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@daeus Well, I usually can’t remember the dates. But the year sounds right and the rest of it is correct. Ah, music… what a fantastic tool for learning! And with all the Edwards in European history, a song that tells you which one of them claimed to be King of France is helpful. They need a song like that for all the King Louis, too.
YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.comUnfortunately, it was not the musical. But it was still quite fantastic.
Theater kid. Currently depressed because I can't stop listening to sad musicals.
@Christi-Eaton I know! I specifically meant to call you over here, but when I remembered again I was already in bed. *scowl* Rest assured, it was no betrayal.
😉
And yes, you should write something on Les Mis.
Oh, and it wasn’t the musical? 😮 I was thinking it was the musical this whole time (that’s why I thought you’d all be hoarse after so many performances in a row—all the singing)! *sheepish look*
@His-Instrument I’ve never studied French, and…currently have zero plans to. 😛 I like looking at it though and figuring out what I can from knowledge of Latin roots.
But I am so sorry you didn’t have translations for all the French songs and stuff in there! I mean, none of them were spectacular (I think I liked the one Jean Prouvaire and the other guys were singing before the big onslaught on the barricade or something though), but it’s kind of annoying not to know what they’re singing. There were translations at the page bottom for most of ’em in our copy. :/
Anyway.
You said:I mean, looking at it from the standpoint of my beliefs, I was like, “Cosette, talk to your dad about it. Cosette, don’t kiss him, you aren’t married. Marius, don’t kill yourself just because she moved. She’s not dead.”
Yeah! *shakes head* But otherwise, the purity was great (I love Marius’ terrible reaction at his grandfather’s suggestion when he went to ask permission for marriage).
I know, Gavroche’s awesome. Isn’t the stuff about him and his little bros so cute? (And sad about the little bros in the end…)
And yep, poor Fantine…that lullaby was sad.I know watcha mean about the respect for law. It was quite astounding, but some of it was misplaced, obviously, since some of the laws were too harsh. If you steal a loaf of bread, yeah, there should be some retribution, but five years of hard labor is way too much.
How do you like Enjolras?
Oh and you’re not crazy in the least to have loved Jean Valjean’s death scene/preceding scenes. Awfully sad, but AT LEAST M&C GOT THERE BEFORE HE DIED! And Marius could apologize, and see what a great guy this ‘wicked convict’ was! I was so relieved. Glad Thenardier got to Marius in time. 😛
@emma-flournoy, if it is any consolation we didn’t do the musical, but I did end up singing a lullaby twice onstage so there was singing involved. 🙂 Also, that very last scene rips my heart out every time. So many emotions.
Theater kid. Currently depressed because I can't stop listening to sad musicals.
@Christi-Eaton Well it’s not so terrible you didn’t do the musical—regular plays are awesome too—just that I’d thought it was the musical when it wasn’t. 😛 Was it a famous play?
And who were you singing a lullaby to as Cosette…?Yes. So many emotions.
@emma-flournoy, we had the lullaby worked in so Fantine sings it as she is daydreaming about little Cosette before she dies, then the little girl who played the young Cosette sang it right before she met Valjean in the woods, and then I was up in a window singing it and unbeknownst to me, Marius was listening underneath, and then the last time was right before Valjean dies so I was like half-crying/half-singing and when he died I broke down and Marius held me, and Fantine came out singing the song and those at the barricade ended up joining in and there was so many emotions and Gah! I miss doing that show. It was rather fun sobbing onstage. It’s an interesting experience. I recommend it. 🙂 I have so many feelings tied with that scene. I wish I could show you all, I’m proud of the cast and how well it turned out.
Theater kid. Currently depressed because I can't stop listening to sad musicals.
@Christi-Eaton That last scene sounds like how I’ve read the musical ends…is the play based on the musical, I wonder?
But wow, you sure sound to have had loads of fun. 😀 Sobbing on stage does seem it’d be quite an interesting experience. I might like it if I ever had the chance, provided I could make myself really cry. 😛 Not just fake-sob. It never ceases to amaze me when I see actors crying realistically for a scene, and I wonder how on earth they do it, in front of the camera no less, and probably having done the scene many times before! *shakes head in bewildered respect* Good acting is such a talent.
And yah, I wish we could see it too.@everyone wait for me wait for me wait for me wait for me. I’m a bit late but man do I love this story. Everything about this story.
Judging by the little bit I skimmed previous conversations, I have this to say: @his-instrument never read the book, saw the musical though and that’s close enough. I also like Eponine better than Cosette, much much much better, and was hoping Marius would fall in love with her. I did like Marius, though. @Christi-Eaton so cool you got to be in a production of Les Mis. That’s like a dream of mine.
And finally: @emma-flournoy I love Enjolras. He is my favorite. Again, have yet to read the book (gotta find a copy) but in the movie, I thought it was so awesome how passionate he was about revolution. Also, I found him quite funny. I feel like I could relate to him the most, though I’ve never tried to start a revolution in France.
