Madame Thenardier at some point, probaby

Les Miserables Fifth Performance-6/18/14

In case you didn’t figure it out, we got it approved to do an additional Wednesday performance! We managed to sell this one out as well!

The chorus girl I had mentioned who got sick ended up getting food poisoning, poor thing, and she’ll be out the rest of the run. So I’m taking up a part of her track for the rest of the run.

Speaking of illness, our poor Madame Thenardier had a bad reaction the white harlequin makeup she wears for “Beggars at the Feast”, so she came back to the second weekend a little worse for wear. Poor dear. Thankfully one of our cast members is a doctor and he fixed her up. Now she wears a simple baby powder for that sequence.

But she really is a champ pushing through like that. Despite all that, this “Master of the House” was the best it ever went. The audience cracked up in all the right parts, and the energy was just all around fantastic.

And of course, right before the show, my baby box decided to attack me and I started having cramps like nobody’s business. I’m talking, the kind where it hurts to even stand up. And I had a headache before the show, so I’d already taken ibuprofen so I couldn’t take any more until intermission. But in a way it actually worked nicely for “At the End of the Day” and “Look Down” where I’m supposed to be desponding and in pain. As Aaron Tveit would say “A little more method than I like to go, but….” I mean, that wasn’t pretending, I was TRULY in pain, truly crawling and trying to just make it through without collapsing.

But for me, the best moment was before the show when our Enjolras let me try on the xylophone vest. And I took pictures. And it was marvelous, I was hypervenalating the whole time! (And yes, I did try to “Enjolras” in it, but there wasn’t enough room anywhere in the dressing rooms so that didn’t happen.) But it was still magical.

Backstage the ceiling is leaking, so we have a bucket to catch all the drips. Unfortunately our Major Domo, who is also Grantaire, tripped and splashed the cold water all over himself on the way to his quick change back into Grantaire for the Epilogue. Poor dear, but it was still hysterical. There was also a minor mishap during “Lovely Ladies”, when one of the prostitute’s bracelets flew off. Thankfully it landed right by my knee and so I picked it up and gave it back to her.

And of course, the information about the changes to the Into the Woods movie had just been released, so we had a lot of interesting discussions about that between all of us. And earlier that day I had learned for the first time that Claude Michele-Shonberg had played Courfeyrac on the French concept album, which I think is freaking cool, and I told our Courfeyrac about that and he was all “NO WAY!”

During our encore, I got to stand in front again, this time between Fantine and Jean Valjean. I had this incredible wall of sound around me unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and of course I cried.

I got to talk to several of my friends in the audience afterwards, including a good friend who came up to me bawling her eyes out and hugging me over and over. Apparently she wouldn’t have known about the extra show if she hadn’t seen my Facebook post about it, so she was incredibly grateful to me, as well as just awestruck over the show.

Also ran into another good friend of mine I hadn’t seen since spring break. One of the first things she said to me was “Okay, can I take that Gavroche home with me?” And I said “I don’t blame you honey he’s pretty precious”.

So thankful I got another chance to work and play and interact with this amazing group of people.

Les Miserables Fourth Performance 6/15/14

Matinees are never my favorite but it was still a fantastic show. Before the show, my Dad bought me a case of Redbull to get through the matinee, proving once again that Father’s Day was made for dads like him. (And Jean Valjean, of course).

Feuilly’s girlfriend’s Grandma owns a bakery, and so they brought in freaking amazing cupcakes for us….including chocolate bacon cupcakes. I was skeptical, but with some convincing I tried one and fell in love.

Despite the Redbull, I had a few blonde moments backstage. Thankfully the wonderful lady who plays the beggar woman who buys Fantine’s hair helped me get through it. (Finding my lipstick when it disappeared, hanging up my vest when I dropped it my mistake, etc).

There were also some super moments too. For example, there was a woman mouthing along with us during all of “Lovely Ladies”. (I have a feeling we would get along well). And I heard somebody gasp one of the times the Pimp shoves me down. And my “Long live the Republic!” line went really well.

And even though it was a matinee, the audience was super into it and crying, cheering, clapping and a whistling during the big moments, etc. In fact, I had several people I knew in the audience and they all were in love with what we did with it. In fact, somebody came up to our director after the show and said they came to watch us fail, thinking our small, community theatre couldn’t pull of Les Mis, and that after seeing it they take back everything they said.

