Ten Little Chances to be Free (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tenlittlebullets) wrote2006-01-12 12:23 am
tenlittlebullets) wrote2006-01-12 12:23 am
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*curls up in a contented little ball* Okay, best birthday EVAR. It's not even that I got heaps of stuff, just that nothing went wrong, yanno? Things have a tendency to go wrong squarely on my birthday and this year it didn't happen and it was GLORIOUS. And that's about the long and short of it.
This has only been my second birthday since my parents have separated, so it's still weird having them play tug-of-war with the birthday festivities. In this case, mom ambushed me with a bouquet of baby roses this morning and took me out to pick out a piece of nice (not costume) jewelry--I ended up getting a pretty silver watch. And then we went home and she gave me half my presents--the "party," such as it is, is tomorrow night because I was busy *coughhackLesMis* tonight, so I get the other half then--and packed me off to dad, who took me to dinner and Les Mis.
Which, incidentally, was amazing, but I'll get to that later.
So yeah, obligatory loot list: from mom, roses (eeee!), watch, a big fat pack of felt-tip pens, the original French recording of Notre-Dame de Paris, the first Pont au Change book; from dad, A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel, the original French recording of Romeo et Juliette, Les Mis Japanese red cast, a book on music theory, and a handy-dandy reference book of opera plots in case I ever need to unscramble Marriage of Figaro again. XD With three more coming from mom tomorrow, apparently.
But it was just a lovely birthday in general. Everyone was so nice, and--*flail* NOTHING WENT WRONG. OMG.
Les Mis
So, um, yeah, first of all? Randal Keith owns. He wins at life. He just does. His acting is spectacular, because you can just tell that he's put so much thought and consideration into every word and how it should be worked, and it comes out amazing. And fresh, did I mention that? I must've listened to my miscellaneous recordings thousands of times and he just made everything--the prologue in particular--feel brand new again. And his voice is just gorgeous; I swear he got several minutes of applause after BHH, no exaggeration, and he deserved every second of it.
I have come to the realization that (a) the sound techies in LM, on the whole, do a better job than in any Phantom production I've ever seen, and (b) no matter what show you're doing, turn down the mics on the sopranos and the tenors. No, more. More! These are people who are trained to fill a whole theater without a body mic--what are you doing amplifying them until the audience's eardrums burst? Gah! It's worse in Phantom, most definitely. Tonight had its occasional moments of earsplittingness, but on the whole the blend was really nice.
What prompted this realization? Well, Leslie Henstock's microphone, for whatever reason, was not on during In My Life, and she sounded wonderful. Far more wonderful than she did in AHFOL when the mic was on. She just realized it wasn't on, turned up the projection like whoa, and the balance was a hair short of perfect, even with the orchestra amplified. I'm still not a fan of the very bright tone for Cosette, but without the mic she was making it work well, not overwhelming at all.
Robert Hunt's Javert was... weird. He seemed perpetually too young to be Javert, and though he had the crazeh down pat, I didn't get the sense that he was playing Javert as three-dimensionally as he should have been. He's a cold bastard, but he's not mean except when his job requires it. Frankly I liked Trent Blanton better--and Blanton was great as Grantaire tonight, really playing it up. Heh.
Was less impressed with Joan Almedilla this time around. She was overacting in the factory scene and kind of meh everywhere else. Her Fantine was a pathetic figure, but I didn't actually feel sorry for her. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, just meh.
Feuilly, Prouvaire, and Joly are still acting slashy as hell during Drink With Me. XD
Also, still fangirl Melissa Lyons. Yet again I found myself actually liking musical!Eponine. Her ALFOR was better the first time, but this time she got me to listen to "On My Own" with more than half an ear, and her "knooooooown" at the end was spectacular. Still like her best in the Act I street scenes. (And haha, forget who the 'Parnasse was but he was totally perving on her.)
For the rest of the cast just pretty much ditto the 20 December review. Tonight somehow seemed more emotionally charged though: ODM was fantastic, the final battle was fantastic, and I definitely heard a lot more applause and a lot more crying tonight than last time. At one point I thought Randal was going to get a standing ovation for BHH alone.
Was a stage-door groupie again this time. Recognized and stalked pretty much the same people, with the exception that this time I managed to catch both Melissa Lyons and Trent Blanton. Why is it that it's easier to talk to the women, always? I was spewing forth compliments at Melissa like mad, and would have done the same for Leslie if I'd seen her, but with all the guys (even Victor Wallace, to whom I'd intended to tell the "Captain Vest" story) it was just "Hiiiii, the show was amazing, can I get an autograph? Thanks so much!" I disgust myself. XD
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zachary_evans, YOUR SMUT IS COMING, I SWEAR. It'll just be a tiny bit belated, that's all. XD
This has only been my second birthday since my parents have separated, so it's still weird having them play tug-of-war with the birthday festivities. In this case, mom ambushed me with a bouquet of baby roses this morning and took me out to pick out a piece of nice (not costume) jewelry--I ended up getting a pretty silver watch. And then we went home and she gave me half my presents--the "party," such as it is, is tomorrow night because I was busy *coughhackLesMis* tonight, so I get the other half then--and packed me off to dad, who took me to dinner and Les Mis.
