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missmis · 3 years ago

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I’ve been having a lot of heated debates recently over which actors are the best in certain roles, so I thought long and hard about my ideal Les Mis cast.

For some roles, I have several actors (mainly Enjolras, because every guy who’s ever played him seems to be gorgeous). For some roles, there is only one person who just IS that character to me.

Now without further ado, here we go:

Jean Valjean: Alfie Boe, always. He perfectly conveys Valjean’s transition from angry convict to noble and almost saintly, plus his voice still gives me chills every time. I could write an entire post exclusively on the sheer perfection of his high note at the end of “Bring Him Home”, but that is a subject for another day. Honourable mention: John Owen-Jones because his voice is incredible, too-but he overdoes it on the anger sometimes.

Javert: ooh, that’s a tough one. I’d say it’s probably a tie between Earl Carpenter (who has the warmest and most powerful baritone ever) and Norm Lewis, who does the cold-hearted arrogance perfectly. Honourable mention: Richard Woodford, who used to be Grantaire and Javert’s understudy ages ago. Most people probably won’t know him, but he is honestly amazing- and a lovely guy.

Fantine: Carrie Hope Fletcher. Her voice can be powerful or soft as needed and she really captures Fantine’s pain. Honourable mention: Lea Salonga, whose voice is also gorgeous, but whose acting I find a little exaggerated sometimes.

Éponine: Samantha Barks will always be the one true Éponine for me. Her voice is incredible, she looks right (because in my head, Éponine is always dark-haired) and she portrays the whole unrequited love thing to perfection. And yes, I may possibly have a tiny crush on her... Or a big one.

Cosette: Honestly, Cosette always annoyed the heck out of me until I discovered Lily Kerhoas. She’s completely lovestruck-as the character should be- but she manages to turn Cosette into an actual person and not just a one-dimensional teenager who was put in to make all the guys look better. And that is honestly a huge accomplishment. Honourable mention: Amanda Seyfried, although her incredibly high soprano is a bit too much for my ears.

Marius: I loved Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal in the film version. His general adorable shyness steals my heart every time. I also love Rob Houchen, who has a gorgeous voice and who captures the innocence of the character. And Gareth Gates does hands down the best version of “A Little Fall of Rain” I’ve ever seen, because he actually seems to care that Éponine just died, unlike many other actors who’ve played this role.

Enjolras: As I said, there are so many amazing people who have played him. But if I had to choose one, it’d probably be Bradley Jaden (and no, I’m not just saying that because his man bun is a blessing to this fandom). I love his passion and the sheer power he brings to the character. Aaron Tveit is also up there with my favourites-he may not be the greatest singer, but he looks exactly like Book Enjolras and he gets that coldness and indifference-especially towards poor Grantaire- just right. Then there’s Killian Donnelly whose Irish accent I absolutely adore. Oh and lastly, Ramin Karimloo, of course-he may not look like your classical Enjolras, but the light of rebellion is ablaze in his eyes :)

Monsieur Thénardier: the one and only, the inimitable Matt Lucas. He is simply hilarious, which is actually kind of an ethical issue, because he almost makes me like Monsieur T. And every time someone says “Cosette”, I now hear “Courgette” in my head, which is entirely his fault.

Madame Thénardier: Katy Secombe. She’s mean, she’s funny, she’s brash, her facial expressions are everything and her voice can knock you off your feet. Especially great in combination with Matt Lucas. Honestly, I’d pay to see these two do stand-up comedy together.

Gavroche: Also a tough one. My favourite is probably Daniel Huttlestone in the film, just because he’s so adorable I want to adopt him. I also love Robert Madge’s mischievous and cocky Gavroche in the 25th and recently, Logan Clark, whose antics give me life.

Grantaire: He’s my favourite character, so I’m kind of picky about who plays him. Only two guys have found mercy before my eyes. One: George Blagden, whose pining for Enjolras was the only thing that kept me watching the film. I will never stop being pissed that they cut his solo in “Drink With Me”. Two: Keith Anthony Higham. He has the richest voice ever and he just gets Grantaire-the cynicism, the drama and the unrequited love thing. If you haven’t already, watch his 2008 version of “Drink With Me” with David Thaxton. Thank me later.