Another random but sweet detail-Marius handed me Eponine’s hat tonight backstage and asked me to return it to her…and I may have worn it for a bit first…

Although when I went onstage for “Master of the House”, I noticed a little fake bird on the stage with a pin through it, as if it had fallen off somebody’s hat or something. I had an acting teacher who taught me that if something falls to the floor onstage, pick it up immediately or that will be all the audience stares at, so I picked it up on my way to my table and wore it on my hair for the rest of the number. I found out later it came off of Madame Thenardier’s hat, and both she and the costume department thanked me for rescuing it. With some of Madame Thenardier’s costumes, it’s sort of surprising that’s the first real problem we’ve had. Especially with her giant hoop skirt with Act II that we’ve named “Tallulah”.

After the show we had a get-together at one of the ensemble men’s house and we had quite a fun time, especially when we busted out the karaoke machine. I did a quite wonderful job on “When You Got It, Flaunt It” (complete with the accent) from The Producers if I do say myself.

And now for a two-day break….sigh….what to do with myself?

Les Mis First Full Dress 6/10/14

First full dress went quite well, although it was still a very late night.

My costuming completely changed “Lovely Ladies” for me, the second I have the getup on along with the makeup, hair, and dirtied teeth, it literally transforms me, to where I am this dirty, desperate woman who has to have sex with awful men just to stay alive. And it’s such a whirlwind as well. I literally carry of the Bishop’s chair, run back onstage to sing the first part of “At the End of the Day”, run off and get the Bishop’s microphone to put on me, sing a verse offstage, and then run downstairs, add a crap ton of blush and lipstick, take my hair out of a bun and tease it, take off my shawl, throw on my hat, and run right back upstairs to do “Lovely Ladies”. Then of course I run back down, hand my mic off to Marius, and get into my getup for “Master of the House”. 

As I mentioned, we have a projection screen in the back of the set, and we added the final touch for Javert’s death. They filmed him falling (Really it was just him flailing in darkness) into the water that plays as soon as he “Jumps”. (Not really, the lights go out and he goes offstage.

And seeing all these characters in costumes just blows me away. Sometimes I can’t believe I’m in the middle of all of that, with Enjolras in his xylophone vest, Madame Thenardier in her big hoop skirt, Eponine in her big coat and hat, or Javert with his inspector hat. Everyone literally looks like they waltzed off the pages of Hugo’s novel and into my life. One moment that especially got me was when I was waiting to go on for “Do You Hear the People Sing?” and I saw all the barricade boys assembled around Enjolras…and seeing them all together in their outfits, planning their revolution almost made me weep.

And for a moment I got excited because tonight our actor who is Bishop Myriel came out in his Bishop clothes for the Epilogue, (Like in the film), and it just made my Mizzie self so joyful…but then the director changed his mind. Phooey.

 But the show is coming together really well. That’s all I have for this rehearsal, but the next one will probably be quite long-ish.

Les Mis Rehearsal-June 4th

(I know this will probably be lost in the shuffle with all the June Rebellion posts, but here's a glimpse of last night's rehearsal. Be prepared for a lot of sadness and emotions as I talk about rehearsing during the barricade days)

Today was our first day adding hair and makeup. For Act 1, I have a LOT of crazy, ratty, gnarly hair that I just switch from one position to another. Makeup is a LOT of rouge and bright red lipstick for “Lovely Ladies”, and dirt smudges for just about everything else. And like Tveit, I’m dirtying up my teeth with deep brown makeup that I acquired from who knows where. It’s pretty icky looking, and I love it. For Act 2 My only major thing is “Turning”, and so I have all of Act I to get all the knots and dirt out and just put my hair into a simple side braid for the rest of the show. The makeup and hair is doing crazy things to everybody, there were a few cast members I didn’t even recognize for a bit! Our Madame Thenardier especially, she has this wildly curly red wig that makes her look, as she put it, “Like Little Orphan Annie on crack”!

And then our Cosette did another awesome thing today during rehearsal. During “The Wedding/Beggars at the Feast”, she actually notices the Thenardiers and begins to recognize them and starts freaking out. I freaking love that. In most versions I’ve seen, it just seems like Cosette all but forgets all of that, which is malarkey. She would have definitely been old enough to remember, especially something as traumatizing as that.

And like Andy Mientus, I keep finding new bruises from the show, especially when I get shoved to the ground during “The Beggars”. Although they’re not starting to blend right in with the dirt smudges to the point where I can’t tell which is which.

And with the anniversary of the June rebellion upon us….well, the barricade scenes are going to be interesting. No doubt I will bawl even harder than usual. And we’re doing our flash mob on the anniversary of the barricade falling, which is just out of this world insane for me. Speaking of crying, the Epilogue gets more and more emotional for me every day. I don’t know what’s going to happen on closing night.

