#that's why Fantine and Cosette aren't here

[someday-becomes-somehow]

I went to Les Mis (west end) the other day and here's what I remember

(This is definitely not chronological)

When they first came onstage I was like "they look like children?" idk why

VibratoooOoOoOo

The guy who played the foreman had an actual abundance of hair

Lovely Ladies was a lot nicer because you could feel the real camaraderie between the girls

You know when Valjean smashes the chair so he can wave a leg menacingly at Javert? Imagine if they got the wrong chair and then someone sat on the one that breaks apart lolll

The Thenardiers were greattttttt (aren't they always?)

So Young Cosette was a white girl but Adult Cosette was black, and we LOVE colourblind casting but I think it took all of us newbies a second to realise who adult Cosette was (they were both great though!)

I love how the set tilts to make the barricade

Rotating stage!!

Lots of cute Les Amis lol

Irish Grantaire??

"Grantaire put the bottle down"

Why does Cosette sing sooo hiGH ?

That red flag bro

Gavroche made his own little red flag!

Every time I thought of Enjolras, I remembered that person who said their brother used to call trains "enjys"

Most of the slow motion was really effective, except for running in the first 3 seconds of Act 2 which looked kind of funny

When Enjolras and Marius grip each others arms like a handshake I was half expecting them to then pull them back and do a fistbump or something

In the Enjoltaire hug, R literally had his head tucked into Enj's neck??

Eponine was dying and when everyone turned to look I was like !!!!

Marius almost went to sleep curled up like a little kitten?!

Gavroche blanked for a couple of his "little people" lyrics but honestly no one minded because he was awesome

Also when he throws the bag up to Enjolras?? I'd be shite at that; it'd take me like 4 goes and then all the tension would be lost

I jumped a foot into the air every time there was a loud gunshot

Apparently there was a lady sitting on the table in the bit where the barricade falls and basically she made a chair fall onto her but also in slow motion

Javert's hair ribbon had untied itself near the end

I hadn't realised how many times lots of the themes/melodies come back; I bet it would make for a really cool analysis of why based on which characters are singing (music nerd over here)

I liked how they did Valjean carrying Marius through the sewers but it was almost comedic how it kept blacking out and then he was carrying him a different way on a different part of the stage

Javert's death was good but also he rolled across the stage at the end which was funny

When Les Amis lined up in "Empty Chairs" it really hit me that all of Marius' friends had been killed

All Les Amis had to be wedding guests and at least one of them was a terrible dancer

Also there was a drunk guy under the table at the wedding??

In the final song it was Valjean and Fantine and then a third voice, and I cried when I realised it was Eponine because I wasn't expecting it and just ughhh

It's odd how they do the individual bows without music? Is there no Playout except for when they all come together at the end?

So I didn't quite see, but Gavroche and Enjolras bow together and they did some sort of thing that my mind has decided was basically finger guns as they parted

Tl;dr -- it was really great, I need to see more live theatre!

[pilferingapples]

To me this line:

“Give to a being the useless, and deprive him of the needful, and you have the gamin”

strongly evokes an anecdote from Gautier, talking about the big housewarming party he held with his Rue Doyenne friends; faced with the fact that they absolutely could not afford to feed and provision and decorate a party properly , and could not even really afford to feed and provision themselves properly that month, Nerval replied (and I am paraphrasing /translating here of course) " That is why we must do it ! If we can't have the necessary, we must have the superfluous; otherwise we should have nothing, and that is too little even for poets." So to me it feels like a comment about the necessity of play and beauty especially in dire straits-- a link not just to Myriel's garden, but to Fantine's joy in fixing her hair, and Cosette's desperately stolen moments with Eponine's doll, and the prisoners who sing in the dungeons, and the jokes on the barricade. These " useless" things give peace to Fantine, joy to the gamins, catharsis and comfort to the prisoners and the fighters-- they aren't useless, they're the desperate last necessity that holds off utter despair and dehumanization. It doesn't mean the existence of the gamin isn't a tragedy--it definitely is, explicitly, and a reproach against the entire society that allows it-- but it means that even despised and rejected as they are, they're still kids, and they get to be kids, in their little own little corners of the world. Take away this " useless" joy, and the gamins don't gain the "necessary" --but also they can't be gamins anymore. They become something even more painful-- Cosette in the woods, instead of Gavroche in the elephant.

