Jean Valjean Appreciation Post

Sometimes we all get so enraptured by the boundless and interesting side characters in Les Miserables that we forget all about the main character. You know, Javert is cool, Enjolras is blonde and blue eyed all revolutionary-like, and Gavroche is just so dang cute. But aside from being as strong as the Hulk, is there anything fun about Jean Valjean? He's saintly and admirable, but is there any conflict in him? Is he even relatable? I've been giving it some thought (Yes, I waste my time thinking about stupid things, shush), and the answer is yes.
I'd say that the perception of Jean Valjean being a flat saint is mostly due in part to the musical *cough*bringhimhome*cough*. But even in the musical, Jean Valjean is a very interesting character. You see in the Prologue that he's hardened and bitter from 19 years in prison. Then that act of unexpected mercy from the Bishop of Digne turned his world upside down, we all know the story, right? Valjean's Soliloquy is a very dramatic song because it shows a change of character that happens in a very short time. Even though he makes his decision to try and live a good life, Valjean still struggles with temptation, just like all us. I mean, Who Am I anyone? This song is one of my favorites from the musical, and I love how at the beginning he's tossing around his options, but eventually realizes that he must do what is right. Of course, for the rest of the play, Jean Valjean's is pretty much French Santa Claus, being good and saintly.
It would have been interesting if Bring Him Home was more about Valjean begging God to give him the strength to do what's right, that way the audience could see him once more fight his way through temptation. In the book, Jean Valjean hated Marius even as he was carrying him through the sewers. It was very brave of him to do what he knew was right, even if he didn't particularly want to. But you know, Bring Him Home is pretty, so I guess that's okay too.
At the risk of sounding morbid, I'd just like to finish up here by saying that I like how the story ends with Jean Valjean's death. I know, it sounds weird, but hear me out. There are a ton of subplots, some bigger than others, but all serve the same purpose in the narrative, and that would be the furthering of Valjean's journey to eventual salvation. I think that the book (and musical) ending with Valjean's death makes for a lovely, complete, and ultimately satisfying end to his long struggle.
I think Jean Valjean is relatable, even though I'm not a sixty year old man who spent a heckuvalotta time in prison. He's relatable because he's a person who made some mistakes in the past, and is doing his best to overcome them. He's scrupulous, he's scared of giving into temptation. To some that might seem like self-righteousness, but c'mon. Self-Righteous is the last word I would use to describe Jean Valjean.
So! I guess that's it, I hope you enjoyed reading my gargantuan text bricks. :)

Los Miserables [2011]

Yeah. Me and my Dad are becoming weirdos who own a billion different Les Mis recordings. Actually, we already are weirdos, but we've all got our things we like. Some people like Star Wars, other people like Lord of the Rings, and we at Spilled Ink like Les Miserables.
Anyway, my Dad got this CD for Christmas from Mom, and it's in Spanish!
So! This is from 2011 (as you might have seen in the title, granted) and it ha the same orchestrations as the 25th anniversary concert. The conducting is a little fast, and there are songs that were previously somewhere around Moderato that are now done at a brisk Allegretto. I could go here or there on the tempos and orchestrations. I don't mind the faster tempos, and in most of the songs, the orchestrations are really beautiful! The only song who's instrumentals I didn't really like were Javert's Suicide. It doesn't sound as dramatic or intense to me. But you know, it's a matter of taste I guess. :)
 Standout songs for me would be Estrellas (Stars), Sale el Sol (One Day More) and Solo Para Mi (On My Own). The Prologue sounded really cool, the rhythm was uber emphasized, and the chorus members were really good.
I really dig the guy who played Jean Valjean in this recording. He was a terrific actor, and he hits the last note in Quien Soy Yo (Who Am I) very well. It sounds so excellent. I also like his version of Bring Him Home, or Salvalo. Either this song is growing on me, or he just did a really amazing job of it. All in all, this guy is really good! A little hammy in the Prologue, but that is to be expected I suppose. XD Maybe he was trying to come off as gruff and hardened or something.
Something I really like about this album is that the entire cast is really good, both singing and acting-wise. Usually there is at least one singer in a Cast Album that you don't like, but that's not the case here. Normally, I don't feel too partial to Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, but the version on this CD is majorly sad. Which means it was done right. XD Cosette has a very sweet voice, I liked her. Though um, she sounded a bit like (pardon my overactive imagination) a cartoon mouse! All through A Heart Full of Love, all I could see in my mind's eye was Marius holding a little girl mouse in a dress on his hand. XD
 Eponine was one of my favorites, I like her voice, and the attitude she lends to the character. She's very fiery, and in Solo Para Mi there are a few lines that sound a bit more sarcastic than in other languages. Fantine's actress did a good job with Sone Una Vida, the I Dreamed a Dream equivalent. Enjolras made me laugh at times because he was just so into it (adorably so in Sale El Sol), and his version of the Final Battle is very rousing. :)
Oh yeah, and how could I forget Javert? Well, he's really good. He was um, super hammy in Javert's Suicide though. Yikes. But even with that, his voice and acting (for the most part) was totally spot on!
So! I don't speak very good Spanish (despite the fact that I live in California and have Mexican Heritage :P), but I know that they were speaking Castilian Spanish, that is, European Spanish. The biggest difference between European Spanish and Latin American Spanish, to my ears at least, is that some of the words with 's' sounds are a little erm, lisped. Well, not lisped in the sense that everyone in Spain has a speech impediment, it's just the way the accents over there work. So 'Cielo' (heaven) becomes 'Thielo', and so forth. It just struck me as funny because I'm used to Latin American Spanish. XD
Anyway, one of the coolest things on this album is Sale El Sol. The cast is so good in that one, the orchestra is rocking, and the title is so righteous. Literally, Sale El Sol literally translates to 'The Sun Rises' or 'The Rising of the Sun'. But it's also an expression similar to 'You live to see another day'. SO awesome.