Courfeyrac: Fra Fee- I love his passion and his friendship with Gavroche in the film. Plus, he has a beautiful voice. Also the guy from the 2019 staged concert- I believe his name is Michael Sheehy, but I could be wrong. He is honestly hilarious.

Combeferre: Killian Donnelly. He gets the whole slightly-exasperated-by-all-of-these-irresponsible-idiots professorial vibe. And he has a very powerful voice.

Feuilly: Matthew Gent because of his lovely soft singing and his funny-as-hell facial expressions.

Joly: Jamie Muscato, who is just such an adorable goofball.

Bossuet/Lesgles/Laigle/the dude with a hundred different names: I don’t know the guy’s name, but he’s in the 25th. Firstly, because he’s actually bald and thus, about ten times more accurate than most other portrayals and secondly, because his voice is warm and soft and it’s actually a shame he hasn’t got more lines to sing.

Bahorel: Again, the dude from the movie- Iwan Lewis, I think he’s called. Just the right amount of recklessness.

Jehan Prouvaire: I haven’t really found anyone I like in this role yet. I’m not that big a fan of Alistair Brammer for some reason, so if someone could help me out here, I’d be grateful.

The Bishop: Also Earl Carpenter, because his voice is-for lack of a better description-like a nice, warm blanket. And I like Colm Wilkinson in this role, too.

I hope I haven’t missed any characters. If I have, please do point them out to me. I hope you’ve enjoyed my analysis- I tried to make it about more than just “Oh, I like this person because they’re hot”. Feel free to share your own opinions and remember: these are just my subjective ones.

#les mis #les miz #les misérables #les amis #jean valjean #fantine les mis #éponine #marius pontmercy #javert

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everyonewasabird · 5 years ago

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Reblog with your favorite portrayal of each character!

Tagged by @kcrabb88! Thank you!!

(Bearing in mind that there are a LOT of very good videorecordings I haven’t seen yet! Guys, I haven’t even seen Dallas yet, other than a few minutes when I was way, way too tired one time.)

Raoul de Chagny , Erik , Christine (PotO)

For Erik ... I’ve heard some really lovely clips of Anthony Warlow doing it. And what I’ve seen on Youtube of Erik Carpenter looked amazing--I loved the physicality he brought to it, he just had the angriest knees I’ve ever seen.

Raoul and Christine... Alas. I fear I never paid enough attention to really have an opinion. I have regrets on that front.

Enjolras (Les Mis)- One of those characters where I care too much and am proportionately way too picky? (And also bear in mind I haven’t seen this show on stage in 15 or 20 years, and also Pilf just directed me to the Madrid recording but I haven’t watched it yet) Recordings-wise, it took me a little while, but I ended up pretty impressed with Jon Robyns in the 2010 touring cast. He got a character arc into the character in a way that I didn’t know could be done with musical!Enjolras. Hearing him go from angry to unraveling and back to inspired is fascinating!

But the winner is .... okay, you know what, this meme doesn’t actually say musical-specific.

The winner is Bee from Barricade Boys. They've got a wonderful take on Enjolras’s stiff posturing, they’re hilarious, they have amazing comic timing and chemistry with the rest of the cast, and nobody has ever looked as much like Enjolras as they do.

Javert (Les Mis)- I love a lot of Javerts (but also my heart belongs to brick!Javert, and nobody has ever played brick!Javert). I LOVE Earl Carpenter--of the clipped British-villain voice take on the character he’s the best I've heard. His “...don’t understand” is breathtaking. And I love Jean Vallee from the original stage production--his “Noir ou Blanc” is phenomenal, he starts it by whispering and gradually gets louder--it’s the best Javert soliloquy I’ve ever heard. (And I *really* want to hear/see more of Michael Ball! I’ve only heard his Stars but it was amazing.)

But the winner is... Norm Lewis. That portrayal was actual genius. He took all the problems I had with the musical’s take on Javert and somehow just fixed them? Brilliantly and charismatically and oh my god he’s amazing. I always thought Stars was a broken, out of character song and ... he just made it right.

Eponine (Les Mis)- I don’t know that anyone’s really done it for me as Eponine. My heart belongs to brick!Ponine.

