#10 and #11, 7 April 2007

[originally written on 8 April 2007, with some small edits]

Before I left for NYC that day, I talked to my mom. It is pretty surprising for me to be up and about on a weekend before 11am, so when 9am comes and I'm heading out the door, my mom is all surprised and wants to know where I am going. She is totally disbelieving that I am seeing Les Mis again, and the following exchange takes place:

Mom - But are you seeing a new cast or something that you keep going up to see it?
Me - No, in fact I'm hoping to, er, see the same person a whole bunch of times... you know, Aaron.
Mom - Oh yeah? Who's he play?
Me - Oh, he plays Enjolras. Remember, he's the one I showed you a picture of before?
Mom - No you didn't!
Me - (so I show the picture to her and my sister)
Mom - Oh, yeah, you did show me this. So you're going up to see your boyfriend, then?
Me - Er, no, mom, he's not my boyfriend...
Mom - But he could be!
Me - Mom. He's married.
my sister - 'WHAT'S HIS WIFE'S NAME?!' (Kristina is five years old and in the stage of constantly shouting at the top of her lungs. >__<) Mom - Well, you know, people get divorced. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. XD; Then she tried to say that she was kidding, but still, dude. I wouldn't joke about that, and y'all know how much I love the man. Then I left, and I don't think anything interesting occurred while I was driving up to NYC, other than the fact that I have memorised the directions to and from Hoboken. I'm not sure yet whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. (Remember, Jenn's directionally challenged. So this is actually kind of a big deal.) La de da. Met Marianne and Jess at the stage door. We watched the actors going in. Aaron usually shows up around 1:20 for matinees. XD I noticed this last week, too. It's uncanny, really. He did actually seem genuinely excited to see us (again), exchanged some random chit-chat with us, and then went in. FYI, Saturday he wore the light-tan North Face coat, the cute little hat, and no sunglasses. Ahem. XD; I still like the dark blue wool coat better; like Jess said, it's classier. And people say I don't pay attention to detail. Oh, yes, and speaking of, they have a new stage-door buzzer. Only the obsessed would notice something like that. Dan, Chip, Adam, and a few others said hi to us as they were going in. After Dan went in, some lady came up to us.
Lady - So, are you guys Les Mis groupies or something?
Me - ...Uh, I guess you could call it that.
Jess - Not exactly groupies... that has a different connotation.
Me - We're Les Mis fans.
Lady - That guy who said hi to you, was he one of the actors? The one who played Marius.
Us - ...which guy? XD
Lady - Oh, I guess there were a few, haha. Was one of them the guy who plays Marius?
Marianne - Oh, Adam, he was the one with darker skin and short, curly hair.
Lady - I didn't see him say hi to you. Anyway, see, I want to talk to him because... (and she launched off on this story of how her kid played Marius and now she's completely obsessed with LM and visits fansites and stuff.)
Us - o_O well, you can always wait for him after the show. They'll have barricades set up here and everything.

And then it was time to get in line and go in; she asked us whether we spend full price everytime we go. Heh. Not every time...

So as you may or may not know, I had front row center mezzanine seat for this show. As in A106, right in the middle of the row. You honestly cannot get a better view than this. I love this seat and would get it every time and my bank account be damned. (er, and I do have a few other front row mezzanine seats in the future... la la la... heh.) I sat between two husbands who were dragged to the show along with their family. The guy on my left cheered half-heartedly for Norm at the curtain call and the guy on my right was quiet and cracked jokes about it being the best seat in the house.

There were a few understudies: Marissa McGowan on for Cosette and Nikki Renée Daniels on for Fantine, and a few of the female ensemble roles doubled up on swings. I liked Marissa's Cosette; her high Cs are much stronger than Ali's, although I wasn't as impressed with her acting. She kept wearing this open-mouthed expression of surprise that made her look, well, a little on the dim side. Nikki I like better than Lea (although Haviland I liked still better). Nikki has a really nice voice and has got the part down pretty well.

OKAY. I am going to do something shocking: criticise Aaron. I absolutely adore Aaron's Enjolras, utterly, without question. HOWEVER. During the Dawn of Anguish (the scene right after Bring Him Home), where he's singing, "The people have not stirred / We are abandoned by those who still live in fear / The people have not heard / We will not abandon those who cannot hear..." he makes the "stirred", "fear", "heard", and "hear" almost staccato, and it annoys me a little. I wish he would hold out the notes just a tiny bit longer, it sounds like he's running out of breath or something. He used to do this at other times, but it's most noticeable in this scene, and those lines should be... well, a little more drawn out. I mean they shouldn't be held forever, you know but ... quarter/half note speed rather than staccato. See- just because I adore Aaron doesn't mean I can't be objective about his performance. XD He's not perfect, obviously, but he's pretty much the best Enjolras ever in existence.

