#the abc cafe

[cometomecosette]

I've been watching various performance clips of "The ABC Café/Red and Black" (from different stage productions, plus the movie and the concerts), and I've found I have a preference for a staging detail that varies at the end. There are two ways that the final chorus of "Red and Black" can be performed, even in productions that follow the same basic blocking where all the Amis stand up while singing and Marius finally stands up too and clasps Enjolras's hand at the end. I have feelings about those two variations.

I've found that I prefer performances where Enjolras looks around at all his friends to confirm their allegiance to the cause (only turning back to Marius at the end), and they all do so by sharing gazes and handshakes with him and with each other, than performances where the whole group fixates on Marius and sings to join Enjolras in reminding him of their "higher call." It feels more inspiring in the first staging; more about their fellowship and firm belief in their ideals. It's more sympathetic than when they're all preaching at Marius that his love means nothing compared to their cause, until he finally (temporarily) agrees with them.

Doing it the second way won't break a performance for me, but I do slightly prefer the first.

(P.S. Since I'm comparing "Red and Black" renditions, you can probably guess which character my next characterization comparison post will be about. And it's not Marius, because I've already covered him.)

[unwelcome-ephestion]

Possibly the funniest version of the ABC Cafe ever recorded is the original French concept album of Les Misérables back in 1980. About 30 seconds in you'll hear Enjolras come in, where we recognise "Lamarque est mort", or "Lamarque is dead", which we expect to be sung in the style of a funeral march. This version? Oh no. Presumably to capture a radical sound (for 1980), Enjolras is infused with a kind of groove disco! It's probably better that this was abandoned for a more serious sound in keeping with the epic tone of the show, but it's a great relic of the show in its pre fame days - and shows just how much orchestration can inform a song!

[xofemeraldstars]

what if i put these two scenes next to each other huh WHAT THEN 🥺😭🥰

[theotherbuckley]

Okay but Tommy drops out of high school — he told his father he was gay and he told him he could either be homeless or go to military school. He goes to military school and joins the army and he likes flying the helicopters because it means he doesn’t have to do any of the killing himself. And he makes some friends.

There's one guy who's like the squad leader who's a few years old and built like a Greek god and Tommy's young and a little bit in love. And they're friends maybe even family because this whole group of people spend every waking (and sleeping) moment together. And they all talk like a family and they all say they love each other and tease each other and it's nice. And one night it's just the two of them trading a flask of some sort of alcohol that Tommy doesn't know the name of and the man asks Tommy why he joined the army and where he wants to be in five years and Tommy trusts this man. He's half way in love with him so he doesn't even think twice before he tells the story about the time he came out to his family and his father nearly beat him to death before sending him here. And the conversation tapers off after that and he doesn’t register the change in the air but when he wakes up the next morning he’s being dishonourably discharged because he poses “unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability”. He knows what that means.

Tommy joins the fire department because he doesn’t know what else to do. He represses anything regarding his sexuality because he knows now that it’s wrong. He almost feels like he has a family again because his captain seems to like him and some of the guys are cool even if they say things he doesn’t agree with. And then he starts agreeing because maybe they’re right and he’s wrong and he’s just inherently wrong. So he follows their leads and is just straight racist because that’s how he can fit in.

And then a black lesbian woman joins and says she’s a black lesbian woman and Tommy doesn’t understand that either because you can’t be queer you just can’t be because it’s wrong.

But he nearly dies and and an Asian man saves his life and a black lesbian woman comes up with a better idea than any of them had and she tells them she’s no different and she is just as capable. So he improves himself he does and he tries to be better but he still can’t be who he is because the last 2 times he was honest about that he was betrayed.

Tommy leaves the 118 and “don’t ask, don’t tell” is lifted and he meets this guy he likes who likes him back and the 217 don’t seem to have a problem with the gender neutral pronouns and he slowly but surely lets himself open up again and be who he is and when the thing with that guy doesn’t work out because he’s moving to New York and Tommy’s not sure he’s ready to leave, it’s okay because his crew is there and they support him and he can still be himself.

[thewoildwedreamabout]

You can't accuse Victor Hugo of burying his gays. He treats everyone equally.

He just decided to bury them all.

🙂👍 hope that helps

[mabeuf5]

2011 madrid los miserables, in which half the characters have a bob, grantaire gives marius a kiss on the cheek, and, most importantly, grantaire takes a little sip from a candle

[abandonedapothoecary]

R and E as little ladies because i love ladies.

[thepiecesofcait]

Here's a look at the opening of the Cafe scene from our production of Les Mis last year! (a behind-the-scenes of the set up before the curtains open can be found here!)

[sleepboysummer]

hey les mis fans. just so u.just so u know. in the production of les mis that im in. in drink with me grantaire tries to??? kiss enjolras??? who pushes him away and makes a sort of 'you're drunk' gesture?? yes i didnt realize it until today and its days before opening.. and it is so subtle i dont think anyone else noticed but i did...

[buffaluff]

💖🐱 lena and eddie at the cat café! 🐱💖

finished prompt fill with @911actions gotcha for gaza, for bia! you made me two beautiful edits so i hope this is an acceptable trade for now 🥰 thank you for donating, i loved drawing this! i’ve done dogs and horses and pokémon and rodents so far for this event, so it’s only fair to finally get to draw some cats 🐈 🐈‍⬛ (and i defaulted to including my own, i hope you don’t mind 💖)

prompt submissions for this event are over, but please continue donating to help these families in need! 🍉

[pelideswhore]

during the excavations of Troy they found a pub right next to the city gates. it had a bar, tables, dispensers, a storage and everything. they gave out rations from this very pub.

how would you feel if i told you that soldiers went to this pub to heal their wounds, to chat, to gossip, to get drunk, to get to know the man that saved their life? how would you feel if i told you that they felt the loss of their every companion like a black hole in their hearts every time a chair went empty? how would you feel if i told you that they were likely the first to hear the screams when their prince was killed? how would you feel if i told you that this would have been the very bar they celebrated and got drunk in the night the Trojan Horse was pulled in?

how would you feel if i told you that after the Siege the pub remained empty forever? no one would ever know of the love they shared. hmm? how would you feel?

[barethemusicalbutjasonlives]

Jesper living longer then Wylan this , Nina outliving Hanne that.. do you guys really think any of the crows will live past 30?

[apartmentsmoke]

doing my rewatch and i'm on 2x04... buck's "how long do i have to wait before i get to be happy, too?" in combo with the knowledge about his bisexual awakening.... aaaa

[felt-squirrels]

I once said “What if I opened a café and called it the ABC Café” and the one person I didn’t know in the back of the classroom said “You’re going to have a lot of empty chairs at empty tables” why’d you have to do me like that

[ask-sebastian]

Les Mis me, Seba Turn Sebastian! I am ready!