I read somewhere that there many of the students did have a lot of love toward their leader, Enjolras. Not sure how deep the love was, but admittedly, who wouldn't love a smart, young, revolutionary leader! Also, Thaxton makes it right up there with Michael Maguire for his performance as Enjolras. Love them both!
Watching this I can't help but feel like Grantaire loves Enjolras and really doesn't want him to die...but then again that could be the fangirl in me...but regardless this scene is beautiful as is the whole musical!
It really doesnt help to be reading the book where is more than once writen that Grantaire "Loves" Enjolras, without really explaining if his feelings are more than platonic. Do you know how Enjolras dies in the book? If you really like the E/R pairing, you should check it our. Soooo sad.
Grantaire is absolute my favorite character in the story because of how much life this actor bring to him!! I have not seen an actor be more committed to a role!! Phenomenal! Heart-wrenching and phenomenal!!
Always get a sense I've been through a lot and it's been days, yet the 2nd act is only an hour long. Establishing characters instead of rushing helps--thanks to Nunn and Caird for fighting producers & keeping these key moments in. And to James Fenton for his indispensable contribution in developing this sequence and the prologue, allowing his experiences among real-life battles color and intensify what we see on stage. Never feels sensationalized in original production, but wholly authentic.
One of my favorite casts, and definitely my favorite version of the "Valjean's Revenge" segment. To me, 3:59-4:55 is the crux of the show. Les Mis is a story about hanging on, doing your best, and making the world a better place and yourself a better person, whatever the obstacles and whatever the outcome. Doing this for Javert shows that Valjean has come a long way from "the man [he] was before"--no more hatred, no more running, just doing what's right and accepting the consequences. Powerful.
Best cast of Les Mis ever! I didn't have the pleasure of seeing them live, but compared to every other cast I have seen either live or on youtube, this is my favorite cast. This Grantaire, Enjolras, Marius, and Javert are fantastic, Eponine here is my second favorite, and Jean Valjean is very good. Thaxton's gauntlets of power and his hug with Grantaire! *squee* It doesn't get any better.
@bluesun7777 Well... I can assure you that this isn't fan service. It might seem like it from our perspective, but absolutely nothing in that performance is about what a couple of people in the audience would like to see. It's about creating an arch that isn't possible due to the lack of the "Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk" scene and several other moments...
@becky5428 Assuming here that you don't mean the first to sing in the whole of the video, which would be David Thaxton, who ... kind of doesn't look like Michael Ball very much at all, but the one that's first to sing in "Drink With Me" - that's Matthew Gent as Feuilly. It's funny, there is actually one picture of the barricades that made people believe he was playing Marius, because he looks like a young Michael Ball there and is very central in the shot. ;) He was understudy Marius, at least.
My study group talked about what dialogue may be in 7:09 f. In the book (2nd vol.)Enjolras tells Grantaire "you are unable to believe in anything" and G. says: "You know I believe in you". Now mirror that and you have G. say in 7:09 "You are right, I'm unable to believe in anything" and DT shakes his head in 7:12 saying: "No, I'm not, you do believe in me, don't you?" and that's when G. simply has to hug him (I'd do it, too).
To me it is kind of unfair, and painfully unfair, that Grantaires devotion goes unanswered in the book and I love to see this "flaw" of Hugo's being "rightened" by the musical - but it's still OOC from the book's point of view.
If you have actual material to base your interpretation on, then it can't be OOC. And it's not that Enjolras behaves like Achilles but that they share a certain bond. Also: Orestes & Pylades. there are enough moments in the current show that come close to the moment Enjolras sends R away from the barricade. Of course the interaction differs from that in the book, but the musical offers a wider perspective. There is no "flaw" that is "rightened" by the musical. See the show before judging, please
Which show do you mean? The one this vid is from or any other performance of the musical? Of course, I've seen one or I wouldn't discuss here. But I don't want to "judge" neither this show nor the musical in itself, I'm merely arguing from the POV of the book. There is much more of a bond between Enjolras and Combeferre for example.
