#cosette baguette

[24601jeanvaljean]

Bread or Cosette

Cosette baguette

[jolys-cane]

TOUR THOUGHTS

Saw the Les Miserables Tour at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto on May 21 2024; here are my thoughts (Long read, sorry I have a lot of feelings)

Prologue/Look Down/Valjean's Soliloquy

We got like, holographic waves crashing and the men are rowing a boat LIKE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE it's awesome

Oh my god the pipes on the background actors were so good. THE SUN IS STRONG ITS HOT AS HEEELLL BELOW

I miss Javert's stupid guard hat. Was bareheaded as he gave Valjean his yellow ticket

PETIT GERVAIS?????????? Valjean steals a little boy's coin when he's roaming the countryside 😭

Randy Jeter as the Bishop blew me away. Not just his voice but his acting was FANTASTIC every single movement was like. I am an old bishop. This is how an old bishop moves. Idk idk it was really good

Nick Cartell did a great job w Valjean overall, but I totally loved him as pre-MsurM Valjean the most. He acts like a feral animal, grabbing the wine out of the nun's hands and the bread from the priest all hunched over and practically snarling - very very cool and awesome

At the End of the Day

Not a negative but when we went to At the End of the Day there was very minimal lighting and my first thought was Oh no the lighting broke hope they fix it and we don't have to have a brief intermission but then when they went 'At the end of the day there's another day dawning' the lights went up and I was like OHHHHHHHHHHHH so that's just me not understanding lighting direction

Foreman killed it, so did all of the factory workers I love all the interactions and ad-libbing in the background it makes me so happy to see

Every time I saw a tall graceful ensemble member I was like '"That's Kyle Adams" and 8/10 times I was right. Otherwise it was Daniel Gerard Bittner

I Dreamed A Dream

OKKKK VOCALS???? Haley Dortch has such a beautiful, clear, emotional sound and she left not a dry eye in the house. Literally the second intermission hit my parents and myself were like. Holy shit dude what about that Fantine

I got her autograph after the show and she was so so sweet 🥺 She accidentally messed up her signature and had to redo it and was apologising to me and I was like GIRL you brought the house down you could stab me right now and I'd be like 'Thanks have a good one'

Lovely Ladies / Fantine's Arrest

Bamatabois (David Andino) was a standout performance, really chewed the scenery and I adored every second he was on stage (Plus his costume was fantastic)

The other girls defending Fantine 🥺

I like that after the police show up and they basically arrest all of the ladies and pimps, regular well-off citizens come out to witness Valjean defending Fantine from Javert. Thought it was a nice touch

Fantine's Death

My first and only cry of the evening, Haley Dortch no one does it like you

The Confrontation

If you've heard me talk about the confrontation you'll know that I absolutely hate the new chain choreography, HOWEVER. I really really liked it this time. Preston in particular gave it a lot of physicality that I enjoyed

Nick Cartell is a little guy and I don't really believe that his Valjean managed to knock out Preston's Javert

For some reason the percussion was really loud and I could barely hear the vocals so I don't have many thoughts on them

Master of the House / Waltz of Treachery

MATT CROWLE YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS

Both Thenardiers were fantastic, not a crazy amount of ad-libbing but when they did they made it count ("BYE, BAGUETTE")

Madame in particular was hilarious

Master of the House is very busy in a good way, everywhere you look interesting things are happening. Another number where the ensemble shines and you can tell everyone is having a blast

The Bargain was funny as hell, Thenardier tells Cosette to die in his arms and she goes limp when he's saying she's 'often been ill'

Valjean gives Cosette Catherine!

