Picture it: January 12, 2012. Jefferson City, Missouri.
It was a happy day in the life of Deb for numerous reasons. For one, it was opening day of one of my all-time favorite musicals and one of my favorite productions I’ve done to date: Man of La Mancha.It was also the very first show I would do with a group then known as Capital City Players, now called Capital City Productions at Shikles Auditorium in Jefferson City, MO.
(I’m the one in the donkey head. It was quite the time!)
The last time I sat down and watched all of The Tony Awards live from start to finish was 2008.
To give you some perspective of how long that’s been, that was the year Lin Manuel Miranda’s other hit In the Heights swept, the year Patti LuPone took home Tony number two, and the year the original cast of Rent returned to tribute the show before it closed later that year.
It was the year Obama was elected the first African-American president, and the Mac Book Air was first sold by Apple.
It was the year my older sister Carolyn graduated high school and went to college, the year we moved out of tiny, rural Owensville to Jefferson City.
As a theatre-loving kid who had to travel at least half an hour to participate in community theatre, the Tonys were a breath of fresh air, and a celebration. It was the one time a year I could sit in the comfort of my own living room, our cats purring at my side, and see an enormous theatre full of people who loved the theatre just as much as I did, and the people who were making it happen.
The HD closeups and behind the sceans closeups brought pro theatre to me in a way that was so immediate and personal. Other than that, it was pretty much either the YouTube clips on our decrepit computer that would freeze up, or the very back rows of the big theatre houses in Saint Louis when we could afford it.
I saw the beauty and magic of this world that I wanted to be a part of. Most of all, I wanted a community like one of the Broadway folk.
And 2008 was the year it all started to happen for me. I moved to Jefferson City, and had a myriad of local theatres, lessons, and shows to see at my finger tips. The first few years were a rough transition, trying to establish myself and get into shows. Milestones such as my first character shoes, first real head shots, and first time doing a real musical within a short drive of my house. By the time my senior year rolled around, I was hopping from show to show, doing work on and offstage in every capacity I could. Most of all, I finally had a community of like-minded people who shared a love of putting on shows.
There was one downside though: Never in that time did I get to watch the Tonys live, because I always had either a performance or tech rehearsal turing them!
Of course, I still had friends texting me updates, watched the show online the next day, and once or twice I even made it home just in time to catch the tail-end, but it was never quite the same. Don’t get me wrong, it was more than worth it to get to do what I love with the people I love, but it still kind of sucked.
This year,the 70th annual Tonys hosted by James Corden, I actually got to sit down and watch live. I had a show, yes, but the timing worked out that I would finish my last show of Rock of Ages, a matinee, the day of, and make it home to watch live that evening. (And after doing five shows in six days, I desperately needed a night on the couch with a bottle of wine).
That wasn’t the only reason I was excited, though. My Broadway crush, Aaron Tveit was presenting.
Hamilton, a new found favorite,was sure to sweep. (Some were calling it the Hamiltonys.)
Mostly though, this was the first time I had seen any of the nominated shows before the big night. Specifically, School of Rock and the Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening. Not to mention that unlike in 2008, I literally lost count of how many of the presenters/nominees/performers I had seen perform and or met.
I had initially woken up that morning full of excitement, ready for one last show, and then Tony night.
Sadly, that day was also met with a degree of solemn sadness when I logged onto social media and began reading of the devastating shooting in Orlando.
I’m not going to express my specific opinion on the delicate issues that a horrific event such as this stirs up, but I will say this: Like so many others I was shocked, horrified, saddened, but mostly just mind-boggled as to how anyone could commit such an act. But largely, I felt overwhelmed with guilt and conflict.
Why guilt? Well, because this had started out as a happy day, but was now colored by tragedy. Because I was still here, and those 50 victims were not. But mostly, I still wanted to participate in and enjoy my pre-planned activities, and felt guilty for still wanting to do so in wake of a major tragedy.
Well, of course as every performer knows, “the show must go on”, and surrounded by the crazy talented cast, crew, and band we rocked Jefferson City one last time, several of us going on in honor of those lost. Throughout the course of the show, I got word of the Tonys dedicating their show to the victims, Lin Manuel-Miranda’s choice not to use guns in Hamilton’s Tony performance, and the various ways other members of the Broadway community would pay tribute.
The theatre community is a resilient one, people have been saying it’s dying for years, yet it keeps renewing and rejuvenating, growing all that much more. I like to think it’s because such a huge part of our jobs is rolling with the punches and embracing insanity. Maybe that’s why we’ve always responded so well to crisis. The incident that comes to mind is the September 11 attacks, and this commercial:
On one hand, theatre and the arts and general can serve as an escape from pain. If you’re an artist, it’s a place to channel pain. But most importantly,the arts help us feel and make us more emotionally whole beyond the walls of the theatre building.
So with that in mind, I spent the night watching the 60th Annual Tony Awards. (But not before pregaming with the red carpet live stream, the Hamilton portion of 60 Minutes, and some wine).
So, I’ve decided to talk about some of my favorite moments from the night.
At the top of the evening, James Corden launched into what was by far my favorite part of the night: the opening number titled “This Could be You”. It was with this song he so beautifully, hilariously, and truthfully celebrated the childhood of those kids like me, and the magical experience of attending shows and falling madly in love, wanting nothing more than to be a part of it. I had so many flashbacks of performing to my cast albums in my room for the enjoyment of my stuffed animals. The passion that so many time as a kid nobody understood, or that put me at the target of torment from kids at school. Let me tell you, if small Deborah had seen that, she would have felt SO MUCH less alone. (And gotten every single musical reference too.)
What was also so great was ending the number with all the musical acting nominees. My favorite Tony openers are the ones that celebrate all the nominated shows, and theatre as a whole, which this did in a way I hadn’t seen since 2013 with Neil Patrick Harris.
It was also then that I was stuck by the diversity I saw onstage before me in the nominees, which definitely made me smile. (Oscars with diversity indeed!)
All kidding aside, can we talk a minute about the diversity in this year’s Broadway season? We had Hamilton, Color Purple, On Your Feet, and Shuffle Along with a cast of mostly POC (people of color) actors. We had Allegiance and Amazing Grace which also had a mostly POC cast as well as tackling some of the worst instances of racial inequality in America. We had Waitress, which had Broadway’s first all female creative team and mostly female leads. We had Deaf West’s Spring Awakening with a cast of mostly deaf/hard of hearing actors and Broadway’s first actress in a wheelchair. I’m barely scratching the surface here but you get the idea. I’m not saying theatre is a perfect utopia of equality, we, and the entertainment industry as a whole have a LONG way to go in terms of inclusiveness. But looking at this year’s Tony nominees compared to, say, this year’s Oscar nominees…..yeah, Broadway has some great things going on. I hope this trend continues.
(On a side note it still kills me that Allegiance closed so early and thus was not nominated for anything but that’s a different topic for a different post)
Well from there, the one and only Andrew Lloyd Webber introduced his new, Tony-nominated show School of Rock. As I said, it was one of the shows I had the privilege of seeing during my trip to NYC. Truth be told,when I heard that film was going to be a musical, I was a tad skeptical at first, simply because I tend to grow weary of the whole “every movie needs to be a musical” trend.
But my last day in NYC, I found myself with standing room tickets for the show anyway, and I thought “Well, at the very least I’ll get to see Sierra Boggess and Luca Padovan and can brag about seeing a new Webber show with the OBC.”
…And I found myself LOVING it. This story translated well to the stage. The creative team didn’t fall into the age-old trap of simply putting the movie onstage. The best adapted musicals (which, let’s be real, is 99% of them) are the ones that take the best things, and the essence of the source material, and transfer it to the stage accordingly. I literally had no complaints, except perhaps that those kids are so stupid talented and made me feel inferior. (Seriously, they haven’t hit puberty and star on Broadway, triple threats PLUS playing rock instruments live). Funny, touching, kick-ass rock music, superb cast, and I got to see it all. Okay, so it’s not going to change the face of musical theatre of cure diseases, but it still worked well as a show and made my last night in NYC a great one. And the stage door was awesome, met so many cool people.
Were this not the Hamiltonys, I feel like this show would have fared much better at the Tonys. But at least we got an AWESOME Tony performance. I’m glad that this show is still doing well despite the Hamilton takeover. (For the record, I do not in any way blame Lin-Manuel Miranda or anyone involved with Hamilton for the other shows being overlooked or closing.) But hey, like they say in the video-“We’re not here to win…we’re here to rock!”
Upon the conclusion of School of Rock, I was ecstatic to see that James Corden incorporated the #Ham4Ham inspired live show outside the theatre.
