captain's log october 20th. only our second day back at sea after our last port stop and already morale is critically low. had to distribute last chocolate ration in last-ditch attempt to restore crew's spirits after many of them expressed an urge to "rest a while in the cold dark embrace of the sea". i myself felt for a moment a wish to be a frog, that i might curl up beneath the ice and sleep 'till spring... but no matter. i must not let the crew become aware of this lest their own spirits plunge even deeper. god willing some stroke of good fortune befalls us soon, or i do not know how we will fare... Fuck England and God bless every transgender person on earth amen. End captain's log
i'm running a summer camp for some kids this week and today i went over to check on the girls who were talking and they were solemnly discussing how the president was going to take pbs kids away, and how "maybe we can get pbs kids back when we get a better president"
rereading betsy and the great world by maud heart lovelace bc a) when i read it the first time as a kid i didn't know anything about europe and i skimmed the part where she has a fling with an italian guy and i want to remedy this mistake b) the way that world war one Happens in this book has fucking haunted me for the rest of my life and i'm not kidding. some of the lines seared themselves into my brain in a way that almost no other book has done. anyway block the tag 'betsy and the great world' if you don't want to hear about this
y'all i've been wandering around this fuckig city for like 20 minutes and i still don't know where the hell i am. obviously not philly. not portland (me). not nearly enough of a skyline to be nyc or chicago. cant be boston because i havent seen a single dunkin' yet and no one's tried to vehicularly manslaughter me. not a recognizable landmark around. so i've just been heading towards the tallest building i can see and hoping it gets me somewhere
i heard a cat meowing noise and thought it was maybe somebody's ringtone. the middle-aged guy who looks kind of like guy fieri sitting across from me begins digging for his bag. i think it would be kind of sweet if that guy's ringtone was a cat noise. he finds the bag. he opens the bag. there are two cats in the bag. joy and delight forever
whenever you read about 1700s colonial protestors theyre always making some kind of effigy. no one ever makes effigys of politicians they hate anymore. what happened to community
just watched my first ever performance of les mis and i'm experiencing every emotion ever and i need to write them all down quickly before i go to sleep so i don't forget them .ok . in some approximate order
the prisoners during look down would each like. look up for their individual line and then whoever was next to them would reach over and pull them back down which i thought was so good
hoogh the staging. the STAGING .
several of the scenes looked (i think very intentionally) like.....religious paintings...??? im sorry i dont have a better way to describe it im not catholic but like. the first one im thinking of is jean valjean and the bishop during the "i have bought your soul for god" scene . there were like definitely Intentional Pauses so you could Admire the Staging and Lighting. which i did
incidentally i wasnt counting the amount of times people crossed themselves in this show but it was A Lot
after "i'll escape now from this world... from the world of JEAN VALJEAAAAAAAAAN" the stage went black and then the words "les miserables" were projected on the screen and my dad (who was next to me) went "OH that was just the PROLOGUE??"
ohhhhh god fantine's death scene hit me like a truck. that was the first moment i cried at and oh god i cried really hard. i had forgotten that it was to the tune of on my own. awuagh
after little cosette sang "she says...cosette, i love you very much..." i distinctly heard someone in the audience GASP and go "ohhhhh...."
