Apropos of nothing, I dare someone to write Aberforth Dumbledore/Pierre Gringoire slash. With goats.

What better way to celebrate my return home than to go see Les Mis? I went up on Saturday for the matinee, but lady_iphigeneia and I decided to stay for the evening show as well.

- First off, Drew. Drew is good. I have my reservations about his Valjean, but anyone who could get through the show without acting like a constipated autistic five-year-old would have been an improvement on Alex. And I'd forgotten how much I hate Alex's falsetto until I heard Drew's utterly effortless Bring Him Home. Surprisingly enough, he does not look like Drew; he looks like a very tall and wiry Valjean, sometimes like Lino Ventura in the '82 miniseries, and occasionally like Jesus, but he neither looks nor acts like Drew. His acting is quite good--not exaggerated or overly angry or weird, for the most part--and he has an excellent sense of timing, and I never got the impression that he was sleeping through "minor" scenes like the letter or Valjean's confession. His voice is still 100% Drew though, which led to the singularly odd impression of hearing Drew's voice emerge from Valjean's body. His voice isn't as powerful as I'd like--though like I said, wonderful effortless falsetto--but this might just be because as Javert I saw...

- Rob Hunt. I do not remember liking Rob on tour. But when I saw Rob on tour, he did not have a fucking huge booming voice like he did last night--I was afraid at the end of Stars that the Broadhurst's sound system would start cracking and clipping like a crappy bootleg. When I saw Rob on tour, his Javert also seriously needed to take a chill pill, which he has done, and he now straddles the line between angry!Javert and stoic!Javert without really being either. I've been trying very hard to avoid mentally comparing him to Ben, because that would just be cruel to Rob and their Javerts aren't that similar anyway, but compared to Drew!Javert he is much better. They both look too young, but Rob's Javert isn't totally psychotic when he gets angry. And Rob did not scream the last note of the Suicide. Plus, well, tenor trying to sing baritone role vs. fucking huge booming voice.

- Michael Minarik wins the universe. ♥ You've all probably heard this, but he helps Gavroche make his little flag during Building the Barricade, and he is just so heartbroken after the kid dies--and then in the final battle he stands up and SALUTES ENJOLRAS WITH GAVROCHE'S FLAG and starts waving it, and when Max goes down he runs up the barricade and grabs his arm and tries to pull him back up. If I hadn't been forewarned I would've bawled like a baby. And his verse in Drink With Me is 100% angsty instead of challenging, so when Max goes to tell him off, he gives him the puppy-dog eyes and they end up staring at each other with their faces about two inches apart. It just... awwwww.

- Chip Zien, unlike Gary Beach, is actually funny. His Thénardier is really drunk and overbearing and this has the pleasant side effect of giving Ann something to play off of, so now she doesn't suck either. Yay!

- Marissa was on as Cosette for the evening show. More yay! Her Cosette is very sweet and pretty and also a lot less bratty than Ali's, though this also makes her slightly less interesting characterizaion-wise. I liked her better than Ali this time, though I might just be slightly tired of Ali. (I know I'm royally sick of Adam, and it's not really their fault, I've just seen them both upwards of 25 times.) Also, Marissa's high notes are stronger.

- Ensemble stuff: Karen Elliott, whom I once saw as u/s Madame Thénardier, has replaced Soara-Joye Ross. I'm rather happy about that as I like Karen better. Jenn pointed out to me that Doug Kreeger, who plays Jean Prouvaire, was off in the corner writing poetry during BHH. Nehal still loves bosoms, Minarik and Jeff Kready were lifting the girls' skirts during Master of the House, and Dan's facial expressions during Mme T's verse made me laugh harder than Ann's rather strained delivery. Nikki Renée Daniels has left--I think to play Aida?--and this makes me sad, though go her.

- NEHAL IS LEAVING. September 9. Jenn and I already have second-row seats for that and he has promised to make faces at us during Lovely Ladies; we're seriously considering another New York weekend to see him off. We might also have to bribe Max to take a sick day that weekend, because I will be royally pissed if I never get to see Nehal's Enjolras. He is so much with the awesome and I don't want to see him gooooo. ;____;

Also, we totally got fangirled by the lady sitting next to us at the evening show, who was there, several months late, to see Mandy Bruno. She kind of latched on to us when she found out we knew about the firings, and came with us to the stage door like it was the most amazing concept in the world. And made us sign her playbill, haha. During the matinee I was right in the midst of all these bored high-school-age kids, half of whom obviously didn't want to be there and kept joking with their friends at inappropriate moments. Both audiences were also apparently quite clueless, as my favorite audience quotes from Saturday include:

"Is she dead?"
- Guy next to me, after Come to Me
"Is it over?"
- Guy in front of me, during intermission
"Are they all dead, mommy?"
- Little boy, after the final battle
"Is this the finale?"
- Lady next to me
"That was the most expensive nap I've ever taken in my life."
- Guy in front of me, after the show.