Look Down / The Robbery

Gavroche was super charismatic and confident, really great child actor (Milo Maharlika)

Eponine tosses Marius' book across the stage and he goes "I like the way you always ... tease 😐" They're such cute friends together

After Enjolras and the boys are done their preaching Enjolras gets stopped by a policeman and is told off 😭

During the robbery Montparnasse keeps Marius away by brandishing his little knife at him which I thought was cute

Also! Montparnasse is the only member of Thenardier's gang to escape during the Robbery!!! Which is a nice Brick reference

After Thenardier's 'In the absense of a victim' spiel he does this exact pose

Gavroche's little 'Clear the streets' 🫡moment is so cute

Stars

God I love Preston Truman Boyd

His Javert is so stalwart and reserved and dedicated, he's kind of robocop and it really really works, and you get to see just a smidge of vulnerability peek out in this song

ABC Cafe / Red and Black

I DON'T REMEMBER A LOT bare with me

Grantaire was absolutely the standout. Slapped Marius' butt with his coat. Stuck his wine bottle dick in Enjolras' face. Offered Combeferre a sip of his wine (who reluctantly accepted). Blew a kiss at Enjolras

Kyle Adams physicality is probably my favourite aspect of his Grantaire - he moves very assuredly, like a cat, in a way that is like okay he's drunk but he's so used to being drunk that his stumbling is more like dancing. I remember reading a fic that described Grantaire's movements in a similar way and I wonder if that was one of the fics Kyle took inspiration from?

OOH they did the wine bottle keep-away thing with Grantaire and Marius which I didn't know they still did so that was exciting

J.T Wood is such a cute Joly I love his voice

In Do You Hear the People Sing Grantaire grabs a gun and holds it at arms-length like it has cooties before handing it off to another student

Combeferre waves the flag both times (Here and in One Day More) and I'm not sure if it's always Combeferre who does that or if it's because Andrew Marks Maughan is clearly the most physically strong of the Barricade Boys

In My Life / A Heart Full of Love

Delaney Guyer is a really good Cosette in that she has a gorgeous voice and also has a lot of personality and actually reacts to things going on around her

Marius (who was played by Christopher James Tamayo for this performance) is such a cute little nerd. You can see him try to figure out what he's going to do, then he throws a rock at Cosette's window and kind of cringes at the noise - he's so unsure of himself and awkward

Cosette is very excited that he's here and closes the window right away, which prompts Marius' 'I'm doing everything all wrong!' until she reappears downstairs and they get to be cute dorks in love

Attack on Rue Plumet

I don't remember a lot but I DO remember that Eponine was really good here

When Valjean is like 'Tomorrow we'll away' Cosette goes 'WHAT? NO!'

David Andino is so good as Babet he is a chronic scene stealer at this point

One Day More

If you know Another thing about me you know I hate the One Day More box-step but it actually did not bug me this time. They put Grantaire next to Enjolras for the marching portion which is cute

On My Own

Holy shit Mya Rena Hunter delivered the most heartbreaking and powerful rendition of this I've ever heard

The Barricade

Loved Feuilly in his little part

Javert is a good spy. If I didn't know the plot of Les Mis I would've been like Holy shit that's Javert? Crazy. I love him drawing the 'plans' he'd overheard into the ground with a stick

Gavroche flipping Javert off >>>>>

Buff Combeferre is one of the two to drag Javert away to be tied up lol

A Little Fall of Rain

The only version of ALFoR that actually made me feel something

Marius and Eponine get a lot of time to be cute together before the barricade actually notices that she's dying - and Gavroche is the first to notice and gets a front row seat to her death which is heartbreaking

The First Attack

Grantaire's "AND SO THE WAR WAS WON!" was sooo scathingly sarcastic

Javert waited, like, 30 seconds to leave after Valjean freed him, with his back almost against the barrel of Valjean's gun as if he were hoping to be shot

When the gun went off the entire barricade abruptly snapped their heads to look at Valjean and the audience laughed 😭

Telling Valjean 'Well done' for shooting a tied up hostage is a strange choice

Drink With Me

I still hate 'For certain as the eagle flies' I think it's the dumbest line in the entire musical

Grantaire's part was very grand - His voice has like noticeably changed at this point in the musical to give it a sort of hoarse hopeless quality to it which absolutely hits you in the feels

Enjolras comforted him and I swear Grantaire let his hand linger on his cheek for a few seconds longer than normal before pushing him away

Gavroche hugged Grantaire from behind and Grantaire couldn't even turn around at first because he was so distraught and kind of blindly reached for him 😭