In the meantime, several of my friends/family members are making plans to be there. My parents and best friend will be there on opening night, and my sister is coming the second night. Two of my best guy friends are making plans to be there the second weekend of shows. Two people from my church who go to a lot of theatre will be there….and they told me where they sit and they will get the BEST view of me being all slutty in “Lovely Ladies”…..awkward. I mean, like I said, they do see stuff at this company regularly, so they have seen other sides of me onstage….just nothing like that. The closest thing was maybe being Chutney in Legally Blonde, since I was villainous and all.

And as we get closer to opening, it’s becoming more real to me that one of my dearest friends who is doing this show with me will be leaving at the end of the summer, moving several hundred miles away so he can pursue a career as a performer. I’m happy for him and incredibly proud of him that he’s fulfilling his dream, but at the same time I’m going to miss doing shows with him SO MUCH. Ah…just, so many emotions. And that’s only going to increase with the Tony’s on Sunday (which I’m missing for rehearsal) and the season premiere of Graceland (which I’m also missing for rehearsal). Let’s just hope I don’t spontaneously combust. 

Les Mis Rehearsal June 2

Today’s rehearsal was fairly uneventful compared to some of the others, but it was still a good one.

The newspaper photographer came, so we did “One Day More” full out with all the lighting effects and a screen in the back with a projected image of a Paris street, as well as suggestions of what our clothing would be-and of course the red flag! It was a completely out of this world feeling, I’ll probably have a stroke when we have costumes as well!

Got a good note from our assistant director today, he said that any time I was onstage I was definitely being a character and very much committed, which he said was good to see. (Hooray!)

Then before rehearsal our Thenardier wanted to go over the words and movement for “Beggar at the Feast”, and our Madame Thenardier wasn’t there yet so I got to do it with him, which was a blast and a half.

Our little Cosette is the sweetest little girl, but also very sassy. We were in another show together last summer, and so she talks to me a lot, and it just makes my heart happy.

Speaking of Cosette, I finally got to sit down and see some of the Marius and Cosette scenes, and they are PERFECT. Our guy is Pontmercying it to the MAX, so much like the Marius in the brick and I freaking love it. When he meets Cosette the first time, he collides into Cosette and trips and drops all his books, and then she helps pick them up and they start talking while Valjean gets roughed up by Thenardier’s gang. (If that isn’t classic Pontmercy, I don’t know what is). Also, I think it’s so great that they actually do talk once before he creepily shows up at her house. (Just saying!)

And then “A Heart Full of Love” is just so freaking sweet! I’m usually the person sitting there going “Screw Cosette, cozy up to Eponine”, but our actors are just so natural and cute together that I’m actually going “Awwww” and feeling warm and fuzzy while simultaneously feeling awful for Eponine. It’s quite refreshing actually. I complemented them on that during break, and Marius said he felt quite honored to hear that coming from a bona-fide “Mizzie” such as myself. And Cosette laughed and said “My goal for each performance is going to be to have at least one person leaving the theatre each night who doesn’t hate Cosette, if I can do that then I’ve done my job”.

He’s got chemistry with Eponine as well, he cries genuine tears every time she dies, including whimpering, and it just tears my heart in two ever time.

Although I did accidently make Marius crack up during “A Heart Full of Love”, because when he comes through the gate Cosette is facing the other way and turns around and jumps a bit. For some reason this made me crack up quite loudly and I threw him off by accident. Oops. Our Grantaire, who I’ve raved about before, is still making me laugh hysterically as well.

I had a sort of cool, happy accident during “Do You Hear the People Sing?” At the end, we’re all supposed to start cheering, and I started yelling “Long Live the Republic” half a second too soon, and everyone turned and started at me like I was the one starting it. At first I was all “Oops, my bad”, but then everybody said they liked it so I’m going to keep doing it like that unless I’m told otherwise.

And as some of you may know, the Facebook page for Les Mis on Broadway showcases other productions of Les Mis that are being/have been done. Once we have official show photos I’m going to submit them so we can be on their page, so I’m very excited about that!

Memorial Day Les Mis Rehearsal!

Another fantastic rehearsal. Since it was Memorial Day, we had a potluck/BBQ before-hand and then sang through the whole thing…all three hours. My cry count was at five times.

I brought brownies to said potluck which went over well. Our Gavroche was particularly fond of them-in fact I think he ate about 75% percent of them. Which just makes my heart happy. I mean, I made brownies for Gavroche freaking Thenardier. (I know, not really, but close enough!) Seriously, so much happy at that. I feel like I'm living in the ultimate AU Les Mis fan fiction and it is the best

Today we had one last sit-down sing through so we could fix any last thing that needed fixing before running the whole show with blocking, set, etc. So we sat in a semi-circle and stood up when we sang, sort of like the Tenth Anniversary Cast. I loved it.

 More props came in today, including our actual guns that we will use. They’re super cool-and HUGE! And we got the fake rancid meat for “Master of the House”. (Which I now get to bring on a tray of-Yaay.  I also get to have a bracelet stolen by Madame Thenardier. Go figure).

