![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Friday night I needed to get out of the house, so to speak, so I visited the booth in Leicester Square and bought a ticket to see Les Miserables. I have seen it before, but it was a touring company in Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa. Not to say that it wasn't fantastic then, but I was only ten and... well. Lets see... West End, touring company; West End, touring company... yeah. West End wins hands down.
My seat wasn't so fantastic, it was literally the second row from the top of the very, very top, so I shelled out the 50p to rent these opera glasses things. I tried not to use them too much in order to not just focus on one area of the stage (that sort of thing is the difference between watching the widescreen version of a movie and the fullscreen version), but I did it mostly on solos and always when I wanted to see facial expressions more clearly.
The man who played Valjean was spectacular. Apparently he is the youngest person to play Valjean on the West End, although what age that is exactly I'm not certain. But he was great. I mean, everyone was great. Apparently we saw Javert's understudy but... I didn't notice it throwing a monkey wrench into the show or anything. Marius was hot, I need to say that right off. I think it's some kind of requirement. Marius: tenor/baritone, mid-20s, MUST BE GOOD LOOKING, that sort of thing. I read the program after and it turns out he was part of S Club 7 or something. XD It's probably a good thing I didn't read that before hand because it would have made me skeptic, but he could sing. And was hot. >_> *cough*
Eponine was great, not over the top at all. Older!Cosette was a little boring to watch and sounded like she was having an off day with her voice, and the girl who played Younger!Cosette was the cutest. thing. ever. I didn't even listen to Castle on a Cloud because I was so busy looking at her through the opera glasses and going "Oh my god!!!! :D" It was fun, because I think the guys sitting behind/beside me agreed.
Guy Beside Me: Aw. :]
Me: !!! *whisper* She is ADORABLE!!1!
Guys Behind Me: AWW.
Me: AWW
Chick in front of us: SHH! >[
(Okay I really don't blame her, we were kind of loud for a theatre in our adoration.)
Fantine was really great, too. Her voice was the best, I don't know if she was getting over an illness or something, but it was sort of scratchy in places in a nice way - it fit for the character, I think, someone who's basically been working her ass off for nothing and getting stomped on by life in general. She was so heart wrenching. The Thenardiers... okay. So anyone who's seen Les Miz knows they're sort of the comic relief, and they didn't disappoint at all. XD They were just... oh, they were so scummy and unpalatable, I felt like I needed a shower just watching them during Master of the House. The Waltz was great...
Thenardier: *singing* Let's not haggle for darling Colette...
Mme. Thenardier: *hisses* COSETTE.
Thenardier: *sings as if nothing happened* Cosette...
It was great. And seriously, DID I MENTION YOUNGER COSETTE BEING THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER? Two people who also really stuck out for me who never really do when I'm just listening to it were Grantaire and Enjolras. Grantaire really just sort of comes off as a drunk in the recording, but he really has a moment of deepness in Drink With Me. Poor guy. :( And Enjolras... he's intense, and hardcore. And I just really liked this guy's voice. I really loved him. Okay, he was good looking too. Guys who can sing make me hot, YOU ALL KNOW THAT. :|
Songwise... my favorite was Bring Him Home, hands down. Always is, I think. Stars was probably a second. It was just all so good! Ack. Normally I hate A Heart Full of Love, but I was okay with it this time. Maybe it was because I had a hot Marius on hand to focus on, but they made it palatable. Mostly I like how they make little changes to the lyrics and songs, it makes it interesting for someone like me, who has basically been listening to Les Miz for as long as she can remember. The one complaint that I have is that my seats were such that when I wanted to tearfully concentrate on Enjolras being draped dead over the barricade after they all die, my eye was drawn to the other actors leaving the back end of the revolve. Meh. It was Brechtian! ... >_>
I met a husband and wife standing behind me at the ticket booth in Leicester Square and recommended it to them when they asked about it. I saw them there and they recognized me and we said hello, but I didn't get to hear what they thought about it. They were pretty determined that they were going to see a musical "with a story" though, i.e. I take that to mean not Mamma Mia or We Will Rock You. Which isn't a really fair judgement, I don't think, but whatever.
Saturday I got up and went to the Borders on Charing Cross Road for the live PotterCast, which I believe you can now hear at pottercast.com. It was fun, I always love being able to get together face to face with other Harry Potter nerds. We talked about theories and our thoughts for the seventh book and got giggly a lot. *g* It was a good time, I'm glad that I went. It was on Charing Cross Road which is where the Leaky Cauldron "is" - and I can see why. Things are packed in so tight and there's always a lot of people around, so you'd never notice a handful just sliding into a derelict building out of the way. ;) Although where they put Diagon Alley, I can't say. Oh well, it's magic!
There was a guy there who brought props from the Order of the Phoenix set. :O He obviously couldn't reveal his sources, so I took it with a huge grain of salt, but it was pretty cool to see nonetheless. There was a Ministry educational decree, and an OWL examination paper. It was so cool. And Melissa and John seemed very nice. I mean, I'm sure they are, but it's not like we got to have very long conversations or anything. I mostly stood around and listened to other people, occasionally interjecting with something, but like I said, it was a lot of fun.