The Verdict: A+
For a terrific cast and neato instrumentals. :)
Favorite Song: Sale El Sol
Runners Up: Estrellas, Solo Para Mi, Quien Soy Yo

Les Miserables: Paris Revival Cast Recording [1991]

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas. :)
So, to celebrate the end of my semester of French, I figured why not review a Les Miserables recording that is in French! I mean, it was recorded in flippin' Paris, what could be better? XD
Ahem. I like to start by rambling about the instrumentals.
Being from the 90's, the instrumentals are spiced up with those syntho instrumentals, so they're relatively the same as the English 3-Disc recording that we have. They don't bug me (they might bug some people, but they remind me of the early 2000's when I was a little kid :D), though sometimes they make me laugh because it sounds like Video Poker music! XD
Now the cast! Jean Valjean is always cool (I've never met a Jean Valjean I didn't like, haha!), and this guy was neato! He has a nice voice, and so far as I can tell his acting was good. His version of Bring Him Home ('Commme Un Homme') is lovely, his acting is just right here. That song doesn't usually elicit a huge reaction from me, but this one... really good. He was also really good in the Epilogue. :)
I liked Javert, he has a very dramatic, almost operatic voice at times. Cosette is usually the most hit and miss character in the whole shebang, but she was a very good singer! She has a sweet, clear voice that is really nice to listen to. All the talk of Cosette makes me think of 'Une Poupee dans la Vitrine', the French equivalent of Castle on a cloud. The French version of this song is so sad, it almost made me cry! The last verse is about how she wishes she knew how to write, because then she could write to Father Christmas for the doll she wishes for. And the middle verse is actually very interesting. Cosette talks about how when she has her doll (her 'daughter') she will dress her in the prettiest dresses, and how she wants her doll to be very proud of her as a mother. Sounds kind of like what Fantine wanted for Cosette, huh? It's such a tearjerker. :(
Ahem. This cast has a good Gavroche, he's got sass, but not in a forced or annoying way. This kid pulls off the role quite effortlessly. I also liked Enjolras on this recording. He's a little petulant, but that's fine by me, so long as it's not excessive. When I was reading the book, I got the impression that due to his privileged childhood he was still a little used to getting his way. XD
Aside from the really good Jean Valjean, my other favorite performer on this CD was Eponine. Her actress has a very normal-girl sounding voice, by which I mean she doesn't have an overly pop-ish sound to her vocals. I like her take on the character, too. She's got a bit of an edge to the character, and pulls off the sad bits without coming off as maudlin and pouty. I really like her On My Own ('Mon Histoire') and Attack on Rue Plumet.
Oh yeah, Mon Histoire. I love On My Own, but Mon Histoire (My Story) is really something. It's harder to adapt into a generic teenage girl 'I'm in the friendzone!' song, because there is more about Eponine's feelings about her situation in life as well as her feelings for Marius. She begins by thinking about how her childhood seemed so pleasant and fairy-tale like, which is pretty different from the English one. I really like the lyrics, I almost translated all of them, so huzzah for French class!

The Verdict: A+
Weee, this font is pretty big and makes the review look super big. Ahem.
I really enjoyed listening to this and being able to understand almost half of it. It's a cool experience to have any kind of automatic understanding of a foreign language. I like the lyrics that I understood, they are so good ("Marius, get off your cloud!") the cast was really solid! I know I didn't talk about everybody, but there was nobody who was weak, or bad. The acting was good, the singing was good, an all-around great cast.
Favorite Song: Mon Histoire
Runners Up: Sous Les Etoiles, Le Grand Jour, Souviens-Toi Les Jours Passes?

Les Miserables in Hollister

Whew, where do I start? [At the beginning, Monica, we've discussed this!]
Well, the production we went to was one of those community deals, so we didn't quite know what we were going to get, in terms of staging and music. But it was actually quite good, they had their own tiny little orchestra, a very versatile stage layout, and some neat lighting! And extremely loud gunshot/cannon noises... extremely loud.
The beginning sounded real neat, and they made the overture sound so big despite the small orchestra. And yeah, it was very exiting when they started! I thought the rhythmic hammer-thumping in the Prologue was cool.

Jean Valjean was a good actor and singer, he compensated for the notes he couldn't reach quite well, and his performance was very enjoyable. Javert was good too, his voice was quieter, but when he hit high notes in Stars and Javert's Suicide it sounded awesome. And the Bishop. Well, the Bishop is always awesome (running out of adjectives :P), and on the programme it said that he was played by an actual Friar!

At The End of The Day was my favorite part. The way they did it was that during Valjean's Soliloquy the curtain was closed (he was singing in front of it) so that they could change the set, and when the curtain opened, the chorus just kind of ran at the audience, and they had cast members going through the aisle to get to the stage, and it was very cool.
Fantine was good, no complaints here, though sitting through Lovely Ladies was pretty uncomfortable. I liked The Confrontation, despite the awkward pause at the end when Valjean brandished a candle at Javert. XD

Little Cosette was so pitiful, poor thing. I almost felt bad for laughing so hard during Master of the House. I mean, the Thenardiers are a nasty pair of people, but I couldn't help it. Monsieur Thenardier's actor was hilarious and their rendition of Master of the House was great!
Valjean was very sweet with Little Cosette, and he pulled a rag doll out of his hat to give to her, that was cute and funny at the same time. He's a magician!

Anyway, then there's Look Down, which is always cool. Probably because it introduces so many new characters. Gavroche, who totally owns the town, Marius, who is adorkable, Enjolras, who you can't decide whether or not you like, Eponine who knows her way around... It's terrific, I tell ya.
Oh, and the thing that stood out to me during The Robbery was that after Marius knocks Cosette's basket off her arm, and they put the flowers back in, this production had her gesture at the book he was carrying around and they both start to read it together! It was very nice, and my sister was having a fangirly squee attack next to me.

