I know some people did record during the Q&A at the Oslo show yesterday (even though we weren't supposed to😜), and I was wondering if anyone recorded my question? I was the one who asked what he would shapeshift into if he could, and if he would use it to fight crime, and he answered that he would be a dragon, and he would be too busy divebombing trough clouds to fight crime.
If anyone did record it, it would mean the world to me if you could send me the clip! And if no one recorded, can anyone remember what dragon he said? It was from a movie, and I wanted to check it out, but I completley forgot the name of it😝
Okay, so, yesterday I went to Folketeateret (theatre in Oslo, Norway) and watched Les Mis on stage for the first time, and I have made some notes of my favourite details...
First off, the stage rotated, which made the setting and some of the scenes (like Valjean’s journey before he meets the Bishop) a lot more dynamic
So, Act 1:
The foreman regrets throwing Fantine out, it seems more like he’s giving in to the other workers demands rather than being angry with her for not sleeping with him. As she is thrown out, the other workers attack her (after she tried choking one of them when they got her fired), and when they leave he tries to comfort her, but she pushes him away and he leaves her on stage
Eponine gave Cosette her doll when she left with Valjean
In the first Paris scene, the students are seen walking around in the streets helping the poor, giving out food and money, not just leaflets
Grantaire and Enjolras argues in the scene, and the stand (unnecessarily) very super close, multiple times. They also keep touching/pushing each other in the chest to get their points across
When Gaveoche shit-talks Javert, saying that he’s the one to actually rule the street, they stand face to face one meter apart, "talking" to each other. They both salute each other before they leave
GAV IS ALSO A SUPER TINY SMOL, HOLY SHIT THE ACTOR LOOKS LIKE HE'S 8 OR SMTH!!
All of Patron Minette is there, 3/4 are dressed in fancy coats and top hats, one is dressed in rags. That one is Montparnasse, which is hilarious
Lol this got long, the people that sat behind me probably hated me
The l'ABC café scene:
Grantaire stands on a table when he sings his part at the beginning, Enjolras makes him come down
Jehan has a little potted plant he carries around
Enjolras sings for Marius when he first interrupts the love tirade, but he looks at Grantaire
Grantaire looks super depressed when Enjolras starts pumping up the crowd for revolution, and Enjolras sits down next to him when he has a break in the song to comfort him and talk, they hold hands!! and are reluctant to let go
When Eponine screams to alert the police, Thenardier chokes her, and Montparnasse saves her by throwing him off
Grantaire is the first and only student to join Enjolras on center stage during One Day More
They sing all the parts together, and they stand so close together that their noses almost touch
Enjolras uses One Day More to teach Grantaire how to shoot and use the bayonet
Act 2
Enjolras and Grantaire stays close at the start at act 2
They argue chest to chest (it looked like they kissed tbh, but I had a bad angle so probably not...) Enjolras has his hand on Grantaire's shoulder and has his head on the other one when the argument is over, they stay frozen like this in the background through all of On My Own
Gaveoche is in the background while Javert gives his rapport, his arms are crossed and he is clearly annoyed and amused
Grantaire is very proud of Gavroche when he calls Javert out on his bullshit, he hugs him tightly as he praises him
Gavroche and Marius sit with Eponine when she dies, Gav rests his head on her hip and falls asleep, crying as she dies
Enjolras tries to comfort Grantaire as she dies, but they end up having a heated argument in the background (again standing much closer than what’s necessary)
After Enjolras leaves, Grantaire sinks into a chair where he and Joly cuddle and comfort each other
Three different adults hug and comfort Gaveoche when Eponine dies, Grantaire and Courfeyrac are two of them
Grantaire also comforts Marius after he hugged Gavroche
Jehan's plant was also present on the barricade
Patron Minette was at the barricades, Montparnasse was the most visible
Directly translated, Enjolras said: "He's a fucking pig, he's yours" when Valjean asked to get to deal with Javert as a reward for shooting the sharp shooter
When Valjean let's Javert go:
Valjean: "Go"
Javert: "Shoot me"
Enjolras puts a hand on Courfeyrac's neck for comfort, but nowhere close to how close and intimate he is with Grantaire
Enjolras, Grantaire, and Gavroche cuddle throughout Drink With Me, Grantaire's voice shakes when he sings his part, so Enjolras reaches out and they hold hands (again)
Gavroche falls asleep in Grantaire's lap, and R pets his hair
When Enjolras is not with Grantaire, he stands over the other students in a small tower, overlooking the barricade.
During Bring Him Home, all the students cuddle someone, except Enjolras, who's being emo in his tower, and Jehan, who cuddles his plant
When Enjolras tells women and children to leave the barricades, Grantaire tries to force Gavroche to leave, but he hides behind a barrel
When Gavroche climbs over (under really) the barricade to get ammunition, Grantaire has to be restrained by two other students so he doesn't run after him. The stage spins so we see Gav running from dead soldier to dead soldier. Every time a gunshot is heard, Gav limps a little more, and you can hear R's cry every time. When Gav falls for the last time R screams and breaks free, running out into the open for him, with Marius covering him.