Marius (Les Mis) - I’m not super picky with Marius, but ... I really like the guy from the 2010 touring cast album--his soft, sweet voice really works, his Empty Chairs is heartbreaking, and it’s one of the few recordings where Enjolras and Marius are instantly distinguishable in Look Down.

But it also may be that my heart belongs to the Marius from that one youtube clip of the German version from the late 90s. You know the one.

I’m going to be lazy and not tag people this time around as I'm considering trying to go back to bed, getting up at two may have been a poor life choice.

#les miserables musical #meme

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machihunnicutt · 6 years ago

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FICVEMBER DAY FIVE

Here’s part one of my very self indulgent les mis fic. (Chapter two will probably be next week sometime tbh.)

(Or read on ao3.)

How to Define a Sandwich

There was a line. Of course there was a line just when he’d worked up the courage to leave the mountain of books in his room for a coffee break...downstairs. Marius Pontmercy didn’t know he’d chosen the artsy dorm. He’d picked the most centrally located of the three housing options his scholarship provided. Marius didn’t believe in things like fate, but maybe it was. Maybe he was always destined to end up in places where he didn’t belong. Like in edgy, student-run coffee shops that were only open at night and had free refills for the weary eyed college kids who lived upstairs.

Marius had spent most of Welcome Week hiding from friendly but intimidating people down the hall and across the hall and in the room beside him (so, everyone.) He’d spent the first four weeks of classes taking aggressively detailed lecture notes in his panic handwriting and pretending to be better adjusted than he was when he Skyped Cosette. He hadn’t made any friends. He’d aced all his first exams but his insomnia was getting bad and sometimes he went full days without talking to anyone. So far college was quiet.

The Musain wasn’t quiet. The line stretched out the door and buzzed with laughter and conversation. He took a place at the back awkwardly and juggled the coffee mug in his hands. He’d been told he would get a discount if he brought his own.

“Look, I see where you’re coming from, but if you turn a hot dog on its side how is it different from any other meat sandwich? You have a top and bottom piece of bread with a filling. Those are the basic components of a sandwich.”

The girl in line in front of him shook her head aggressively, mussing the already messy bangs that covered most of her forehead. The line inched forward and the guy making the hot dog argument punctuated his sentence with a wave of his mug. It had a science olympiad logo on it.

“Holy shit Ferre, it is in no way that simple. A hot dog bun is one piece of bread--connected, unified, you get where I’m going here right? A sandwich has a distinct top and bottom layer and…”

“Layer, Eponine why are you…?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to include a hot dog but exclude an ice cream sandwich because it doesn’t have bread? You need to open your mind a little, pal.”

“Don’t passive aggressively pal me, just because it has sandwich in the name doesn’t mean it’s intrinsically a sandwich,” The guy said calmly, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “What does Enjolras always say? We must question the powers that be. I’m not going to change my definition of a sandwich because the man tells me something.”

“Don’t give me that shit in the same breath as your hot dog argument. You probably put dijon mustard on your bougie ass hot dog sandwich,” she shot back, but she was grinning. “What do you think?”

Marius blinked. She had turned to look at him and was waiting expectantly, eyes more intense with winged liner and a brilliant red eyeshadow.

“Me?” He said dumbly, regretting every step down the stairs from the fourth floor it took to get to the end of this line.

“Yeah, you. Where do you draw the proverbial sandwich line?”

“Don’t feel compelled to take her side just because she’s confrontational,” the guy cut in.

“I...uh, haven’t given it much thought,” Marius spluttered, feeling his face go pink.

The girl’s gaze softened and her dark brows furrowed together. “Understandable, understandable. We won’t interrogate you.”

“But we would appreciate your thoughts once you’ve gathered them,” the guy said good naturedly. “I’m Combeferre.” He stuck out his hand and Marius tried not to be self-conscious about his sweaty palms when he took it.

“Marius,” Marius replied.

“I’m Eponine and I greet with fist bumps not handshakes.” She extended a fist and Marius cautiously returned a fist bump.