For those of you unfamiliar, the lottery for Hamilton always draws a lot of people, so Lin had the idea to do a little live show outside the theatre for the lottery entrees, sometimes people from the cast, sometimes from special guests, and it’s pretty cool. I got to experience the last one of 2015, when Lin brought in the three sisters from Fiddler on the Roof, singing a parody of “Matchmaker” saying why they should be the next Schuyler Sisters.
So yeah, they pretty much did the same thing at the Tonys, with the various casts of the nominated shows, kicking if off with the nominated composers….including freaking Webber on the tambourine…(Never in a million years did I ever think I’d type that sentence.)
Back from commercial break my Bway crush, Mr. Aaron Kyle Tveit (who actually had his name pronounced correctly)….
….got to present a Tony to my girl, Renee Elise Goldsberry!
Adored her speech, it was one of my favs. (Although I don’t understand why they played “Room Where it Happens” when she went up rather than “Satisfied”) Loved her talking about being able to be an actress and a mom. Not to mention I love emotional Tony speeches. (Plus her dress was AWESOME!) Seeing the reaction of all her Hamilton compadres also gave me warm fuzzies. Especially Lin…freaking Lin…
Closely followed was Shuffle Along‘s performance. Truly incredible, I think it’s so cool how it was transformed for this season to the point where it was considered a new musical rather than a revival. Let me tell you…watching Audra McDonald on TV, it still blows my mind that I met this freaking woman by accident on my way to the Lincoln Center and wished her a happy new year.
Onto “Best Featured Actor in a Musical”…oh my that was a nail biter for me. Surely it was going to go to one of the Hamilton guys, but which one? It was also super surreal knowing I had met those three in NYC.
Ultimately, I’m so happy it went to Daveed. I loved his speech, and his overall reaction to winning. I love that Hamilton brought him to the Broadway scene when he most likely would not have otherwise, not coming from a theatre background. Plus he’s just a spectacular human being. Plus, how sweet was that story with his parents? I dig the mental picture of him in rainbow tights with his dad back in pre school.
Two awesome revivals performed next, She Loves Me and Fiddler on the Roof.
I literally love every single person who performed with She Loves Me: Jane “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” Krakowski, Gavin “My Cat is Named After You” Creel, Zachary “Y0u Broke My Smolder” Levi, and Laura “Hilarious Woman” Benanti.
And of course Fiddler…..with a clip of high school Josh Groban as Tevye…..
Bright Star’s performance was a real treat for me, seeing as Carmen Cusack was my third Elphaba in Wicked. In fact, there were a lot of Wicked alums up for awards: Jayne Houdyshell, Saycon Sengbloh, Megan Hilty….it was pretty great. So sad that Bright Star is closing soon. (And of course, who doesn’t love Steve Martin?)
And friggin TheColor Purple, man……
Well, I think this gif of Aaron Tveit’s reaction to this performance mirrors mine perfectly…
Plus, me crying, remembering the time I met Heather Headley
And then…..Spring a freak a Wakening……
This freaking show…where do I even start….??????
So it’s no secret that Spring Awakening has been one of my all time favorite shows for many years now, especially after having been in it.
So when I heard about Deaf West’s production of it, I was definitely interested, and everything I saw from it blew me away. But when I fount out it was heading to Broadway, that REALLY got my attention. I didn’t think it would return to Broadway for another decade, yet there we were.
I was in a rough patch when DWSA (Deaf West Spring Awakening) came to Broadway, so I distracted myself by falling in love with the show/cast on social media, and became desperate to see it. Its website advertised selling discount tickets on tix4students.com, an AMAZING website that I highly recommend for all college students. Between that site, my parents moving closer to NYC, and picking up more hours at work, I began to realize that the crazy idea of going to New York over Christmas was actually within the realm of possibility. Essentially, DWSA was the reason the trip even happened, and for that reason among many others I’m supremely grateful for this show.
But that’s not all. By far, DWSA was the best thing I saw in NYC, and totally changed the way I look at that show, and so much more. I’ve become much more aware of, and an advocate for inclusion in theatre and elsewhere, and of #DeafTalent, #ASL (American Sign Language) and the like. Not to mention that literally everything about the show was so well done, mind blowing, and transformative.
The DWSA stage door was also one of the most incredible stage door experiences of my life. I took it upon myself to learn some ASL to communicate with the deaf/hard of hearing actors in the show, with some help from Andy Mientus’s vlog as featured here.
At 7:42, Andy and cast member Josh Castille teach us some stage door signs:
And here at 6:02, Andy and Josh explain sign names and what everyone’s are.
I literally practiced signing for weeks…and I’ll never forget greeting Josh with his sign name because his jaw just DROPPED. I explained that I learned it from the vlog, and was just so happy and amazed that I took the initiative, and scooped me up in a great big hug. It was pretty remarkable.
Despite being nominated for three Tonys (though it deserved much more, especially for choreography, I mean seriously the ASL incorporation was remarkable), the show closed back in January and needed a Kickstarter campaign to be able to perform at the Tonys….which it did! (I wasn’t able to give much, but I did chip in since this show means so much to me).
I cried all the way through the performance, thinking of how this revolutionary show went from a 90 seat theatre to Broadway, and was now bringing ASL to the world on prime time TV.
And hey Tonys…if you can’t give Michael Arden a Tony for directing/conceptualizing this life-changing show, the least you could have done was show the right person when he’s announced as a nominee….geez….
And of course Hamilton‘s performance, introduced by none other than the current US president/first lady themselves. You know, whether or not you like Obama’s politics, you have to admit his musical theatre priorities are on point. They love Hamilton, they’ve had so many casts of Broadway shows at the White House, and he awarded Stephen Sondheim the Presidential Medal of Freedom-the highest honor a US civilian can receive! Need I say more?
Were this not the year of Hamilton, I feel like Waitress could have made a killing at the Tonys. I seriously just have so many feelings about this show. Broadway’s first musical with an all female creative team, Jessie Mueller ripping everyone’s heart out, pie….I mean what’s not to love?
Just like the last time I got to watch the Tonys live, there was a tribute to a long running show. This time, it was Chicago.
Fun fact-Bebe Neuwirth was one of the first major Broadway stars that I ever met-at fifteen I might add! I waited for her after The Addams Family pre-Broadway run, aptly enough, in the city of Chicago.
This transitioned well into the 2016 award for Best Revival that went to The Color Purple. Obviously I was rooting for Spring Awakening, but Color Purple was also incredibly deserving. In a way, I was expecting it, since Tonys tend to favor still-running shows since winning a Tony usually means higher ticket sales. Ultimately, the fact that a show that began with a Kickstarter campaign in a tiny theatre made it to the Tonys on another Kickstarter campaign, and the fact that ASL and that much deaf talent was featured on prime time TV is awesome and worth celebrating on its own.
As always, the “In Memoriam” portion struck a chord with me, especially David Bowie and Kyle Jean Baptiste. But truly, the simple string ensemble playing “Seasons of Love” was supremely powerful. Yes, I know, it’s an over-used musical theatre song for that sort of occasion.
But this Tony Awards was full of full circle moments for me from the last time I watched in 2008. Lin Manuel Miranda sweeping both times, Laura Benanti, Danny Burnstein, and Christopher Fitzgerald being up for awards, realizing the sheer number of Broadway royalty I had seen since the last time…and the incorporation of Jonathan Larson’s songs that have haunted me since my pre-teen years.
I couldn’t help but think about him, and his work that much like Hamilton was completely written by one genius man, changed the game, and took a handful of awards (including the Pulitzer) with it.
Twenty years later we still sing Jonathan’s songs, and I know twenty years later we’ll still be singing Lin’s. I look forward to the day when The Tonys use “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” for the “In Memoriam” section. But hopefully Lin will still be around to hear it.
From there, Leslie Odom Jr. and Cynthia Erivo take home their well deserved Tonys for Best Leading Actor/Actress in a Musical, making history in the process. Between them, Daveed, and Renee, this was the first time in Tony history that all four recipients of acting awards for a musical were people of color. How awesome is that? And those speeches….simply inspired.
And of course the inevitable happened: Hamilton won. Like I’m pretty sure Barbara Streisand didn’t even open the envelope.
Like seriously, they should have just had two Tonys: the Hamiltonys and the “Second Best to Hamilton” Tonys.
But all kidding aside, I would like to say this:
Yes, Hamilton is pretty freaking great. And with a lot of hard work and about ten break downs I was able to procure tickets to the Chicago production and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it.
But it is not the only good show ut there, despite what all the main stream media will try to tell you. There is so much great theatre out there that is worth your time. Whether it’s local amateaur theatre, workshops, regional, tours, it would be a shame to miss out on the experience of live theatre.
