Ten Little Chances to be Free (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tenlittlebullets) wrote2006-03-25 03:56 pm
tenlittlebullets) wrote2006-03-25 03:56 pm
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Hahaha I lose at getting anywhere on time.
So after getting some breakfast around eight in the morning yesterday, I still feel really wiped out and crawl back into bed. Except I forget to set my alarm, so when I wake up I was supposed to have been at my violin lesson half an hour ago. Oops. Well, teacher's probably left already so not much point in going: I fall back asleep, again forgetting to set my alarm, and wake up fifteen minutes before my biology class ends. Sigh. Oh well, it's the last day before break, it's excusable.
But the real proof that something in the universe is conspiring to keep me from getting anywhere on time? Okay. I pack for break. Mapquest tells me it takes an hour and a half to get to Waterbury and Les Mis starts at 8:00. So I get all my stuff together and end up leaving at 5:00 or 5:30-ish. Plenty of time.
Then I get lost.
Okay, yes, I do manage to find my way there, but between error correction, traffic on the actual route, being unable to find a parking space, and having no idea where will call was, I get to the door at 8:05 just as they're closing it. Literally. I skid up the stairs and hand my ticket to the lady the very instant the orchestra starts up. Of course she can't let me in and I have to stand there with my ear pressed to the door, listening to the prologue. "Wait a second," I think, "that doesn't sound like Randal Keith..." And the usher hands me a playbill and there are two understudy notices: Karen Elliott as Mme Thénardier and David Michael Felty as Valjean.
They let me in when At the End of the Day started. And I never had time to get my little digital recorder ready either. :( I did get the second act though. The recorder doesn't have very good playback so I won't be sure about the quality of the recording until I transfer it to my computer after break--there's not a lot of background hiss, but it seemed quite faint when I tried to play it back. Could just be the crappy built-in speaker though.
The regulars were about the same as ever, so what really caught my eye were the three cast changes and two understudies.
David Michael Felty as Valjean (u/s): I really wish I'd seen his prologue and soliloquy, because I don't feel like I ever really got a bearing on his Valjean. Granted, I'm comparing him to Randal here which is a ridiculously high standard, but while he was good, nothing about him really knocked me flat. I did like his "Who Am I?" though, maybe even a bit more than Randal's.
Trent Blanton as Javert: Eeee. <3 A much more believable Javert than Robert Hunt, who brought a bit too much manic intensity and too little dignity to the role. Dignity, always dignity! I loved Trent in the Confrontation, especially "I was born with scum like you"--now that's the right kind of intensity.
Karen Elliott as Mme Thénardier (u/s): Was probably trying not to copy Jennifer Butt, and not entirely succeeding. A different sort of sarcastic and condescending towards little Cosette, but laid that on a bit too thick. I did like her delivery of her verse in MotH though.
Daniel Bogart as Marius: Flat-out didn't like him. He'd be fine in a different role, but he appears to have missed the "Marius = cute and dorky" memo so he just comes off as a pompous ass. Even if I weren't comparing him to Adam Jacobs, who just left and who was the king of adorkability, I'd probably be left cold by his performance, but the comparisons are inevitable. Also he just doesn't have a Marius-y voice--too deep, kind of flat (in affect, not pitch), and he maybe sounds a bit too old. Eh.
Randy Glass as Bamatabois and Grantaire: His Bamatabois was kind of weak, but he was hilarious as Grantaire. Another one in the illustrious line of R's who snugglegrope Doltboy on "Is Marius in love at last?"
Other random things: Gavroche (I think it was Anthony Skillman though I'm not sure) seemed a lot more animated than usual. Still a bit stiff, but he was moving around more. I'd never noticed before, but Joly and Bossuet appear to be joined at the hip through most of the café scene. XD Leslie Henstock's Cosette didn't hold up as well without a truly dorky Marius to coo over, aww. I'm pretty sure Victor Wallace shouted "freedom!" as he went down in the final battle--last time I could swear it was "la liberté!" Jehan as the queer at the wedding still amuses me. And, uh, yeah, that's about it.
I honestly didn't think I was going to find the stage door tonight, since the theater is in a rather strange configuration, but turns out it was right on the way back to the parking garage. :D So I resigned myself one last time to being a sad, overdressed specter with cropped-off hair and a décolletée dress, stalking back and forth in front of the stage door and shooting hopeful looks at the people who came out. Mmmm, whoring for autographs. The Palace stage door is actually at the top of a ramp, so it's harder for people to disperse and I managed to grab most of the actors who came out. People have started recognizing me, so this time wasn't so much autographs as conversation--about the show, the tour not coming back to the East Coast, the Broadway revival, whatever. And I actually got my brain into gear enough to babble fangirl nonsense at Victor Wallace and Trent Blanton, both of whom were very nice and let me hug them. Awww. A nice ending to what was probably the last time I'll ever see the 3NT. <3
And then I got back in the car and drove for seven hours and got back to DC at six-thirty in the morning. Ack. On the plus side, long drives with nothing better to do give me plot bunnies. :D
Spring apparently comes much earlier to DC than to New England. I'm hoping the nasty feeling in my lungs is just aftereffects from a long time in the car, too much speed and not enough sleep, but I have the sneaking suspicion it has more to do with the cherry tree in full bloom in the front yard.