The line inched forward again and now Marius was in the doorway. A gentle hum of something indie with soft vocals mixed with the muddled conversation, loud screeching of the machine that steamed the milk, and the enthusiastic greetings of the dark haired barista who was...distracting. The nervousness that had thus far kept Marius’ hands clenched so tightly on his coffee mug that he thought he might break it now made his shoulders tighten and teeth bite the inside of his mouth.

“Oh shit!” Eponine leaned out from behind Marius and grinned. “Courf’s working. I forgot!”

The barista, Courf evidently, looked up when he heard his name and for a second after he waved to Eponine made eye contact with Marius, just a quick, friendly sort of glance like maybe he thought Marius and Eponine were friends, making them mutual friends (which made Marius worry that he was somehow lying to this beautiful stranger who was now stirring a hot chocolate at a harried pace, making conversation as he went and reaching over to open the fridge door and grab whipped cream.)

“That’s our friend Courfeyrac,” Combeferre said, because apparently he’d been adopted by the fascinating sandwich arguers after five minutes in line. He felt lightheaded and like he should’ve just stayed in his room and tried to Skype Cosette again but also like he was on the precipice of something important and since this was the only social interaction he’d likely have all week (it was Thursday) he nodded, and repeated the name.

“Courfeyrac,” Marius Pontmercy said. And then they were at the front of the line.

“Dude, you owe me a playlist,” Eponine said, thrusting her coffee mug across the counter. “The usual.”

“I know, I know,” the barista said, snatching up the mug and tossing it between his hands. He looked even more animated up close and fumbled around the extensive collection of syrups along the back wall of the cafe as he spoke. “I’m almost done and then I’ll send it your way. To be fair, ‘Songs to Annoy My Shithead Parents that Won’t Corrupt Gav More than He Already has been’ is a challenging and specific request Ep. Also, vegan chai?

“Eponine is an occasional vegan,” Combeferre said, clarifying once more for Marius’ benefit. He nodded and the barista’s attention turned to him.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” he said, grinning. He slicked some hair out of his face and extended a hand across the counter, which Marius took after painfully detaching his hand from its death grip around the mug. “Courfeyrac.”

“Marius.”

“We met Marius five minutes ago. Riddle me this: is a hot dog a sandwich if you turn it sideways?

“Absolutely not,” Courfeyrac said without missing a beat.

“Thank you! Finally someone I can trust.”

“It’s nice to meet you Marius. Do you know what you’d like?”

Your friendship, immediately, Marius thought but didn’t say. “Um...what I’d...I don’t know. He looked desperately to the menu board but it was too long and he was acutely aware that he was being watched and suddenly the question seemed much too big to answer.

“May I interest you in something from the specials selection?” Courfeyrac asked, gesturing to the messy handwriting on the chalkboard to his right. Marius blinked at it:

Songs that would be greatly improved by a banjo solo

(a specials board by Couf)

Wonderwall by Oasis

Earl grey tea with steamed milk - $1.50

All Star by Smash Mouth

Random soda, random shot - $0.75

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

Hot chocolate with tiramisu syrup - $2.00

Baby by Justin Bieber

Vanilla milkshake with cheesecake syrup - $2.50

In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg

Affogato with caramel - $2.25

“I’m a firm believer that everything is improved by the banjo,” Courfeyrac said seriously.

“Um...Wonderwall then please.” Marius said.

“For here or to go?”

Eponine laughed. “He brought his mug Courf, you don’t need to ask.”

Marius glanced at the stack of paper to go cups and stiffened. He had planned to retreat discreetly to his room, coffee mug be damned.

“Maybe I’m just curious as to whether or not I’ll be enjoying Marius’ company any longer.”

“Touche,” Eponine said, leaning her elbows on the counter and accepting the latte Courfeyrac had finished. “You can sit with us if you want Marius,” she finished.

“Unless he has to go,” Combeferre put in helpfully.

They looked at him and Marius looked at them. He looked at the witty, significantly cooler than him people who’d offered him more friendly energy in the past 5 minutes than anyone else on campus had all semester. He looked at the languid line of talking, laughing, casually happy people behind them. He looked at the ridiculous specials board and multicolored string lights on the deep purple walls and nodded vigorously.

“For here, here would be great.”