Chris Tamayo's Marius is such a poor little meow meow

Bring Him Home

Absolutely jaw-dropping performance from Nick Cartell

He sings Bring Him Home like it's a lullaby - which it's supposed to be

I don't exaggerate when I say that the applause went on for about a minute straight, and was the loudest of the night by far

Death of Gavroche / The Final Battle

Oh poor thang

Grantaire near the end of Gavroche's singing was turned away facing the audience like he knew Gav was going to die and couldn't bear to watch 🥺

Later on in the final battle Grantaire spends most of the time next to Gavroche's body in like a catatonic state

The SPOTLIGHTS representing BULLETS as Les Amis died almost made me lose it

Grantaire dies last, I'm sure he said something before he started climbing the barricade but I couldn't hear it 😭He and Enjolras still have their moment over Marius' body

The Sewer

Javert comes across Enjolras' cart-carried body (Still hate the cart but I can learn to appreciate it) and looks a bit uncomfortable

Then he stumbles upon Gavroche's corpse, kneels, and does the sign of the cross over him

Almost made me cry ngl

DOG EATS DOG WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT

Javert looked like he wanted to shoot Valjean as he walked away with Marius

Javert's Suicide

HOOOOOOLYYYY SHIIIIITTTTT

It was so good

Preston Truman Boyd you will always be famous I fully believe that Javert had completely lost his mind at this point in the play

I don't have many thoughts on the rest but I loved Marius and Cosette reading Valjean's confession as he walked away with Fantine - and the Bishop hugging him as he arrives in heaven

Also Kyle Adams as Major Domo mincing about the stage in The Wedding was an absolute delight

Am very sleepy now but overall 10/10 I love this cast so much

[bread--quest]

just watched my first ever performance of les mis and i'm experiencing every emotion ever and i need to write them all down quickly before i go to sleep so i don't forget them .ok . in some approximate order

the prisoners during look down would each like. look up for their individual line and then whoever was next to them would reach over and pull them back down which i thought was so good

hoogh the staging. the STAGING .

several of the scenes looked (i think very intentionally) like.....religious paintings...??? im sorry i dont have a better way to describe it im not catholic but like. the first one im thinking of is jean valjean and the bishop during the "i have bought your soul for god" scene . there were like definitely Intentional Pauses so you could Admire the Staging and Lighting. which i did

incidentally i wasnt counting the amount of times people crossed themselves in this show but it was A Lot

after "i'll escape now from this world... from the world of JEAN VALJEAAAAAAAAAN" the stage went black and then the words "les miserables" were projected on the screen and my dad (who was next to me) went "OH that was just the PROLOGUE??"

ohhhhh god fantine's death scene hit me like a truck. that was the first moment i cried at and oh god i cried really hard. i had forgotten that it was to the tune of on my own. awuagh

after little cosette sang "she says...cosette, i love you very much..." i distinctly heard someone in the audience GASP and go "ohhhhh...."

madame thenardier was GREAT, she sang every line like she was rolling her eyes. also she made some. Gestures with a baguette during master of the house

beautiful little moment: after jvj gave cosette the doll she gasped, kind of backed away from him in shock, and then paused and ran towards him and hugged him, and then there was a noticeable moment where he sort of didn't know what to do for a second and then hugged her back and scooped her up to carry her away. waugh

look down paris 1832!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAA

i didn't realize until just now that it works so well to have gavroche be singing what's basically the intro to "okay so here's what's happening now. this is paris and it sucks," because gavroche is the character introduced at the start of the 1832 book!!! the gamin expresses paris!! i love that!!!! also gavroche was excellent. adore that boy

marius was such a dork <3

eponine fully Threw his book across the stage and he was like "haha i love the way you..... tease. Hm"

the paris sets were so cool!!!! they were like. whole apartment building sets and actors would pop out of windows and stuff!!! very neat

one of the women had a "vive lamarque" sign hanging out her window lmao. rip

grantaire kept hugging people/flopping on them

enjolras was Very Blond and Very Enjolras-y. when grantaire tried to flop on him he pushed him away and then they made Intense Eye Contact about it

gavroche delivered "general lamarque is dead" surprisingly solemnly and quietly, and there was a moment of silence that i thought really brought in the gravity of the moment well

also he got up on a table to say it and afterwards enjolras patted him on the shoulder (which he did a lot) and then picked him up and lifted him off the table :)

DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING <3 AAAAAAAAAAA

grantaire kept pulling gavroche back from joining with the rest of the revolutionaries :(

marius actually CLIMBED OVER THE GATES to cosette's house, i was very impressed

ONE DAY MOOOOOORE was sooo good

the thenadiers peered out of one of the really tall windows and had a little periscope (??) to look at the revolutionaries with

the barricade was very striking, if lacking in Symbolic Coffin. very pointy looking though

my dad said "is that javert??" a few minutes after javert appeared at the barricade and his reaction to the reveal was EXCELLENT

gavroche flipped off javert LMAO

little fall of rain was very good but the thing that hurt me the most was that towards the very end gavroche came on stage, saw what was happening, stepped towards her, and was pulled back a bit by grantaire. and then after she died gavroche went forward and picked up her hat and gave it to marius, and then walked away, and when grantaire reached out towards him he just kind of walked past. it was a really really good bit of like. subtle characterization and plot and just AAAAAA

"is your life just one more LIE" in drink with me was very directly addressed to enjolras, who then had another moment of Very Intense Eye Contact with grantaire. then they stormed off to opposite sides of the barricade and gavroche, who was sort of standing between them looking worried, looked back and forth a few times and then went over to grantaire and hugged him :((

the barricaders in general were so good

jvj hit an INSANELY high note at the end of bring him home

THEY DID SOMEHTING VERY CRUEL AND FUCKED UP and had gavroche's song of little people be interrupted by a gunshot and a gasp from the barricade, and THEN he started singing AGAIN, and everyone seemed relieved, and he came back up over the barricade and THEN. GUNSHOT. and. enjolras caught him and held him and then like. passed him down the barricade to grantaire??? in this incredibly lit and really like. again. like it looked like a painting . i am rapidly losing coherency. it hurt so bad man

the one thing i am sad about (WELL. IM SAD ABOUT A LOT. BUT I MEAN SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE ADAPTATION FROM BOOK TO MUSICAL) is that grantaire and enjolras didn't die holding hands :((

at least they got one more moment of Very Intense Eye Contact in (after gavroche's death...)

oh GOD enjolras in the cart hurt so bad. WITH THE FLAG. i really thought he was evoking some famous painting but i could be wrong

javert knelt down over gavroche's body, shook his head, crossed himself, gently tapped gavroche, and then stood up and pointed at him so the cart guy would take him away

enjolras had like. one hand dangling out of the cart when it came in, but as it was leaving the stage the other hand dropped which was a FANTASTIC acting moment . also damn those actors were great at pretending to be dead

javert's suicide was BRILLIANTLY staged, somehow the actor really made it look like falling while standing up the whole time (possibly being raised somewhat? unsure)

he was also the only character who's death was not shown in illuminating light . which. damn.

turning turning hit me unexpectedly hard. ooooof

and then empty chairs at empty tables was. well. i dont think i need to say more. the lights were a fantastic choice

i think i started crying at "it is the story of those who always loved you" but honestly the entire last song was really blurry. IT OPENED WITH JEAN VALJEAN LIGHTING THE CANDLESTICKS. THE CANDLESTIIIIIICKS

THE BISHOP CAME OUT AND HUGGED JEAN VALJEAN. AUGH

also gavroche was standing between enjolras and grantaire when they first came out which i have to think was intentional

there was basically nothing on stage but the actors for the last song which made it incredible imo . i briefly considered becoming french. a lady offered me a tissue. the end

[syrupsyche]

Went to stalk Facebook for pics of me watching Les Mis when it came to my country and thank GOD for 15 y.o. me taking a pic with the cast list (though it was mainly bc an actor had the same name as me lol) so now I can look back at my very blurry memories and attach faces to the characters.

