Do You Hear the People Sing?

This post relates entirely to Les Misérables and its epicness. You have been warned.

Okay, so seeing this show simultaneously made and ruined my life. I'm not sure when I started getting obsessed with it, but I know I have Mom to blame. PBS showed the 10th Anniversary Concert on TV every so often, and she would watch it. And she has the Original London Cast soundtrack, and I remember when we were little Sean really liked "ABC Café/Red and Black." Fast forward probably a decade (!! oh god that's awful). Somehow it comes up in conversation that "I Dreamed a Dream" was played at my friend's prom (?) in high school. We talk about the show's epicness. She gets me the soundtrack to the concert for my birthday. Like an idiot I ignore the revival tour, only to regret it once it's left Boston. A year later Meghan and I go to NYC to see Wicked and we see some guy with a Les Mis playbill as we head back to the bus station. And I want to kill something because I didn't think to check and see if it was playing in New York, which was so stupid of me. (Lea Salonga was in it then too! I could have killed to see her! D: I think she was playing Fantine at the time, which would have been weird, BUT STILL. ...Okay, tangent: after watching her do "I Dreamed a Dream" on YouTube, it would not have been so weird because she's still amazing. But I still like Ruthie Henshall's version better. More on that later.) ANYWAY. So for three or four years now I have desperately wanted to see this show.

AND I GOT TO SEE IT IN LONDON. We went to a little store that sold tickets for basically all the plays and musicals that were running; they were supposed to be cheaper the day of or day before because they were last minute tickets. We were open to seeing a number of shows, but this turned out to be the best seats for the best price. 36 pounds to sit in row K of the stands/orchestra? Uh, yes please!

So because I am a massive geek, I bought a playbill (they're not free in England. saddness), a photo book, and a mug. I almost went for a baseball tee with '24601' on it, but I've seen better ones online. The show surprised me by starting on time, which is unheard of in the US.

I sat there grinning like an idiot when the orchestra started the Prologue. I bounced up and down in my seat like a three-year-old. I was full of GLEE and it was made of win. Before this I had been to various theatres at least 8 times for musicals and twice for operas. None of those experiences compares to this. It was absolutely incredible to sit there and feel the bass resonating through the room during "Work Song." And to see it being acted out made it real. Mom's DVD is just a concert; the actors are in costume, but they just stand there and sing, it's not the whole show. I'd watched clips of performances on YouTube, but it's so not the same. Everything came together and filled in gaps in what I knew of the story... yay.

I have to say, one of the best parts was not having to listen to Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean. That alone made it worth it. =P Going in I was a little worried that the show wouldn't be as good as my CD was, or that I wouldn't like it as much because I was too used to the cast on the CD. No worries there. They were all amazing. I was worried about Javert because of Philip Quast's awesomeness, but the guy was really, really good. The only one I didn't like so much was Fantine. The character has a lot of bad things happen to her in quick succession, which should make for a lot of emotion. The woman that night was not as emotional as I had expected and didn't seem as heartbroken as she should have. "I Dreamed a Dream" was not nearly as powerful as it should have been, which made me sad. That was really the only song I was actually disappointed in. I'm sorry, but if your life is falling apart around you, you're not going to stand there and be ambivalent about it. Please. Thank you.

Backing up a little bit, "Valjean's Soliloquy" was actually really good. Again, it probably comes out of my hating Colm Wilkinson. Not to take away from the actor that night, but I definitely think I went in with low expectations. "Who Am I?" turned out pretty powerful and I was surprised to find later that I actually liked "Bring Him Home" despite the god-awful high note at the end. Gleeeee.

Okay, I lied a little bit. "Master of the House" did disappoint, only because the Thénardiers in the concert were so crazy. The people we saw weren't bad by any means, but I was expecting it to be a little sillier. Again, the drawbacks of having something to compare it to.

Another of the most epic parts was "ABC Café/Red and Black" and "Do You Hear the People Sing?" And by epic I mean oh my god. It was really powerful thanks to a combination of the music resounding through the room and the emotion of the actors and the number of people singing all at once and just the song itself. It was made of wow.

So I'm not a fan of Cosette's character because I don't like Judy Kuhn either. Oops. The girl in the show wasn't bad, but I could take her or leave her.

Eponine. Was epic. Not Lea Salonga, but epic. I haven't really liked any of the other Eponines I've heard via YouTube, but this girl was really good. Whee! It made "A Heart Full of Love" bearable and omg "On My Own" was fantastic. Very emotional. So tortured. Eeeee.

I was a little bit confused because on the CD I have, "The Attack on Rue Plumet" starts Act 2. So when the show went right into it I was like, "Uh... guys?" But then I realized it made a lot more sense this way. Most shows end the first act with an epicly awesome uplifting song ("Defying Gravity," anyone?) and then pick up from there. This worked out in my favor, because instead of my having to sit through the intermission painfully waiting for "One Day More!" I got to be excited and all but flip out during "The Attack." I started bouncing in my seat again in anticipation and omg it was so epic. So. Epic. I love the song anyway and I love the way everyone sings their own parts and how it all flows together and whee. It was amazing. I was totally high on life during the intermission.

Act Two. As I said, "On My Own" was made of wow. "A Little Fall of Rain" was even better. I cried. And I don't cry, ever, so that says something. So awesome.

Beyond that, epic show was epic. I really liked the effects during "Javert's Suicide." "Empty Chairs at Emtpy Tables" was just as sad as it should have been. Something about Marius' appearance bothered me during the whole show, but I couldn't tell you what it was. Maybe the hair. He had weird-looking hair. Ah, well.

I was really sad when it was over. Like, it was too awesome to be over and what was I supposed to do now? When the cast was coming out to bow the third(?) time, Valjean pretended to attack Javert and it made me laugh. And then they were smiling and talking and being all friendly and it made me happy. I'm weird, I know.

Music aside, I think my favorite part of the show (wait, there's more than the music?) was the stage: most of the stage is a huge circle that moves. So like when action is progressing or someone's running away, they just walk in one direction while the circle (and everyone else on it) moves in the other and it's really really cool.

So this show was unbelievably awesome. Moreso than any of the others I've seen (which says a lot). And it has also ruined my life because now the CD I have is slightly less epic since I've seen it live. And because I want to go back and see it again so badly. But it's kind of expensive to get to London. :(

For reference: 10th Anniversary Concert on YouTube divided up by song.