Oh, sorry, from the other video it seemed as if you hadn't seen it performed on stage (e.g. Marius lying on the ground, shot). If you watch the Red & Black video or could see what's going on outside of the frame, there is much more interaction between Enjolras & Combeferre or Courfeyrac than these moments between Enjolras & Grantaire.
I just think it's patronising to think that your opinion stands for the book and everything else is OOC. I am very sure the actors have given this a lot of thought
I agree that the actors and producers have given it much thought and I don't believe my opinion is the only one possible referring to the book. Furthermore I don't want to say that OOCness is a bad thing in itself. To make a musical/movie from a book is some kind of alchemy. Pictures and actions work differently than words. Sometimes things have to be changed to SHOW what the author described on several pages. As for G. and E. there's just one sentence: Enjolras pressed his hand and smiled.
2nd part: ... and that's the only really positive movement towards G. he offers. Hugo says he treated him with pity and didn't think much of him and G. proves that when he fails to inform the workers he's sent to. What takes place on page 93 (german edition) is really a transformation for both. E. finally accepts G.'s love for him as valid, to die together is a powerful relationship, isn't it? Maybe the musical expresses this earlier because it doesn't show the siege of "Korinth".
This is completely OOC, of course. Feuilly staggering around hugging a bottle and Enjolras cuddling Grantaire. Hugo would rub his eyes in disbelief, but - I LOVE IT :-).
of course. how dare they translate some of Hugo's subtext into actual interaction? and that is a hug, not a cuddle. and Feuilly isn't staggering at all. at least not from what I can see.
and it's Keith Anthony Higham as R, he was understudy Grantaire last season.
Well, subtextes are tricky , they may bemroe of an "eisegesis" than an "exegesis", in other words: what the reader wants to read more than what the author wants to say. The relationship between Enjolras and Grantaire in the book doesn't include hugs anywhere.
As for Feuilly he doesn't seem to be too steady to me but I admit I was flippant in that. Is KAH still with the cast? I'm going to see it in London in January.
No, they don't hug in the book. Nor do the students witness Eponine's death. Nor does Enjolras wave the flag. Nor does Valjean shoot a sniper. See?
Hugo made it very clear by referring to Orestes&Pylades, Antinous, Achilles&Patrocles, etc. when talking about Enjolras and Grantaire that there is a certain connection. The musical puts the characters into different situations and so the dynamics play out more or less visibly and there are different interactions.
Do not misunderstand me, I love this interpretation and I believe it is possible to take the death-scene from the book and kind of broaden it towards an interpretation like that. But that we love it does not necessarily mean that Hugo meant it like that. In the Achilles/Patroklus comparison Hugo was talking solely about Grantaire, he does not describe their relationship. When he wants to send Grantaire off the barricade Enjolras does not behave very Achilles-like, does he? ;-).
when R was singing his lines during "Drink With Me" Marius was just like "that's not a comforting thing to say"!!!!lol!!! well, R is a cynic and a skeptic.
Enjolras and R!!! touching foreheads and hugging each other!!
can I just say... re-watching this, I love the "soft", subtle acting. Often, especially in musicals, the acting is too "grandiose" on stage - most of the audience won't even see much of the facial expressions - however, here you can see it and it adds so much credibility... the actors disappear behind the characters, you forget it's "on stage", really.
This is AMAZING!!! It made so happy but also made me cry so much!
Is this Keith Anthony Higham? I've not seen him as Grantaire, but if it's him then he's really good. I love the way he shrugs Marius off - what are Marius' problems compared to the fact that he's just been hugged by - HAS JUST TOUCHED FOREHEADS WITH! - Enjolras? Love it so much!! David is fantastic as always - I love the way he shakes off Feuilly and keeps the contact with Grantaire. And his face when Grantaire suddenly hugs him!
this is probably the best drink with me ever. david is amazing, and i think keith anthony higham is a better grantaire than richard woodford (but woodford has an amazing javert)
actually, i think in the book, grantaire was gay for enjolras, which was the only reason he joined the students, and when they captured enjolras (unlike in the musical) grantaire gave himself uup, asking to be killed along with enjolras
well, it's not as simple as "he was gay for Enjolras". I mean, subtext-wise, he probably was. But it's so much more. He does not believe in the cause because he doesn't understand it, but he believes in Enjolras and he is, as Hugo puts it, his satellite.