And Stars... [dreamy sigh] it was wonderful.
I was pretty happy that they kept in Eponine's Errand (They actually didn't cut all that much), though I had to laugh whenever anyone said 'Ponine. Because for whatever reason they all pronounced it like 'Panine, and it made me think of those toasted sandwiches, Paninis. Ahem, moving on!
Oh, The ABC café. Marius was great here (always looking so hurt whenever Enjolras snapped at him), and they added a few really awesome harmonies that I'd never heard before in the big Red & Black sections. The only part I thought was weird was when Enjolras started to draw his gun at the others when they were being obnoxious. Whoa! O.o

Do You Hear The People Sing was excellent, they did the cast-members-in-the-aisle thing again. And then there was In My Life. The lady who played Cosette had a nice, non-Snow White-ish voice, and her interactions with Jean Valjean were nice. My sister once again had fangirly squee attacks at A Heart Full of Love. ...and so did I. Marius was just so sweet in this production! In the intro of the song, he almost ran away because he was so nervous about talking to a lady. :D

One Day More was brilliant. I always get chills when the orchestra drops out and there's a moment of silence between each word at the end. ONE... DAY... MOOOOOOORRRREEEE!!!
After the intermission things got back into swing nicely with the students getting ready to build the barricade. But more importantly, On My Own! (Sorry, Friends of the ABC.) The actress did a very good job with it, and I loved her acting. Then after that come the revolutionary funtimes, I lose track of the songs that happen around here. But somewhere in there the army captain told them that they had no friends, Gavroche sold out Javert, and Eponine got shot and died. That scene was pretty dang sad, I'm tellin' ya.

After A Little Fall of Rain, Jean Valjean arrives, and after he apparently saves some guy from a sniper, Enjolras gives him the uber-privilege of getting to kill Javert. Then comes Drink With Me, which is probably the second most depressing song ever. I mean, wow. Way to kill the mood, guy who I think is supposed to be Grantaire. But I like it, it's got a lovely, wistful tune, and it sounds great in Japanese. Bring Him Home, well, I have beef with that song. It's beautiful, it's moving, but I have book-purist issues with it. Valjean's actor did a pretty nice job with this song, though. So I didn't even mind that it was totally book inaccurate. I'll um, stop with the book-purist ranting because it's probably very annoying. ;D

So then Gavroche gives Enjolras a letter that apparently says that they're all doomed, because next comes Dawn of Anguish. And Gavroche's death. Oh man, I can't even, that scene is so completely traumatizing.

I almost hate to say it, but I really like The Final Battle, as a song. And this version was amazing! So Enjolras says his line, and then on the last bit, "Let others rise to take our place, until the earth is free!" EVERYONE joined in and they did another awesome harmony. It was so cool, I loved what they did with that part. Though again, I almost hate to say it, but the trauma of watching a bunch of people getting shot to death was kind of undermined by this one guy who totally hammed his death in a slightly comedic way. I um... laughed. And then felt bad about it afterward. But not too bad. ;)

So! I was quite impressed with Jean Valjean's actor during the sewers segment. He lugged Marius across the stage several times, and didn't even waver. But then came... Javert's Suicide. Once more, I shall admit something that I hate to say out loud, and say that Javert's Suicide just might be my favorite song in the whole dang musical. It's a striking parallel to what happened to Valjean at the beginning of the story, and the instruments are so dramatic (that's the time for the orchestra to really jam!), and the actor for Javert certainly lived up to my expectations. Not like I walked into the theater with expectations, but you know what I mean. Now, the way that they executed the actual suicide was interesting. In the last verse, we noticed these guys in convict outfits standing on the edges of the stage. Then, right before the big last line, they lined up behind Javert (who was standing on this box thing) and at the line "There is no way to go OOOOONNNN!!", Javert tipped backwards and the convicts caught him and carried him off the stage. Sure, it looked like Javert was crowd surfing, but it was a creative way to do it, and man! Javert's actor was so brave to fall backwards and trust those guys to catch him!

Whew, almost done. Almost done. Turning was depressing, as usual. Not much to say there. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was pretty good, I really liked the actor who played Marius. Then there was Every Day, where Cosette does her best to cheer Marius up, and Jean Valjean get steeped into the depths of despair. Poor man. Of course, there's a few songs in between there and the Epilogue, but this post is long enough, and I don't have anything in particular to say about them.

So! The Epilogue, how many layers of awesome is that? Everyone did a good job with it, and the reprise of Do You Hear the People Sing sent shivers down my spine! Of couse, we spent I don't know how many minutes clapping, and then it was over. And boy, was it awesome!
Something cool about attending a production put on by a smallish town is that you get to meet some of the actors outside. We got to have our pictures with Matt Thorpe, who played Jean Valjean and Corbyjane Troya who played Cosette. We also met Jorge Torrez (Marius) and Josh Oelrich (Javert). They were very nice, and it was a fun way to wrap up the evening!

Les Miserables Original London Cast [1985]

I have too much time on my hands! :D
So anyway, we went library-hopping* a few weeks ago, and I came out of it with a stack of musical CDs. And The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide. But anyway, one of the many, many (okay, four) CDs I found was the Original Cast Recording of Les Miserables, which is pretty cool, I've never heard it before.
This recording is so different from recent versions of the musical, and that's what made it fun to listen to. The most obvious differences are that Cosette has a different solo (!!!), Stars is before Look Down/Paris, and Little People is... I wish I could forget. So! Let's get down to business, give me a sec to track down all the cast members names, then we can get started! (Wait, who's 'we'?)

