les mis review

I felt so honorable and appreciated to Ms. Guarino that I could be one of ensembles and actresses of Les Miserable. It was obviously one of the most memorable memories that I had in Cheshire Academy, and I kind of regretted that I did not join for the whole part of the musical. If I joined at the beginning, I would have a bigger role and I would have more opportunities to memorize and practice all the songs in Les Miserable.

One of the world’s most popular and longest-running musicals, Les Miserable tells the story about Jean Valjean, a former convict who has just been released from prison after suffering for 19 years for stealing some of bread. The background of the Les Mis is 19th century in France and the aftermath of the French Revolution; the story of intertwined destinies reveals what the actual human suffering and miserable are, and the power of the unconditional love. After Jean Valjean escapes from the prison, bishop gives him a place to stay and even forgives him after he robs the bishop’s stuffs. After Jean Valjean receives unconditional love from bishop, the life-altering transformation happened to him and he later becomes a rich factory owner and town leader. One of his employees called Fantine gets fired by the headmistress because of an illegitimate baby. Fantine goes from occupation to another, finally becoming a prostitute. Another incident happens that Fantine that she is arrested by Javert; however, Valjean forces Javery to release her and promises to Fantine to take care of her child Cosette. Meanwhile, another man has mistakenly identified as Valjean, and he eventually escapes again and retrieves Cosette from the evil Thenardiers whom Fantine had trusted. While Valjean is continuously escaping from people who might have guessed his identity, Cosette becomes aware of her own femininity and beauty. She and Marius spot each other and fall in love. Marius is a student who has been raised by his grandfather, and he later discovers the truth about his father and anchor develops between himself and his grandfather. With poor condition, he is unable to marry Cosette and prevent Valjean from taking her away again, and his grandfather refuses to give consent for marriage. An insurrection takes place, and Marius decides to die since he will not be able to have Cosette. Valjean joins the insurrection as well because although he hates Marius bitterly, he does not want Cosette to lose her love. When the barricades are finally overtaken, Valjean saves Marius. Marius is unconscious and does not know who rescued him; however, when his health returns, he insists again on marrying Cosette, and this time the grandfather relents. As Javert suicides, it would seem that everyone could all form in one happy family. Cosette and Marius marry, but Valjean reveals the truth of himself to Marius who tries to banish him from Cosette. The Thenardiers are real threat throughout the whole play and although they bring harm to Valjean, Valjean actually reveals the truth of his identity and truth to Marius. Even though Valjean dies in the end, the story ends with happiness since Cosette and Marius forgive him.

Throughout the whole play, my favorite characters were Julia and Lexi. Especially at the beginning part of the play when Julia acted as a  Fantine, her acting was so impressive and realistic. Her whole voice tones, eye contacts, and body movement represent her poor and urgent situation that she needs someone to take care of her daughter. Through her acting, I could really feel what miserable was during that period in France, and I felt so sympathy during the part when Fantine becomes a prostitute to save her daughter from starvation and poor situation. Especially her tone of the voice was too desperate and earnest that I thought Julia did a great job while describing her character. Furthermore, Lexi showed an inspiring acting as well. Although the character would be challengeable for Lexi since Jean Valjean is a man, she described the character perfectly that she lowered her voice, and even drew beard on her face which was really realistic. One thing that I really respected about her was the amazing performance; since she was the main character, she had most of songs throughout the musical. Although she had a lot of performance, she successfully done with memorizing songs perfectly and describing the Jean Valjean. Pit band and light controller did a great job as well and the musical would not be great without pit band.

I was actually on the stage, acting 2 different characters as a member of ensemble; I was beggar at the beginning, and the person who was celebrating in the wedding scene. At the backstage, I was changing costumes and got ready to go out of the stage. Since I did not have a lot of scenes, I stayed at the backstage for pretty long time and it was really interesting. I could see other people changing costumes in rush, fixing their make up, memorizing lyrics, and asking other people if they made mistake or not. While watching other actors and crews quickly moving around and being busy at the backstage, I felt that audience can only see the performance, but actually it needs a lot of efforts and works to be successfuly done. After coming back to dorm and watching the play video that Ms. Guarino sent us, I kind of regretted so bad that I really had to join in the play at the beginning part; therfore I could have more roles and participate oftenly. However, although I had only few characters, I still feel so honorable and glad that I could help the musical and join as a member of ensemble.