Ten Little Chances to be Free

Today was utterly MAD and I renounce at any attempt to make a coherent narrative out of it, so I leave you with bullet points:

- Trying to get Les Mis fans to show up at a particular place at a particular time = herding cats. I suspected it for a while what with RSVP chaos and such, but it is now official, and I was duuumb not to leave half an hour's waiting-around time in all the tour meetup points.

- Musain burger restaurant totally has a ball pit upstairs. A revolutionary ball pit where you can hide out and plot the overthrow of the government.

- Doing a lightning tour of Carnavalet and dragging people through the exhibits at double-speed hurt my soul, but the staff were incredibly amused by us. Like, incredibly amused. They kept grinning and saying hello just on seeing the tricolor sashes, and then we got to the Restoration/July Monarchy exhibits and they were seriously LOLing at us and our disparaging comments about Charles X.

- Really Carnavalet will never be as fun as it was this afternoon, with fourteen really nerdy people pointing things out and providing flippant, often sarcastic summaries of everything and everyone from Voltaire to the revolution of 1848.

- Lulz there is a flat for sale at 16 rue de la Verrerie. We should pool together and make it a giant collective fandom library/archive or something. It would be awesome. And completely implausible on so many levels, but the idea makes me grin.

- There are group photos of us being silly and revolutionary at the site of the barricade!

- And afterwards we got last-minute tickets to Les Mis and there were Marius and Enjolras understudies, and they were both fairly awesome. (More on that later, I think.)

- I had to make a battery run for my recorder fifteen minutes before the show, and my frantic running-around took me past the stage door. Twice. The first time all the stagehands were out back smoking. The second time all the stagehands were out back taking cell-phone videos of the crazy girl in the sash.

- This guy about our age came up to us at intermission and asked for a photo with us. This was funny but not inherently Twilight Zone-esque until he just so happened to mention that he played Gavroche in the Broadway 10th anniversary show, and was not there for any special date or event, he just happened to be seeing the tour.

- Second Twilight Zone moment came at the stage door, when Katie Hall and Rosalind James were chatting (very indulgently, mind, given that we were all there and hyperactive and dressed up) about the Paris engagement. And it got onto the difficulty of finding Les Mis places in Paris, and I did not even realize I was giving Cosette directions to the Rue Plumet until after it had been pointed out to me through fits of laughter by... pretty much everyone else there.

- lucieandco and I talk about Balzac when we're drunk. Be afraid.

More on that tiny little obscure Québec City production of Les Mis? Yeah, apparently it's not so tiny and obscure after all.

First of all, yes it's in French. ("...announces that he has obtained the exclusive right to produce, in French, one of the greatest musicals of the world, Les Misérables...")

And the tickets are selling like hotcakes. To the tune of 20,000+ in less than a month. They've only been on sale since November 5 and the production has already extended through August.

The official website claims they sold 10,000 in one day, even.

And they haven't even cast it yet!

I have the really nasty feeling that this will be sold out by the time I try to buy tickets...

ETA: Also, Robert Marien is apprently involved somehow. They're keeping mum on whether he's actually going to be playing Valjean or whether he's on the creative team. Casting announced in February.

ETA2: 37 cast members? Awesome. But there are only going to be 14 musicians in the pit. This doesn't bode well for the orchestrations, as that's exactly the number being used in the Broadway revival.

So, um, New York yesterday. Possibly the most amazing NYC trip ever, even more so than Aaron's last weekend. I got to the Broadhurst and the understudy board looked like this:

Haviland Stillwell as Fantine
Don Brewer as Enjolras
Marissa McGowan as Cosette
Q. Smith in Haviland's track
Stephen Trafton in Don's track
Anderson Davis in Kevin's track.

(Kevin and Ali got engaged and are now on vacation. Awww!)

Evening was even more crazy--Ben Crawford on as Javert, and Trafton covering both his track and Don's. Apparently the entire cast is sick to varying degrees; Rob went home after the matinee, Max has been out for the past couple days, and Drew barely made it through the evening show. He'd been out Friday (we missed Jeff Kready AGAIN!) and everyone was talking about the insane combos they had to do; he came back Saturday "because I can't miss Nehal and Nikki's last weekend!" and then someone told him that was next weekend. Oh, Drew.

New graffiti in front of the Broadhurst, too--somebody added "Enjy/Grantaire OTP ♥." 'FESS UP. (mmebahorel added "Ma mère est la république." Bahahahaha.)