Jean Valjean- Colm Wilkinson

Javert- Roger Allam

Fantine- Patti LuPone

Cosette- Rebecca Caine

Marius- Michael Ball

Eponine- Frances Ruffelle

Monsier Thenarider- Alun Armstrong

Madame Thenarider- Susan Jane Tanner

Enjolras- David Burt

Gavroche- Ian Tucker

Originally, I was going to go through this track by track, but that would have taken a super long time. So I'm just going to ramble. :P

 

The instrumentals are really synth-based, kind of like the Complete Symphonic Recording, but even more so. This didn't really bug me, except in Stars. The synth instruments sounded really obvious and kind of bad there. Which is too bad, because Stars is awesome... staaaaaaarrrzzzz!!!

 

As mentioned above, there are two songs that were changed/replaced later. In this one, Cosette has a really nice solo called I Saw Him Once. The tune is beautiful, and so are the lyrics. It's really too bad that they cut this from the musical! The extended Little People on the other hand... I'm so glad it's gone. Because that song is irritating as a bamboo shoot being shoved under your fingernails.

 

Grr, anyway, the performances. I wasn't too blown away with most of the singing and acting, if I had to pick a favorite performance I might actually pick Cosette, because her voice is amazing. Her high notes are very clear and sweet sounding, and I wish there had been more of her on this album!

Jean Valjean's actor was allright. There were things I liked and things I didn't, but overall I preferred him in the 10th Anniversary Concert. Javert was pretty good, I mostly liked him. Mostly, I just wasn't too fond of his super growly voice. That's just me being picky, though. :)

 

I wasn't too thrilled with Eponine, either. I know, I know, wistful quietness and stuff. Nothing wrong with playing Eponine that way, but for the love of heaven! Don't make her character so whiny sounding! She's the only Eponine that strikes me as being self-pitying, and that's... not good. And then there's Fantine. No acting, whatsoever. Listen, I'm not a fan of actors sobbing their way through their lines. But there is this little thing called acting, and it's where you put inflection and emotion into your role, and it's a good way of making people care about the character you're playing! Or, you know, being completely bland is good too. Enjolras was also excessively bland too, but I won't get into that, because this review is sounding so negative! Well, Marius was really good sounding! Michael Ball plays him here (Yet again), and he does a very fine job with the character.

 

The Verdict: B-

I'm not reviewing the musical as a whole, I'm just focusing on this particular recording. Because I'm a nerd. The thing is that this recording sounds very low-key and well, calm! Even the bits that should be passionate and loud (such as Look Down/Paris) aren't that passionate and loud. That, and the iffy performances, left me with kind of a 'meh' impression of this album. I did really like Rebecca Caine as Cosette and Michael Ball as Marius. I thought Grantaire sounded really good too.

Oh, and all the cockney in this album made me think of Henry Higgins. Why can't the English... ;)
Favorite Song: I Saw Him Once
Runners Up: ... Pass!

*Library Hopping! Like Bar Hopping, but with less benders and more piles of books that you'll never have read in time for their return dates.

 



In Defense of Marius

... Yeah, that's a weird post title. The fact is, I'm not a huge Marius fan, but I think he's a good character who doesn't deserve quite all the flack he gets. So let's get started, shall we? And for added fun, let's see if I can refrain from dissing Marius in the post that's supposed to be defending him. ;)



There was no good reason for Cosette and Eponine to fall in love with him.
Well, there actually are good reasons, you just have to read the book to find them. Cosette and Marius were both secluded people, and for that reason they unconsciously identified with each other. Plus, Marius also wrote her a very sweet and romantic letter, and you know how much Cosette loves stuff like that. :) Eponine is a little more complicated. She fell in love with him because he was the first man who had treated her with basic respect and courtesy in a really long time. It didn't matter that he barely even knew her and vice versa, because he was kind to her. So Eponine clung to that like a lifeline.
Marius is a jerk!
Marius does not have the most appealing personality. He's maybe a little self-centered, but name me the perfect Les Miserables character. At his heart, Marius is a decent man. Yeah, he kicked Jean Valjean out of his house because he thought he had murdered a guy. But when Marius learned of his mistake, he hurried to make amends as fast as he could. I'd say that Marius' redeeming quality is his gallantry. Even when he doesn't like a person, he's relatively courteous to them, and that's something that's really hard, and at least a little admirable.
Marius is a dork.
What? Is it because he's indecisive? Because he's socially awkward? Because he doesn't look like some archangel who fell from heaven? I suppose by those standards Marius is kind of a dork, but he's also relatable, and don't we love characters who are 'relatable'? Please tell me I'm not the only who relates to Marius.
Yes. Marius is stubborn, tactless, and short-tempered, but he's a decent person, and he can break his curse on his own! Oops, slipped into Howl's Moving Castle mode again. That'll happen. But you get my drift.
Something I really liked about Les Miserables is that you have characters all over the map when it comes to morality status. You can have 'good guys' who are unpleasant and a little rude (Like Marius), and you can have sympathetic 'bad guys' with understandable motivation (Like Javert). Then there's some characters you can't even classify (Like Eponine or Enjolras). It's very realistic, and definitely one of the book's strong points.
Stay frosty, my friends.

Les Miserables 2012 References to the Book

Upon viewing the Les Miserables film after reading the book(which took a whole month!), I noticed a whole lot of details and plot points that were influenced by the book. Which I thought was really cool. Here's a list of the ones I noticed. Why? Because I'm a geek and I totally get exited about this kind of thing. XD
Huzzah!

