We went to Duke's on Alki Beach for a delicious seafood dinner, and the weather was kind enough {thank you, thank you, Seattle sun, you elusive thing, you!} to be bright and sunny and warm for my birthday. After dinner, we drove straight downtown to see the 7:30 performance of Les Mis at the 5th Avenue Theater.
If I haven't already emphasized my love of Les Misérables enough already, I'm here to declare it yet again.
I grew up listening to and watching the recording of the 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and have read the book a couple times, once in the original French. It always has been and remains to be my all time favorite musical, and theatrical performance in general. I love the music, the story, the characters... everything. It's the one show I never tire of seeing or hearing.
After the show, we went to stage door, and I was able to get signatures from some of the actors in my brick {my copy of the novel - termed "brick" because it is about that size a.k.a. huge} as well as photos with my two favorites - Andrew Varela as Javert and Joe Spieldenner as Grantaire.
I've always loved Javert ever since I heard the magnificent Philip Quast portraying the character, and as a result am extremely picky about my Javerts. Andrew Varela is one of only two Javerts I've seen/heard that I truly love in the role, the other being Philip Quast.
As for Joe Spieldenner as Grantaire, I can honestly say that before seeing his portrayal of the role, I didn't pay too much attention to the character. Not that I didn't like the character, I just didn't reflect on him as I now wish I had. I can say now that I owe my love of the character to his performance. I especially love his relationship to the character of Gavroche, and my heart wrenched and went out to Grantaire when Gavroche died.
I din't originally intend this post to be such a recap and explanation, but I never tire of talking about Les Mis, and could literally go on and on about it.
What I wouldn't give to just ghost the stage manager of this company for one performance while they're here in Seattle!! I can send a resume!
I can only hope that one day I will be stage managing this amazing show in one capacity or another.