Which, incidentally, was amazing, but I'll get to that later.
So yeah, obligatory loot list: from mom, roses (eeee!), watch, a big fat pack of felt-tip pens, the original French recording of Notre-Dame de Paris, the first Pont au Change book; from dad, A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel, the original French recording of Romeo et Juliette, Les Mis Japanese red cast, a book on music theory, and a handy-dandy reference book of opera plots in case I ever need to unscramble Marriage of Figaro again. XD With three more coming from mom tomorrow, apparently.
But it was just a lovely birthday in general. Everyone was so nice, and--*flail* NOTHING WENT WRONG. OMG.
Les Mis
So, um, yeah, first of all? Randal Keith owns. He wins at life. He just does. His acting is spectacular, because you can just tell that he's put so much thought and consideration into every word and how it should be worked, and it comes out amazing. And fresh, did I mention that? I must've listened to my miscellaneous recordings thousands of times and he just made everything--the prologue in particular--feel brand new again. And his voice is just gorgeous; I swear he got several minutes of applause after BHH, no exaggeration, and he deserved every second of it.
I have come to the realization that (a) the sound techies in LM, on the whole, do a better job than in any Phantom production I've ever seen, and (b) no matter what show you're doing, turn down the mics on the sopranos and the tenors. No, more. More! These are people who are trained to fill a whole theater without a body mic--what are you doing amplifying them until the audience's eardrums burst? Gah! It's worse in Phantom, most definitely. Tonight had its occasional moments of earsplittingness, but on the whole the blend was really nice.
What prompted this realization? Well, Leslie Henstock's microphone, for whatever reason, was not on during In My Life, and she sounded wonderful. Far more wonderful than she did in AHFOL when the mic was on. She just realized it wasn't on, turned up the projection like whoa, and the balance was a hair short of perfect, even with the orchestra amplified. I'm still not a fan of the very bright tone for Cosette, but without the mic she was making it work well, not overwhelming at all.
Robert Hunt's Javert was... weird. He seemed perpetually too young to be Javert, and though he had the crazeh down pat, I didn't get the sense that he was playing Javert as three-dimensionally as he should have been. He's a cold bastard, but he's not mean except when his job requires it. Frankly I liked Trent Blanton better--and Blanton was great as Grantaire tonight, really playing it up. Heh.
Was less impressed with Joan Almedilla this time around. She was overacting in the factory scene and kind of meh everywhere else. Her Fantine was a pathetic figure, but I didn't actually feel sorry for her. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, just meh.
Feuilly, Prouvaire, and Joly are still acting slashy as hell during Drink With Me. XD
Also, still fangirl Melissa Lyons. Yet again I found myself actually liking musical!Eponine. Her ALFOR was better the first time, but this time she got me to listen to "On My Own" with more than half an ear, and her "knooooooown" at the end was spectacular. Still like her best in the Act I street scenes. (And haha, forget who the 'Parnasse was but he was totally perving on her.)
For the rest of the cast just pretty much ditto the 20 December review. Tonight somehow seemed more emotionally charged though: ODM was fantastic, the final battle was fantastic, and I definitely heard a lot more applause and a lot more crying tonight than last time. At one point I thought Randal was going to get a standing ovation for BHH alone.
Was a stage-door groupie again this time. Recognized and stalked pretty much the same people, with the exception that this time I managed to catch both Melissa Lyons and Trent Blanton. Why is it that it's easier to talk to the women, always? I was spewing forth compliments at Melissa like mad, and would have done the same for Leslie if I'd seen her, but with all the guys (even Victor Wallace, to whom I'd intended to tell the "Captain Vest" story) it was just "Hiiiii, the show was amazing, can I get an autograph? Thanks so much!" I disgust myself. XD
ALSO.
zachary_evans, YOUR SMUT IS COMING, I SWEAR. It'll just be a tiny bit belated, that's all. XD
no subject
Kip Driver was Montparnasse, unless you got a swing.
Robert Hunt is only 36 but he also doesn't take well to the aging makeup and he basically looks like a 24-year-old with lines drawn on his face. ;-) But I love him and he's hot.
I can't sing and so I've never been in a chorus, but I never noticed that about the tenors, sopranos and sound balance. Iiiiiinteresting.
Leslie is hard to spot because she basically looks nothing like she does on stage. ;-) If you go again soon, look for the red hair!
Glad you had fun!
no subject
Glad you had a good birthday! I agree, birthdays have a tendance to go wrong and leave you in tears, so YAY glad yours didn't!
no subject
I guess I have something to look forward to when I go see it, huh? :D *grin*
FEUILLY AND JOLY AND JEHAN. Omg. I wanna go see it NOW. XD
no subject
Also, Les Miserables, eee! :D
Iamtoocoherent,what?