• In the scenes that take place at the Bishop's house, they kept in his sister and housekeeper, Madamoiselle Baptistine and Madame Magloire. Huzzah for keeping in totally minor characters!
• Jean Valjean's factory makes black glass. More specifically, black glass beads that are strung onto Rosaries.
• After Javert thinks he made a mistake in suspecting Valjean of being a convict, he requests to be fired from his position. I'm glad they kept in this detail from the book, because it shows how devoted to the law Javert was, and how he wouldn't ever make exceptions- even for himself.
• Okay, this is a super minor one, but it's Christmas Eve when Valjean arrives at the Thenardier's Inn to rescue Cosette. I don't know if that's how it's staged in the musical or not. Oh, and he gets Cosette her doll, too! Oh for cute.
• Jean Valjean and Cosette actually get pursued through Paris by Javert, and escape by hiding in a Convent. They actually show him using a rope from a streetlamp to haul Cosette over the wall. And then Fauchelevent is working in the garden, and they ask him to let them stay there. The only way this could have been more awesome is if they had a song where the Cemetery incident happened. :D
• Gavroche lives in the old Elephant statue! I know there is no way you can do that on stage, but I liked how they kept that in here.
• After A Heart Full of Love, Valjean comes outside and looks around the fence, with Marius hiding just out of sight. After Valjean goes inside, Marius picks up a handkerchief, and is later seen cuddling it during Drink With Me. I am of the mindset that Valjean left the handkerchief there, to see if anyone was serenading Cosette by the gate. Because if they were adding in that bit from the book on purpose, I'm one happy fangirl! :)
• Probably the most important and obvious change was that Eponine stole Cosette's letter and kept it until she was shot, then gave it to Marius. I really loved this change back to the book, because it gives Eponine more depth and inner-conflict than in the musical. This of course, leads to a myriad of other changes, like Marius joining the revolution because he wants to die (since he thinks he won't be able to see Cosette again), and Gavroche delivering the letter Marius wrote at the barricade.
• The Army Captain yells "Who's there?!?"
  and Enjolras replies... "FRENCH REVOLUTION!"
  When I was done laughing, I remembered that that was in the book. XD
• Marius threatens to blow up the barricade with a powder-keg of gunpowder, in order to make the Army retreat. This gets mixed reactions from the various students. XD
  "What were you thinking Marius, you could have gotten us all killed!!"
  "Marius, you saved us all!"
• Eponine dies taking a bullet for Marius.
• Enjolras and Grantaire are killed by a firing squad while cornered on the top floor of the Wine Shop.
• While going through the sewers with Marius, there's a brief moment when Valjean almost sinks into a cesspool. I remember that part really freaked me out when I read the book!
• Marius' Grandpa is in this! And they sort of worked him into Every Day. XD

All the book goodies almost make up for the way they made Master of the House even more crude and disgusting.
If they had kept in Grantaire's verse in Drink With Me, that would have made the whole "I'll die with you, Enjorlas!" thing a tad more significant, and that would have made up for Master of the House. XD Oh picky, picky, picky.

-Xochitl (Who is too tired to put up any Walk for Life pictures at the moment, so enjoy this random post which was written in advance.)

Les Miserables [2012]

Okay, this is the Japanese poster, but I liked it. Despite the fact that Jean Valjean is totally giving us the death glare. "Grrr!"
And Javert looks like he smelled something really rank. But to be fair, he almost always looks like that.
And I did my best to translate the white caption on the side, and if my Kanji dictionary is to be believed, this reads- "The Power to be able to Love and Live"

When I watched this movie, it had been a while since I listened to our CD recording, so it was kind of like a re-introduction to the story, in fact it was partially the reason why I read the book (the other part was that it was sitting there on the shelf calling my name.).

So... For the most part, I really liked it.

I really liked all the things they kept in from the book. It makes the movie feel like a fusion of both the musical and the book together, which is really neat. It helped to flesh out the parts of the stage play that wouldn't have worked on film. The execution of the story was really good, and I loved the way they moved Stars to before Look Down/Paris. It made for a really cool transition.
The sets and costumes were really well done, too. I loved the Rue Plumet garden and the Barricade.
Look at that, it's just lovely, isn't it?

 

Hm. Coffins. Subtle. Very, very, subtle. I wonder which
student thought it would be a good idea to put those
on.

 

Okay, I'm very interested in filmmaking, specifically: Cinematography. When I watch a new movie, Cinematography is outranked only by the Soundtrack in terms of what I'm anticipating. In this movie, I thought the Cinematography was sort of a mixed bag. I thought the crane shots were really powerful, and there were a few scenes where I was just blown away. Like in Stars for example, in the second verse, there's a shot where the camera goes in a half-circle around Javert. It's shot from below, and you can the sky around him, and it looks really neat.
Then there was the jitter-cam and the extreme close ups. I thought the jitter-cam was effective in the battle scenes, adding to the chaotic feel, but sometimes it got a little hard to tell what was going on. And as for the extreme close ups... Well, they were fine when they weren't too close. But there were  a few shots where I was like "AH! PULL BACK, PULL BACK!!"

Now. The Music.
I thought that they did a stellar job with the orchestrations. Seriously, they were beautiful! The one complaint I have is that usually there's a flute solo at the end of A Little Fall of Rain, but in this they give it to a violin. Hey! No fair! That was the only flute solo in the whole thing! But that was compensated for during In My Life and A Heart Full of Love. The flute in those songs sounded like butterflies, and I think that flute actually does fit Cosette better. XD And excellent use of Cello, Piano, and... heck, every instrument.
Oh, I feel like I'm forgetting something... something important... oh right! The performances... give me a minute to find out all the actor names. :P

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman)

 His singing was a little patchy sometimes. I thought he got a bit off-key sometimes, and when singing Bring Him Home, he looked and sounded like he was in a bit of pain. That having been said, his acting was great, and so was the rest of his singing. I loved the way he acted the scenes with Cosette. They have a really good Father/Daughter dynamic, and I think that Suddenly really amplified that. (Sniffle... that was such a sweet little song.) I think he does my favorite versions of Valjean's Soliloquy and Who Am I. You know how in the latter song, the actor usually belts out the line- "I'm Jean Valjean!"? Here he sort of just says it, but I thought it was really cool. He sounded like he totally meant business.