For starters, it mostly comprised of the cast from the Australian production back in 2016, with the exception of Earl Carpenter as Javert:

and opposite him starred Simon Gleeson as Valjean:

Alas I do not remember much of their performances but I do remember liking Valjean's Soliloquy and Javert's Suicide alot as well as crying at both of their death scenes so pretty sure they did something right lol.

Fantine was played by Patrice Tipoki:

I also do not remember much but I did find her death scene to be extremely haunting. The production I watched had the stage feel really bare so the coldness of it all really seeped in.

Marius and Cosette were played by Paul Wilkins and Emily Langridge:

Again I don't remember much LMAO but looking at Cosette's outfit here, it's extremely pretty! Alas I think by this production, Every Day (Marius and Cosette) had been cut out (or extremely cut down) so I didn't get to hear their rendition of it :(

Éponine at the back was played by Kerrie Anne Greenland:

I was an Éponine girlie at this age so I was really focusing on her parts lmao. She was good from what I can remember! Her On My Own was brilliant and I did cry at her death scene :')

Enjolras was played by Chris Durling:

Slight side track but WOW looking back at these pics, he is quite the quintessential Enjolras. Though Les Amis didn't catch my attention in the movie the first time I watched it, the images that burned into my mind the most from this production were of Enjolras and Les Amis. I know fans aren't too happy with the revolving barricade switch-off (and now that I know of it, I definitely agree the new scene doesn't hold a candle to it) but imagine 15 year old me seeing the guy I've been rooting for unceremoniously dumped in the wheelbarrow alone under a spotlight? It was still chilling, especially when compared to the colours and noise of the movie version. Another scene that haunted me was Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, when the ghosts of Les Amis picked up the candles left behind. THAT was good, I really loved it.

The Thénardiers were played by Cameron Blakely and Helen Walsh:

Hilarious duo lol. My favourite memory comes from Master of the House, when a young girl sitting in front of me asked her father what Mme. Thénardier was doing with the baguette during "...but there's not much there" and what the joke meant. Her father just said she was too young to understand 😭😭

Overall, this production of Les Mis was a changing point in my life. It was my first ever live musical and it expanded my interest for musicals and Les Mis ever since. I had only watched the movie previously just so I could be caught up with the plot, but iirc, this production got me to buy and read The Brick shortly after. And 7 years later, here I am still screaming about it :')

Also I found a rendition of One Day More by the 2015 Australian Cast so y'all can hear roughly what I had experienced back in 2016! Only difference is that Javert is played by Hayden Tee, Marius is played by Euan Doidge, and the Thénardiers were played by Trevor Ashley and Lara Mulcahy. Enjoy!

[hope-ur-ok]

Some things I've noticed on the second go through: they gave Combeferre the flag during do you here the people sing, Madame Thenardier cuts up an actual baguette during master of the house, they play keep away with Grantaire's wine during the abc café, and most importantly THEY INCLUDE COSETTE GETTING CATHERINE

[catholic-character-tournament]

What I'm looking for in the "Most Likely To Be Canonized as a Saint Tournament"

I'll use Jean Valjean as an example since he's well known. (I haven't seen the musical in a while and I never read the books so if I'm wrong idc):

1. Virtues (aka why I think he'd be a saint)

Musical ends with him going to Heaven faith: "My soul belongs to God, I know/I made that bargain long ago" charity: adopting and raising Cosette as his own, I'm also pretty sure his factor paid better than most?? justice: not letting an innocent man go to jail for him fortitude: confessing to be Jean Valjean even though he could go back to jail. This could be read as a devil tempting him to go against God and make his life easier, but chooses to be honest instead

2. Miracles (this section can be silly)

Saving what's-his-name from the sewing and both of them living.

3. His sins aka why he wouldn't be a saint (this section can be silly):

A thief. French. And as we all know, "if you steal a loaf of bread it's a -17 points, -20 if it's a baguette because that makes you more French."

Basically instead of propaganda, it's the characters virtues and sins. And instead of voting on your favorite, we're roleplaying as the vatican. You can even wear a hat if you'd like.

Characters from "more fantastical" series are at an advantage when it comes to the miracles so we can be flexible and what counts as a miracle. If it's funny, it counts. For virtues though, I want to actually highlight why you think your blorbo would be saint.