 Cried during “I Dreamed a Dream”, our Fantine is just a vision. Would have cried during her death, except the people building the set behind us decided to start using the staple gun right at that moment and we all cracked up. And then our “Confrontation”….sweet baby Jesus that was INTENSE! I was literally shaking by the time they were done. “Heart Full of Love” was also awesome, that trio is just the bomb.com. And our Marius has awesome chemistry with both girls which is a plus. “Bring Him Home” also hit me really hard since it was Memorial Day.

 And then at the end of “Do You Hear the People Sing” where we all yell and cheer, I’ve decided to shout “Long live the Republic!” as homage to the brick.

Another rehearsal tomorrow, more to come!

Les Mis Rehearsal 5/22/14

Another great rehearsal. Fine-tuned large, group numbers for the most part. Earlier that day, I received signed pictures in the mail from Caissie Levy and Will Swenson. (I had written to them as well as several of the other cast members over spring break. I now have signed pictures from them, Ramin, Andy, and Nikki). Our music director declared me the “Queen of getting signed stuff from Broadway people”.

  And I was also given a very special assignment. We have one more barricade boy than we have names for, so I have to find another name in the brick that will work for our extra barricade boy. (Challenge accepted)

  Speaking of the fandom, I explained the concept of “Pontmercying” to our Marius today. And revealed some other secrets about us “Mizzies”.  He confessed that he had never read the brick and that he wasn’t as up and up on the fandom part of Les Mis as others. I clarified that I had no life, and so instead of having a life I obsessed over fictional French characters and Aaron Tveit while running a semi-successful blog, which made him laugh. We also got into a conversation about “Vlogger 24601” since he was complaining about being dragged by Jean Valjean, and I said “He should watch the episode of “Vlogger 24601” where Ramin demonstrates how to carry Marius through the sewers.

  Got to do “Master of the House” twice, which is going swimmingly. I now get to interact/flirt with this super cute guy who’s also a barricade boy during that number. (Yaaaaaay). And Madame Thenardier robs me, so there’s that. And I get to bring on the tray of “food beyond compare, food beyond belief”, etc. Although I did embarrass myself while drinking from my wine bottle filled with water, I managed to get some up my nose by accident and it burned the rest of the number. Oops.

  Cut to the end of rehearsal when the ensemble boys ran the chain gang sequence. Neither Valjean nor Javert were there since it was an ensemble rehearsal, so guess who got to sing both parts? (And nailed them if I do say so myself).

And the best part of rehearsal was our directors deciding what do with little Cosette and Eponine during the Epilogue with the other “ghosts”. One of them argued not to since we already had the adult ones out there, and said “It’s not like Eponine could die twice, and then the other one said “I don’t know, I’m watching Doctor Who, I’ve seen some shit,” and we all busted up laughing, of course.

  And I must say, that my two four six oh puns are catching on. One lady suggested I put my hair in a two four six oh bun! :)

  Next rehearsal is on Monday! Cannot freaking wait!!

-Marius Pontmercy, Wedding Chorale/Beggars at the Fiest

OH MY GOODNESS.

So I'm listening to Les Miserables, The Complete Symphonic Recording for the very first time, and I heard those lyrics. I had NEVER EVER heard them performed onstage or in any recordings EVER. (And mind you, I'm a pretty hard-core Les Mis fan and had somehow never heard this.)

But oh man.....RIGHT in the feels! Come on, he ACTUALLY called the Thenardiers out on being awful parents, and it actually shows that Marius did, to some degree care about her. WHY isn't this part included more??????????

Real Conversations I’ve Had With People While Prepping For Les Mis Part 4

This was at the auditions.

Me: (Sees director of a show I did coming in to audition) Hello! (Run over, we hug, talk, I see her audition form) Oh, you're auditioning for Madame Thenardier?

Her: Oh, that's how you pronounce it? Say it again.

Me: Ten-AW-dee-ay

Her: I'll work on it.....how to you spell it, I'm pretty sure I wrote it wrong on there.

Me: T-h-e-n-a-r-d-i-e-r

Her: Why don't you just write if for me?

Later on, run into a guy friend.

Me: Who are you auditoing for?

Him: Marius or one of his friends. Like, I love the leader guy but I don't know his name.

Me: Enjolras?

Him: How do you spell that?

Other person: E-N-G

Me: No, J

Other person: J?

Me: Uh-huh, E-N-J-O-L-R-A-S. Want to know how to spell the other friends' names too?

Him: They have names?

Me: Yeah, Couferac, Joly, Combeferre, Feuilly, Grantaire....

Him: I'm good, thanks