The shows:
- Don is amazing as Enjolras. Somebody make that boy principal now. I didn't even catch the nuances of his performance, I was just staring in awe because we finally have an Enjolras with stage presence and a powerful voice again. ♥ ♥ ♥
- Marissa is a lovely Cosette, and this time I really noticed how upset she is with Drew's Valjean in In My Life. He does the scary angry thing on "You will learn..." and she pulls away and refuses to look at him at all after that. Adam might be a bit too exuberant for her, not really the best match, but lovely all the same.
- Mixed feelings on Haviland's Fantine still. I love how strong and bitter she is, but I'm still not a huge fan of her voice.
- Michael Minarik was absolutely hysterical in the ABC Café for the matinee show. He kept up a sarcastic running commentary under his breath: "Go away, I'm trying to read my paper" when everyone was reporting to Enjolras, "Oh, wonderful" at "We need a sign," and then he knocked Nehal's drink over and Nehal said, "You fishmonger!" To which he responded, "Fishmonger? What the hell is that supposed to be?" And he was all over Anderson Davis, who kept making these "ewww, get away from me, you'll give me the plague" faces. Just... I heart the barricade boys so much.
- Love love love Ben Crawford's voice. His acting was a little bland but his voice is gorgeous.
- Like I said, Drew barely made it through the evening show. He held up pretty well even in the second act, but in the finale he was visibly and audibly exhausted and his Valjean really looked like he was counting the hours until he could sleep. Awww.

Stage door... um. Can't possibly remember everything. Don said he was nervous having us in the audience for his second performance as Enjolras, but he was still brilliant and we told him so afterwards in no uncertain terms. Nehal said Les Miz is like the Hotel California, "you never really leave," so maybe he'll be back? Would like that a lot. He also mentioned something about Max being quite ill, so maybe we'll get Nehaljolras for his last weekend. :D Matt Clemens is taking a well-deserved vacation in Italy, so Anderson Davis is taking over his swing duties in the meantime. After the evening show we asked him if he was staying permanently, and he said yes, he's replacing Nehal and he starts training as understudy Enjolras the 11th. Yay! (Explanation of the 'yay': Anderson is tall, blond, pretty, has a great voice, and Matt mentioned that he enjoys working with him. So he will probably be a fantastic Enjolras, not to mention the heartbreakingly beautiful part.)

We decided to stay for the evening show when Rob said he was totally exhausted and calling out, and that Minarik might get to do his first performance as Javert. Now, we love Rob, but we love understudies too, so we decided then and there to stick around. (The production manager has to be there for first performances, though, and wasn't, so Ben was on. Not complaining, since Ben does have a wonderful voice, but I still wanted to see Michael go on.)

Oh, and last night was Chip Zien's last performance. Bah, I don't want to see him go. :( And I really don't want Gary back.

Jeff Kready is apparently one of our barricade boys now. *g* We've never really talked to him before, although lately he's started waving at lady_iphigeneia and might have said, "Wow, you guys are always here and we've never actually talked" at some point. But in any case, tonight we got to chatting and then, out of the blue, he said, "So, how do you want me to die tonight?" We just kind of stared and he went, "It can be my shout-out to you guys, so you know I know you're there. Should I get shot in the head? In the chest? No, I know, I'll get shot in the groin, how about that?" And he DID. lady_iphigeneia was off in restricted view and couldn't see it, but mmebahorel, ladybranwen, and I had left orch and we had to cover our mouths to keep from exploding into giggles when he went down. BEST EVAR.

Between shows we got tickets for that evening, and I got Box A for next Saturday evening. SCORE. We had dinner at a Thai place with good food and tiiiiiny portions, then wandered off to Starbucks for caffeine and cookies. And ran into Michael, Megan, Dan, and Jayne. (Not stalking, dammit! We were there first!) Minarik was bouncing up and down in line, haha. Goofball. ♥

Now, you know you've seen the show too many times when Gavroche's mom asks you how many times you've been. You know you have a reputation, or at least exude fangirl vibes, when she asks if you're responsible for the graffiti next to the stage door. (We lied. Well, partially. Said we were hopelessly amused by it and the fact that it grows every time we come back, neglected to mention that we've been adding to it.) And then we started talking and discussed various illegal things and then she said, "So obviously you've had the backstage tour and all that."

And we said, "No, actually."

And she said, "You haven't?! I'll have to get Zach to give you one tonight!"

That noise that was probably audible somewhere off in Brooklyn? That was us dying of squee.

So. We stuck around after the evening show. We talked a bit more with Marie (that's Zach's mom) and I don't even remember half of it, something about a possible trip backstage at Phantom and the cast getting two days off and cast changes and god knows what, it's all kind of hazy because then Zach came out and took us backstage. And we got to see the place where the barricade operators sit (it's inside the barricade!) and the trapdoor and the ghost light and the dead National Guard dummies who are named after the Beatles. And the props--Eponine's doll, Cosette's doll, many sets of candlesticks, the loaf of bread, the wine bottles, Gavroche's little flag, Fantine's locket... we were under strict orders from Marie not to touch the props, but Zach let us poke the loaf of bread. XD I think it's styrofoam, certainly isn't bread that's for sure. And we saw the Rue Plumet gate and the tracks it runs on, and what looked like the wedding guest dresses under sheets, and the brick wall backdrop which is actually on cloth but the bricks are of the same plastic as the fake ones at the front of the stage.