***

The thing about college was that there was too much to do. Courfeyrac had only been campus a month and he already had a endless laundry list of things to accomplish. He’d swiped an application from the Musain the second time he’d come in, and they were desperate enough to hire an overly enthusiastic freshman for his first semester. There were a few weeks of spilling drinks and stumbling over orders. There were a few weeks where he wasn’t completely comfortable in his skin, where his smile felt too stiff and his classes felt too long. But then he figured it out. He learned how to make lattes without burning himself or dropping things. He joined the ultimate frisbee team. He joined Enjolras’ club again.

“Who’s that?” Enjolras asked, putting his mug on the counter for a refill. He looked tired. He was wearing his all nighter headband and spare glasses.“With Combeferre and Eponine,” he clarified, when Courf just stared at him.

“That’s Marius, they’ve adopted him. Are you okay? You look kind of…”

Enjolras rolled his eyes. “Kind of what, Courf?”

“Exhausted. The semester just started, how do you already look like that?”

“Well aren’t you supportive?” Enjolras scowled at him before taking a sip of his refilled black coffee. At least it wasn’t an espresso kind of night. “I’m finishing up my project about my summer service learning. We give our presentations next week. It wouldn’t be a lot if I wasn’t already taking too many credit hours and working on ABC stuff.”

“Stuff?” Courf replied, eyebrow quirking up. Enjolras was typically more verbose about the goings on of the ABC, often excessively so.

“The anti-rape culture rally, the fundraiser for the ACLU, Eponine’s crisis hotline volunteer group, your very important suggestion that we partner with the campus environmental club on their greener campus initiative. It’s a lot of stuff, Courf, and I want to be done with the summer so I can properly devote my time to all of the fall’s stuff .”

“Right,” Courfeyrac said slowly. Enjolras had spent the summer in Cape Town working with a human rights advocacy organization to promote health education and citizen empowerment. He’d been gone for 2 months, which would’ve been fine if he’d straightened everything out at home before he left. But he was Enjolras, so he hadn’t. “Have you seen R today?”

Enjolras gritted his teeth. “I haven’t seen him since the meeting. He doesn’t hang around the Musain as much now that he has a boyfriend.”

Courf frowned. He thought Grantaire’s absences during his shifts had more to do with Enjolras’ lurking by the counter or in his no nonsense study corner than R’s boyfriend of 3 weeks now. They didn’t talk much about what happened the week before Enjolras left for South Africa. The short version, Jehan had informed him, was that Enjolras and R had kissed at their Medieval poetry themed end of the year party. (Jehan was still salty that the majority of their invitees hadn’t respected the theme.) Courf hadn’t been told who kissed who (there were varying accounts), how much alcohol was involved (given Grantaire as a person and Jehan’s party menu), or what conversation (if any) followed, but Enjolras didn’t call or send R any postcards over the summer, and when school started up they didn’t talk about it and R showed up to the first amis meeting with Pierre, the new boyfriend.

It was a little jarring, given how long R had been interested in Enjolras and only Enjolras, and the look on Enjolras’ face when R introduced him. (Bossuet had compared this look to Joly’s when Bossuet had shown him the t-shirt he’d salvaged after he’d dropped it, sopping wet from the washer, behind the dorm laundry machines and forgotten about until the next time he did his laundry and fished it out with a yardstick.)

“Don’t stay up too late, alright? Knowing you, your presentation’s going to go just fine,” Courfeyrac said, glancing down at his watch. It was 11:30; he had a half an hour before closing.

“You’re the freshman, I should be the one lecturing you,” Enjolras said, but he was smiling, just a little, in the way that wasn’t fake. He retreated back to his table with his half empty coffee cup.

Courfeyrac had known Enjolras, Combeferre, R, and Eponine since middle school. He was a year behind them, but they were united by Enjolras’ social justice and advocacy club The Friends of the ABC. Enjolras had taken the amis with him to college, quickly establishing himself as the leader of the university’s most active, if not largest, advocacy organization.

He loved the friends he’d made through the ABC and he loved that at college they were tackling bigger issues and rallying more people. People, perhaps, like Combeferre and Eponine’s adoptee. Courfeyrac turned his attention to the skittish looking Marius who was seated between his friends.