Stage door was heaps of fun. Chip (er, James Chip Leonard that is, haven't talked to Chip Zien yet) is awesome and we talked about France and Drew ValDrew and how Chip as the Bishop never grabbed Alex like he did Drew. Heeeee. And Rob apparently read somebody saying online that he always comes out on his cell phone, which made me die a little inside because I might well have been the one to post that. And, yes, Nehal told us he's leaving. We bought tickets for his last show after the matinee.

So, yeah. I heart the barricade boys. (Speaking of which, we also defaced the Broadhurst, so now there is a 'Vivent les Peuples!' next to 'lol frenchboys.')

Apropos of nothing, I dare someone to write Aberforth Dumbledore/Pierre Gringoire slash. With goats.

What better way to celebrate my return home than to go see Les Mis? I went up on Saturday for the matinee, but lady_iphigeneia and I decided to stay for the evening show as well.

- First off, Drew. Drew is good. I have my reservations about his Valjean, but anyone who could get through the show without acting like a constipated autistic five-year-old would have been an improvement on Alex. And I'd forgotten how much I hate Alex's falsetto until I heard Drew's utterly effortless Bring Him Home. Surprisingly enough, he does not look like Drew; he looks like a very tall and wiry Valjean, sometimes like Lino Ventura in the '82 miniseries, and occasionally like Jesus, but he neither looks nor acts like Drew. His acting is quite good--not exaggerated or overly angry or weird, for the most part--and he has an excellent sense of timing, and I never got the impression that he was sleeping through "minor" scenes like the letter or Valjean's confession. His voice is still 100% Drew though, which led to the singularly odd impression of hearing Drew's voice emerge from Valjean's body. His voice isn't as powerful as I'd like--though like I said, wonderful effortless falsetto--but this might just be because as Javert I saw...

- Rob Hunt. I do not remember liking Rob on tour. But when I saw Rob on tour, he did not have a fucking huge booming voice like he did last night--I was afraid at the end of Stars that the Broadhurst's sound system would start cracking and clipping like a crappy bootleg. When I saw Rob on tour, his Javert also seriously needed to take a chill pill, which he has done, and he now straddles the line between angry!Javert and stoic!Javert without really being either. I've been trying very hard to avoid mentally comparing him to Ben, because that would just be cruel to Rob and their Javerts aren't that similar anyway, but compared to Drew!Javert he is much better. They both look too young, but Rob's Javert isn't totally psychotic when he gets angry. And Rob did not scream the last note of the Suicide. Plus, well, tenor trying to sing baritone role vs. fucking huge booming voice.

- Michael Minarik wins the universe. ♥ You've all probably heard this, but he helps Gavroche make his little flag during Building the Barricade, and he is just so heartbroken after the kid dies--and then in the final battle he stands up and SALUTES ENJOLRAS WITH GAVROCHE'S FLAG and starts waving it, and when Max goes down he runs up the barricade and grabs his arm and tries to pull him back up. If I hadn't been forewarned I would've bawled like a baby. And his verse in Drink With Me is 100% angsty instead of challenging, so when Max goes to tell him off, he gives him the puppy-dog eyes and they end up staring at each other with their faces about two inches apart. It just... awwwww.

- Chip Zien, unlike Gary Beach, is actually funny. His Thénardier is really drunk and overbearing and this has the pleasant side effect of giving Ann something to play off of, so now she doesn't suck either. Yay!

- Marissa was on as Cosette for the evening show. More yay! Her Cosette is very sweet and pretty and also a lot less bratty than Ali's, though this also makes her slightly less interesting characterizaion-wise. I liked her better than Ali this time, though I might just be slightly tired of Ali. (I know I'm royally sick of Adam, and it's not really their fault, I've just seen them both upwards of 25 times.) Also, Marissa's high notes are stronger.