When they're back behind the barricade, R is sitting leant over Gav's body, crying, he is pulled away by Joly, who comforts him. Enjolras sinks to his knees by Gav's head
When the final battle happens, Enjolras is the very last to die. He comes down from his tower and cries out in agony as he stands helplessly middle stage, the bodies of his dead friends surrounding him. He grabs a French flag, runs onto the top of the barricade, where he is shot
Javert climbs over the barricade and sees Gavroche's body, he visibly deflates and his shoulder drop, he then removes his cloak and covers Gav with it as he cries. He saluted him afterwards
Valjean is badly wounded while he drags Marius through the sewers
Thenardier finds Eponine's body in the sewers, he sinks to her side, brings her head into his lap and takes his hat off
Translation from Javert's suicide: "I don't fucking want this" (about Valjean giving him his life)
When Javert jumps, he’s standing three stories above ground, and idk how they did it but he just fucking jumped, rip the actor
During Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, the dead students sit behind the beds in the hospital Marius is in
They stand and Marius sees their ghosts, he faces the audience to sing, and when he turns back, the ghosts of his friends are gone. Seeing this startled him
During the wedding feast, Madame Thenardier eats wedding cake with her bare hands, she then demands that Marius pays for their secret with a mouth full of cake
"Han er skeiv", which translates to "He's crooked/queer/gay" is a comment made by Thenardier about one of the men during the wedding dance, the man in question spends the rest of the scene arguing with his wife
A French flag covers the entire floor of the stage for the last scene. The students, Javert, Gavroche, Eponine, and Fantine stands in the background, Valjean stands at the edge of the stage, Cosette and Marius stand off to the side
Fantine walks out onto the white part of the flag, Valjean stands across from her by the audience.
Marius and Cosette stands alone on the red part, and Gavroche, Eponine, Enjolras, and Javert stands on the blue part.
Idk if I'm reading to much into it, but when Valjean takes Fantine's hand and follows her and Eponine onto the blue part, Cosette cries out for him, and Marius holds her back, so it might signify that he walked into heaven...
During the last Do You Hear The People Sing Grantaire sorta hurried past the other students to where Enjolras stands by the edge of the stage to put his hand on Enjolras shoulder. The two stands much closer to each other than anyone else on stage
My mom had to take my brother home after act 1, so she’s decided that she’s gonna see it again... meaning I will also see it again and I. Am. Ready.
Okay I just returned from watching the production of Les Misérables at Folketeateret in Oslo, and it was amazing! If you have the chance to go see it or if you at least can understand Norwegian I would urge you to watch it asap. It was so great.
I’ll write down some of my favourite tidbits and highlights that I noticed under the cut!
Okay, please note this is in no way a cohesive review, this is more me rambling in no particular order.
The set design was beautiful! They had a spinning stage like they do in The West End and it made the story more dynamic and compelling
Especially the church design was beyond beautiful
All the names were pronounced like they do everywhere else except Lamarque and Javert who were very clearly La Mark and JaVÆR
The exchanges between Valjean/Javert were like lowkey kinky
Including when Javert told Monsieur le Mayor he searched the prisoner believed to be Valjean’s body for the sign that he had the right man
Or when he said he could wait to get him under his whip again
The sound affects and the visuals were great like the snapping of whips and slaves being dragged off staage when they collapsed
All the cursing - I love norwegian theatre
enjoltaire was canon
i repeat e n j o l t a i r e w a s c a n o n
with lingering looks, touches and a long kiss during on my own
jehan carrying a plant with him everywhere, to the Musain and to the barricade
Feuilly (?) being recuited in the streets and les amis helping people that were suffering
Feuilly had a freaking sword, why do the fandom think of him as responsible
All the prostitutes were great
Thenardier referring to his patrons as “jævla pissemaur”
Thenardier’s outfits from a kilt in the first scene to a pair of metallic red trousers with a matching top hat in Beggars of the Feast
Like I barely understood him at times but I loved him
Madame Thenardier: “Nå var du faen meg vrang, om jeg spør om noe skal du gjøre det med en gang”
Eponine giving Cosette her doll as a parting gift and later referring to her as her little sister
Their voices were all brilliant
Marius’s curls and his dialect like i l o v e
Whoever thought rhyming “Hvem kan tenke på forelskelse når du kjemper på Champs-Élysées” i love you
Grantaire always holding his hand out in the air after every time Enjolras let it go
“nei dette gidder jeg faen meg ikke”
Montparnasse having a line when they were about to confront Valjean at The Attack on Rue Plumet
It was something along the lines of “okay if you’re going to stay here and chat with Eponine I’ll just start the robbery” or something in that spirit
Speaking of Montparnasse, when he helped carry Eponines body away from the barricade as they pronounced her a saint
I am pretty sure I saw him hug Gavroche before he left and I started crying
Gavroche’s song when he revealed Javert was a fake bitch
Gavroche was great in general and I fell apart when he died
When les amis showed up during Empty Chairs at Empty Tables as ghosts
“Tomme bord og tomme stoler, bare hjertet mitt som slår” - a line from ECAET that broke me, roughly: “Empty tables and empty chairs, only my beating heart remains”
Also in the song he descibed the barricade as “the barricade dyed with blood” also making a reference to the lost brotherhood staining the barricade
That is all I can think of at the moment, but all in all 10/10 would watch again
Under the surface, it's actually the oddest and most unfocused production of Les Mis I've ever seen.
My review of the new Norwegian production of Les Mis. You know, the one where E/R is canon, Prouvaire has a pet plant and Éponine’s body is dumped in the sewer.
Sadly, it’s way, way less than the sum of its parts.
