thrown at Valjean like a weapon. Javert wasn't even standing up straight, it was as if he was physically fighting with himself and he could no longer pretend to be the stern upright figure he had been because he had no idea how to deal with Valjean being good. It was really emotional and made his emotional turmoil so clear and heartbreaking, especially as it led into Javert's soliloquy. Whilst the way they show his death might not be the most effective - lights to make it seem like water on the stage, he falls to his knees while reaching up and then collapses on the ground and rolls off stage slowly as it revolves and the lights are whirling round - his acting was amazing.

When Eponine had taken Marius to see Cosette, he spun Eponine round in the air and it was really sweet. 

 I know it happens every production, but the Enjolras death is just. so. impressive. The way they just dangle so still and it’s just??? It must be really difficult and take a lot of skill and every single Enjolras does it???? (I wanna try and do it) Anyway it looks amazing

I’m sure I’ve forgotten a dozen things I wanted to say about how great it was but if I remember anything more I’ll add it. Posting this on the 13th July, which unfortunately is the last day the original production will be shown. The show was amazing and I loved it so much. I wish they weren’t changing it, because honestly it is perfect as it is. 

The cast were also so sweet - I met some of them at the Stage Door (not everyone because obvs some just want to go home). I’d never gone to a stage door before so it was a really exciting experience. They signed my programme which is so amazing! 

Charlotte Kennedy was really sweet in particular, she was leaving and I didn’t want to bother her because it looked like she just wanted to go, but she saw me looking at her and holding my programme and came over and offered to sign it, she was lovely. Joe Vetch was really nice, and pronounced all the names perfectly! Raymond Walsh was also really nice. Dean Chisnall was very friendly and talking to everyone, and Elena Skye was great as well, and Ben Tyler was really nice! Everyone was really nice and lovely and it was amazing to meet them. 

Anyway Les Mis is awesome and the current cast are amazing - I loved them all. I gave them a standing ovation the moment the applause started at the end (usually I’m too anxious and wait until more people are doing it). I hope they have enjoyed their run in Les Mis and that the next iteration is just as wonderful. 

[transannabeth]

some people were interested in hearing more about my high school’s production of les mis, so here’s a massive screaming post (also i don’t want to forget a minute of it)

hello i like to talk it’s under a cut

our pit was behind us

like the orchestra was hidden behind a canvas at the back of the stage

so our music director was watching us from a live feed with an audio feed and we saw her through a tv on the floor in front of the stage covered with a black sheet

also the feeds went out opening night so she did act one blind  

our valjean not realizing how heavy the pickaxe he was using for the prologue was and hurting his back and shoulder. 

and then switching sides the next night and hurting the other shoulder

one of the boy’s quick changes from prisoner to farmer oh my god talk about me panicking 

all the struggles getting the silver into that bag

me scrambling offstage for the factory girls’ embroidery hoops and getting shoved by the foreman 

getting felt up by the foreman oh boy

shouting slut in a high school auditorium 

the costumes for lovely ladies were just a+

corsets and bold colors and black and fishnets

versus fantine’s pure white prostitute dress oh it was gorgeous

all the nonofficial lovely ladies walked through the audience and flirted with the people on the aisle seats

we tattooed 24601 on our valjean with henna 

when fantine died valjean blew out a candle 

because we did the school version, instead of the confrontation, valjean and javert just stare at each other intensely for like 20 seconds 

all of master of the house

what a gift

our thenardiers were incredible just so so good

thenardier sliding between the prostitutes’ legs as we lifted our skirts 

‘thinks he’s quite a lover but there’s not much there’ 

madame laying on the table and us lifting one end and sliding her off as she sang ‘master and a half’

our gavroche. just everything about him

during the beggars madame has a loaf of bread wrapped in a blanket as a ‘baby’ and literally the second and last show the poor people ripped pieces off and ate it 

stars was so good we had star lighting and a bridge we flew in 

also at the end gavroche lays on the ground and listens up to javert before singing his lines it’s adorable

the first night our enjolras sang the wrong verse for do you hear the people sing

he had a nightmare about it that night and nailed it both other shows

(i love him) 

the girls walk through the aisles during do you hear the people sing and man is it awkward

fun but awkward, especially when you make eye contact with someone texting during the show

our cosette was just so pretty and good and she wore a pink dress and had a pink flower

the goddamn chain on that goddamn gate

it worked the last night finally but the other nights smh

during in my life marius pulls on the gate and realizes it’s not locked well and then he stands there unsure with this look on his face for like the last 30 seconds of the song and i love it 

marius kisses cosette’s hand before he starts singing a heart full of love like talk about doing it all wrong 