- Ensemble stuff: Karen Elliott, whom I once saw as u/s Madame Thénardier, has replaced Soara-Joye Ross. I'm rather happy about that as I like Karen better. Jenn pointed out to me that Doug Kreeger, who plays Jean Prouvaire, was off in the corner writing poetry during BHH. Nehal still loves bosoms, Minarik and Jeff Kready were lifting the girls' skirts during Master of the House, and Dan's facial expressions during Mme T's verse made me laugh harder than Ann's rather strained delivery. Nikki Renée Daniels has left--I think to play Aida?--and this makes me sad, though go her.

- NEHAL IS LEAVING. September 9. Jenn and I already have second-row seats for that and he has promised to make faces at us during Lovely Ladies; we're seriously considering another New York weekend to see him off. We might also have to bribe Max to take a sick day that weekend, because I will be royally pissed if I never get to see Nehal's Enjolras. He is so much with the awesome and I don't want to see him gooooo. ;____;

Also, we totally got fangirled by the lady sitting next to us at the evening show, who was there, several months late, to see Mandy Bruno. She kind of latched on to us when she found out we knew about the firings, and came with us to the stage door like it was the most amazing concept in the world. And made us sign her playbill, haha. During the matinee I was right in the midst of all these bored high-school-age kids, half of whom obviously didn't want to be there and kept joking with their friends at inappropriate moments. Both audiences were also apparently quite clueless, as my favorite audience quotes from Saturday include:

"Is she dead?"
- Guy next to me, after Come to Me
"Is it over?"
- Guy in front of me, during intermission
"Are they all dead, mommy?"
- Little boy, after the final battle
"Is this the finale?"
- Lady next to me
"That was the most expensive nap I've ever taken in my life."
- Guy in front of me, after the show.

Stage door was heaps of fun. Chip (er, James Chip Leonard that is, haven't talked to Chip Zien yet) is awesome and we talked about France and Drew ValDrew and how Chip as the Bishop never grabbed Alex like he did Drew. Heeeee. And Rob apparently read somebody saying online that he always comes out on his cell phone, which made me die a little inside because I might well have been the one to post that. And, yes, Nehal told us he's leaving. We bought tickets for his last show after the matinee.

So, yeah. I heart the barricade boys. (Speaking of which, we also defaced the Broadhurst, so now there is a 'Vivent les Peuples!' next to 'lol frenchboys.')

*prances about with new default icon*

While browsing a little bookshop in Montreuil-sur-Mer, I came upon an annotated copy of Les Misérables. Most of the notes weren't terribly interesting, just explaining some of the more obscure cultural references, so I didn't end up buying it. But I do remember two of the notes:

1. Feuilly was based on a real person Hugo knew, a self-educated fanmaker whose name I've forgotten. Given this, his lack of personality in canon surprises me a bit. Perhaps since Hugo knew the fellow, he couldn't reduce him that easily to a character sketch, and confined himself to noting facts about his life?
2. With the Orestes and Pylades metaphor, Hugo deliberately draws attention to the sequence of the letters: the E of Enjolras and the G of Grantaire are separated, but only by an F. The editor speculates that it probably stood for Femme, which made me do an undignified sporfle right there in the bookshop.

And speaking of dusty little bookshops, and the really random things one finds in them, who wants to read a letter from Ferdinand-Philippe, duc d'Orléans, to the Marshal Soult, concerning the 1832 insurrection? Apparently he was in Marseille at the time, and royally pissed off that he couldn't be in Paris.

*prances about with new default icon*

While browsing a little bookshop in Montreuil-sur-Mer, I came upon an annotated copy of Les Misérables. Most of the notes weren't terribly interesting, just explaining some of the more obscure cultural references, so I didn't end up buying it. But I do remember two of the notes:

1. Feuilly was based on a real person Hugo knew, a self-educated fanmaker whose name I've forgotten. Given this, his lack of personality in canon surprises me a bit. Perhaps since Hugo knew the fellow, he couldn't reduce him that easily to a character sketch, and confined himself to noting facts about his life?
2. With the Orestes and Pylades metaphor, Hugo deliberately draws attention to the sequence of the letters: the E of Enjolras and the G of Grantaire are separated, but only by an F. The editor speculates that it probably stood for Femme, which made me do an undignified sporfle right there in the bookshop.

And speaking of dusty little bookshops, and the really random things one finds in them, who wants to read a letter from Ferdinand-Philippe, duc d'Orléans, to the Marshal Soult, concerning the 1832 insurrection? Apparently he was in Marseille at the time, and royally pissed off that he couldn't be in Paris.