“What’s your major?” Eponine asked him, as Marius sipped his tea nervously.

“History,” he replied. “I’m...um, I’m interested in attending law school.”

“No kidding, you should meet our friend Bahorel. He’s on his way to law school too,” Combeferre said.

“If he doesn’t drop kick a political science professor first,” Eponine laughed.

Marius smiled. “And what about you two?” he asked. “Your majors, I mean.”

“Biology,” Combeferre said. “I want to be a doctor.” Ferre adjusted his glasses in the way that made him look studious and quick-witted, a move he’d perfected years ago. He had disclosed to Couf at a high school football game that it was his signature technique when trying to make a good impression (although back then he was trying to use it on the JV kicker, who he had a crush on.)

“And I’m in social work,” Eponine said.

“Really?” Marius brightened. “So is my friend Cosette. She doesn’t go here though. She’s at a small college three hours from here.”

“You two must be very close,” Eponine replied, and Marius looked momentarily panicked.

“What gave you that impression?”

Eponine leaned in closer. “You didn’t say the school or the town, just how long it would take to get there. And I’m good at listening.”

“Oh,” Marius said, he was turning a rosy shade of pink that made his freckles stand out further. “I mean, you’re right, I miss her quite a bit.”

“Did you say she was your girlfriend?” Courfeyrac blurted from the counter. He nearly dropped the mug he was drying as the three of them turned to look at him. Great, perfect, now he thinks you’re an eavesdropping creep .

“No, she’s just my friend,” Marius said, meeting his eyes for a moment.

In a lot of ways college was the way Courfeyrac had expected it to be. He’d been to a couple of parties in Bahorel’s basement where the lights were dim and every drink he was handed had too much vodka. He’d swayed, light-headed and distant as his friends and their friends danced and talked and laughed in high, joyous outbursts. But sometimes college felt like sensory overload. Sometimes he needed to catch his breath outside before the party swallowed him whole. Sometimes he showed up to class a minute too late and the whole lecture hall stared at him like he didn’t belong. Sometimes he just went through the motions.

“Well, we’ve gotta take off now, don’t we Ferre?” Eponine said suddenly and Combeferre gave her a confused head tilt. “Laundry, remember?” She pressed.

“Right, laundry,” he repeated.

“Oh,” Marius began. His hands were fumbling around his mug. “I guess I’ll go too, then.”

“Don’t leave. Go sit at the bar and keep Courf company,” she said, shooting Courfeyrac a sly look.

Marius said okay.

“Do you pick the music?” Marius asked as he slid gingerly into the seat closest to the cash register.

“Yep,” he replied, grabbing a cloth to wipe down the counter. It was a strange mix of 80s pop, indie songs with strange lyrics and unorthodox beats, and a few tracks from Ep’s punk phase that she rolled her eyes at whenever she heard now. His music taste could be off-puttingly eclectic. “What do you think?”

“I like it,” he replied, head bobbing up and down with vigor. His messy hair flopped dizzyingly and adorably.

“What kind of music do you listen to?” He asked, and Marius flushed again.

“Whatever’s on the radio, I guess. I don’t know a lot of cool music.”

“Cool music,” Courf repeated, setting down his dish towel. “If you like it then it’s cool.” He leaned his elbows on the bar beside Marius.

Marius laughed. “Okay, I guess.”

“I’ll make you a playlist.”

“Aren’t you already making Eponine one?”

“New potential friends have priority access,” Courf said, and then kicked himself for being too honest.

“Okay then,” Marius said. “How do you pick the songs?

“Sometimes a song just feels right for a particular moment, I guess.” If he had to pick a song for Marius in the current moment he’d go with something sappy and too much given they’d only met a couple of hours ago. Something like REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling.”

Marius nodded as if Courf was a music expert. “Well, thank you in advance.”

They couldn’t talk much more because of the steady stream of customers. Marius stayed until closing, into the point of the night where Courfeyrac’s Spotify playlist reached its more questionable songs. Marius had a book out and was reading, his long lashes making shadows on his freckled cheeks. The Musain ran out of Fresca and sugar cookies and Courf had to defend his specials board before a couple of banjo haters. Marius looked up at him every so often, vague smile on his lips whenever Courf was trying to be charming or entertaining with customers to distract from his only moderately skilled barista-ing. At midnight Courfeyrac turned off the music and Marius looked up a final time.