[grantairricade]

privilege. could save cosette and have enough left over for le baguette and some fromage. some bourgeois shit

real

[beautifullycrystalqueer]

HELLO CAN SOMEONE PLS HELP MEEEE :")) ಥ‿ಥ

Uh so like I've recently watched the 2012 movie of Les Miserables and DAYUM I WANT TO KNOW SHT ABT THIISS. But apparently it's like I'm missing out on A LOT cuz there are all these characters that weren't in the moviee??? And so the movie so it seemed was based of Victor Hugo's book frm 1862 yea?? Is that book what the fandom built itself around??? Or is there another version?? Is it like a series or just 1 novel?? Is it sufficient to just dl the 1st pdf file that shows itself on google?? Maybe the live musicals?? Is that where the fandom gets its content frm???H E L P HUHUHUHU YO U CAN'T POSSIBLY TELL ME THAT GRANJOLRAS IS THIS BIG OF A SHIP WITH JUST A BIT OF EYE FUQING FRM THE MOVIE

Am so lost fam help ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚︵‿︵(´ ͡༎ຶ ͜ʖ ͡༎ຶ `)︵‿︵(X﹏X)↷

[owlflyingaroundthemoon]

Baguette is not just any bread, okay? Javert is totally justified. A man needs to suffer for stealing a baguette.

No, you don’t understand. It’s not a loaf of bread.

It’s a loaf of Baguette.

Baguette is sacred.

[fyxefox]

I don’t post enough sketches, so here’s one!

She’s French, y’know.

[24601jeanvaljean]

My hashtags

Alphabet boys - my friends

Jabean - my friend nijs who we all call javert

my stepson who led a revolution - my friend enjolras

ferre jail (yes i stole this hashtag) - my friend ferre

a heterosexual stole my daughter :( - my friend marius

get off tumblr you should be at daycare - my friend gavroche

Cosette Baguette - if i ever have a cosette friend (on an unrelated note, join the discord below)

[valjeansuggestions]

Who am I?

*insert spiderman pointing meme here*

[fruity-pontmercy]

a tiny ABC for your jacket?

or a little baguette

or 24601

or cosettes doll

AW TYSM for the ideas!!!!!

[burningivy]

Les Mis Highlights Act 1

ok so there’s a lot:

we got there late (because chicago traffic sucks) so we didn’t actually get seated until “At the End of the Day” and we had to watch the beginning on a screen in the lobby

everyone was overly mean to Fantine

like when they called her a slut some guy tried to reach up her skirt

the lines “come on captain you can wear your shoes” and “don’t it make a change to have a girl who can’t refuse” were changed so that the prostitutes were mocking the man Fantine was given to as he was walking off

the guy who said “even stokers need a little stoke” held up a stick like it was his dick as he sang it

this was one of three times someone did this in the first act

there were none in the second cause you know death

the very first nice thing that happened to Fantine was that some of the prostitutes ran to help her after she was attacked

they also had to hold Fantine back to keep her from attacking the man

Valjean ripped his shirt open to show his mark during “Who Am I” and then just ran off

Fantine holding on to Valjean while she died

“The Confrontation”

like Nick Cartell was amazing as Valjean but especially during “The Confrontation” and “Bring Him Home”

“Master of the House” was hilarious

Thenardier had the one woman just slap some man off a chair

Madame Thenardier holding up a baguette like a dick and then breaking off a tiny piece of it (2/3) while she sang “thinks he quite a lover but there’s not much there”

Madame Thenardier literally sticking her leg out of her dress at Valjean who just hands her the paper and goes back by Cosette

“bye bye baguette!”

