The Cynic's Heart, or, My Essay on Kyle Adams’ Portrayal of Grantaire
I have twice promised Kyle at the Chicago stage door that I am writing him an essay on how he portrays the best Grantaire I've ever seen (and I'm including George Blagden, Hadley Fraser and Raymond Walsh—who I've seen in person at the West End—in this).
But to start—Kyle has a way of stealing the scene even in the ensemble. My favorite is when he plays the misplaced aristocratic dandy in “Master of the House,” followed by the Major Domo at Marius and Cosette's wedding. He had no lines (well, he has 2 lines in the wedding, but very small lines) but he absolutely stole the show just from his masterful use of body language.
He uses that to add to his incredible portrayal of Grantaire. I have now seen him 5 times, 3 times this latest stop in Chicago. I took meticulous notes and observed with my theater binoculars, and these are obsevations from my previous 3 times seeing him on stage, so best believe I'm ready.
I'll start just by listing all of the mannerisms Kyle brings to Grantaire throughout act 1 and 2:
Grantaire takes up space in the room with a kind of drunk manic energy, flitting around the room, twirling and swooshing his coat, blowing kisses, hanging all over his friends. He's nudging people with his feet, swanning about.
He sits in Feuilly's lap, blows him a kiss.
He hangs on top of Marius and kinda gives him a kiss on the head.
He gathers the wine in his cheeks and pretends to squirt Combeferre in the wine.
Everyone starts playing keep away with Grantaire's wine, and someone tosses it to Enjolras. Grantaire glares at whoever did that. When Enjolras hands the wine back to Grantaire, Grantaire has this naked look of longing that he immediately masks.
Love the lewdness of Grantaire pointing his bottle like a dick at Eniolras.
When Gavroche says “listen to me” Grantaire kinda shrugs his shoulders and holds his hands up in surrender as he sits down, and as soon as Gav says that Lamarque is dead, his boisterousness quiets down into this abject fear. While everyone is rallying around Enjolras, he stays seated, serious and quiet, before standing up to embrace Gav. He stays hovering by Gav during the rest of the play, during “Do You Hear the People Sing?” and One Day More.
This isn't at the Musain anymore but he does take a drink during One Day More.
He's less playful, more bitter and resigned here. He gets handed a gun at some point but he never takes up arms.
As Enjolras is singing on the cart, Grantaire leans on it and swats at Enjolras’ sash.
R sings something sarcastic and biting, and when Enjolras hands him the gun, this hopeless look crosses his face.
When Enjolras sings “damn their warnings and damn their lives” Grantaire is on the floor, looking up at him and washing his finger.
When Inspector Javert is revealed, Grantaire very dramatically mouths “what!”
When Eponine dies, R tries to comfort Gav. When Enjolras starts singing in this scene, Grantaire gives Enjolras a scathing side eye.
When he sings “he's gonna get it too” he has a lot of anger and pain in his voice—probably still thinking about Gav.
When the barricades are being shot at and when the students are shooting back, his body language is loose and not tense. Again not taking up arms. He just drapes himself over Javert and pats him on the head, and seems like he lectures Javert.
When he sings “and so the war was won” he takes a bitter swig of his wine.
When Enjolras says “back to your positions” Grantaire mocks him, waving his arm as if he was the one giving the order.
DRINK WITH ME, MY FAVORITE SONG. Grantaire stumbles into the middle and when he starts his lines, everyone is cheering because they think he's gonna be good old happy drunk Grantaire. And when he sings “can it be you fear to die” and people kinda rush at him, it's as if he can't really see them. He continues, singing at Feuilly who is somewhat holding him, and then turns to Eniolras and spits the rest of his lines to Enjolras while swatting at Enjolras’ tie. Eniolras kinda just looks at R like “really??” He turns back to Feuilly and cries and then wrenches himself away and turns to the wall to cry. Gav hugs R, and R can't even bring himself to turn around and reveal his tears, hugging Gav back from behind before stopping his tears to turn around and give Gav a proper hug before they collapse in the corner.