Actually, I have a rather different view. I think his scepticism is a choice - he chooses to believe in nothing because he does not want to - and that he does understand the cause. I cannot see him sco comprehensively scorning what he does not understand I think he understands it better than he would want anyone to know.
I see, but I was going by Hugo's "All those words: rights of the people, rights of man, the social contract, the French Revolution, the Republic, democracy, humanity, civilization, religion, progress, came very near to signifying nothing whatever to Grantaire": Having R understanding it all and *still* scorning it would have made him superior to everyone in the group, even Enjolras, and he isn't, Hugo clearly indicates that Grantaire is inferior.
Yes, he is a sceptic, but only because he can't see - and therefore not believe in - the grandeur of it all. However, he believes in Enjolras, the incarnation of these ideas.
It is only minutes before his death, in "Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk" that Grantaire realizes the extent of "all those words": he understands and joins Enjolras with the words: "Long live the Republic! I'm one of them."
That hug is heartbreaking:(
POTOPhan13 3 months ago
I read somewhere that there many of the students did have a lot of love toward their leader, Enjolras. Not sure how deep the love was, but admittedly, who wouldn't love a smart, young, revolutionary leader! Also, Thaxton makes it right up there with Michael Maguire for his performance as Enjolras. Love them both!
anniemaple 5 months ago
Watching this I can't help but feel like Grantaire loves Enjolras and really doesn't want him to die...but then again that could be the fangirl in me...but regardless this scene is beautiful as is the whole musical!
FallingIntoHeaven 6 months ago
@FallingIntoHeaven
It really doesnt help to be reading the book where is more than once writen that Grantaire "Loves" Enjolras, without really explaining if his feelings are more than platonic. Do you know how Enjolras dies in the book? If you really like the E/R pairing, you should check it our. Soooo sad.
NightmaresDaydream 1 month ago
Grantaire is absolute my favorite character in the story because of how much life this actor bring to him!! I have not seen an actor be more committed to a role!! Phenomenal! Heart-wrenching and phenomenal!!
stevensilver1203 6 months ago
Always get a sense I've been through a lot and it's been days, yet the 2nd act is only an hour long. Establishing characters instead of rushing helps--thanks to Nunn and Caird for fighting producers & keeping these key moments in. And to James Fenton for his indispensable contribution in developing this sequence and the prologue, allowing his experiences among real-life battles color and intensify what we see on stage. Never feels sensationalized in original production, but wholly authentic.
LaMisereHQ 9 months ago
One of my favorite casts, and definitely my favorite version of the "Valjean's Revenge" segment. To me, 3:59-4:55 is the crux of the show. Les Mis is a story about hanging on, doing your best, and making the world a better place and yourself a better person, whatever the obstacles and whatever the outcome. Doing this for Javert shows that Valjean has come a long way from "the man [he] was before"--no more hatred, no more running, just doing what's right and accepting the consequences. Powerful.
whistlingninja11 10 months ago
Best cast of Les Mis ever! I didn't have the pleasure of seeing them live, but compared to every other cast I have seen either live or on youtube, this is my favorite cast. This Grantaire, Enjolras, Marius, and Javert are fantastic, Eponine here is my second favorite, and Jean Valjean is very good. Thaxton's gauntlets of power and his hug with Grantaire! *squee* It doesn't get any better.
violetsrblue0708 10 months ago 2
...I think I just died of squee. That is the cutest thing I have ever seen!
haynesy2008 1 year ago 6
I love it when the directors provide fanservice. And it is pure fanservice. It's just their way of looking out for the other Mizzies. ^_^
bluesun7777 1 year ago 2
@bluesun7777 Well... I can assure you that this isn't fan service. It might seem like it from our perspective, but absolutely nothing in that performance is about what a couple of people in the audience would like to see. It's about creating an arch that isn't possible due to the lack of the "Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk" scene and several other moments...