Go, see a play, read scripts, support up and coming shows in development, encourage your children to check out what theatre has to offer, maybe even try to be part of the show yourself in some capacity. I truly believe there is a place for everyone in theatre whether onstage or off, and I truly believe there is a show out there for everyone that they can connect to and take something from. As our dear friend James Corden said, “This could be where you belong”.
All I can say is that for one little girl…
….it certainly was…
I leave you with the closing number from the Tonys, where the Schuyler Sisters sum it up pretty well with “Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now”.
As always, thanks for reading. See you next time.
In the meantime, peace out, girl scouts. Stay classy.
I have a confession to make: Until this year, I had never seen Into the Woods onstage. Yes, I’d seen the original Broadway production on DVD-and I personally know two of the cast members from that production. I’d seen the Disney film that came out last year, and I own three different cast albums of it that I listen to for hours on end. I’m even currently serving as a production assistant for a local production of it-but I despite all of this I had never seen the show live in an actual theatre from beginning to end.
I’m so happy to report that as of this past Wednesday night, that was finally remedied.
It’s been a long time summer tradition of mine to go to shows a The Muny in Saint Louis, Missouri. Some shows are better than others, but it’s so exciting getting to see so much top-notch Broadway talent in my home state-and with free seats in the back none the less! This made my tenth summer coming to The Muny, and my twenty-fifth production I’ve attended. So from the beginning, this was a special night at the theatre.
But it gets better. One of my favorite theatre women of all time was starring in this production as the Witch-the remarkable Heather Headley. I first fell in love with her as the title role in Aida, one of my all-time favorite musicals. (It was that role that got her a well-deserved Tony). I about fell out of my seat when I found out she would be in my state for the summer. Joining her was Rob McClure of Broadway’s Honeymoon in Vegas and Chaplin, and Muny regular. (I caught him back in 2011 as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors)
Amelia, Me, Rob McClure after Little Shop in 2011
Rounding out the cast was Jason Gotay, one of the enchanting Lost Boys of Peter Pan Live as Jack, Muny regular Ken Page (Also the Original Broadway Old Deuteronomy in Cats and the voice of Oogie Boogie in Nightmare Before Christmas) as the Narrator, and a multitude of other wonderful folk that I will be talking about as we go on.
Me with Ken Page after Beauty and the Beast in 2010.
So long story short, I was pretty excited-and especially excited to be sharing this night with my dad and my bestie, Hallie Glaser. I had previously had my dad sit down to watch the OBC DVD, and taken Hallie to see the movie in theatres with me. We arrive at The Muny, and claim our free seats-which were actually right in front of the free seat section. We had just finished some pizza, and we were chowing down on Sour Patch Kids. (When Hallie and I come to The Muny together, it’s our tradition to get Sour Patch Kids. This started when we saw The Little Mermaid in 2011 with our friend Michaela. Hallie’s mom had brought some snacks for us, including Sour Patch Kids, and I accidentally ate them all before the show. They gave me a hard time, so the next time Hallie and I saw a show together at The Muny I bought her some to make up for it, and now it’s our tradition).
Shortly after we sat down, the evening started off eventful. The doors hadn’t opened for the paid seats yet, so it was empty except for Muny staff, and one man in street clothes running up and down the steps. I thought that was a tiny bit strange, but when he came closer up to my section, I thought he looked familiar. Then it hit me-it was Rob McClure, tonight’s Baker! This may have been cheeky of me, but I shouted out “Hey Rob!” and he actually looked up and waved and smiled at me, which was pretty cool.
Rob McClure-Photo courtesy of Broadwayworld.com
Once Rob had gone, I took that chance to check out the set-at least what was visible before the show. The initial back drop was that of fairy tale books, which three large stand up ones in front of it that would revolve to reveal the homes of their respective inhabitants. Yes, this included a book entitled “The Baker and His Wife” which I thought was pretty cool, because even though they are essentially the only characters that weren’t directly extracted from Grimm Fairy Tales, it is their story that brings everyone else together.
So finally the show starts, and the first thing I see is a cluster of young-ish kids come onstage, and I can’t help but cringe a bit. Yes, I love the Muny, but it kind of gets old how they drag the Muny Kids into everything. (Okay, maybe I’m just a little jaded because I never had the opportunity to be a Muny kid, but still.) I’m expecting the Narrator to be coming out and telling the story to the kids, which is a bit cliché in my way of thinking. But then Ken Page comes out as the Narrator, and the kids pull out black robes and scurry off. As the show progresses, they reappear to move along the story, changing the set, bringing on Cinderella’s birds on wires, helping with the Witch transformation. For the Finale, they come back onstage and remove the robes, becoming kids once again. Incorporating the Youth Ensemble into the show that way was actually pretty cool. They became a part of the show, and it’s almost as if they were also helping to pass it along so more people could hear it. So good job, Muny, that’s how you should use your Muny kids instead of dropping them in at random as you do in some of your shows.
Elena Shaddow and Company-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
So the Prologue begins, and one by one our characters appear and are introduced to the audience. I was instantly captivated by the beautifully melodic voice of Cinderella, played by Elena Shadow.
Elena Shadow-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
(Who looks just like Sarah Michele Gellar…which is especially funny since Gellar played Cinderella in a Disney Princess Rap Battle…which if you haven’t seen check it out it’s pretty funny…)
On the opposite side of the stage is the endearing Jason Gotay as Jack, which his beloved cow Milky White. I was extremely impressed with how Milky White was accomplished in this production. She’s a puppet for all intents and purposes, with two actors inside of her controlling her movement. The cow legs attacked to the actor legs, allowing for realistic movement, and a cow that was actually cow-sized.
Zoe Vonder Harr, Jason Gotay, and Maggie Lakis-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
(But if you’d like some examples of some not so great Milky Whites, check out the blog below. It’s definitely good for a laugh)
Which brings up the subject of costuming. One of my few quips with this show as some of the costuming choices. They were beautiful costumes, but they were somewhat inconsistent. Some of the characters like the princes, the Mysterious Man, The Witch in Act I were dressed in the traditional garb expected of Grimm’s fairy tale characters. But then other characters were dressed in more modern style clothes. The stepsisters’ dresses resembled prom dresses,
April Strelinger and Jennifer Diamond-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
…and Jack was done up in denim overalls and Converse (Which he rocked, don’t get me wrong…).
Jason Gotay and Maggie Lakis-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
And then other costuming too closely resembled others. For one, Little Red had her hair in dark braids, with a blue dress and bright red shoes…between that, the skipping and the basket, she SCREAMED Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. (Although the red shoes with her striped socks said more “Wicked Witch of the East”….just saying).
Sara Kapner-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
And then all the princesses looked like they were from the Disney films. Cinderella had the long floofy pale blue dress…
Elena Shaddow-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
….Rapunzel was dressed in a purple dress like that of Tangled…
Samantha Massell-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
and both Snow White and Sleeping Beauty’s dresses were identical to that of their animated Disney counterparts. For those last two, it’s understandable since they’re only onstage for a few minutes, and most people, especially those in the back, may not have gathered that that’s who they were without the obvious clues. (Even though the princes VERY clearly sing about them in the “Agony” reprise). The last nail in the coffin for me was having the Witch, who was played by an African American woman, having a green sparkly dress…..so essentially they also threw Tiana from Princess and the Frog in there too.
Heather Headley and Company-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
But one costuming choice that really resounded me was that of the Baker’s Wife. She was clad in a fifties style dress with an apron and high heels, making her look like a June Cleaver-esque house wife. Once again it was inconsistent with the rest of the costume choices in the show, but I think it worked well for her character. I think dressing her in that way symbolized how she felt somewhat stuck in her relationship and her life as a housewife, hence the line “At home I feared we’d stay this way forever”. However it’s that feeling of discontent and maybe a little boredom that leads her to eventually agree to get it down with The Prince.
Erin Dilly-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.com
Since I’ve brought them up, this is now as good a time as any to sing the praises of Rob McClure as the Baker and Erin Dilly as the Baker’s Wife. The Baker is a character that can easily become bland and spineless, but McClure brought a vitality to him that could not be ignored. His Baker’s one eighty change by the end of the show came about at a believable pace. Probably the most evident of these, for me at least, was his gut-wrenching “No More”. I was definitely in tears. Erin Dilly as the Baker’s Wife was a vibrant performance. Her voice and her acting were pitch perfect, I could genuinely believe that she loved her husband and child, but at the same time had that side of her that would lead her to stray.
Erin Dilly and Rob McClure-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
But back to the Prologue…Heather Headley comes on with a huge round of entrance applause. And then she opens her mouth to speak, and oh my goodness gracious. Even just talking her voice is so enchanting to listen to. It has this rich, deep quality that grabs your attention. And then when she puts it to use to sing it’s unspeakably beautiful. Even though it was ten years ago now, she sounds so much like she does on my cast recordings of Lion King and Aida. I heard her and instantly thought “Oh yeah, that’s Heather alright!” And her Witch’s rap was spot on!
Heather Headley, Erin Dilly, Rob McClure-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
Then it’s time for everyone to start their respective journeys. The backdrop opens up to reveal an enormous, rotating maze-like structure with many levels, steps, and passageways for the actors to journey over. With the actual trees and wildlife behind it that an outdoor theatre provides, it was quite convincing.
After the Prologue we meet the Mysterious Man, who in this production also played Cinderella’s father, which I think was a choice that worked well. The rest of the double casting was the standard fare from the Broadway production, with the same actor playing the Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince, and the same actress playing Cinderella’s Mother, Granny, and the Voice of the Giant. Michael McCormick (Who I saw play Thenardier the last time the Muny did Les Mis), Andrew Samonsky (Who I caught there as Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie), and Anna Blair all did an outstanding job balancing all their respective roles and making each one distinct and memorable.
Sara Kapner and Andrew Samonsky-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
Speaking of the Wolf, this costume too felt a little too similar to the one from the 2014 film, but thankfully this did not diminish Andrew Samonsky’s menacing wolf. He was scary and played the double meaning of eating Little Red and, well, other things well without being too over the top about it. Sara Kapner played Little Red, while she had an outstanding voice, of all the actors she’s the one I saw the least amount of development from. The Little Red at the end of the show felt much to me like the same little girl we met at the top of the show. Granted, I was in the free seats, so it’s very likely she had some more subtle nuances and growth in there that I just couldn’t pick up on from my seat. But I’m just nitpicking, really.
This production chose to include The Witch and Rapunzel’s duet, “Our Little World”, which is not my favorite song in the show, not by a LONG shot. But both women had such outstanding voices, that I really didn’t mind. In fact, I was glad I got to hear more singing from both of them. Samantha Massell as Rapunzel was a treat, she had this amazing, unearthly singing voice that was both delightful and haunting. And Heather’s Witch had a lot more emphasis on her relationship, unhealthy as it may be, to Rapunzel.
Samantha Massell and Heather Headley-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
Along comes Cinderella again, running from her prince into the Baker’s Wife. The two of them had lovely and believable chemistry together. Elena Shaddow’s Cinderella wasn’t as developed as she could have been, but she still brought a striking loveliness to the role.
One midnight goes by, and up Jack goes to the beanstalk, and thus he sings about it in “Giants in the Sky”, sung fantastically by the aforementioned Jason Gotay. He absolutely nailed that song, and the rest of his scenes as well. I think his Jack is my new favorite. He definitely grew throughout the show, but not without losing that loveable innocence and exuberance of a child.
Jason Gotay-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
Both Cinderella and Rapunzel’s Princes, played by Andrew Samonsky and Ryan Silverman respectively, did an exquisite “Agony”. The perfect amount of cheese and princely-ness and well sung to boot. These two characters always struck a chord with me, because I’ve known so many guys like them who are deceptively charming but turn out to be absolute jerks.
Andrew Samonsky and Ryan Silverman-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
As Act I progresses we get more Cinderella and Baker’s Wife interaction, and an absolutely heart-warming performance of “It Takes Two”. And then comes “Stay With Me”……oh goodness gracious. Listening to Heather Headley sing this song was worth the drive up alone. Heather’s Witch was so different from any other I’d seen. While I love what Bernadette Peters and Meryl Streep did with the character, their portrayals were that of this supernatural being who was above everyone else. Heather’s was probably the most human and relatable by far, with all of her actions purely driven by her wants and desires. I actually found myself sympathizing with her, which was a first for me. And of course, it was so gorgeously sung.
So Act I comes to a close, and it looks like all will come to a happy end….hahahahahaha what show did you think it was? The giant arrives, chaos ensues. All of that accumulates to the first interaction with the giant that ends in three deaths. Quick shout-out to Zoe Vonder Haar who played Jack’s mother. I saw her years ago as Mama Rose in Stages’ production of Gypsy, and it was a real treat to see her again in this show. She was outstanding once again as Jack’s mother, especially in her death scene. We also see the deaths of the Narrator, played exquisitely by Ken Page, and the gruesome death of Rapunzel.
Zoe Vonder Haar and Company-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
This prompts the “Witch’s Lament”, which honestly, is usually the song I skip when I listen to the cast album. But if I had a recording of Heather Headley singing it, I would never do so. She was literally crying through the whole song, genuinely mourning the loss of her daughter. It was more than clear to me that from there on out, it was this moment and her pain that prompted the rest of the Witch’s actions in the show. Her desire to give Jack to the giant is her way of avenging her daughter, and “Last Midnight” his here way not only to get away from the other characters, but away from the loss of her daughter. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it.
From there the characters split up and even more mayhem ensues….and Cinderella’ Prince has relations with The Baker’s Wife. She’s obviously enchanted, but little does she know that to the Prince she is just another good time. I straight up wanted to punch him. Baker’s Wife dies, but not before a conflicted and raw performance of “Moments in the Woods”.
Andrew Samonsky and Erin Dilly-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
The remaining characters find each other again, and the rest of the characters, led by the Baker, seek to find who is to blame for the giant coming to the land. Heather Headley does her magnificent thing, and vanishes, leaving Cinderella, Little Red, Jack, and a despondent Baker to find their way out of it all together…but not before the Baker almost leaves his child with them.
Elena Shaddow, Sara Kapner, Heather Headley, Rob McClure, and Jason Gotay-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
His run-in with his father once again convinces him otherwise. As I said earlier, Rob McClure’s “No More” is absolutely gut wrenching. That and “Last Midnight” were probably my favorite parts of the productions.
Leading into “No One Is Alone”, we have the scene in which Cinderella and her prince part ways. I’ve mentioned this in my Bechdel post (Which you can read here) that I ship Cinderella and The Baker as a couple. Elena Shaddow did a little thing that set my little heart afire. During her line “My father’s house was a nightmare, your house was a dream, and now I want something in between,” (Which happens to be my favorite Cinderella line), she very deliberately looked down at The Baker’s baby, as if she could already see herself becoming his mother!
I don’t know why, but for whatever reason “No One Is Alone” didn’t hit me as hard as it normally does. Maybe I was already drained from the previous two songs, maybe I was distracted by the plane that went over, or maybe I was just too made at the people who were getting up and leaving during that song. That’s the one thing I HATE about going to the Muny, is that the audience often has such TERRIBLE etiquette, especially the people in and near the free seats where I sit. Clearly they didn’t read my last blog post. Then maybe they would know a thing or two about not being late, staying in your seat, and not leaving until after the curtain call. Every time I go there’s a part of me that wants to get up and punch several of the people I’m sitting around. But I digress.
So as the show comes to its conclusion, everyone returns, not the same as they are when the show opened. The children return to finish the story, ready to then pass on the story to another generation after them, as the Baker does to his son and his son will do for his children. We’ve come full circle, and it’s quite beautiful if I do say so myself. Curtain call comes, everyone takes their bows, the crowd goes wild-especially me. And then it’s time to hit the stage door!
Company-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
Hallie and I run down as fast as we can, fighting the crowds and ducking and dodging in around people to get a good spot in line. And what do you know, we end up being first in line to meet Heather Headley. Surprisingly, she was one of the first ones out! She requested no photos, probably because she had her little boy with her and either wanted to get him to bed or protect his privacy. But just the same, I will never forget meeting her as long as I live, picture or none. Up close, I can see that she hasn’t aged a day from when she did Aida over ten years ago. She had glittering sparkly pink eye shadow that accentuated her eyes, and was wearing a pink Blues Hockey t-shirt. I found that a bit odd at first, I would think that since she’s from Chicago originally that she would be a Black Hawks fan. But I found out later that apparently because she IS such a die-hard Black Hawks fan, some of the crew of the show have been trying to convert her and got her the Blues shirt. I told her I was a big fan and loved her in Aida so much, to which she touched my shoulder and stared right into my eyes and thanked me, in a simple but elegant way in that deep melodic voice of hers. She signed both Hallie and my Playbills, and Hallie’s inlay booklet for her Aida cast recording. She was so incredibly kind and genuine, I could hardly believe it. Did I mention that she touched my shoulder and stared into my soul? Pretty sure I’ll never be the same.