We got another round of applause for dangling!Aaron. Score!

Norm gave the BCEFA speech again, and he kept tripping up, and forgot the name of Al Hirschfeld. XD And since they're almost out of those souvenir posters signed by the cast, they upped the price to $100. I'm glad I got one last month, then.

So stage door afterwards, of course. We saw the Mariuslady there, and I pointed out Adam to her when he came out. XD He didn't look too traumatised when he came past us to say hello, so I assumed that she wasn't too crazy. Talked to Chip and Rob afterwards, and Dan came out and snuck past at the same time, so I didn't get to talk to him. Rob's great, and I'm going to miss him. He joined the crowd of actors asking us how many times we've seen the show and whether we're tired of it yet. And I got a picture.

Then, of course, we got to talk to Aaron. This was fun, because I finally asked him the question I've been hoarding since the end of February, once he'd assured me he'd be on for the evening show. It took me this long to both gather up the nerve and, you know, actually see him there (because I was all geared up to ask him Sunday March 18 and then he was off) so, yeah. Haha. By that I mean I asked him about the B-flat in the final battle on "until the earth is FREEEE!" Now, see, I wasn't entirely sure the reason for it not being there, whether it was personal preference or the direction of the production team, although I was leaning towards the latter. I feel I should point out that I had a lot of trouble actually asking the question, because Aaron was standing right in front of me, like inches from my face. How does anyone concentrate on stringing together complete coherent sentences under conditions like that!? But I managed it, and he... actually considered it seriously. The reason Aaron doesn't go to the B-flat is that he didn't even realise it was there. Stupid production team. Jess mentioned that sometimes stage managers don't want it to be done because of vocal strain/injury, etc, and I understand that, but that was exactly why I was asking about it -- I mean, if he'd said, "No, I can't do it because __", fair enough. But I brought it up, it was news to him, and I mentioned that I thought he'd make it sound quite good; and he is seriously considering it, said he'd look into possibly doing that "one of these times." :D! That would make me ridiculously happy. Now, I brought it up after the matinee with a tiny, tiny hope that he'd be able to do it for the evening show. He didn't, which I suppose isn't surprising, but... maybe by his final show. :D And then I get another hug (which I wasn't even expecting this time, wow), and he walked away. I love that man. ♥

Norm and Drew came out after that. Talked to Norm for a few minutes, then Drew. Marianne had wondered whether he's aware of slash, and we tried to prod her into asking him. She didn't manage to ask him after the matinee, though. One of his fans stopped to talk to him, and I happened to look down and... his shoes. WHITE PLATFORM SHOES. Jesus Christ, Drew. XDDD The man is already tall enough, without adding artificial height! I love him, but... honestly, now. We did get to tell him how much we enjoy his performance, because we totally do; he's really entertaining.

Speaking of Drew, one thing I noticed during the matinee is that he's the prison guard on the left during the Prologue. Drew as a serious cop is pretty hilarious. Even funnier than Marianne's proclamation of Nehal the perpetual policeman, since he seems to be a cop in every scene. Most of the boys actually get to be prison guards at one time or another. Adam and Aaron are the cops who carry off Fantine. I love watching for things like this. Also, I noticed Drew in the wedding scene for the first time, and he's wearing glasses, and... yeah, he looks funny like that. (Okay, so he looks funny a lot. I still love him.) Bah, how did I turn into a Drew fan?!

Heh, even after eleven times seeing the revival, I still notice new things each time. And Aaron thinks we're sick of the show . . . Never!

We went to Euro Diner again for dinner, and I think I'm not going to get the egg salad ever again, considering the effect it had on me at the end of the evening show. Ahem. It may have been the jell-o, too, but I had the egg salad last week and had nearly the same trouble, so yeah. It wasn't bad, just didn't really agree so well. We sat and chatted and had jell-o. Hahaha, red jell-o, we are such kids. XD The jell-o reminded me of stories from high school prom, which... oh yeah, so much fun. Only at my senior prom did they play "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" twice and serve green jell-o in plastic wineglasses. For seriously, folks. XD

For the evening show, oh, do I have a great story from that. Marianne and I got seats next to each other again. I should mention that we never buy the tickets ever at the same time, and yet this tends to happen occasionally anyway. We were D15 and D17, which was the partial-view orchestra on the left side, and we got some pretty nice views there. Of Aaron bent over in Act Two, and even some in Act One, and of Drew the drunk, and a few other nifty things.