Javert (Russell Crowe)

Okay, it took me a while to get used to his voice. It's very different from what I was used to hearing, but after a while it started to grow on me. I feel like Russell Crowe brought out a side of Javert that isn't usually there. He seemed a lot more thoughtful and calm than usual. There were scenes where he just was Javert, and others where... well, I don't want to be uncharitable. But let's just say that the scene where Valjean let him escape from the barricade was interesting. But overall, I thought he was pretty good!

Fantine(Anne Hathaway)

I am not allowed to say anything bad about Anne Hathaway's performance unless I want the secret service to kick down my door and drag me off to Room 104. But in all seriousness, I think she did a pretty good job with the character. I love how her Fantine didn't just sit around and let herself get fired, she was literally dragged out! She had a certain toughness about her, and I liked that. Her singing was pretty good (when she wasn't sobbing), but I felt like she could have been a little more... I don't know, less sobby with I Dreamed a Dream. Okay, I'm gonna hold up in my room until the angry mob leaves. ;)

Cosette(Amanda Seyfried)

I hate to say it, but she was originally the reason I was reluctant to watch the movie. XD But now, ironically, she's one of the reasons I like it so much. Her Cosette is very well acted and sung, you can see how much she loves and respects Valjean, even if she gets impatient with his secretiveness. The lyric changes in In My Life helped too. And her acting during the Epilogue... oh my goodness, it was so heartbreaking.

The Thenardiers(Sacha Baren-Cohen and Helena Bohnam-Carter)

They were pretty much like the Book Thenardiers. Really disgusting and slimy. But they were still really funny at times, even if I think Monsieur Thenardier had an irritating fake accent. Seriously. They're all French! And nobody else talks like that. Just him. Why? [eye twitch]

Marius Pontmercy(Eddie Redmayne)

Well, let's just get this out of the way now. I thought his voice sounded like Kermit the Frog, and I wasn't exactly fond of it. Now that I've got that out of my system, allow me to say that I liked his acting. He was so adorkable in A Heart Full of Love, the way he was stumbling over his words, it was so cute! And his performance in Little Fall of Rain... wow. His version of Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was pretty good (aside from the aforementioned Kermie voice.), but I wish that he hadn't looked STRAIGHT into the camera. [shivers]

Eponine(Samantha Barks)

I loved Samantha Bark's take on Eponine. Her singing was really beautiful, and her acting was more than just being sad. I also noticed some rather strange eye twitches, and you get the sense that she really resents Cosette. Of course, she wasn't mentally unstable like in the book, but she was tough. I like how in Attack on Rue Plumet, after she screams, she totally hits Thenardier. Her version of On My Own was so pretty, and even though it was softer than other versions, it's still just as powerful. And I loved A Little Fall of Rain. I don't even care that they cut half the lyrics, I loved it.

Enjolras(Aaron Tveit)

As was the case with Javert, he was really different from the guy on our CD. Where CD guy was all hyper and loud, this guy was more calm and thoughtful. In that way, I think he was pretty close to Book Enjolras. I like how he had more emotions than just being loud and obnoxious (But I still love you, CD Man! Whatever your name is!), and his singing was fairly decent. My sister describes his voice as sounding 'Like a Muffin', and I think I'll just leave it at that. He has some really good Blink-And-You'll-Miss-It moments in The Final Battle, helping guys into the Wine Shop, etc. And he was comforting Marius at the end of A Little Fall of Rain. :D

Gavroche(Daniel Huttlestone)

I liked this kid, he was good! I had a minor problem with him, and that was that sometimes it's a little hard to tell just what he's saying behind his charming cockney accent. (Why do French orphans talk like Charles Dickens characters?) Something I really like about Gavroche is that he's just as brave as (maybe even more so than) the grown-ups he hangs around with, and I think this came across quite well in the movie.

The Verdict: A
I was forced to deduct points for Master of the House(it was funny, don't get me wrong, but YIKES! I do not remember it being that rude.). But that's pretty outweighed by all the stuff that I did like about this movie. The sets, the actors, the orchestrations, the actors, etc... I loved the way it took the stage play and adapted it so well for the cinema. It was neat how they stuck in little odd details from the book and melded them in, too. Huzzah!

-Xochitl (why do I even bother with the alias anymore if I accidentaly stuck my real name in a comic? XD)

More Fun With Lonely Souls

Heh heh, I finally put a caption up on the blog header. It's from Phantom of the Opera, just so you know it's not random. XD
Anyhoo... Comic!

Then my sister thought it was extremely mean and cold-hearted of me to draw that, so the following drawing was inspired. :)

Of course, she didn't really chase me with a pitchfork and a torch. :)
That's pretty much a given.

-Xochitl

Playmobil Les Miserables

Hi, this is the little sister! Here are my playmobils doing Les Miserables. I got the stage for Christmas and it originally had a rock band on it, that explains the flashing lights!





This is the Confrontation. Javert is the Pirate, and Valjean is the Plummer. There's dead Fantine back there, too. [Nice earrings, Javert. :)]

 



This is Look Down(the one in Paris). Gavroche is the one in front.

 

This is A Heart Full of Love. :D

 

This is 'Building the Barricade'. Enjolras is the guy standing on top [You mean the one with the Bieber Hair?], and keep an eye out for Gavroche!

 

This is in The First Attack, when Valjean pretends to kill Javert.

 

This is The Final Battle.

This is Enjolras. He's not dead, he's just drunk. ["hiccup... Freedom... hiccup..."]

 





Now this is the WHOLE stage during the Final Battle. 