Heather Headley-Photo courtesy of BroadwayWorld.Com
Then Rob McClure come out to meet us, and I told him I was the one who said “Hi” to him before the show, and he laughed a bit, remembering. We told him that we were going to be back next week for Beauty and the Beast, which he told us he started rehearsing for that day. He commented that it was a bit jarring going from one to another, to which I said that it was the one fairy tale that this show didn’t include, which made him laugh again. We got a photo with him, we thanked him, all in all pretty great.
Yes, Hallie and I DO have Little Mermaid friendship necklaces!
And then we located Jason Gotay, who was surrounded by a multitude of people. At one point I tapped him on the shoulder and whispered “Mister Jason?” and somebody in his group pointed in my direction and he turned around and smiled at me, saying hello. I told him I was a big fan, to which he said “Oh really?” I went on to tell him how much I loved Peter Pan Live, especially the Lost Boys, and would watch the DVD over and over again. He then said “You just made my night!” which melted my heart. I mentioned briefly how I’m production assistant for Into the Woods in my hometown, and how I had to fill in for Jack when our actor went to New York for a week, which prompted him to say “Ah, so you know what I go through each night then”. We got a picture with him, but just before we did I noticed that he was still wearing awesome Converse, just like Hallie and I. I pointed that out, to which he said “Hey, so we are” which in turn I said “I’m glad we had this Converse-ation. He laughed and said “Ah, I see what you did there!” You heard it here folks. A Broadway actor appreciated one of my bad puns.
We also spoke briefly with Zoe Vonder Haar, Ryan Silverman, and the girl who played Snow White (Who looked exactly like Lorde, not even kidding). After that we decided to head out, because Dad had to work the next day.
All-together, it was a fantastic production that made me all that more excited to be a part of my own production of it. Well done, Muny.
Speaking of my production, you should totes come to that if you are in the JC area this August. (#Shamelessplug). It runs the 6-9, and 13-16. It’s dinner theatre so you get dinner (from delicious Argyle Catering) for $35. Thursday-Saturday dinner starts at 6:30 with the show at 7:30, and Sundays lunch is at 12:30 with a show at 1:30. You can tickets by calling 573-681-9012 or go to http://www.capitalcityplayers.com. If you’d like a free preview of the show, the cast will be performing this Friday the 31st at 6:30 at the downtown Arts Stroll. I mean, come on, check out this beautiful bunch-and we’re talented too!
Courtesy of Andrew Richmond
In the meantime, check out this highlights vid from the Muny production. So keep on keeping on and hope to see you this August!
It’s no secret that I am a huge Les Mis fan, or “Mizzie”. I have every single official English language recording of the show (Original London, Original Broadway, Complete Symphonic, Tenth Anniversary, Twenty First Anniversary, Twenty-fifth Anniversary, and Movie Deluxe Soundtrack) and I have official recordings in seven other languages as well. (French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Polish, Israeli, and Swedish). I dramaturged my production of it because of my extensive Les Mis knowledge, and memorized it to the point that during rehearsal I filled in for missing cast members without skipping a beat. (Not to mention entertaining/annoying my cast members with a series of two four six oh puns. I kept it up for the entire two four six oh run. I think towards the end there I started to get two four six oh shunned-but that wouldn’t stop my two four six oh fun).
(My Production. Photo credit to Andrew Richmond).
However, my love for Les Mis doesn’t end there. I’ve made it a life goal to immerse myself in every rendition of this story available. So far I’ve been fairly successful, I have six movie adaptations under my belt, seven if you count the 2012 movie-musical version, and I’ve watched all the episodes of the Les Mis anime Shoujo Cosette. (Japanese, I’m told, for A Girl Named Cosette). Back in middle school, I even took it upon myself to read the original novel by Victor Hugo. (Two for six oh-UN-abridged). The book, or the brick, as so many people refer to it since the book is about the same size and shape of a brick, is the novel that started it all, and the original source material for every adaptation, and is one of my personal favorite book of all time.
Photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble
So, I’m pretty versed in both the original story and various adaptations of it as well. During my time doing the show, I had several conversations with people about the differences in various adaptations. Over a year after the show closed *sobs* this continued with my fellow theatre people. It was during Mary Poppins, talking to a couple of cast mates on closing day about the book, that it occurred to me “this would be a good topic for my theatre blog!”
Since this is a theatre blog, I will mainly be writing about the differences and similarities between the musical and the book, but I will also be touching on other versions as well. So before we start, here are the versions besides the original book and/or musical that I personally am familiar with and a brief description.
1934 version (Or as I call it, five hour French version)
courtesy of Wikepedia
I believe this is the first film adaptation of Les Mis, and it’s a silent film. Black and white, five hours long, French film directed by Raymond Bernard. Very thorough, very accurate to the original source material
1935 version (Or, the first English black and white version)
Courtesy of Wikipedia
Relatively accurate to the text. Little Cosette actually had a personality, and her father died instead of abandoning them. Cosette and Fantine are actually reunited before Fantine dies, which is actually really charming. And Valjean actually keeps Cosette in the know of why they’re running all the time. But Gavroche isn’t in this version, which in my eyes is unforgiveable.
1952 version (Or the second black and white English version)
courtesy of posterplace.com
Relatively similar to the 1938 version. In fact, to refresh my memory I had to go back and watch them both to distinguish them in my mind. The more accurate of the two.
1958 version (Or the two hour color French version)
Photo courtesy of Amazon
Another French version, this one’s in color and is much shorter, but still pretty accurate to the book. Eponine is a ginger.
1978 (Or, the Anthony Perkins version)
Courtesy of imdb
One of the shorter versions, made for TV movie. Anthony Perkins plays Javert. Color. Anthony Perkins is one of the best non-musical Javerts I’ve ever seen.
1998 version
Courtesy of IMDB
Stars Liam Neeson as Valjean, Geoffrey Rush as Javert, Uma Thurman as Fantine, and Claire Danes as Cosette. This version is awesome and very true to the book….until Cosette grows up. Once Cosette grows up it kind of goes to heck. (And I just hate the way Claire Danes portrays her). The rest of the acting is excellent, though! Work watching at least once, but I almost never watch past Cosette growing up.
2012 film
Courtesy of IMDB
This is arguably the most well-known version, and certainly the most recent film version (at least that I know of!). It is the only one based on the musical rather than the book. (Yes, I’m aware there are the concert versions of the show you can buy on DVD, but those are filmed stage productions rather than motion pictures). What I love about this version is that includes a lot of things that were in the book, but not in the musical. (Eponine dying to save Marius, the chase scene with Javert, Valjean and little Cosette, etc.)
Shoujo Cosette
The Les Mis anime. Pretty darn close to the original novel. Major differences are that it puts Cosette as the main character rather than Valjean, and it’s aimed at a younger audience so a few of the darker elements are removed. (For more on Shoujo Cosette, check out this video done by the brilliant Jess Daniels. Also worth checking out is a series of Shoujo Cosette videos paired to music from the musical.)
Les Miserables manga
Courtesy of readerswonderland.com
Just like it sounds, a manga adaptation of the novel. Of every adaptation, I would say this one is the most faithful because it unapologetically came from Hugo’s text. Obviously it’s condensed, but the overall story and characterization is extremely faithful. My only real complaint is that you don’t see much of Gavroche.
Clear as mud? Okay, let’s dive in! I’ve divided the major differences into sections. Some of them overlap, so I jump around a bit, but I did my best to make it all make sense. If anything is unclear, feel free to drop a comment and I will answer to the best of my ability.
Courtesy of theguardian.com
The Revolution/The Barricade Boys
Okay, for starters, the revolution that takes place in Les Mis is the June Rebellion, not The French Revolution. (Seriously!)
The June Rebellion took place after the French Revolution, and after Napoleon for that matter too. (In fact, several characters, including Thenardier and Marius’s father fought under Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo-more about that later). This portion of the book was inspired by Victor Hugo’s experience with the real June Rebellion that took place between June fifth and sixth in 1832. Hugo was actually there for that, so some of the stuff he writes about the barricade boys is based on truth. We’ll never know for sure what parts are real and what’s fiction, which is both mesmerizing and frustrating as heck.
In the book, Victor Hugo takes an extensively long time giving the reader a history lesson of all the French history along with some social commentary. I’ll give you the brief version. French Revolution tried to abolish the monarchy. After Napoleon is defeated, the monarchy makes a return and brings social collapse with it, leaving the majority of the population….well, miserable. So the barricade boys decide to protest the monarchy, ergo the barricade. In real life, as in the book, as in the musical, they decide to take action at the funeral of General Lamarque. (Yes, he’s real!) Lamarque was loved by everyone, and the only true person in power who was an ally to the poor, so the barricade boys attack at his funeral, and then make a barricade outside the Café Musain, their meeting place. That would have been pretty hard to stage so Lamarque’s funeral isn’t in the musical, but it does make it to most film versions. Obviously this isn’t as clear in the show since people over and over try to say that it happened during the French Revolution. (But then again, the musical is already three hours long, so I guess the Boubil and Schonberg didn’t want to take the time to explain everything as the book did).
