RAMIN KARIMLOO & HADLEY FRASER Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary

Enjoltaire is waaaayyyyyy too interesting a dynamic to be boiled down to one guy is politically determined and has autism and the other guy is sad, drunk, and has ADHD and then they kiss.

Like, Enjolras does not love Grantaire. Or, at least, no more than he loves Bahorel or Mabeuf or Claqesous.

And, hell, I’ll go further to say Grantaire doesn’t truly love Enjolras. No more than Cosette loved Catherine the doll she couldn’t have before she received her.

Because neither is a complex person to the other.

But I also think, that out of all of Les Amis, Grantaire best represents “the people,” those that Enjolras romanticizes in his pursuit to cure the illness that is injustice in his Patria.

Grantaire exemplifies the city of Paris. His winding prose mimic the narrow streets with back alleys and grotesque buildings, both beautiful and hideous. His dedication to his friends mimics s dedication to the Parisian identity, taking it as it is. He’s the ugliness, messiness, and drama of the city, but the jovial nature of a community of people who occupy a shared identity.

But Enjolras doesn’t love Paris. Or he doesn’t love Paris in its contemporary state. He loves an idea of France as an beacon of democracy. He loves the future and it’s untouched possibilities for equality that he vows to make unmanipulatable.

The two are inherently a battle between the present and the future. The beauty of them dying hand in hand is due, in part, to them never coexisting well while living.

Og clickbait

you ever just see something so R-coded

My stupid children

It's that time of the year again! Remember to leave out bread and absinthe for Victor Hugo and he will leave you 50 pages on a subject that is off-topic but that he is vaguely interested in. Be safe out there!

ENJOLRAS + tags (insp.)

Happy 10th Anniversary to LES MISÉRABLES ⇾ released on December 25, 2012

les mis (2012) and its consequences

via rob_madge_ on tiktok

btw this is Rob Madge— i.e. the actor who actually played Gavroche in 25th Anniversary Concert!

It's the 9 year anniversary of this magnificent work of art that made the Les Mis fandom absolutely lose their minds in 2013

in case this hasn’t already been done

The Norwegian production of Les Mis is a pretty wild ride

Maybe you’ve already read that one list about things that happen in this production, but having seen the production for ourselves now, me and @obiskus decided to write our own. Here comes:

- When the curtain rises, the first thing you see is a couple of guards dragging some dead guy away.

- Javert punches Valjean in the gut after “do not forget my name.”

- Foreman is oddly sympathetic towards Fantine. It is only after he sees Msr. Madeleine coldly walking away from the scene he decides to throw her out.

- Fantine changes into her prostitute costume in the middle of I Dreamed a Dream (even though they still have Lovely Ladies after IDaD).

- Jean “Superman” Valjean lifts a big pile of sawn timber off Fauchelevent like it weighs nothing.

- Javert very gently helps Valjean to put his coat back on and wipes some dust off his top hat.

- Jean Valjean reveals his true identity in the court by taking off his wig. It was me all along!

- Javert brings three soldiers with him to Confrontation. The hospital nuns (wearing KKK-style hood-like white hats) don’t care about the angry men yelling next to the beds and continue wrapping Fantine’s body in a sheet. JVJ takes Javert by the throat, threatens to kill him and somehow escapes.

- Marius follows Cosette around from one poor person to next. They end up wiping the same poor person’s face.

- Montparnasse has the most ragged clothing out of all the Patron-Minette. What’s up with that?

- Javert and Gavroche have a moment! They have moved Gavroche’s little bit about Javert before Stars, he sings it to Javert directly, then they salute each other.

- The poor people of Paris hang around onstage during Stars. Javert buys a candle from one of them and lights it.

- Éponine is there in the ABC Café.

- When Gavroche tells them Lamarque is dead, Grantaire loses all hope instanteniously. He takes out his flask and starts drinking. Enjolras sings one of his following verses directly to Grantaire.

- Marius tries to shake hands with Cosette in the beginning of A Heart Full of Love.

