Musings

[some2ndthoughts]

it's so fitting that, when the instrumental version of "bring him home" plays in the end of "the final battle", enjolras' body appears during the "the summers die one by one" verse. firstly, because the reference to summer evokes how enjolras is compared to apollo, a god associated with the sun, in the novel. but, most importantly, because it indicates that, in the same way that a summer ends and gives way to the cold, but one which is eventually followed by another summer, enjolras' revolutionary ideals can be repressed through his murder, but will always resurface due to the effort of others like him, throughout history. the summers die one by one. but even the darkest night—and the coldest winter—will end and the sun will rise.

[angel-theintrovert]

Happy falsettos day🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[some2ndthoughts]

"a heart full of love" is one of the les mis songs for which i find the translated lyrics so much better than the original french ones. in the french version, marius sings "my heart trembles" and cosette answers "as does mine", while the english version has marius singing "i am lost" and colette answering "i am found". instead of suggesting that cosette feels exactly same way marius does, like the french lyrics, the english lyrics emphasize, through the antithesis, how falling in love is a wildly different experience for each of them, but one that has an equally big impact on both their lives. later, in the french version, marius asks "is this a dream?" and cosette subtly rejects this idea by replying "no, this is real". while similar, the english lyrics don't have cosette dismissing marius' idea that he is dreaming, as she instead states that her own perception is different by answering his question of "do i dream?" by singing "i'm awake". falling in love is clarity and security to cosette and confusion and bewilderment to marius, and one perspective does not invalidate the other. the english lyrics fit the story of les mis so well because they highlight the idea that each person can experience love differently, and that there isn't one right way to love another human being.

[some2ndthoughts]

"season 1 (character) would NEVER do this!" is such a funny type of criticism to me. of course, the version of the character to which we are introduced in the beginning of the story really wouldn't make the same decisions that they will eventually make later in the narrative, since they still haven't been shaped by crucial moments that will take place during this interval and will motivate their choice. this is a basic phenomenon of long-form storytelling, i fear. on the other hand, "considering how (character) was set on X in the beginning of the story, there wasn't enough development to make their eventual decision to do Y instead feel organic and believable" is extremely valid and often necessary criticism, that mostly expresses what is truly bothering many people who voice the former while still recognizing the existence of character arcs and the possibility of change.

[aaronstveit]

today i am thinking about the eight bullets that kill enjolras, and how i always see people saying they represent his eight friends to die at the barricade, but when i first read his death what came to my mind was the eight men to escape the barricade alive: valjean, marius, javert, and the five men who are given the national guard uniforms. i think of those eight bullets being meant for those eight men, and enjolras taking them all. he did not change the world in the way he meant, but he changed the world for eight men, and that has to be enough.

[some2ndthoughts]

i love that harrowhark nonagesimus' father is named PRIAMhark and her mother is named PELLEamena, priam being the father of hector and of paris and pelleus being the father of achilles. hector is killed by achilles who is killed by paris. harrow is all of them. harrow is her own destroyer.

[some2ndthoughts]

i'm starting to ponder whether future productions of the death note musical could improve it a bit by playing around with the order of the songs. because, as it is, we get the amazing contrast between L referring to his relationship with kira as a "game" in his first solo and as a "war" in his second. it perfectly conveys his realization that the stakes are higher than he originally thought and highlights how the shinigami reveal makes him reconsider his approach to the case, since, in "the game begins", he is confident he can catch kira using his usual methods, but, in "the way things are", he realizes he will need to change the way he thinks and "turn into a different [him]" to succeed.

and then the development created by this parallel is immediately cut short by him referring to the case as a "game" once again in "playing his game".

[sondheim-girly]

being alive is low-key the greatest song ever written btw

[some2ndthoughts]

thinking, once again, about how fantine and éponine appear to jean valjean when he dies, despite neither having much of a relationship to him, because both valjean and fantine sacrificed their lives for cosette's well-being and happiness and both valjean and éponine gave their lives to save marius'. with this ending, les mis conveys that loving another person also binds you to everyone they love and love them, in an infinite chain.

[femculiar]

Aemond Targaryen and Alicent Hightower HOUSE OF THE DRAGON—1.09 "The Green Council"

[some2ndthoughts]

a great mystery of musical theatre is, to me, why "the sun goes down" from in the heights contains the lyrics "...you're gonna need a CANDLE" "i think i can MANAGE that", when "i think i can HANDLE that" exists as an obvious alternative that conveys the same meaning and creates an internal rhyme with "candle". this is a small, irrelevant detail, but i find it so puzzling.

if it were another musical, it could be considered possible that the lyricist didn't think of this rhyme. however, since lin-manuel miranda is lin-manuel miranda, there is no chance he didn't consider a "candle"/"handle" rhyme here, especially since it would match his writing style so well. this means that the absence of this rhyme must be an intentional choice, but i cannot comprehend why he chose it. obviously, there are occasions in which the lack of rhymes serves the story ("castle on a cloud" from les mis, for example, has cosette end consecutive lines with "toys" and "boys and girls", missing the obvious "toys"/"girls and boys" rhyme, which serves to suggest that living in the thénardiers' abusive household has negatively impacted her development). but i don't understand what the lack of rhyme could convey in this particular case. unlike usnavi and vanessa, nina and benny already have their individual character arcs and relationship conflict wrapped up by this point of the story, so i really don't see what the discomfort created by the lack of this rhyme could indicate.

in the heights scholars, please investigate this.

[filletedfennysnake]

traaaaa la! it's may! the lusty month of may!! that lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray! tra laaa! it's here!! that shocking time of year– when tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear! it's may! it's may! that gorgeous holiday! when every maiden prays that her lad... will be a cad... it's mad!! it's gay!! a libelous display! those dreary vows that everyone takes everyone breaks divine mistakes the LUSTY! MONTH! OF MAY!!!!

[some2ndthoughts]

my interpretation of aegon and helaena calling alicent "mummy" instead of "mother" in moments of distress while aemond calls her "alicent" is that it says less about their relationship to alicent than about their relationship to different versions of themselves. when calling her "mummy", aegon and helaena evoke their child selves, who still didn't have the responsibilities and grief associated with being king and queen, positions they never truly wanted. conversely, calling his mother by her name distances aemond from his childhood, a period of his life in which he felt ostracized and powerless, allowing him to summon strength and impose authority.

[debustee]

Red Keep if Otto brought 100 cats a little earlier and everyone got a friend💙

[some2ndthoughts]

a clever detail in the death note musical is rem singing "when love comes ... / you see things through someone else's eyes" in her love ballad. because misa's love for light literally makes her see the world through someone else' eyes, as she gets rem's shinigami eyes to help him. but rem's love for misa also makes her see life from misa's perspective. she goes from not understanding misa's decision to give half of her years away based on her love for light ("mortals and fools") to finally sharing her belief that it IS worth sacrificing everything for love, as rem, too, gives her life to save misa. incredible.

(this correlation being established, l and light do sing "i'll look through his eyes / and see what he sees" about each other in "playing his game". which could mean nothing.)

[vampirehollanov]

sympathy magic, florence and the machine

[some2ndthoughts]

it's fascinating how aegon, helaena and aemond each operate from their own perspective regarding time. aemond acts based on the past, seeking revenge against those who humiliated him in his childhood and pursuing vhagar and eventually the throne as a response to being considered different and "not targaryen enough" as a child. while shaped by his past, aegon is mainly focused on the present, searching for entertainment and distraction to attend his current wants and to cope with his current anxieties, and demanding immediate military action in the war as a way to deal with the grief he feels. and helaena is tied to the future, that bleeds into her present through her prophetic dreams.