Also in the book, the barricade boys are much more developed and well written, with page long descriptions accompanying each one. As a group, they are referred to as a whole as either the Les Amis, ABC (pronounced abaisse) Society, or the barricade boys by the fandom. They meet in the Café Musain with the purpose of raising up the underdog, specifically the poor and underrepresented in society. Hugo talks about them being a group “which barely missed becoming historic”, and I couldn’t agree more. Much like in the musical, they are led by Enjolras (It’s no secret that he’s my favorite)…
…who is described as “a charming young man who was capable of being a terror”. (Here is a video of the marvelous Aaron Tveit, who played Enjolras in the 2012 film explaining how to say his name).
). From there we have Combefere (Cowm-fair) who assists Enjolras as the logic of the group, and Courfeyrac (Coo-Feh-Rawk) as the emotional core of the group. Together, they are the triumvirate of the chief, center, and guide. This is hinted at in the show, but not taken into fruition. The rest of the group consists of Jean Prouvaire (Jawn Proe-vair) the romantic, often just known as Prouvaire, Feuilly (Few-ee) the fan maker, and the only one in the group not a student, Bahorel (Bah-ore-elle) the go-between for the ABC to other groups, Lesgle (Lay-glay) the bald one who can’t catch a break (also referred to as Bossuet, (Baw-soo-eh)), Joly (Joe-lee), the medical student and hypochondriac (and he happens to be my favorite beside Enjolras), and finally Grantaire (Grawn-tear), the drunken cynic. Notice that I don’t include Marius…..here’s why.
In the musical, it portrays Marius as buddies with Enjolras and very much a member of the group. That’s not how it goes down in the book. In the brick, Marius is actually much closer to Courfeyrac, who he meets after he cuts himself off from his grandfather and is living on his own for a while. Courf lets Marius stay with him for a time, and when learning about Marius’s dissatisfaction with the bourgeoisie system, decides to bring him to a meeting of the ABC society. Marius comes back a few times with Courfeyrac, but is never really accepted as a member of the pack. In fact, Enjolras and Marius get into several arguments, mostly about Napoleon. (Enjolras hates him, Marius loves him. There’s a lot more there concerning Marius, so he gets his own section later on). Despite this, almost every version portrays Marius as a central member of the group, and the nineties version even has him as the leader instead of Enjolras. This version, as well as several others, are also very guilty of glossing over the revolution and not really explaining it. (More to come on Marius’s involvement with the ABC society and the barricade).
Gavroche isn’t as much a part of the ABC Society in the book as in the musical. He shows up at the barricade, and the whole time he’s there, Enjolras is trying to get him to leave. Marius does this as well, getting Gavroche to leave by delivering his letter to Cosette as pictured in the 2012 movie.
In every version, everybody dies except for Marius who is taken away by Valjean. However in the musical, they all die on the barricade, with Enjolras doing that famous fall backwards. In the book, they try to retreat into the Café Musain, only to be followed by the soldiers. The last one standing is Enjolras, until Grantaire, who is awaken from a drunken stupor, awakes and joins Enjolras, and the two die together. The 2012 film did a beautiful job of combining both versions of the demise of Enjolras and the gang. (And ripping my heart out in the process.)
The Thenardier Family
As mentioned before, Thenardier fought in the Battle of Waterloo. This is briefly mentioned at the top of “Master of the House”, but several versions cut that line out. In the novel it’s a much bigger plot point, and Thenardier’s inn is even called “The Hotel Waterloo” for that reason. Thenardier fought along Marius’s father. In fact, Thenardier, thinking he had died, stole Marius’s dad away to pick pocket him, much like he does after the June Rebellion. Of course, Marius’s dad woke up and thought Thenardier had saved his life (More on that later).
As far as the Thenardier family, the biggest difference between the book and the musical (and just about every other version) is how many kids they have. In the musical, it’s implied that Eponine is their only kid. But in the book, they have five children. Who are they? Read on,
First there’s Eponine, the oldest. We all know Eponine, but she is a very different person in the novel.
Then there’s their second daughter, Azelma (Ah-ZEHL-mah). She actually make it out alive in the novel. Early versions of the musical included her, but by the time the show opened in London she was no more. Both a few film versions include her, as does the anime and the manga.
Their next child is in just about every version except the 1935 movie…
Yes, that’s right, Gavroche and Eponine are siblings! A little detail that the musical never mentions…although apparently it was almost mentioned in the 2012 movie, but that bit got cut. Gavroche is out being a street urchin, doing his own thing while his parents and sisters are robbing people. But he isn’t alone….cause he has two little brothers. Said brothers are never given names in the novel, and they certainly don’t exist at all in the musical. But Gavroche takes care of them and they all live in the huge elephant statue. They are the one loose end in the novel Hugo never ties up, perhaps to remind the reader about the hungry street children still out that need our help.
In the musical, Thenardier shows up in Paris with Valjean without much explanation, except for Gavroche’s little bit where he sings “Watch out for old Thenardier, all of his family’s on the make, once ran a hash house down the way, bit of a swine and no mistake”. The musical also never explains how Thenardier knows of Valjean’s past as a convict. In the book, after Valjean leaves with little Cosette, Javert shows up at their door looking for Valjean. Upon learning that he let a criminal escape through his fingertips when he may have turned him in for a reward, Thenardier is furious and swears his revenge. But without the income from Fantine, they lose money, and are forced to move to Paris in order escape the people Thenardier owes money to. The once affluent family is reduced to poverty, barely scraping by-and it’s about that time Gavroche and his little brothers set out on their own. The rest of the family lives on the streets for a time, and then gets a cheap room in a building, that happens to be right next to another character……..a certain Marius Pontmercy no less!
Like I said earlier, Marius’s dad thought that Thenardier had saved his life way back when, so just before he dies he tells Marius that if he ever meets a man named Thenardier to thank him and return the favor in any possible way. So you would think Marius would find out his neighbor is that man and go to thank him….except the Thenardiers are going under a fake name of Jondrette! So Marius doesn’t find this out until later….but I’m getting ahead of myself. (You also may be wondering why Marius is living in a cheap place like that…don’t worry, Marius gets his own section in this blog post and with that a thorough explanation).
It is at this location where Eponine first runs in to Marius. Unlike the musical, she and Marius are not good buddies. Eponine definitely falls for him and creeps on him a bit, but it’s a while before she actually has a conversation with him…and unfortunately for her he’s already fallen head over heels in love with Cosette. The first time they officially meet is when Thenardier has her send him a letter begging for money, only adding to her shame. She tries to impress him by showing that she can read, and with her knowledge of Napoleon, and compliments his untidy hair. (No seriously! There’s evidence of that in their first conversation in the musical, where she sings “I could have been a student too” and “I love the way you grow your hair”).
While we’re on this subject, book Eponine is very different than musical Eponine. She’s a lot rougher around the edges, having gone from being spoiled to extreme poverty, and she is very resentful of that fact. The trauma of poverty has aged her features, made her gaunt, wispy hair, barefoot, rough lips and skin, and she’s missing several teeth. She’s ashamed of what she’s become, dressed in rags and without a penny to her name, which is one of the reasons she’s hesitates to speak to Marius at first. (Did I mention she also has a bit of an alcohol problem?)
Anyway, here in Paris Thenardier forms his gang: Brujon (Broo-jawn), Babet (Baw-bay), Claquesous (Clayke-soo), and Montparnasse (Mawnt-par-nahs). Together they perform acts of thievery and con people to survive. They also write letters to rich people, giving them a fake sob story to get money from them. Including, wouldn’t you know it, Valjean and Cosette. (Although by now Valjean is going by the name Ultime Fauchlevant (Ool-team, Faw-schle-vaun)…I explain why in the Cosette section). Anyway, Valjean and Cosette arrive at the Thenardier’s place and give them some food. Marius had been hoping to run into Cosette again after not having seen her for several months (I go into further detail about this later on). Marius sees Cosette and freaks out, but alas, they leave before he can make his move-but not before Valjean tells Thenardier that he will return that evening with more food. So you may be thinking “Isn’t this similar to ‘The Robbery’ in the musical?” Yes, yes it is, the stage version just simplified it a bit.