- In the beginning of One Day More, Marius writes the letter to Cosette and Éponine changes into her barricade costume…

- …but you don’t really pay attention to that once Enjolras walks onstage, because he is joined by Grantaire and sings his whole verse to R. Then, I kid you not, Enjolras teaches Grantaire how to shoot a gun - in a way that wouldn’t feel out of place in a fanfic or a romantic comedy. You know, standing very close, taking his hands and correcting the way he holds the gun…

- …and this goes on for the whole duration of the song. Enjolras doesn’t give a hoot about Marius deciding to fight with them; he’s busy staring into Grantaire’s eyes. I kid you not.

- Prouvaire has a pet plant that he takes with him to the barricade. He builds a sort of a little nest for himself and the plant on the barricade.

- Not everything is perfect at the barricade, though: Enjolras and Grantaire have a fight in the beginning of the first act! During On My Own, there’s this odd freeze-frame tableu in the background with lots of characters - there, they stand very close to each other and Enjolras has his hand on Grantaire’s shoulder, clearly trying to make amends.

- They drop Éponine’s body in the sewer.

- Enjolras is pretty Extra about the whole Éponine situation: he sings about her blood blessing the barricade.

- When they catch Javert, they tie him to the front side of the barricade. Valjean doesn’t use a knife when he frees him, he uses a bayonet.

- During Drink With Me, Enjolras and Grantaire sit next to each other and Grantaire holds Gavroche in his arms. R sings his verse to Gavroche, Enjolras reacts a bit, no one else bats an eyelid. Then Enjolras takes Grantaire’s hands, kisses them (and it’s no platonic kiss, let me tell you that) and leaves.

- When they meet in the sewers, Javert straight up decks Valjean.

- When Valjean leaves, Javert finds a huge crucifix, sorta hugs it, sings most of the song to it and drags it around. Then he jumps from the bridge.

- Nuns (in their KKK hats) sing Turning.

- In Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, there are no chairs and no tables. Instead, there are hospital beds. At first, all Les Amis grouch behind them, then they stand up and stare at Marius for the whole song without moving an inch. Then they walk away.

- After Valjean’s confession, Valjean stays downstage for ages, sorta grouching, while Marius walks upstage towards complete darkness, like he is walking to his death or something.

- During the wedding, Cosette recognises the Thénardiers. And is that Javert in the ensemble, dancing there, with his ponytail and his sideburns? We think it is!

- Javert is in the Finale. So are Enjolras and Grantaire. Grantaire rushes downstage to Enjolras to stand right next to him, his hand on Enjolras’s shoulder. I kid you not.

Enjolras + Centuries (Fall Out Boy) from this post (Ared kinda misunderstood the meme but the song it’s perfect for E so it’s fine. And also it fits in the reincarnation au, so I’m twice as happy about this request! :D ) ¡Muchas gracias, @0-aredhel-0! <3<br>

les mis + lemony snicket quotes

Jean Valjean: Sometimes even in the most unfortunate of lives there will occur a moment or two of good fortune. Javert: It is very annoying to be proven wrong, particularly when you are really right and the person who is really wrong is the one who is proving you wrong and proving himself, wrongly, right. Right? Fantine: Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like. Marius: Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess. Cosette: One cannot spend forever sitting and solving the mysteries of one’s history. Enjolras: No reality has the power to dispel a dream. Combeferre: Arguing with somebody is never pleasant, but sometimes it is useful and necessary to do so. Courfeyrac: I’m sure you have heard it said that appearance does not matter so much, and that it is what what’s on the inside that counts. This is, of course, utter nonsense, because if it were true then people who were good on the inside would never have to comb their hair or take a bath, and the whole world would smell even worse than it already does. Jehan: If you have ever found yourself sitting in the darkness with a flashlight, you may have experienced the feeling that something is lurking just beyond the circle of light that a flashlight makes, and reading poem about dead men is not a good way to make yourself feel better. Feuilly: All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk. Joly: If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats. Bossuet: If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say in a pleasant and hopeful voice, “Well this isn’t too bad, I don’t have a left arm anymore, but at least nobody will ever ask me if I’m left-handed or right-handed,” but most of us would say something more along the lines of, “Aaaaah! My arm! My arm! Bahorel: Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course. Grantaire: Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother’s wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.

bonus: Victor Hugo: In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.