(and of course it's the theater, because the gamin is essentially a Romantic, but I think I need to make a new post on that for length XD)

It's part of what is, I *think*, an argument against strict utilitarianism (a big deal given some of the socialist discourse of the day, which..whoo, I'm still recovering from some of that) and also, maybe more (frustratingly) still relevant , against the Victurnien-ish idea that art and beauty and fun are Extras that have to be Earned by material success; the "if you're so unhappy, why were you SMILING, huh " attitude. Children have a right to the flowers, in this book where the question of social rights is central; and even the misérables have the right to beauty. It's as useful as the useful, maybe even more so.

I could be very wrong about this! but in dialogue with other Romantic and socialist writings, this is how it seems to me?

(also yes let's watch Children of the Paradise soon!:D)

Brickclub 3.1.3 ‘He is agreeable’

I love the writing here. Analysis-wise, I’m having trouble placing what it’s doing.

“Give to a being the useless, and deprive him of the needful, and you have the gamin”

feels like one of the keys to it. It’s a reminder that for all the enthusiasm we’re showing for these children, this is a tragedy that shouldn’t be happening.

At the same time, it very strongly echoes Myriel:

Madame Magloire had once remarked, with a sort of gentle malice: “Monseigneur, you who turn everything to account, have, nevertheless, one useless plot. It would be better to grow salads there than bouquets.” “Madame Magloire,” retorted the Bishop, “you are mistaken. The beautiful is as useful as the useful.” He added after a pause, “More so, perhaps.”

Which I suppose is bound up in Hugo’s positivity about the soul and spirit of these children, amid the tragedy

I’m still conflicted here; I’m worried we’re downplaying how bad this is, and I’m worried Hugo has gone off one of his “poverty is ennobling” jags. At the same time, I appreciate that he’s appreciating the joy and personality that these children bring as something beyond mere tragic figures.

This part:

Theatres are a sort of vessel turned upside down with the hold at the top; in this hold the titi gather in crowds. The titi is to the gamin what the butterfly is to the grub; the same creature on wings and sailing through the air. It is enough for him to be there with his radiance of delight, his fulness of enthusiasm and joy, and his clapping of hands like the clapping of wings, to make that hold, close, dark, fœtid, filthy, unwholesome, hideous, and detestable, as it is, a very Paradise.”

reminds me I REALLY need to show people Children of Paradise some time; this might as well be the thesis of it. And it’s the same usage of “paradise” of course–slang for the highest and cheapest seats in the theater.

[pilferingapples]

the-constellation-collective

I don’t go here yet, what did happen to her?

omg you've gone this long without being spoilered for Les Miserables

at this point I would feel bad taking that away from you if you aren't sure you wanna know so I'm gonna put this under a cut, which is why I'm making this a reblog and not a reply; read on if you want but feel free to just come back to this post some time when you've read or watched it! (also , warning for child abuse mention)

Cosette is left with the Thenardier family when she's about three years old, so her mom, Fantine, can go and find work and send money for her support (utterly common procedure at the time and even now, depending on where you are! Fantine's not being neglectful). Only it turns out the Thenardiars are awful, and immediately start abusing Cosette--starving her, beating her , and making her do more and more of the housework as she gets older, all while writing to tell Fantine how she's doing great, or that she needs money for school, etc.

Four years after leaving Cosette with the Thenardiers, Fantine dies, in very upsetting circumstances ; Jean Valjean comes and gets Cosette from the Thenardiers a year later (he tried to be there sooner but there were unavoidable delays). He adopts her (informally, formal adoption at the time was not really a thing even for people who WEREN'T wanted criminals) , and raises her , with help of a convent school...

and they just NEVER EVER talk about the Thenardiers, and by the time she's a teenager she's sort of ...repressed it? Lost the sense of how to talk about it? Forgotten it trauma-style? Unclear but Hugo says she doesn't think about it or talk about it

So Marius can't know what happened! Because Cosette doesn't know what happened! There's just five years of her early life that are ??? for her.

Absolutely wild to think about how Marius' idea of Cosette's childhood is, like

=> her mom died when she was young => her dad came and got her => she went to a good convent school =>after her uncle died, she and her dad moved to the Rue Plumet house :D

THAT'S IT

it's not WRONG but there is a fairly significant chunk missing!! and he doesn't know! he will probably never know! Because Cosette doesn't either! and in the times when Thenardier is dropping anvil-size hints, Marius is NOT picking those up!

Marius and Cosette both about Cosette's younger childhood years like