Anyway, after Valjean leaves, Marius overhears Thenardier talking to his family. Thenardier recognizes Cosette and Valjean, and he and his family makes plans to get him and turn him into the police for money. Marius, intent on saving his love’s father, goes to the police and tells them what’s going on…and who would said policeman be but Javert! Javert has agrees to help Marius catch the Thenardiers. Javert gives him a pistol, and tells him to listen in on the meeting between Thenardier and Valjean and to shoot the pistol out the window to signal Javert to come and arrest them. So Valjean shows up alone, and Thenardier reveals who he is, and Marius finds out that his neighbor is the man who saved his father. Since he’s been wanting to repay him, he’s conflicted whether to help Thenardier of Jean Valjean. Ultimately, Eponine, who’s been keeping watch in the street, throws a note up to her parents saying that the police are surrounding the building. Javert comes storming in with his men, Valjean sees him and freaks out, jumping out the window. Thenardier, his wife, Azelma, Eponine, and Thenardier’s gang members are all arrested. Javert realizes the man Thenardier was threatening is now gone, and realizes that was Jean Valjean!
So the whole family except for Gavroche and the two little boys end up in jail. Madame Thenardier eventually dies in jail. Eponine eventually is released. Afterwards Marius runs into her and asks her to help him find Cosette (a better explanation to come in the section about Cosette!) Which she does, despite her love for him…..
So Cosette and Marius meet up, blah blah blah, love, blah blah. Anyway, Eponine creeps on them, and one night runs into her father and his gang who have escaped from prison and intends to rob the place. Eponine threatens to scream and reveal that they’re there, Montparnasse actually threatens her with a knife, it’s pretty intense. But just like the musical, she scares away Thenardier and his gang-but only with her threats.
As times goes on Eponine decides to get revenge on Valjean, Cosette, and Marius. She throws a note to Valjean on the street, basically telling him to “clear out”. Valjean takes this as a warning about Javert, so he tells Cosette they’re going to leave. She tells Marius, they cry, and she promises to leave him a note explaining how to reach them. She does right before she leaves, but Eponine, disguised as a boy, steals it and keeps it in her coat. By then the revolution has begun, but Marius doesn’t know that cause he’s been too busy chatting up Cosette. But he runs into Eponine, (but he doesn’t know it’s her cause she’s disguised) and she tells him that his friends are waiting for him. (Not really, Enjolras is surprised to see him there, but lets him stick around).
Anyhoo, like in the 2012 movie (and most versions that include Eponine’s death) Eponine blocks the shot intended for him. Marius discovers her, and holds her until she dies. Eponine gives him the letter, and reveals that Gavroche is her brother. She then asks him to kiss her on the forehead after she’s died, and then says “and by the way, mousier Marius, I do believe I was a little bit in love with you”, and dies. Marius kisses her like he promised, it’s so sad!
So Marius gets the address Cosette and Valjean are staying at until they leave for England, so he writes a note to Cosette and has Gavroche deliver it to try and keep him from the barricade. Ultimately Gavroche comes back and is killed getting bullets just like in the musical…..
So the barricade falls, Valjean takes Marius into the sewers, only to run into Thenardier. This section, in my opinion, is not very well explained in the musical, but it makes sense in the book-I’ll try to make it clearer. Thenardier is there in the sewers, where he sees Valjean carrying Marius. Thenardier recognizes Valjean, and thinks Marius is a man that Valjean has killed for money. Thenardier has the key for the door between the sewer and the streets, and agrees to unlock it for Valjean if he gives him half the money he killed for. Valjean gives him some money and Thenardier unlocks the gate, but not before ripping a piece of Marius’s shirt off to help identify him later to the police.
Marius and Cosette are reunited and married, but all the while Marius is still wondering who saved him from the barricade. Marius finds out that his new father in law used to be a criminal, and panics, because he also thinks Valjean murdered Javert. But then Thenardier pays him a visit. Thenardier tells Marius that he saw Valjean carrying a body in the sewers, and shows him the piece of the sleeve that he ripped off. Marius recognizes his shirt, and realizes that Valjean is his savior. (Thenardier also reveals to him that Valjean did not kill Javert, Javert jumped off a bridge). Marius, fed up with the Thenardier by now, gives him money for the sake of his father for Thenardier and Azelma to go to America.
As far as other versions, it seems that the majority of them only have the Thenardiers as Cosette’s “caretakers”. Only the French versions of the film include the Thenardiers once Cosette grows up, at least not as a family. Eponine and Gavroche make it in some of the American films, but they aren’t presented as “Thenardiers”.
Marius
In the musical, we meet Marius with Enjolras as a fellow revolutionary. In the book, he is first interested a rich boy living with his aristocratic grandfather. He has cut off ties with his father, but hears news that is father is dying, so Marius returns to him once more. Unfortunately, he doesn’t make it to see him before his father passes away. Slowly, Marius starts learning why he never had much contact with his dad growing up. Marius’s grandfather was a supporter of the royal family and aristocratic way of life, while his father was a young man who fought for Napoleon as mentioned earlier. Marius’s grandfather therefore disowns his son, but agrees to take little Marius in and give him a good life and good education. All of this comes as a shock to poor Marius, who then decides to cut off ties with his rich grandfather and make it on his own.
So he gets the tiny room next to the Thenardier family, and gets by as lawyer. His grandfather tries several times to offer him money and get him to come back, but he refuses each time. (We get tastes of this in the 2012 film).
He starts taking walks in the Luxembourg gardens, where he first sees Cosette. They eye each other, but never have an actual conversation there. At one point Valjean leaves his handkerchief with his fake initials on it, U.F. (Ultime Fauchlevant) and thinks it belongs to Cosette. Marius, being Marius, jumps to conclusions and reasons that she has “U” name so he starts referring to her as Ursule. Eventually Valjean stops taking Cosette to the gardens because he’s suspicious of Marius and his borderline stalking. As I said in the section about the Thenardiers, he finds “Ursule” and her father again, and has Eponine tell him where they live.
Marius leaves Cosette a love letter, and she knows it’s from “Him”. The next day he comes again and officially has his first conversation with Cosette….and he learns her actual name. They meet every night in the garden of Cosette’s home for a couple of weeks until Cosette tells him that they are leaving for England. She begs Marius to come with her, but Marius has no money for a passport or for travel. So she agrees to leave him a way to reach her, which she does, except Eponine steals it. But he gets it anyway, they reunite, and they marry and all that jazz. However, they don’t get married for a few months. (February to be precise). Marius’s grandfather takes him back in, and blesses the marriage (Which he previously hadn’t before Marius went to the barricade). Marius finds out about Valjean’s past, which at first makes him distrustful of Valjean until he gets the truth from Thenardier.
As I said earlier, Marius really isn’t a huge part of the ABC Society. As I said, he isn’t there for the formation of the barricade, and doesn’t even know about it until Eponine disguised as a boy tells him. By then he thinks Cosette has left him without any notification, so he goes, deciding to give up his life since he can’t be with Cosette.
I have yet to see a version that doesn’t include Marius-and rightly so. He’s the tie between the story of Valjean and the story of the June Rebellion. He’s always there as the handsome love interest that Valjean rescues, but rarely does his backstory with his grandfather make it in, which I suppose makes sense, cause in the grand scheme of the story, it’s not the most important part.
Cosette
So first off, Cosette isn’t her real name. Her real name is Euphrasia, Cosette is a childhood nickname given to her by Fantine that kind of sticks.
A lot of people in the fandom don’t like Cosette. I don’t hate Cosette: but I do hate the way she is portrayed in almost every version. But I love book Cosette. Most of the time she’s portrayed as just this sweet little ingénue with no real depth. Uh-uh, I ain’t about that. In the brick, Cosette actually has some substance to her. She is genuinely a kind-hearted person who was thoroughly traumatized by her time with the Thenardiers and growing up without the presence of real parents. (There’s actually a fantastic scene in the book where she runs into her biological dad, Felix Tholomeyes, but had no idea who he is and thinks he’s just terrible. That part always makes me chuckle.)