 

This is the beginning of Javert's Suicide. And... Marius still has his happy playmobil smile. XD

And this is Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. Okay, from left to right. The guys behind him are Combeferre, L'aigle, Enjolras, and Courfeyrac. Because he has a hat. :D [Sniffle... I'm so proud to have a sister who knows the names of the Friends of the ABC, but can't name all the members of One Direction. XD But wait, the Friends of the ABC are kinda like a boyband I suppose... Oh my... now I'm so conflicted.]

Ahem, who's post was this again, Xochitl?

[sorry.]

 

That's all I got for now, but thank you for looking at it! I really enjoy playing with the stage. :)



Battles are Loud

Post titles aren't something that somebody would pay me to think of. That's for sure.

I sure hope that everyone can tell that's a window with shutters. Hopefully the flowerpot gives it away that it's a window. XD
On an unrelated note, didn't the National Guardsman from the movie have such a fabulous mustache? :D
Oh, and the year is almost over. Oh. my. gosh.

Feliz Navidad!
-Xochitl

Les Halloween Costumes

Does anyone actually like these? Who knows!
Do I enjoy putting them up? You betcha! :D

So, as I've probably mentioned before, me and les siblings went as Les Miserables characters for Halloween. And here's Chibis of us in our costumes. With matching scenery.
My sister is Cosette, leaning against that gate, my brother is Enjolras(Though he'd work really well as a Gavroche... we couldn't talk him into it though.), standing on a table. Let's just hope he doesn't start singing like Merry and Pippin. I'm Eponine(I don't know why I felt the need to point that out. I mean, which other character wanders around at night looking sad?).
Huzzah for poorly drawn scenery! But seriously, if I'm going to make decent looking strips, I'm going to have to learn to put in scenery. Otherwise it looks like they all take place in the Veggie Tales opening. :P
-Xochitl

Yikes! It's only five days until Christmas?! Where'd December go?

A Long Rant About Eponine

[Sorry for all the pictures in this post. I found some Les Miserables illustrations on Bing, and went a little crazy, I guess.]

While reading the book, I was really looking forward to reaching Eponine. I actually flipped to the chapter where she comes in and dog eared it so that I could keep track of where I was in relation to it. (To be fair, that's around the halfway mark in the book, so it was also a way to record my progress. Trust me.)

 

A very young girl was standing in the half-open door. The dormer window of the garret, though which the light fell, was precisely opposite the door, and illuminated the figure with a wan light. She was a frail, emaciated, slender creature; there was nothing but a chemise and a petticoat upon that chilled and shiver nakedness. Her girdle was a string, her head ribbon a string, her pointed shoulders emerged from her chemise, a blond and lymphatic pallor, earth-collar bones, red hands, a half-open and degraded mouth, missing teeth, dull, bold, base eyes; she had the form of a young girl who has missed her youth, and the look of a corrupt old woman; fifty years mingled with fifteen; one of those beings which are both feeble and horrible, and which cause those to shudder whom they do not cause to weep.

-Volume III, Book Eight, Chapter Four- A Rose in Misery

Yikes, that's a pretty chilling description, yeah? A little shocking, since most of the time in the musical, Eponine looks something like this.

As the book went on, I noticed that Eponine from the book is radically different from Eponine in the musical.

 

In the musical, Eponine is a very sweet, shy girl, who does her best to be a good person despite her scumbag family. She's in love with her friend Marius, who is blind to her true feelings. As she laments frequently.

 

Little he knows, little he sees...

-Les Miserables Act I, The Robbery

Little you know, little you care...

-Les Miserables Act II, Building the Barricade

As you know, Marius falls in love with a young lady named Cosette, and Eponine is shot while on the way back to the barricade after an errand. Which was taking a letter to Cosette for Marius.

Why would she do that? Because Eponine loves him so much that she's willing to throw her own chance of happiness away, if it means he will be happy. That's some pretty strong love. And yes, I choose to think that it's real love, not some mopey teen crush. Because if Eponine was that shallow, she'd have found some other man to moon over.

As much as I like Eponine in the musical, she is far more complicated in the book.

In the book, Marius is probably the first man- or person, for that matter- in a long time who's treated Eponine with courtesy and respect. So for that reason, she clings to him like a lifeline. Marius is the only thing keeping her from going the same way as her parents. Once she meets Marius, Eponine does her best to be a decent person and be more than what she seems doomed to be.

It is remarkable that Eponine did not speak in Argot. That frightful tongue had become impossible to her since she had known Marius.

Volume IV, Book Eight, Chapter Four- A Dog runs in English and barks in Argot

 

Marius is Eponine's only hope for escaping her current, dismal life. That's what makes her character so tragic. If she were rich, it wouldn't be half as sad because she wouldn't need Marius. Eponine needs Marius if she's going to have any hope for the future. Sadly, she has no such luck. There was a line from the Japanese version of On My Own that I felt illustrated the tragedy of her situation well.

 

This boy does not need me,

I have no such hold on the world of happiness.

[Ano hito atashi o iranai

Shiawase no sekai en nado nai]

-Les Miserables, Act II, On My Own [Hitori]

 

However, she is less sympathetic than in the musical. She isn't pretty(At least at first, later she's described as beautiful.), she's rough, and amoral. She steals the letter that Cosette left for Marius, telling her new address, so that Marius would fall into despair and go to the barricade. That way, she and Marius would be able to be together in death.

Pretty dark, and radically different from the selfless girl in the musical.

But in the end she sacrifices her life for Marius, and gives him back the letter. Of course, you can argue that since he was going to die anyway(she thought), Eponine just gave him the letter because it didn't matter. Once again, I'm going to take a leap of faith and say I think her conscience gave way and she wanted him to be happy. Aside from being less dismal, that scenario makes a selfless and complete end for her story arc.

She dropped her head again on Marius' knees, and her eyelids closed. He thought the poor soul had departed. Eponine remained motionless. All at onces, at the very moment when Marius fancied her asleep forever, she slowly opened her eyes in which appeared the somber profundity of death, and said to him in a tone whose sweetness seemed already to proceed from another world;-

“And by the way, Monsieur Marius, I believe that I was a little bit in love with you.”