When Enjolras says “the people have not risen,” this look of empty resignation crosses his face. As everyone starts fighting back, he just sits down to accept his fate.
THEN GAV DOES WHAT HE DOES. He finally leaps into action, trying to scale the barricade and telling Gav to come back, and then R turns to look at the audience. While Gav is singing and the first gunshot rings, R clutches his chest. He turns back to the barricade when Gav reaches the top and is reaching for Gav when Gav dies. Enjolras hands Gav down to R, and as Enjolras does so, he looks down at them both as if he's seeing them for the first time.
R is holding Gav and lightly shaking him (hey Kyle, pay for my therapy!! I'm crying just writing about this!), and then sets him down on the floor and shields his body. He starts shaking Gav again and gets Gav's blood on his hand, which he wipes on his shirt.
He doesn't leave Gav's body until one of his friend's bodies lands beside them. He kneels over his friend's body just as Enjolras is doing the same. They clasp hands and R holds Enjolras’ face. He's still holding his hands out as Enjolras wrenches himself away and starts climbing the barricade. He reaches up and up, and Enjolras dies.
R then tries to go back to Gav. Feuilly tries to hold him back or help him, and then Feuilly dies.
Grantaire, the last one standing, half climbs the barricade and holds up his bottle in a final defiance, and dies.
Ok so that was a lot of observations, I know. But I can't help it—Kyle Adams makes so many interesting choices and it all works so beautifully.
In the beginning, he plays Grantaire very loose limbed and lassez faire, affectionate and manic and rambunctious. Everyone, other than perhaps Enjolras, reacts to it with fond amusement. Despite his lack of belief in the revolution, he is fully entrenched in the group.
As soon as shit gets real with the death of Lamarque, the melancholia and bitterness he was masking comes to the surface. At the Barricades, he's still fairly loose limbed, but his words, his tone, his expressions give away the fear he has for his friends, the bitterness he has towards the people that he knows, deep down, will not rise.
Grantaire is the cynic of the group. He doesn't believe in their revolution, but he stays. He helps out a little—you see him on stage helping move supplies, and he does guard Javert—but mostly he stays for his people. He guards over Gav and stays for his friends. He never takes up arms, but even when given the choice to leave, he stays.
He stays because that is the beauty of Grantaire. He lives in this contradiction of love and cynicism. Kyle handles this dichotomy super well, embodies it especially at the Barricades when he is hugging Gav or one of his friends in one breath and deriding the entire endeavor in another.
And yet—“To love another person is to see the face of God.”
Grantaire may not have believed in the people, may not have believed in the revolution, but he loved his friends, loved Gavroche. He saw the face of God. So perhaps in the end, he believed in something greater than himself, enough to raise his glass in defiance before he died. He believed in his friends. As he said in the book, he believed in Enjolras.
I'm always sad that the musical doesn't have Grantaire and Enjolras die hand in hand like in the brick. But the way Kyle portrayed Grantaire's final defiant raise of the glass, after all of the previously listed mannerisms and acting choices that he makes, makes Grantaire's death just as poignant in this production of the musical. He still dies believing in something—his friends.
I'm currently typing this on my phone freezing my ass off in the rush line (I'm first hahaha). I had to see this production one more time before they leave Chicago. When you have birthday money and free will as an adult, you can do anything. (If I had the money, I would quit my job and become a groupie to this tour! And not just because of Kyle!)
I've seen all of the concert editions of Les Miserables and many clips and slime tutorials, and I've seen the movie multiple times. This will be my 8th time seeing Les Miserables live, and my 6th time seeing Kyle Adams bring my favorite character to life. And out of all the different ways I've seen this musical, Kyle Adams is the best.
He truly understands all the different facets of Grantaire. This tour is so so lucky to have him, and I hope I get another chance to experience his Grantaire the next time the Les Mis tour lands in Chicago. Or maybe I'll see it again in another city... 👀
To Kyle: break a leg. Can't wait to see the show later today. As usual, I will be moved beyond words from your performance. ❤️