So after getting some breakfast around eight in the morning yesterday, I still feel really wiped out and crawl back into bed. Except I forget to set my alarm, so when I wake up I was supposed to have been at my violin lesson half an hour ago. Oops. Well, teacher's probably left already so not much point in going: I fall back asleep, again forgetting to set my alarm, and wake up fifteen minutes before my biology class ends. Sigh. Oh well, it's the last day before break, it's excusable.
But the real proof that something in the universe is conspiring to keep me from getting anywhere on time? Okay. I pack for break. Mapquest tells me it takes an hour and a half to get to Waterbury and Les Mis starts at 8:00. So I get all my stuff together and end up leaving at 5:00 or 5:30-ish. Plenty of time.
Then I get lost.
Okay, yes, I do manage to find my way there, but between error correction, traffic on the actual route, being unable to find a parking space, and having no idea where will call was, I get to the door at 8:05 just as they're closing it. Literally. I skid up the stairs and hand my ticket to the lady the very instant the orchestra starts up. Of course she can't let me in and I have to stand there with my ear pressed to the door, listening to the prologue. "Wait a second," I think, "that doesn't sound like Randal Keith..." And the usher hands me a playbill and there are two understudy notices: Karen Elliott as Mme Thénardier and David Michael Felty as Valjean.
They let me in when At the End of the Day started. And I never had time to get my little digital recorder ready either. :( I did get the second act though. The recorder doesn't have very good playback so I won't be sure about the quality of the recording until I transfer it to my computer after break--there's not a lot of background hiss, but it seemed quite faint when I tried to play it back. Could just be the crappy built-in speaker though.
The regulars were about the same as ever, so what really caught my eye were the three cast changes and two understudies.
David Michael Felty as Valjean (u/s): I really wish I'd seen his prologue and soliloquy, because I don't feel like I ever really got a bearing on his Valjean. Granted, I'm comparing him to Randal here which is a ridiculously high standard, but while he was good, nothing about him really knocked me flat. I did like his "Who Am I?" though, maybe even a bit more than Randal's.
Trent Blanton as Javert: Eeee. <3 A much more believable Javert than Robert Hunt, who brought a bit too much manic intensity and too little dignity to the role. Dignity, always dignity! I loved Trent in the Confrontation, especially "I was born with scum like you"--now that's the right kind of intensity.
Karen Elliott as Mme Thénardier (u/s): Was probably trying not to copy Jennifer Butt, and not entirely succeeding. A different sort of sarcastic and condescending towards little Cosette, but laid that on a bit too thick. I did like her delivery of her verse in MotH though.
Daniel Bogart as Marius: Flat-out didn't like him. He'd be fine in a different role, but he appears to have missed the "Marius = cute and dorky" memo so he just comes off as a pompous ass. Even if I weren't comparing him to Adam Jacobs, who just left and who was the king of adorkability, I'd probably be left cold by his performance, but the comparisons are inevitable. Also he just doesn't have a Marius-y voice--too deep, kind of flat (in affect, not pitch), and he maybe sounds a bit too old. Eh.
Randy Glass as Bamatabois and Grantaire: His Bamatabois was kind of weak, but he was hilarious as Grantaire. Another one in the illustrious line of R's who snugglegrope Doltboy on "Is Marius in love at last?"
Other random things: Gavroche (I think it was Anthony Skillman though I'm not sure) seemed a lot more animated than usual. Still a bit stiff, but he was moving around more. I'd never noticed before, but Joly and Bossuet appear to be joined at the hip through most of the café scene. XD Leslie Henstock's Cosette didn't hold up as well without a truly dorky Marius to coo over, aww. I'm pretty sure Victor Wallace shouted "freedom!" as he went down in the final battle--last time I could swear it was "la liberté!" Jehan as the queer at the wedding still amuses me. And, uh, yeah, that's about it.
I honestly didn't think I was going to find the stage door tonight, since the theater is in a rather strange configuration, but turns out it was right on the way back to the parking garage. :D So I resigned myself one last time to being a sad, overdressed specter with cropped-off hair and a décolletée dress, stalking back and forth in front of the stage door and shooting hopeful looks at the people who came out. Mmmm, whoring for autographs. The Palace stage door is actually at the top of a ramp, so it's harder for people to disperse and I managed to grab most of the actors who came out. People have started recognizing me, so this time wasn't so much autographs as conversation--about the show, the tour not coming back to the East Coast, the Broadway revival, whatever. And I actually got my brain into gear enough to babble fangirl nonsense at Victor Wallace and Trent Blanton, both of whom were very nice and let me hug them. Awww. A nice ending to what was probably the last time I'll ever see the 3NT. <3
And then I got back in the car and drove for seven hours and got back to DC at six-thirty in the morning. Ack. On the plus side, long drives with nothing better to do give me plot bunnies. :D
Spring apparently comes much earlier to DC than to New England. I'm hoping the nasty feeling in my lungs is just aftereffects from a long time in the car, too much speed and not enough sleep, but I have the sneaking suspicion it has more to do with the cherry tree in full bloom in the front yard.