twofrontteethstillcrooked said: ♥ The first cast I saw anything of was the 10th’s dream cast & ok I was a very dumb child but I do remember thinking Michael Maguire seemed very old for a student. (He might’ve been too old in ‘87 too, or maybe just…not Thaxton-esque enough? hmm) Michael Maguire's Enjolras terrified me as a tiny Ginger listening to the OBC and still terrifies me now. I can't get past the overgrown Ken-doll plasticity and crazy eyes, and though I know he apparently wasn't feeling well during the 10AC, his voice and presence even when at full strength were just not right to me. Back in the day, actual actor's ages and looks weren't taken nearly as much into account during casting—see the run of balding Courfeyracs, of all roles, in the OLC and a few casts beyond in London, for example—and the 10AC was sort of a celebration of the ten casts before it, allowing for many of the OLC and others to play again their former roles even though it was really, really no longer age-appropriate for them to do so—see Peter Polycarpou again as Prouvaire, see Keith Burns as Montparnasse (a mistake made again in the 25AC), see ... well, most of the 10AC cast, really. They're almost all far too old to be playing the roles, but damn, most of them were so, so good. :) I mean, Gareth Snook played Bamatbois in the 10AC, and I was ecstatic, as he was one of the first I ever saw on stage; also, Christopher Howard played the Loudhailer, and he was one of my formative Enjolrai. Watching the 10AC, I did a tremendous amount of squealing. But yeah, not so much for the Maguirebot Enjolras. Mind you, my mother found Michael Maguire shockingly hot from the word go. So good for him.