My seat wasn't so fantastic, it was literally the second row from the top of the very, very top, so I shelled out the 50p to rent these opera glasses things. I tried not to use them too much in order to not just focus on one area of the stage (that sort of thing is the difference between watching the widescreen version of a movie and the fullscreen version), but I did it mostly on solos and always when I wanted to see facial expressions more clearly.
The man who played Valjean was spectacular. Apparently he is the youngest person to play Valjean on the West End, although what age that is exactly I'm not certain. But he was great. I mean, everyone was great. Apparently we saw Javert's understudy but... I didn't notice it throwing a monkey wrench into the show or anything. Marius was hot, I need to say that right off. I think it's some kind of requirement. Marius: tenor/baritone, mid-20s, MUST BE GOOD LOOKING, that sort of thing. I read the program after and it turns out he was part of S Club 7 or something. XD It's probably a good thing I didn't read that before hand because it would have made me skeptic, but he could sing. And was hot. >_> *cough*
Eponine was great, not over the top at all. Older!Cosette was a little boring to watch and sounded like she was having an off day with her voice, and the girl who played Younger!Cosette was the cutest. thing. ever. I didn't even listen to Castle on a Cloud because I was so busy looking at her through the opera glasses and going "Oh my god!!!! :D" It was fun, because I think the guys sitting behind/beside me agreed.
Guy Beside Me: Aw. :]
Me: !!! *whisper* She is ADORABLE!!1!
Guys Behind Me: AWW.
Me: AWW
Chick in front of us: SHH! >[
(Okay I really don't blame her, we were kind of loud for a theatre in our adoration.)
Fantine was really great, too. Her voice was the best, I don't know if she was getting over an illness or something, but it was sort of scratchy in places in a nice way - it fit for the character, I think, someone who's basically been working her ass off for nothing and getting stomped on by life in general. She was so heart wrenching. The Thenardiers... okay. So anyone who's seen Les Miz knows they're sort of the comic relief, and they didn't disappoint at all. XD They were just... oh, they were so scummy and unpalatable, I felt like I needed a shower just watching them during Master of the House. The Waltz was great...
Thenardier: *singing* Let's not haggle for darling Colette...
Mme. Thenardier: *hisses* COSETTE.
Thenardier: *sings as if nothing happened* Cosette...
It was great. And seriously, DID I MENTION YOUNGER COSETTE BEING THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER? Two people who also really stuck out for me who never really do when I'm just listening to it were Grantaire and Enjolras. Grantaire really just sort of comes off as a drunk in the recording, but he really has a moment of deepness in Drink With Me. Poor guy. :( And Enjolras... he's intense, and hardcore. And I just really liked this guy's voice. I really loved him. Okay, he was good looking too. Guys who can sing make me hot, YOU ALL KNOW THAT. :|
Songwise... my favorite was Bring Him Home, hands down. Always is, I think. Stars was probably a second. It was just all so good! Ack. Normally I hate A Heart Full of Love, but I was okay with it this time. Maybe it was because I had a hot Marius on hand to focus on, but they made it palatable. Mostly I like how they make little changes to the lyrics and songs, it makes it interesting for someone like me, who has basically been listening to Les Miz for as long as she can remember. The one complaint that I have is that my seats were such that when I wanted to tearfully concentrate on Enjolras being draped dead over the barricade after they all die, my eye was drawn to the other actors leaving the back end of the revolve. Meh. It was Brechtian! ... >_>
I met a husband and wife standing behind me at the ticket booth in Leicester Square and recommended it to them when they asked about it. I saw them there and they recognized me and we said hello, but I didn't get to hear what they thought about it. They were pretty determined that they were going to see a musical "with a story" though, i.e. I take that to mean not Mamma Mia or We Will Rock You. Which isn't a really fair judgement, I don't think, but whatever.
Saturday I got up and went to the Borders on Charing Cross Road for the live PotterCast, which I believe you can now hear at pottercast.com. It was fun, I always love being able to get together face to face with other Harry Potter nerds. We talked about theories and our thoughts for the seventh book and got giggly a lot. *g* It was a good time, I'm glad that I went. It was on Charing Cross Road which is where the Leaky Cauldron "is" - and I can see why. Things are packed in so tight and there's always a lot of people around, so you'd never notice a handful just sliding into a derelict building out of the way. ;) Although where they put Diagon Alley, I can't say. Oh well, it's magic!
There was a guy there who brought props from the Order of the Phoenix set. :O He obviously couldn't reveal his sources, so I took it with a huge grain of salt, but it was pretty cool to see nonetheless. There was a Ministry educational decree, and an OWL examination paper. It was so cool. And Melissa and John seemed very nice. I mean, I'm sure they are, but it's not like we got to have very long conversations or anything. I mostly stood around and listened to other people, occasionally interjecting with something, but like I said, it was a lot of fun.