Marius and Eponine actually seemed like friends

after Javert says “clear this garbage off the street” Gavroche is like “all right everybody out” and Javert just glares at him then Gavroche does a mock salute and runs off

the stage during “Cafe ABC”

just the stage in general

the trumpet

Grantaire leaning on top of Marius while singing and Marius just saying “stop”

he kept getting in everyone’s space and also just like him and Enjolras kept staring each other down

Grantaire crouching on the table swinging the bottle between his legs during “here he comes like Don Juan” (3/3)

everyone pretty much playing keep away with the bottle

Gavroche jumping on the table to get everyone to listen to him

Grantaire pulling Gavroche away from the crowd while they were starting to sing “Do You Hear the People Sing”

he did that a lot too (at the barricades and when Eponine died)

during “In My Life” Valjean putting his finger to his mouth and touching Cosette’s nose

he did it again after “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” before talking to Marius

Marius throwing a stone at Cosette’s window after hopping the fence

then he starting singing “A Heart Full of Love” but his voice cracked and Cosette went back inside and he starting singing at the wall thinking he lost his chance

Cosette came outside but he didn’t notice until she went “ahem”

Thenardier and the gang (I forgot the actual name sue me) just opening the gate to get in

Cosette helping Eponine up after her father pushed her over

Cosette telling Valjean she was the one who screamed and leading him away from the gate where Marius and Eponine were hiding

the coreography during “One Day More” was amazing

[thealphabetrevolution]

I saw Les Mis on the 2019 UK tour and I Have Some Thoughts

Ok, so. Here’s a brief rundown with some Additional Thoughts and Emotions.

- Uses Victor Hugo’s handwriting on the beginning/interval backgrounds, like ‘Les Miserables’ and his signature’

- The backgrounds are beautiful. They look like paintings.

- Killian Donnelly is 1000% worth seeing. Like, you think he’s hyped too much? He is not hyped too much. It’s the first time I’ve sat through Bring Him Home without waiting for the next part and the ‘flight’ note (‘took my fliiiiiiiiiight’) was literally the only one I’ve heard that HASN’T sounded painful in some way

- Person playing Javert has a fantasy-epic sounding name - Nic Greenshields

- Javert oh my god. Javert is so good. Such a powerful voice.

- Madame Thenardier ‘thinks he’s quite a lover’ *holds out baguette* ‘but there not much there’ *breaks off the end of the baguette to illustrate this point*. Also hacks at the bread with a meat cleaver having established this baguette/dick analogy which was a very therapeutic depiction of her feelings about her husband

- Javert has a chain in the Confrontation instead of a baton and Valjean straight up wraps the chain around his hand and punches him to knock him out

- No chair. I was not prepared for how weird that would feel, but the chair by Fantine’s bed was never broken and it was strange

- Confrontation was exceptionally good ‘Valjean’ *Killian sits up straight*

- Jesus imagery in Stars? Just a point where he turns his back, kneels, and holds out his arms like the crucifixion

- Eponine is black but Baby Eponine is white which seems like a bit of an oversight

- One of Thenardier’s gang members, maybe Brujon,is dressed in a sleeveless leather shirt? I don’t know why?

- The cafe:

- *Enjolras takes Grantaires cup* Grantaire looks put out, leans backwards, and picks up the bottle from the floor*

- Bossuet has hair?

- Someone takes Grantaire’s bottle away, throws it to another person who throws it to Enjolras. Grantaire chases it until he sees its Enjolras and then stops dead and watches him. Puts his hands up. Kinda gay to be honest

- Grantaire nods along to Enjolras’ first lines in Red and Black even though he was kind of on Marius’s side doing the ‘red’ and ‘black’ parts of the song for him. Enjolras’s lines kind of seem also directed at Grantaire, because he’s right in front of him and like maybe he’s trying to convince Grantaire too?

- Grantaire friendship/father-figure/older-brother relationship with Gavroche is really nice

- GAVROCHE. He was so tiny? And a really good singer. He’s literally half the height of Grantaire

- ‘Yeah you heard the man, clear off’-type talking (I can’t remember exactly) shoos people away, ends up toe-to-toe with Javert, salutes him cockily and then exaggeratedly marches off

- Cosette appears on a balcony in A Heart Full of Love

- Marius: *sings* Cosette: *runs indoors* ‘I’m doing everything all wrong!’

- A VERY sincere ‘I don’t know what to say’

- One Day More staging was really nice

- EPONINE WAS SO GOOD OH MY GOD. TEGAN BANNISTER. WAS AMAZING.