Before the show, however... Marianne was in the bathroom, and I was gearing up to record. We had understudy night -- Fantine, Eponine, and Cosette; Nikki, Meg McGinnis, and Idara Victor, who is second u/s and it was her first time ever as Cosette. Also, Dan called off, so we saw Stephen Trafton on as Bamatabois and Combeferre. Oh, Dan. Stephen is cute as 'ferre, but ...he wasn't Dan. :( Anyway, the usher comes up and stands in the little space in front of our seats, looks out at the people around me, and says, "Just so you all know, recording is illegal in this theatre. If you get caught you will get in trouble. Okay?" Now, I just thought this was a general reminder, so just nodded. Two minutes later... he comes back and leans over to me, "Was that a recorder?" I replied that no of course it wasn't. "Well, it looked like one. I just wanted to let you know to put it away, and if the security guards catch you they won't be so nice." I replied that I wasn't doing anything, and he just said, "Okay, just put everything away in your pocketbook," and walked away again. Snork. And then a few minutes later he came back again, semi-apologetic at me saying, "Just so you know! I wasn't accusing you or anything like that!" I smiled and laughed at him, like, "oh, no that's no problem, I know you have to do that..." Bahaha, I'm a shitty liar but I apparently convinced him. XD I was paranoid through most of the show that security would come after me and search my bag. I did not get searched, though.

The audience was utter shit during the evening show, and while we tried to applaud dangling!Aaron again, no one joined in. Oh well. I'm not complaining, we got it two Saturday matinees in a row. :D But they didn't applaud Empty Chairs, some doofus in the matinee started applauding after all the frenchboys were dead on the barricade, and... yeah, whatever.

Aaron was the first out at the stage door afterwards. He didn't linger very long, signed a few autographs, took a few pictures, and then took off -- he acknowledged that we were there, but didn't say anything to any of us, other than the "Ciao, babe" and the shoulder-tap he gave me and that I mentioned in the just-got-home entry. Oh, Aaron. ♥ Of course his raging hurry explained why I got the hug after the matinee, but hey. I am so not complaining.

We talked to Rob and Chip again after the evening show, Rob thought it was excellent that we saw both, and ... yeah, I'm totally going to miss him, he's cute. Chip is ridiculously friendly and I heart him too, he told me again to drive home safe. Aww. I wonder who's taking over as Courfeyrac/Foreman.

And we saw Drew again, and we nudged Marianne into asking him The Question. Actually, Jess said, "Drew, Marianne has a question for you... :D" And she gave us the evil eye and tried to make it sound like it was half our idea to ask the question, and asks him, "Drew, do you read fanfiction?" Drew, oh god. Has not heard of fanfiction. "Fan....fiction? What's fanfiction?" With the most adorably bemused expression on his face. Hahahahaa, oh I can't stop laughing at the look on his face. We tried to play it off, saying, "No, you don't want to know, really." And he just said, "Okay! :D" Oh, Drew. We love you.

Norm is amazing. He's just really sweet. I think that was Idara's family standing near us, actually, and he was talking to them. They asked him to come hang out with them, and he looked at us, and said, "Oh, I have to talk to my fans first..." ♥ I definitely have to make sure to get a photo with him before he leaves, too.

And we got to talk to Alex, for like... the first time ever. We've seen him once or twice I think, but never really talk to him, so that was pretty nice. He said to another fan that he was going to be on vacation June 18-25, and I only remember that BECAUSE that's pretty much the same week I'm on vacation... 17-24 I'm in North Carolina. XD So yeah, if you want to see Valjean understudy, go that week.

Jess got fangirled at after that, and we stood there for awhile, and eventually Marianne and I couldn't stand the cold anymore so we went to sit in Starbucks awhile. We didn't do much in Starbucks other than warm up and entertain each other with our filthy imaginations. No, don't ask, it's best that you not know. XD While we were there, this lady came by soliciting donations for some Harlem kids group and gave us some really cute Christian literature. I still have it in my purse, it was a little coloring page, might give it to my sister. It preached on about Jesus' love, and it was such a nice change from the fundie blather that spews on about Hell and death. I gave her all the spare change in my pockets except for $1.50 for the PATH train, because I'm tired of losing change out of that pocket. XD There's still a bunch of it on the driver's seat anyway.

We left Starbucks at 12:45, when they started to call for closing, and Marianne went off to the bus station and I walked off to the PATH station. Way home was pretty much uneventful; I get to walk past some pretty happening clubs in Hoboken between the train station and the parking garage, and one smelled so strongly of alcohol that it just reeked onto the street. Most likely someone spilled beer all over the street, but... daaaamn. Drive home was uneventful save for two things: one, I finally stopped and got photographic evidence of the town named after Stephen Tewksbury:

And two, it started snowing as I got off of I-78 onto 222. WHAT THE SHIT. Snow in fucking April.

I got home at 4am, posted that entry, and laid around until quarter of five when I finally fell asleep. Man, I love going to NYC for Les Mis, and yes, it is totally possible to have too much fun, because I was so wiped out the next day I could barely function. XD

Photos from the day:
Me and Rob Hunt.
Tewksbury, NJ.