“Closing time,” Courf said.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize I was the only one still here,” Marius said. He jumped up too quickly and nearly knocked over his chair.

“It’s okay,” Courf said. “It’s nice not to be alone,” he laughed and Marius’ face fell.

“Yeah,” he said, dejectedly. “It really is.”

Shit, what did I say?

“You’ll come back though, and hang out? If you want to,” he added.

Marius looked surprised. “I didn’t bug you? I know I don’t talk a lot,” he muttered.

“You don’t need to talk a lot if you don’t want to,” Courf said.

Marius looked down at his tennis shoes. “Okay,” he said.

“My shifts are every Thursday. You should come back, man.” He said, trying to sound casual. “You can see more of my amazing specials boards.”

Marius nodded. “Alright,” he said. “It was a really good board.”

He said it so sincerely that for a second Courfeyrac felt entirely present and at home in the moment. He wanted more moments like this.

#les mis #ficvember 2018 #awi's fic #les mis fic #courfius #courfeyrac #marius pontmercy #mariusness #enjolras #grantaire #combeferre #eponine thenardier #cosette fauchelevent #jean prouvaire #les amis

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vermontparnasse · 7 years ago

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les miserables review - u.s. tour (hartford) 10/7/17

ok, here we go. sorry this took so long but i have never been less enthused to write a les mis review..... i hate to say it guys but this was probably the worst collective cast i have ever seen. half of them were playing the wrong role and almost none of them had any chemistry with one another... i realize it's still very early on in the tour and they didn't have a very long rehearsal period but that's no excuse for the national tour to come across as amateur community theatre, which is tragically what i felt like i was watching for most of those two and a half hours. i do have a couple of positive things to say and there were a few standout performances, but mostly..... yikes.

nick cartell as valjean: i guess he did the best he could given that he was very, very, very, very badly miscast. when your valjean would probably be a better fit for marius, you know you've got a problem. he was too young by at least fifteen years, and the way he sang the score was an insufferable series of riffs - he was basically ramin without the ego and without the shirt ripping. he was just very badly out of his depth. i was prepared to be kinder to him in the second act - his bring him home was quite good and he aged better than i'd thought he was going to - but then at the moment of valjean's death when he sang 'forgive me all my trespasses' he literally SPRANG out of the chair, like dying had rejuvenated him. it was bad guys.

josh davis as javert: does hayden tee have a brother........... anyway, the way he was singing the score i think he was trying to emulate earl by making his notes precise and crisp, but everything just came out really staccato and it was not pleasant to listen to. he also jutted out his jaw every time he wanted to look menacing which achieved a comedic disney villain effect, a la hayden. stars was definitely the highlight - he sang and acted it much better than anything else... otherwise, it was just a mess. he literally came across as drunk during his suicide - like he wasn't killing himself because of his inability to reconcile valjean's mercy with his personal view of the world, he was killing himself because he'd stayed at the bar too late and had one too many. i have no idea what sort of journey he thought his character was on, but it just wasn't javert.

melissa mitchell as fantine: i'm sorry but this woman cannot act to save her life...... the way she carried herself was so modern, i don't know how to explain it but the way she moved was just so off and it was really distracting? and her whole performance was just going through the motions, like "and still i dream he'll come to me... time to run to the left of the stage!" "life has killed the dream i dreamed.... time to glance over my shoulder dramatically!" it was just all so artificial and inauthentic, you could practically see the stage directions in front of her eyes. and don't get me started on the dying moment where she reaches her arm out and then collapses......... lord. bad.

jillian butler as cosette: she was good!! i mean... idk, i don't have a whole lot to say about her. after seeing sam hill and alex finke in the role repeatedly, both of whom are absolutely superb, it's kinda hard to live up to that... jillian didn't take it to the next level or expand on their performances in any way - it was a very basic, pared down, 'hi i'm sweet and lonely' cosette, but there's nothing wrong with that? she was solid and i have no complaints with her, but it wasn't a particularly memorable performance.