WAAHHHH! There’s no Eponine in the Liam Neeson version of the movie! I’m so distraught! (I literally just finished watching it. Liam Neeson did a fantastic job, but there was SO MUCH missing…) And Jean Valjean didn’t even DIE at the end. WHAT???
Sorry. (*pants and tries to compose herself*) I should know by now that movies aren’t always like the books (*looks suspiciously at Peter Jackson and points to copy of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies*).
@christi-eaton WOW!!! I want to be Cosette in a play! Actually I want to be Fantine. Or Eponine. Or all three. Sadly I don’t have much time with theater– dance is the closest I can get for now. Maybe someday… I don’t think I’d want to be in the musical version, because while I love singing, there was just too much singing in the musical I saw. But the play sounds amazing! Congratulations on that!
@adry-grace Well, the musical is kind of like the book… but the book is SO MUCH BETTER! If you get the time, I highly recommend you read it. They had to cut out a lot to trim a 1200-page book down to a 2-hour musical. There’s so much more Javert in the book, and so much more Gavroche, and more Eponine, and more Marius and Cosette (BTW it took them about two years to fall in love in the book), and so much more Thenardier. And so much more Jean Valjean, and you all know how I feel about him. 🙂YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.comOh, and @emma-flournoy, I do like Enjorlas. I thought he was a brilliant addition to the book. Very brave and passionate, but level-headed, too– a perfect contrast to Marius’ absent-minded dreaminess. I was very upset (and proud of him) when he died. They took him out of the movie too. But he was in the musical, and he was probably the second-best actor in it (Thenardier was the best), so I appreciated him even more after that.
YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.comWell @Adry_Grace and @His-Instrument, I just made a long reply to you a few minutes ago, but I had to edit something and now it’s not showing up though I try and try…I’ll come back later I guess and see if I can make it work.
@Adry_Grace Yay for Enjolras. 😀 He’s one of my top faves too. And yes, you DO need to find a copy of the book! Look, here’s a link to the kind we have; I don’t know if we bought it here or not, but this is the one we have. Unabridged.
https://www.amazon.com/Miserables-Signet-Classics-Victor-Hugo/dp/045141943X/ref=pd_sim_14_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W2M75BD1F4A6SCZKACXC
Just so you know where a good one is if you ever need one. 😉
I haven’t seen the whole musical, but I know a lot about it and know even though it’s awesome it’s not the same as the book in many regards…so, you’ve seen it—read the book too sometime. You will never regret it. 😀 They’re both great, in different ways.
Oh, which movie have you seen? Have you seen the musical and a movie, or the movie of the musical?
@His-Instrument WHAT?! That’s hilarious, we finished watching the Liam Neeson one on March 1st too, just the other day. 😮
I know!! I feel your pain. I wasn’t as mad about Eponine not being there as I was about Enjolras not, and Javert not being like Javert. *fume* (I don’t think I’m as crazy about Eponine as some… 😛 Though not to say I dislike her.) And basically the large omission of the Thenardiers, and the bad barricade/student stuff with no Enjolras and the rest, and…lots of stuff. You know what it all is, since you saw it.
The movie was good enough in its own right, but it was way too rushed, and not a good version of the book. The best thing about it was Jean Valjean—you’re right, Liam Neeson did a fantastic job. Not quite the same as book Valjean, but pretty close, and I loved him. He made the movie worth watching, even though the ending made me fume. (Thing about it was, he looked so happy, and free, as he walked down that street; it was so well acted! It made me feel so happy for him, but I was mad too ’cause that’s not how it should’ve ended.)
But Javert! Do you feel me on this one? Geoffery Rush is a great actor, and he acted this character well, but it just wasn’t Javert.
*aggrieved sigh* Someday I have to find a very good version, not just accurate in a couple aspects. Even if I have to watch all of them (there’s 8 or more). It’s too bad this wonderful J VJ was ‘wasted’ on the not-so-accurate rest of the movie.
But Hannah, if you’ve only seen a version of the musical you didn’t care for all that much (where the instrumentals sounded bad!! The instrumentals are one of my favorite things about the ones I’ve listened to!), you should go on YouTube and watch some of the Original London Cast ones. I know, the whole musical is sung, so if you didn’t like that aspect you might still not if you saw a whole good production. (Opera is a different animal for sure. 😛 ) But listen to some of the songs, with amazing singing and instrumentals. They’re so good!
Here’s one of my favorites—it’s at a concert so there’s clapping and screaming, but it’s not really annoying to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFy2ImV1WBg (The pic on the video is of the 2012 movie musical, but that’s not what the music in the video is from. This is way better.)
And you wanna talk about a well done Javert—see Philip Quast. He’s not Original London Cast, but he’s good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urxk4mveLCw
I need a good movie Javert too though.
And since you love Eponine— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY-OXb38_r8
So many more, too. You’ll go find them if you want to.
Just wanna make sure you hear the best stuff before not liking it. 😉 Lots of ’em are different from the book, but I still like lots of them.
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