Epic French Musical is EPIC.

Ad for the show in a metro station.

Okay so background had already been covered. I'm a nerd and fell in love with this thing in 2004 and it's the entire reason for my trip to Paris. And the reason I broke out into a stupid grin whenever I saw an ad for it in a metro station or randomly thought about it while I was walking around yesterday. I swear to god yesterday was so long and I thought it would never be time for me to go. But I went. Early, in fact, because I had to pick up my ticket since they don't ship them internationally.

Bought a program because I'm a super nerd. :) And sat in my seat, 8 rows from the stage, slightly to the right side, and freaked out for the next 40 minutes. I was literally shaking the whole time and couldn't stop grinning like a fool. I mean, I was excited to see Les Mis in London. I was super excited to see RENT over the summer with two of the original cast members. There are no words to express how excited I was about seeing this show. It was a teeny bit weird because it's the first one I've gone to alone, but holy god did I enjoy it.

The one thing that threw me off was that they'd tweaked the show a little to update it and such. Nothing major, and I knew they'd added a few songs, but they'd changed some of them slightly or moved them around a little so I, being the obsessed fool that I am got confused because I know all of the songs and all of the dialogue and would be like "omg that's not right!" It was still really good though.

Romeo and Tybalt were the same guys as in the original. I feel like there was someone else too? One of the more minor characters? Never mind, there can't be. I'm just crazy, don't mind me.

I died a little inside when my favorite songs came on. Just sitting there and being like "Oh hey, I'm experiencing this LIVE!" was incredible. Absolutely incredible.

One of the best parts was after the show. I went and hung out at the stage door (with a bunch of French people) and watched all the actors and dancers come out. And the principal cast? They were all super nice! I got autographs from like, 8 of them I think? Romeo, Benvolio, Mercutio, Tybalt, the Prince, Frère Laurent, Juliette... I feel like there was someone else but I can't remember right now. Oh well. And I got my picture taken with the first four. EEEEEE. I know, I'm a huge nerd but whatever. I look super awkward in the photos but whatever haha. I wound up like, thrusting my camera at the nearest person each time and being like "Hey take my picture k? K." But everyone else had friends there taking their pictures so I did what I had to do. =P I kept wondering if it was okay though. Like if it was real. But they were all so nice and were like "Yeah sure pictures are cool!" And I waited til someone else had done it first each time just to make sure. It was weird because when we got autographs after RENT, everyone just lined up and held out their programs, and each of the cast members came out with their own sharpies in hand, went down the line mechanically, and peaced out. And there weren't even a lot of people there. Here there were significantly fewer people, sure, but there were no security people watching us, and the cast just came out, said hi to everyone, talked to everyone (like actual conversations, not just "oh hey"), took photos with people, joked with people, stayed until they'd signed whatever everyone wanted.

You can't really see the autographs in the photo. Wish I'd had one of my nifty silver sharpies.

Romeo

Benvolio

Tybalt

Mercutio

It was really awesome. Really. Really. Awesome. The entire experience was just surreal and crazy and I loved it. I love my life. =D

I will probably update this post later, or make a new post entirely, about the new version vs the old version, just because I'm that much of a loser. But I bought the stupid really expensive CD set, so the first few times I listen to it I'm sure the differences will bother me and I'll want to talk about them all anyway. =D I know only one person will care (if that), but I'm gonna do it anyway, so there. Nyeh. =P

Happy Birthday to Me~

I'm currently finishing enjoying the most expensive birthday present ever. One which I've given myself. I'm in Paris! Whee!

Junior year of high school my French teacher made us listen to a CD of a musical version of Romeo and Juliet that she'd bought. Most people were less than enthused, but I, being the nerd that I am, fell in love with it. To the point that I downloaded all of the music, copied the DVDs that my teacher had of it, and then translated the entire thing for my best friend so someone could watch/enjoy it with me. (I learned a lot of new vocabulary that way. Super nerd!) Fast forward six years: while playing around on YouTube when I was in France last spring, I discovered a new song from the show. Why? Because they'd updated it as it was almost ten years old. And I also discovered that it was going to be back in Paris this spring for the 10th anniversary. Fast forward again to like three weeks ago: I'm killing time in the computer lab between classes and on a whim I check the website for it. I have no idea what made me think of it, but I'm so glad I did. Oh hey, it's playing in Paris from 2 Feb to 4 April. Bam, I'm there.

I left Ifrane on Wednesday right after my class got out at noon. Spent the night in the Madrid airport. Flew out late that afternoon and got to Paris Thursday night. Spent yesterday wandering around, saw the show last night, spent today wandering a bit, and am peacing out early tomorrow morning. (But not getting back to Ifrane til like 8pm because discount airlines' schedules are made of epic fail.)

This has definitely been one of the most epic weekends ever. I swear I've been in a good mood since my plane landed. I don't think I've stopped smiling. This is the first time I've really traveled anywhere by myself and I LOVE it. And I think I really needed to get out of Morocco. Or at least away from AUI. It's hard to get away from there for an extended period of time because it's up in the middle of nowhere and there's a curfew and whatnot. And yeah, so I skipped two days of classes. Whatever. (I would have come over the long weekend but I thought I would be in Marrakech so I decided against it. Oh well.)

This has really been an awesome, awesome time though. I don't know why, but I feel at home here. I could never live in Paris because I don't really like it that much, but I feel totally comfortable here and nothing has bothered me at all. Sure it helps that I speak the language, but even still. I have been totally fine wandering aimlessly, jumping on and off the metro, and just doing whatever. Logic probably says I should be uncomfortable wandering around in a gigantic city like this by myself with no one I know in the country, let alone the city, but I'm totally okay with it. It' so awesome. I'm going to stop now because otherwise I'll just keep repeating myself. Posts to come later about my wanderings and about the epicness that was Roméo et Juliette. (SO EPIC.) Photos will be added once I get back to Morocco. God I'm such a nerd.

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.