joshua grosso as marius: the best performance of the night, thank fuckin god!!!!!!!! it has been so long since i have seen an adequate marius!!!!!!!! i didn't agree with 100% of his choices (e.g., in AHFOL rather than singing "dear mademoiselle" he sort of squeaks it in a high pitched voice which is cute and appropriately awkward but i didn't totally connect w/ that decision because i love hearing that line sung) BUT he really understood the character and he didn't have too many moments like that of derailing the score. i loved how awkward and genuine he was with cosette, and i loved how serious his reaction was to valjean's confession. it was an all-around solid performance that was filled with the appropriate level of sincerity. my biggest complaint is the mientus-esque crocodile tears after eponine's death, but i'm tentatively blaming that on direction.

phoenix best as eponine: she was terrible. maybe she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, because the whole time she looked like she'd rather be in bed. dead eyes, no expression, dead on her feet, fake punches looking incredibly weak and stagey, having to be dragged around the stage by the other actors. there was no fight to her, she was just resigned and dull. her voice is tinny and not terribly pleasant to listen to, but i'd have forgiven that for a solid performance... which unfortunately we did not get. though i WILL give her credit for on my own - there was some weird hammering or some shit going on backstage throughout that song but she pushed through admirably. but otherwise, she was a pretty big disappointment.

matt shingledecker as enjolras: chelsea said after the show "enjolras was a literal frat boy, was he leading them to a revolution or to the club?" and i can't really beat that. his enjolras basically was a rich young boy playing a game.

j. anthony crane as thenardier: he was rly fantastic!!!! god after cliff saunders and whoever tf else we had to suffer through on bway, i would have welcomed just about anyone.... i mean, i have long ago reconciled myself to the fact that i will never see this character played the way i'd like to in an ideal world, because he's just become OTT comic relief, and j. anthony crane certainly has those OTT moments (notably in dog eats dog) BUT compared to the sort of nonsense that we are used to, it is such a toned down performance and there's actually a hint of something sinister lurking beneath the comedy. i only hope he doesn't try to play up the laughs too much as the tour goes on.

allison guinn as mme. thenardier: meanwhile............ the most hammy performance i have EVER seen in this role. it's a rare day that i just try to ignore mme. t and focus on thenardier when they're on stage together, but here we are. god, she was insufferable, and she gave that kind of 'i'm so clever and above all of you' performance on top of the OTT humor that i absolutely loathe.

let's see, what else is there to say.

- 'give way, javert' is back after the sewers. not sure why but i'm into it.

- SO MANY actors were singing on the beat...... i think the foreman was the worst offender ('YOU. PLAY. A. VIR. GIN. IN. THE. LIGHT. BUT. NEED. NO. UR. GING. IN. THE. NIGHT.') but it was honestly so many cast members and it was distracting af???

- but otherwise, a rly promising ensemble!!!! i liked almost everyone who didn't have a main role lmao.

- though they RLY need to work on their blocking....... again, i know it's early in the tour so i'm rly hoping this improves, but this production was just messy. stage punches look fake, characters who are meant to interact at certain moments barely look at each other, just a lot of inauthentic movement that can only improve with more rehearsals.

- omg this is such a minor thing that i liked....... ok so you know how in the bway production they had fantine's first customer be the foreman? i never saw any particular reason for that, but in this production when fantine is being offered to the foreman she has her back turned, and when she's handed to him she turns around and he sees her face and he laughs when he recognizes her, and the irony of the moment is so sad that i found myself rly moved by it.

- andrew love is a fuckin gift. will someone make him principal javert already.

bottom line: what can i say....... i was mostly just rly let down. of the nine main roles i mentioned here, i really enjoyed two (one of which was thenardier lmfao like who even cares about thenardier???), i didn’t mind one, and the rest were just bad. that’s 2/3 of the main cast i thought were either playing the wrong role or had no business playing any role in les mis at all. i can only hope they get stronger as a group as the tour goes on, because maybe if i’d felt more camaraderie between them the whole thing wouldn’t have left me so cold? that was one of les mis bway’s strengths imo - the entire cast just worked so well together. the tour cast did not. unless i hear that they get better in upcoming months, i will not be making any more pilgrimages to see this cast.

#review

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