sing with me the songs we knew

[mimesere]

um, other people think Valjean's kind of an annoying tool, right?

...and that Javert is MIGHTY WITH THE AWESOME*?

People Who I Love in Les Miz:
-Javert (so much omg)
-Eponine (even my wacky sang-it-phonetically-in-English Japanese Eponine!)
-Grantaire (I have a rough-voiced OTT American Grantaire who reduces me to *tears* during "Drink With Me")
-Enjolras (dumb! But he believes! And um, I really like "Do You Hear the People Sing" and "Red and Black")
-The rest of the students (see above)
-the Bishop (AWWW BISHOP DUDE!)
-Fantine (dumb! so dumb! but awesome! Also, my CSR has like, the robust Australian Fantine, who sounds like she could break Valjean in half with her pinky even while dying of consumption)

People Who Annoy the Crap Out of Me in Les Miz:
-Valjean (such a tool)
-Cosette (god, SHUT UP)
-Marius (...except during "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and, because I am not made of stone, he is also not annoying during "A Little Fall of Rain". *wibble*)
-Victor Hugo (because seriously, Victor, did we REALLY need like, a 30 page essay on the evils of Waterloo in the middle of your book?)

This post brought to you by Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel singing "The Confrontation."

and by "awesome," I pretty much mean Interesting and Complex and Sympathetic despite being a complete dick and closeminded and all of that. Still a good guy, though. *loves*

Comments

[syrenssong.livejournal.com]

OOH! I need to hear that version of Confrontation... ::goes to find old copy of Les Mis:: Terrence Mann will have to do for now.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EhXsJjVdj1E

*g* It's pretty adorable.

[scalesandfins.livejournal.com]

...every time I read "Confrontation" I somehow scan it as "Concentration" and imagine the big showdown between Javert and Valjean going the way of the elementary-school handgame-- concentration! concentration is the game! keep the rhythm! keep the rhythm of the game. Words like? Loaf of bread! Prison cell. Jean ValJean! (ValJean messes up the clapping, then takes off*)


...*skitters off, spamming*

[isabeau.livejournal.com]

I totally <33333 Javert. And it makes me sad that he's the only one that doesn't get to sing in the "yay heaven!" bit at the end. 'Cause, dude, he isn't a bad guy; the only thing he did 'wrong' was not believing Valjean's "hay I'm good now, really", which, y'know, it's not like people try that when they don't actually mean it...

Re ALFoR, that song has been, sadly, kind of ruined for me because the last time I saw Les Miz live? The whole "Eponine, you're hurt, you need some help" etc involved throwing open her trenchcoat (to expose the Lots And Lots Of Ketchup Blood) very flasherishly and overmelodramatically in such a way that it made me want to laugh. Which is kind of not the right mood.

...they did slightly redeem it by the thing -- I don't know if this is in the stage directions, or standard, or just them -- where she's dying and he's all sad and no one else notices for most of the song, just standing around in clumps talking and ... it just made me whimper. In a good way.

I used to have a tape copy of the CSR, but I've lost it :( :( :( I adore the CSR so very much.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Dude, I know, Javert totally got shafted for being all, "Hey, you know, the part where you are AN ESCAPED CONVICT WHO HIT ME WITH A PIECE OF CHAIR makes me totally not believe you when you say you're not a criminal. Really."

And then I feel all bad for him, 'cause seriously. He wasn't *that* bad a guy!

When they did the tenth anniversary of Les Miz with the allstar cast, the dude playing Marius (British CR and CSR guy) and Lea Salonga made me cry and cry and cry, so I forgive that song a lot.

[cesario.livejournal.com]

Oh man. That freaking musical is, like, the soundtrack of my whole dumb pathetic not-even-cool-enough-to-be-emo ninth grade year. Valjean is fairly irritating EXCEPT WHEN he is being placed by Liam Neeson who automatically ratchets the awesome up by +1234214213. "A Little Fall of Rain" still makes me weepy. And O HAY, Terrence Mann, aka Original Broadway Javert? Is now the director of musical theater at my alma mater and all my friends there report that he has, like, a cult now. Which I suppose I can't fault him for. Who wouldn't have a cult if they could?

[dizmo]

He's obviously come a long way since Critters. XD

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

uh. I get Terrance Stamp and Terrence Mann confused a lot.

But he is still Bob! On Dresden Files and also the Beast in Beauty and the Beast!

And now I totally have an image of a singing General Zod and it is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

[dizmo]

Javert is my favorite favorite favorite favorite character ever.

He's a bit... rigid, but... It's totally UNDERSTANDABLE. I love him and want to cuddle him. Even if he would probably look at me funny and nudge me away with his nightstick. Yes.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

The thing that I love about Javert is that he *is* rigid and closeminded and kind of a dick and very binary in his thinking and yet...he does the best he can. I really, truly believe he does and I never for a second think while reading the book or listening/watching the musical that he's out to get Valjean for personal reasons; it's always about This Guy Is An Escaped Convict and Belongs In Jail. He is doing his duty and it takes him to this place where he has to question everything he has built his life on and that is so awesome I can't even describe it.

*hearts Javert like whoa*

[dizmo]

Exactly! Javert is wonderful. It's not personal at all. It's just... It's his job, and he's good at it, and has to do it, because that's what he does.

He's not the bad guy. If you want one of those, go look at the Thenardiers. Ugh.

[jain]

Your list of favorite characters is my list of favorite characters. :-) Oh, and I love Gavroche, too. The bit where he meets his younger brothers and doesn't realize who they are but takes care of them anyway just makes my heart melt.

And I nearly threw the book across the room by the end of the Waterloo section, except that Hugo put that guy shouting, "Merde!" at the end, and that, like, two paragraphs was awesome enough that I managed to contain myself. But I still complain about those 30 pages everytime someone starts talking about the "brilliance" of the novel.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Gavroche is pretty rockin' and very...practical. I totally love him for that.

*giggle* Just. those 30 pages are crazymaking! Because it's just sort of plopped down in the middle of the book without any kind of transition and I have to readjust mentally every time I hit it.

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

My Javert love is mostly due to my bone-deep love for the bari-bass range of male voices and that's the Javert I heard. Mmmmmmmmmmm, "Stars". Like good chocolate for the ears.

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Oh, "Stars" is *amazing*. I love it like it is cake.

[pun.livejournal.com]

I love, Love, LOVE Javert!! I always use him as an example of my lifetime love of "villains." Love him SO MUCH!

Marius has always been one of my least favorite characters ever. Valjean is fairly annoying, but not as annoying as Marius and Cosette. Seriously!

[mimesere.livejournal.com]

Hee! Marius and Cosette are *incredibly* annoying. I mostly try to ignore that they exist, but it is hard to do that with Valjean!

And Javert's a *great* example of the difference between villain and antagonist. I love him to pieces.