And the BARRICADE. I would've been happy just to touch the barricade, but we got to climb on it! And drape ourselves over it and play dead while Zach took pictures. And--*flail* So much awesome.

And on the way out we saw a bunch of costumes hung up on the stairs, and Drew's dressing room. Which was apparently built for Katharine Hepburn. Snerk. And the best part is that Zach apparently didn't give us the full tour, so we get to do it again next week.

I just... I am so fucking happy just thinking about it all. Donjolras, and Nehal and Jeff and Minarik and Dan and Haviland and Marissa, and Ben's voice, and Anderson being Enjolras u/s, and the new graffiti, and meeting ladybranwen, and getting Box A for next week, and running into people in Starbucks, and Zach and Marie and OMG BACKSTAGE.

Best day evar.

Okay, I promised myself I would not write a LJ post about yesterday until I got a few things out of the way. Now that they're done, here is the whole post of OMGWTF.

So yes, I went to New York again. I'd heard that Doug Kreeger would be on as Marius and I went up to see him, and the trip up was extremely uneventful until *drumroll* I saw the understudy board. Doug Kreeger on for Marius. Stephen Trafton on for Doug's track. Q. Smith on for Marya Grandy's track. Matt Clemens on for Drew Sa--wait, what?!

Yes, that's right, boys and girls, Drew was on as Javert.

( And what a wild ride it was... )

And if you didn't want to slog through everything behind the LJ-cut--or as a reward for slogging through, if you did--have a couple of my souvenirs:

Lea swearing at Dan. I'm amused by how clearly this came out.
Alex calling Drew a a son of a bitch. Quiet, but I'm amused that it came out at all.

So. C. and I went back to the creepy abandoned fairgrounds to poke around and maybe take pictures. Somehow we wound up near the edge of the premises, in this building that contained restrooms and a pay phone and not much else, all dusty and apparently nonfunctional. Apparently. So she did some squeeing about how perfect the light was through the windows and insisted on taking pictures... and right after she snapped the second one, the pay phone rang. Just once, so I doubt it was a wrong number. We got the hell out of there before anything else could happen, but it was fucking creepy.

Further proof that Lulu and I should not be allowed to converse, ever: makinghugospin, the Les Mis fandom's answer to pornish_pixies. All smut. All the time. Yes, we're terrible. Yes, we intend to post there regularly. Be afraaaaaid.

This timeline comes from the back of my 1992 Pocket Classiques edition of Les Misérables, which includes a number of useful resources such as guides to the currency and measurement systems of early 19th century France, information on Hugo, passages from his other works, reviews contemporary with the novel's publication, and a fairly complete list its of adaptations into film and theater. What really caught my eye, though, was the timeline; there exist several detailed timelines of the events of the book already, but this one interested me because it presented a parallel column of actual French history. I have split it into three sections: 1723 - 1831 are divided by years, 1832 and 1833 are divided by months and days, and all historical events after the novel's conclusion are simply listed by year. When you see the entries for 5 and 6 June 1832, you'll probably understand why it was done this way. ;) It's still in French, but the language is fairly simple and there are enough cognates for an English speaker to get the gist of it.

( Événements des Misérables et événements historiques, 1723-1831 )

( 1832 - 1852 )

( In which there is stress. And angst. And really bitchy people. )

So yeah. My weekend? Will be hell, but mostly because I'm making it hell.

Note to self:
If you're going to be up all night, please do your homework before you start analyzing Hugo just for fun. Because it is indeed fun, but by the time 5am hits you will NOT have enough brain left for W.E.B. DuBois, which is what you're actually supposed to be analyzing, y'know, for class. You'll just sit there, reading the assigned chapters over and over, thinking "Oooh. Pretty prose. Good command of language. Now, back to all those parallel plot lines in Les Mis--"

BAD. *fap*

Aside from braindeath, staying-up-all-night was remarkably productive in terms of menial chores that I really didn't want to do but that had to be done. Such as removing the icky piercing, which I finally accomplished on my own through means you probably don't want to hear about. Suffice to say it involved the use of tweezers in a way that tweezers were NEVER meant to be used. Also laundry. Three loads of it. Would've been two but I had a pain-in-the-ass tiny load of whites that I wanted to bleach into submission. Laundry facilities = teh suck. There are 12 little townhouse-thingies that have three or four people in each of them, and for all these people we have two washers and two dryers. Bad. Should've broken into the freshman dorms and used their gigantic laundry room. Also coming to terms with characters I really didn't like that much before I realized--NO. BAD. NO MORE LES MIS BRAINDEATH. *shuts ears in oven door a la Dobby*

I think there shall be a fandom ramble this afternoon.

ETA: *wail* How on earth is it so much sadder in French?