Volume IV, Book Fourteen, Chapter Six- The Agony of Death After the Agony of Life

 

So at the end of the day you're another day colder, Book Eponine is an almost completely different character from Musical Eponine.

In the musical, she's melancholy, shy, and selfless. In the book, she's talkative, strangely cheerful even when dying, and very conflicted. In the book, Eponine's not just the girl who loved Marius, she's also the girl who faced down against a murderous street gang- and won. She didn't scream though, but she did make a pretty awesome and terrifying speech that reveals a lot about her character.

[Eponine] began to laugh in a terrible way:

“As you like, but you shall not enter here. I'm not the daughter of a dog, since I'm the daughter of a wolf. There are six of you, what does that matter to me? You are men. Well, I'm a woman. You don't frighten me. I tell you that you shan't enter this house, because it doesn't suit me. If you approach, I'll bark. I told you, I'm the dog, and I don't care a straw for you. Go your way, you bore me! Go where you please, but don't come here, I forbid it! You can use your knives. I'll use kicks; it's all the same to me, come on!”

She advanced a pace nearer the ruffians, she was terrible, she burst out laughing:

“I'm not afraid. I shall be hungry this summer, and I shall be cold this winter. Aren't they ridiculous, these ninnies of men, to think they can scare a girl! What! Scare? Oh, yes, much! Because you have finical poppets of mistresses who hide under the bed when you put on a big voice, forsooth! I m not afraid of anything, that I'm not!”

She fastened her intent gaze upon Thenardier and said:

“Not even of you, father!”

Then she continued, as she cast her blood-shot, spectre like eyes upon the ruffians in turn:

“What do I care if I'm picked up tomorrow morning on the pavement of the Rue Plumet, killed by the blows of my father's club, or whether I'm found a year from now in the nets at Saint-Cloud or the Isle of Swans in the midst of rotten old corks and drowned dogs?”

She was forced to pause; she was seized by a dry cough, her breath came from her weak and narrow chest like the death rattle.

She resumed:

“I only have to cry out, and people will come, and then slap, bang! You're six people, but I'm everybody.”

Volume IV, Book Eight, Chapter Four- A Dog runs in English and barks in Argot

 

So... let's see, how to conclude... I suppose my point here is that in the Musical, Eponine is a more sympathetic character, but in the Book, she's deeper.

Part of the reason I really like the 2012 movie is because it keeps in the part where Eponine steals the letter, and she totally smacks Thenardier after she screams in Attack on Rue Plumet. (Sure, he slapped her back and all, but hey, at least she showed that she wasn't afraid of him.)

Of course, not to say that Musical Eponine is no good. That partly depends on the actress playing her, of course.

I think that a really good portrayl is one that remains sympathetic, while still being the rough, self-loathing, terrifying rose in misery.

 

(How was that last sentence for over-dramatic prose? :D But hey, I like how it flowed out of my pen... er, keyboard.)

-Xochitl

Les Hockey Season

Because if you think about it, it works. XD

 

Yeah. That shrill blob thing is supposed to me me, but I'm not sure there's any *real* resemblance. XD

Go Sharks!! 

-Xochitl















Stranger Danger

Of course, it was really sweet and lovely when Jean Valjean found Cosette in the woods all alone and frightened, and took her back home. But you've gotta admit, a stranger approaching you from the dark woods just isn't a sight that immediately evokes trust.

Gosh, that tree is an abomination.
Meanwhile, on an unrelated note...
Omigosh, it's December already?! Well, I guess that would explain why it's been getting so cold at night! :)
-Xochitl

Les Miserables(Book Cast)

Voila, in all their Bookish-Glory!
I probably got some hair colors wrong or something, but this is how they looked in my head while I read the book. Well, okay, they didn't look like shrill blobs of something vaguely human shaped, but you know what I mean, right? XD

Jean Valjean: Why did he come out so tiny? It seems like they just gradually get bigger as the page increases... I think it's because bigger chibis are easier to draw, but I wasn't sure how much room I would have on the page. Poor Jean. He's supposed to be bigger than everyone else! Well, the outfit he's wearing at the moment is supposed to be how he'd go out to the Luxembourg Gardens. Except that he forgot his hat.
Javert: Looking at least somewhat different than his Musical Self. Sad thing is, I always just imagined Javert to look like the actor from the 10th Anniversary, and it doesn't look like anything can dispel that mental image... Ah wells.
Fantine: Having just been fired from the factory. She's all anxiety ridden, and has a patch on her clothes. That indicates um... poverty.
Little Cosette: Poor kid. Looking pretty miserable. I always feel a little odd drawing a terrified child.
Thenardier: I wanted a change from his Sergeant at Waterloo outfit, so I made him dressed like I thought he might be in the 1832 part of the story.
Thenardiess: Tried to make her exactly like the book described her. A monstrous woman with ugly hair... Yeah. Hard to believe this lady likes romance novels. XD
Cosette: Hm. Purple Hat with a Black Dress. Really, Cosette?
Marius: I know, the book said that he had jet black hair. But If I colored his hair like that, he'd be completely black with no other colors. So I had to change it to dark brown. XD
Eponine: Obsessive, jealous, and maybe just a little crazy. So in other words, pretty radically different from her well-groomed musical self.
Gavroche: He has a hat! And is pretty dirty looking, but looks no less happy. He's also apparently making fun of Enjolras behind his back. Speaking of which...
Enjolras: Yeah. Smoking gun. Not good for a certain undercover member of the Patron-Minette. I don't know why I drew him holding the flag though. I mean, in the book, he's not as protective of it as he seemed to be in the movie. XD

G'day!
-Xochitl