She’s the symbol of goodness and light in the book, and we get to see a lot more of her in the book that we did in the musical. After Valjean takes Cosette away from the Thenardiers, they live together for a time, in Paris, until they run into Javert and have to run. It’s there that they run into Fauchlevant-the fellow Valjean rescued from under the cart while he was the mayor. After ruining his leg he can no longer do his job, so Fauchlevant relocated to Paris to become a gardener for the convent. He insists on repaying his debt to Valjean, and does so, but letting Valjean and Cosette pretend to be related to him. Valjean works with Fauchlevant as a gardener, and Cosette attends the convent’s school. Years pass, Cosette grows into a young, beautiful woman, and Fauchlevant dies. After he dies, Valjean, under the name Ultime Fauchlevant, leaves with Cosette and they start a new life in Paris. Valjean buys three different places for them to live, and they move between this there places with their maid, Toussaint, so that Javert will have a harder time tracking him down. Which works…for a while……
Other than that (and other details I’ve mentioned) Cosette in the musical is very much the same-although somewhat underdeveloped. Furthermore, since the musical portrays her falling in love with Marius within a day instead of him looking for her and then them meeting at night, their love usually feels forced to me, which is why I think so many people (including me before I read the book) are so anti-Cosette and pro-Eponine. (Yes, I love Eponine too, but to be fair she does try to get Marius killed in a lapse of judgement.)
Javert
Of all the Les Mis characters, Javert is probably the least changed from version to version. But for whatever reason, people still want to place Javert as the villain. To those folks, I say “You know nothing of Javert!”
Javert is such a great character, and not the villain at all. He’s just a police officer doing his job. Yes, he’s very hell bent on one case for a while and can’t let things go, but his intentions were good.
In the book, a lot of Javert’s backstory is revealed. His mom was a prostitute, and he was born in jail. As he grew up he became desperate to escape, and wanted to leave behind his past by becoming a defender of the law. He sees everything in black and white-it is either wrong or right, no in between. Some of Javert’s backstory is hinted at in the musical during “The Confrontation” when he sings “I was born inside a jail, I was born with scum like you, I am from the gutter too.”
But my favorite Javert moment, the one that really defines him as a character, to me anyway, isn’t in the musical. In the book, after Javert sees Valjean save Fauchlevant from under his cart, he becomes suspicious and thinks he may be Jean Valjean, the criminal who violated parole. So he tries to report him to the right authorities. Meanwhile, a man named Champitheau is arrested for theft, and falsely identified as Jean Valjean. Javert, thinking that Valjean has been captured, goes crawling back to the real Valjean, tells him the whole story and begs to be fired (quitting is “too honorable”). Of course, Valjean forgives him and sets the record straight about Champitheau.
To me, this says so much about Javert. He’s not just hard on everybody, he’s hard on himself too. In that aspect, I can relate to Javert so much.
The musical obviously doesn’t include that bit, but just about every other version does. And for whatever reason, several versions end the movie with Javert’s suicide. No seriously, that’s the last scene in the 1935, 1952, and 1998 version. And Javert’s death is frequently so derpy, I can’t take it seriously. (See below gif from the Anthony Perkins version).
And then he doesn’t even die in Shoujo Cosette! Javert realizes that people can change, and decides to let Valjean go. He spends all that time he was spending on him on getting Thenardier back in jail, and is actually there at Jean Valjean’s funeral, which I actually think is kind of cool.
Fantine
Fantine also remains relatively unchanged from version to version, particularly book to musical. Basically in the book the major difference is that we get to see more of her life before moving to Montreil Sur-Meir, where Valjean is the mayor. We meet her as a young carefree woman with beautiful hair and teeth, who falls hard for Felix Tholomeyes (Thow-low-mee-aze). And they have baby Cosette! Contrary to what the musical says, he actually doesn’t ditch them until Cosette was two. Fantine tries to find work, but nobody will hire her because she has an illegitimate child. So she finds the Thenardiers and moves to a Montreil Sur-Meir and finds work in Valjean’s factory. (Which by the way, is a bead factory in the book.) Fantine keeps to herself and lives frugally, sending as much money as possible to the Thenardiers….who keep coming up with excuses for Fantine to send them more money. (Like at one point they say she needs money for a winter skirt…so Fantine just makes her a skirt and sends it to them…and the Thenardiers promptly give it to Eponine). Anyway, the women at the factory spy on her and find out about Cosette, and tell their superior, who in turn fires Fantine.
Fantine tries to go to Valjean’s office to beg for her job back, but Javert just sends her away. So she tries to find other work, but everybody has heard about her being fired for her illegitimate child and refuse her work. So she sells her hair, sells her teeth, and eventually becomes a prostitute.
Until one day, Bantabois (Bahn-tuh-bwah) harasses here. Fantine tries to ignore him until he puts snow down her dress and she retaliates. Then like the musical, Javert arrests her. She begs for mercy, Valjean intervenes and gets her to the hospital. (Cause she’s got tuberculosis). He tries to fetch Cosette for her, but the Thenardiers refuse to hand her over. Valjean intervenes for Champitheau, and then returns to Fantine. Fantine gets all excited thinking he’s brought Cosette…unfortunately Javert comes in intent on arresting Valjean. Fantine freaks out thinking he’s there to arrest her. In her weakened condition, the shock of seeing Javert kills her.
Lots of versions don’t introduce Fantine until she’s being arrested, which I think is odd and not a good choice. Both the anime and the manga introducer her as a single mother looking for work with Cosette, and ultimately leaving her with the Thenardiers. Only the five hour French version shows anything of her life before Cosette. We see her meet Tholomeyes, and then don’t see her again until she’s working in the factory.
Valjean
Ah, yes, our story’s hero. I saved him for very last on purpose. Strangely enough, he’s not the first character we meet in the book. We’re first introduced to Bishop Myriel (aka the Bishop of Digne). And there’s a TON of exposition on him before we meet Jean Valjean. We meet him as the stranger coming into the Bishops town, and then Hugo gives us his story. Poor, tries to support his sister and daughter, tries to find work, but work is not easy to find. Eventually out of desperation he steals the loaf of bread, is arrested, and becomes prisoner two four six oh one. Tries to escape on more than one occasion, time is added onto his sentence for doing such.
So far very similar to the show, yes? Well, in many ways yes. A lot of what happens with Jean Valjean I’ve talked about in other sections, simply because he moves with and interacts with just about all of the other major characters so it was impossible not to. But there’s still a bit more to tell.
So he meets the Bishop, stays overnight, steals the silver, gets caught, Bishop lets him off the hook and gives him the candlesticks. Valjean travels a bit beyond the town and starts contemplating life, good vs. evil, etc. Along comes a young chimney sweep boy named Gervais. He has a coin that he accidently drops and it rolls under Valjean’s boot, but he’s so out of it he doesn’t even notice. Gervais begs Valjean to give him his coin back, but Valjean, not knowing he has the boy’s coin, yells at him to go away. No sooner has the boy ran away crying but Valjean discovers the coin under his boot. He runs after Gervais, but alas, the boy is gone. Valjean feels terrible about accidently robbing the boy, and it’s enough to snap him out of his funk. He vows from there to live up to his promise to the Bishop and do good.
He moves onto Montreil Sur-Meir, breaking parole, and assuming the name Monsieur Madeline. He helps out the town, makes it one of the most prosperous places in the area. He builds a school and a factory. Everybody loves him, and they eventually talk him into becoming mayor. Rescues Fauchlevant, rescues Champitheau, rescues Cosette, you get the idea.
But after he gets Cosette, the two of them are living in Paris, when they run in to Javert. Cosette and Valjean find refuge in the convent, where Fauchlevant helps them out. But get this-they have to get Valjean to leave and come back in the front so the nuns won’t be suspicious. One of the nuns has just passed away, so he’s smuggled out in a coffin and comes back in, pretending to be Fauchlevant’s brother and working next to him as the gardener. He and Cosette live in the convent until Fauchlevant passes away, and then the two of them spend their time between a few different residences in Paris so that Javert will have a harder time tracking them down.
So he and Cosette go about using his leftover mayor money to help the poor, but otherwise living a quiet life and keeping to themselves as to not attract attention. They do take walks in the Luxembourg gardens, where Marius first spots Cosette. Valjean freaks out when he sees Marius eyeing her, so they stop going. The mix up with Thenardier happens, Javert is once again on Valjean’s trail, and Marius is able to find Cosette again via Eponine. But just when the two of them are madly in love, Valjean gets the message from Eponine which he interprets as a warning about Javert, so the two of them prepare to leave. But then he gets the message from Gavroche and finds out that Cosette’s love is on the barricade. So everybody dies, except Marius, cause Valjean saves him…and pretty much from there it’s like the musical until Valjean dies.
He dies, right after telling Cosette the full story of his life and Fantine and what not. Upon his request, he’s buried under a simple headstone that only says:
“He sleeps, although so much he was denied, he lived and when his dear love left him, died. It happened of itself, in the calm way, that after that night, comes a new day.”
So beautiful, I could cry. (Oh who are we kidding of course I’m crying)
Well…I think my return blog post was the longest to date, but I hope it was a good one! Tune in next week, and feel free to leave comments. I’d love to hear ideas anybody has for future blog posts!
memoirsofatheatrekid 