madame thenardier was GREAT, she sang every line like she was rolling her eyes. also she made some. Gestures with a baguette during master of the house
beautiful little moment: after jvj gave cosette the doll she gasped, kind of backed away from him in shock, and then paused and ran towards him and hugged him, and then there was a noticeable moment where he sort of didn't know what to do for a second and then hugged her back and scooped her up to carry her away. waugh
look down paris 1832!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAA
i didn't realize until just now that it works so well to have gavroche be singing what's basically the intro to "okay so here's what's happening now. this is paris and it sucks," because gavroche is the character introduced at the start of the 1832 book!!! the gamin expresses paris!! i love that!!!! also gavroche was excellent. adore that boy
marius was such a dork <3
eponine fully Threw his book across the stage and he was like "haha i love the way you..... tease. Hm"
the paris sets were so cool!!!! they were like. whole apartment building sets and actors would pop out of windows and stuff!!! very neat
one of the women had a "vive lamarque" sign hanging out her window lmao. rip
grantaire kept hugging people/flopping on them
enjolras was Very Blond and Very Enjolras-y. when grantaire tried to flop on him he pushed him away and then they made Intense Eye Contact about it
gavroche delivered "general lamarque is dead" surprisingly solemnly and quietly, and there was a moment of silence that i thought really brought in the gravity of the moment well
also he got up on a table to say it and afterwards enjolras patted him on the shoulder (which he did a lot) and then picked him up and lifted him off the table :)
DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING <3 AAAAAAAAAAA
grantaire kept pulling gavroche back from joining with the rest of the revolutionaries :(
marius actually CLIMBED OVER THE GATES to cosette's house, i was very impressed
ONE DAY MOOOOOORE was sooo good
the thenadiers peered out of one of the really tall windows and had a little periscope (??) to look at the revolutionaries with
the barricade was very striking, if lacking in Symbolic Coffin. very pointy looking though
my dad said "is that javert??" a few minutes after javert appeared at the barricade and his reaction to the reveal was EXCELLENT
gavroche flipped off javert LMAO
little fall of rain was very good but the thing that hurt me the most was that towards the very end gavroche came on stage, saw what was happening, stepped towards her, and was pulled back a bit by grantaire. and then after she died gavroche went forward and picked up her hat and gave it to marius, and then walked away, and when grantaire reached out towards him he just kind of walked past. it was a really really good bit of like. subtle characterization and plot and just AAAAAA
"is your life just one more LIE" in drink with me was very directly addressed to enjolras, who then had another moment of Very Intense Eye Contact with grantaire. then they stormed off to opposite sides of the barricade and gavroche, who was sort of standing between them looking worried, looked back and forth a few times and then went over to grantaire and hugged him :((
the barricaders in general were so good
jvj hit an INSANELY high note at the end of bring him home
THEY DID SOMEHTING VERY CRUEL AND FUCKED UP and had gavroche's song of little people be interrupted by a gunshot and a gasp from the barricade, and THEN he started singing AGAIN, and everyone seemed relieved, and he came back up over the barricade and THEN. GUNSHOT. and. enjolras caught him and held him and then like. passed him down the barricade to grantaire??? in this incredibly lit and really like. again. like it looked like a painting . i am rapidly losing coherency. it hurt so bad man
the one thing i am sad about (WELL. IM SAD ABOUT A LOT. BUT I MEAN SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE ADAPTATION FROM BOOK TO MUSICAL) is that grantaire and enjolras didn't die holding hands :((
at least they got one more moment of Very Intense Eye Contact in (after gavroche's death...)
oh GOD enjolras in the cart hurt so bad. WITH THE FLAG. i really thought he was evoking some famous painting but i could be wrong
javert knelt down over gavroche's body, shook his head, crossed himself, gently tapped gavroche, and then stood up and pointed at him so the cart guy would take him away
enjolras had like. one hand dangling out of the cart when it came in, but as it was leaving the stage the other hand dropped which was a FANTASTIC acting moment . also damn those actors were great at pretending to be dead
javert's suicide was BRILLIANTLY staged, somehow the actor really made it look like falling while standing up the whole time (possibly being raised somewhat? unsure)
he was also the only character who's death was not shown in illuminating light . which. damn.
turning turning hit me unexpectedly hard. ooooof
and then empty chairs at empty tables was. well. i dont think i need to say more. the lights were a fantastic choice
i think i started crying at "it is the story of those who always loved you" but honestly the entire last song was really blurry. IT OPENED WITH JEAN VALJEAN LIGHTING THE CANDLESTICKS. THE CANDLESTIIIIIICKS
THE BISHOP CAME OUT AND HUGGED JEAN VALJEAN. AUGH
also gavroche was standing between enjolras and grantaire when they first came out which i have to think was intentional
there was basically nothing on stage but the actors for the last song which made it incredible imo . i briefly considered becoming french. a lady offered me a tissue. the end
distracting myself from the main election with the maine election (heh) and specifically the voting on whether or not we're going to change our flag to the better, more recognizable flag. somehow this proposal is losing???????