- On My Own was the most emotionally intense one I’ve ever heard and I have seen QUITE A FEW.

- ‘This only goes to show what little people can do’ and then Gavroche very deliberately holds up his middle finger to Javert

- Every innuendo, however slight, was acted out so you couldn’t miss it. ‘Let’s give them a screwing they’ll never forget’ *accompanied by hip thrusts* ‘the witty girls who went to our beds’ *hip thrusts*. Like. Who decided we needed to be reminded of sex in Drink With Me? It’s a sad and poignant song and the Gratuitous Thrusting felt a little out of place to be honest

- The first view of the barricade had it lit in the cold light of death - the same that lit Fantine’s death

- For Drink With Me, Grantaire sings ‘can it be you fear to die’ to other students (who does the ‘Grantaire that’s enough!’) and as Enjolras climbs down from the barricade he’s in place for the line ‘is your life just one more lie?’ and like. *cries forever*

- Enjolras holds his face and there are a tender few heartbeats before Grantaire flinches back and goes to cry in a corner

- Gavroche goes and hugs him from behind and Grantaire turns around to hug him back and he’s the only one to comfort him and it basically just killed me

- Eponine dies, Gavroche seeks comfort in Grantaire, and once Gavroche lets go, Grantaire turns to Enjolras

- Enjolras holds his face and there are a tender few heartbeats before Grantaire flinches back and goes to cry in a corner

- Gavroche goes and hugs him from behind and Grantaire turns around to hug him back and he’s the only one to comfort him and it basically just killed me

- I swear Gavroche had the most emotional intelligence of them all

- in Enjolras’s Final Rousing Song before they all die, Grantaire is the only one who doesn’t stand up and remains seating, showing his lack of faith in the cause and also kind of his despair over the future. It felt very deliberate.

- When Gavroche dies, he makes it back up and dies at the top of the barricade in a pose of defiance

- He’s handed down to Grantaire and it is heartbreaking

- They didn’t have a turntable so Enjolras dies and falls off the front of the barricade and then once the barricade is gone he gets wheeled out in a cart by a policeman, hanging off the edge in the Classic Death Pose with the red flag beneath him like a pool of blood. They paused in the middle of the stage for Effect and for:

- Javert finds Gavroche’s body and genuinely seems sad about it and crosses himself

- Javert is really Religious in this. Like, we know he’s more religious in the musical than he is in the Brick, but he’s really religious in this one.

- In the sewers they used video/a moving background to show the progression through them and it was done really well

- Stars used wires on Javert and the bridge rose above him and then the background became water and Javert was pulled backwards and it forced a change in perspective as if we were watching him fall from above and it was really well done

- ‘Who will wake them’ sung by baby Cosette actor

- Turning set out thirteen candles - one for each Barricade death

- For Empty Chairs each person who died at the barricade picked their candle up and held it like a toast

- Marius picked up Eponine’s candle

- Honestly the new staging was like 20x sadder

- Grantaire also played one of the wedding ushers? Workers? Attendants? and he had SO MUCH FUN with that

- ‘This one’s a queer but what can you do?’ guy taps Thenardier on the shoulder and holds up a finger to his lips like ‘shhh. Don’t tell’ and goes back to reassure his dance partner

- In both the Empty Chairs staging and the death-Barricade staging, Grantaire is separated from Enjolras only by Gavroche. Gavroche is at Enjolras’ left side.

- Valjean gets welcomed to the death-Barricade by the bishop who hugs him and it’s really nice

- I cried a lot

AND the theatre had lemon sorbet and it was REALLY GOOD lemon sorbet.

[jomiddlemarch]

Unpopular opinion (I presume) watching PBS Les Miserables (and no, I’m not a particular fan of Les Mis the musical though some I can sing Castle on a Cloud all the way through as some remnant of my adolescence): I hate Cosette. I get she didn’t want to stay in the convent, but she’s so ANNOYING once they leave. I just want Jean Valjean to be able to hang out with the nuns, do some gardening, and keep eating bowls of stew ferociously with baguettes. 

And I don’t get why the text they superimpose is bright red. I mean, blood, but it’s just hard to read.