LegsandJump 1 year ago 5
....I think that was one of the cutest and saddest hugs I've ever seen.
SiriusLoveGirl 1 year ago 4
I think the guy that begins singing first looks like michael ball in this video!
becky5428 1 year ago
Comment removed
LegsandJump 1 year ago
@becky5428 Assuming here that you don't mean the first to sing in the whole of the video, which would be David Thaxton, who ... kind of doesn't look like Michael Ball very much at all, but the one that's first to sing in "Drink With Me" - that's Matthew Gent as Feuilly. It's funny, there is actually one picture of the barricades that made people believe he was playing Marius, because he looks like a young Michael Ball there and is very central in the shot. ;) He was understudy Marius, at least.
LegsandJump 1 year ago
HOOOOOLD YOURSELVES IN READINESS!
....I fangirl that line sooo much when Thaxton does it.
(And The HUG! YAY!)
hazellwood 2 years ago 11
I do love Jon as Marius. It's an epic whingefest right there in Drink With Me, but I love it so much.
LegsandJump 2 years ago 3
This has been flagged as spam show
My study group talked about what dialogue may be in 7:09 f. In the book (2nd vol.)Enjolras tells Grantaire "you are unable to believe in anything" and G. says: "You know I believe in you". Now mirror that and you have G. say in 7:09 "You are right, I'm unable to believe in anything" and DT shakes his head in 7:12 saying: "No, I'm not, you do believe in me, don't you?" and that's when G. simply has to hug him (I'd do it, too).
Beautiful - if still OOC.
:-)
kemathenga 2 years ago
2.part:
To me it is kind of unfair, and painfully unfair, that Grantaires devotion goes unanswered in the book and I love to see this "flaw" of Hugo's being "rightened" by the musical - but it's still OOC from the book's point of view.
kemathenga 2 years ago
If you have actual material to base your interpretation on, then it can't be OOC. And it's not that Enjolras behaves like Achilles but that they share a certain bond. Also: Orestes & Pylades. there are enough moments in the current show that come close to the moment Enjolras sends R away from the barricade. Of course the interaction differs from that in the book, but the musical offers a wider perspective. There is no "flaw" that is "rightened" by the musical. See the show before judging, please
LegsandJump 2 years ago
Which show do you mean? The one this vid is from or any other performance of the musical? Of course, I've seen one or I wouldn't discuss here. But I don't want to "judge" neither this show nor the musical in itself, I'm merely arguing from the POV of the book. There is much more of a bond between Enjolras and Combeferre for example.
kemathenga 2 years ago
Oh, sorry, from the other video it seemed as if you hadn't seen it performed on stage (e.g. Marius lying on the ground, shot). If you watch the Red & Black video or could see what's going on outside of the frame, there is much more interaction between Enjolras & Combeferre or Courfeyrac than these moments between Enjolras & Grantaire.
I just think it's patronising to think that your opinion stands for the book and everything else is OOC. I am very sure the actors have given this a lot of thought
LegsandJump 2 years ago
I agree that the actors and producers have given it much thought and I don't believe my opinion is the only one possible referring to the book. Furthermore I don't want to say that OOCness is a bad thing in itself. To make a musical/movie from a book is some kind of alchemy. Pictures and actions work differently than words. Sometimes things have to be changed to SHOW what the author described on several pages. As for G. and E. there's just one sentence: Enjolras pressed his hand and smiled.
kemathenga 2 years ago
2nd part: ... and that's the only really positive movement towards G. he offers. Hugo says he treated him with pity and didn't think much of him and G. proves that when he fails to inform the workers he's sent to. What takes place on page 93 (german edition) is really a transformation for both. E. finally accepts G.'s love for him as valid, to die together is a powerful relationship, isn't it? