Les Miserables

Last June Emily and I made a brilliant discovery: Les Miserables. This incredible musical was something we had heard of, but never though much about. With unspeakable thanks to Miss Dashwood and others (other Les Miserables fans to put it lightly) we rented the 25th Anniversary DVD. After being completely and utterly floored by the music (I shall say nothing at this time of Sir Twerp-a-lot) Anyhow, one thing led to another, and next thing you know we had watched the DVD five times in one week, and were reading the 1500 page book (which quickly became a favorite, we highly recommend it!) Shall I fast forward through Em and I memorizing every song, and doing nothing on the 22 hour ride to Canada but listen to the cast album? Thought so m'dears. Anyway, this past fall it came unto my attention that the Les Miserables US Tour would be in Charlotte; I was thrilled. I cunningly plotted to buy Emily tickets for Christmas for a show that would take place on her birthday. Great Christmas gift, eh? This seemingly infallible plan was foiled because of every single ticket selling out, and a certain trip I made to the dark continent. Emily was somewhat very sad but, being the kind hearted sister she is, decided to content herself with the thought that her sister had even tried to take her. You can imagine then her complete and utter shock, when I presented her with tickets several weeks later to another show, a few stops later on the tour. Emily is now eternally in my debt, and would do basically anything for me at this point. 

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On the momentous day of March twenty-third, year of our Lord two thousand and thirteen, we set forward on a somewhat wet, but joyous four hour journey to the location of the show.

Those who know Emily, know she was pretty much  completely beside herself. 

The show was even better than either of us had imagined (and take my word for it, we had high expectations). The first notes were sung, and we grabbed each other, completely enraptured. 

A brief review of characters:

Jean Valjean (David Brink) He was actually the understudy, which at first we were slightly saddened by, he soon gave us to know we had nothing to dread. He was stunning. Emily decided that he was her favorite voice of the performance

Javert (Andrew Varela) my favorite, his Stars was stunning (sorry Russel, but this guy was really great).

Marius (Devin Ilaw) Marius is not one of my favorite characters.  However, he has some incredible songs. Some of them, Empty Chairs and Empty Tables especially, never seem to be sung to their full potential. Never fear, Devin is here. If we could just have him be the one to always sing that song all the time from now on that would be great. Thank you for cooperating.

Enjolras (Jason Forbach) Ahh Enjolras, I always feel bad for anyone tasked with playing this role after Ramin Karimloo's stunning performance in 2010, but Jason held his own very well. It's very difficult to make this music sound bad : )

After the performance several actors were in the lobby. To Emily's great delight, one of them was the actor playing her favorite character, Gavroche. 

Congratulations on reading this long and silly post written by my overly excitable sister, it was an unspeakably beautiful experience. I'm always amazed by people who have seen Les Miserables live, and don't seem all that smitten. As for my sister and I, we loved every minute of it, and found our trip very worthwhile. 

P.S. Emily might have written this post, but I have to confess I concur with her on every detail, I just try and act a little more grown up about it. : )