one day more

i could talk about this song for hours

i just want to say 

at the end, gavroche climbs up on enjolras’ back and waves a flag

but he’s too short to really wave it

so enjolras has to twist back and forth to move it well

and it’s adorable

ACT TWO 

god our intermission is just us sobbing 

on my own is beautiful as always

our barricade b r u h 

ok so it’s two staircases on wheels that we lock and clamp together

with some old things on it like chairs and railings and hat racks and a coffin 

and it looks so good

ok we gotta skip stuff so we can talk about bring him home

our valjean is actually our lowest bass, so bring him home is way at the edge of his range

he has done it!!! but they had him sing it down the octave and dude 

cue me crying 

each time gavroche gets shot, the lights turn red for a moment 

he stumbles down the stairs

‘when the pup grows—’ and throws his entire weight into enjolras’ arms

oh boy

there’s silence, and you can hear a pin drop as enjolras turns to the audience

a high school senior who is 6 foot 4 inches

hunched over an 11 year old boy

face crumpled, sobbing and shaking

and tonight, he shook gavroche, like he was trying to wake him up 

it’s way worse than you think it is reading it

and then enjolras hands gavroche off to grantaire

gav comes offstage to hug all the sobbing girls in the wings, including his sister who’s on the ground a complete mess

also gavroche cried every night when he died, and god it was painful

enjolras is the last barricade boy standing

he’s at the very very top of the barricade

he throws his arm out as he gets shot and then covers his chest with his hand, staring down at his ‘wound’ 

tonight, he did it different

when everyone else went down, he grabbed the red fabric we used for the flag and started waving it

when he got shot, he did what he always did

he falls onto the coffin on the barricade as he dies

and then, as he’s dying, he lifts the flag in his arm one more time

and the lights on the barricade change from red to pure white

cue literally all of us sobbing

seriously me and my friend playing fantine had to run back to find enjolras every night to hug him 

the freaking sewers the barricade boys never knew when to get up

first night, someone sat up, realized no one was getting up, and laid back down 

second night, someone stayed on for most of the valjean/javert confrontation, sat up, went ‘oh shit’, and got offstage

tonight, one person was left and it took both valjean and javert kicking him multiple times to get him to leave

boy

javert’s suicide

oh man 

so the bridge comes back and he does his thing and it’s awful and sad and we cry

and when he jumps, he throws his arms in the air, the bridge flies up, there’s a blackout, and the stars that were on the stage move out into the audience in some lighting magic

hooooo

turning? i cried for all of turning 

we walk in circles and stuff it’s not a big deal, we were just all sobbing

e m p t y  c h a i r s 

marius is sitting where he sat in the abc cafe

all the boys come out with their chairs and lit candles and set up their chairs exactly where they were 

eponine comes out the opposite side of the stage with her candle

they all stand on their chairs at ‘all my friends my friends don’t ask me’ 

and then as the song ends, they blow out their candles one at a time, ending with eponine 

also marius is crying the whole time

it’s fine

man ok the wedding is just a fun disastrous mess of us guests being horrified by the thenardiers

the epilogue 

where to begin 

ok so everyone is in white and they just glow 

and fantine stands behind valjean and cosette is crying the whole time

and valjean stands when fantine says ‘take my hand’  

him, fantine, and eponine, hold hands as cosette is reading valjean’s letter

then valjean turns and picks up a lit candle that was next to him 

‘to love another person is to see the face of god—’ 

valjean blows out his candle

cosette starts sobbing 

(tonight, all five of them were crying) 

this is all you need to know for the last song

(good things said to me in particular and other random things that i want to save and remember: 

my director thanking me for everything i did for the show and saying it wouldn’t have been possible without me

our choreographer hugging me and crying each night

valjean’s dad hugging me and saying that i have a vibrant stage presence that’s just incredible and a real gift [i was sobbing into his shirt]

valjean’s mom asking if i was going to continue to do theater and perform because i have such talent and gift

someone legitimately asking for our autographs

the standing ovation we got for master of the house opening night

enjolras crying tonight after the show and hugging us all 

me and the sister of marius hugging backstage as fantine died and trying not to cry too much 

the senior support group valjean made as we all cried backstage during intermission

all of the girls piled up for the barricade scenes backstage on fantine’s dying bed, holding each other as we cried 

the music director saying that i have a fantastic presence and amazing expressions during lovely ladies, and saying that her eyes kept being drawn to me during it

everyone loving the dance behind the scrim during i dreamed a dream 

when we first did the lift with the light change during the dress rehearsal and everyone screamed

our director calling this the peak of his career)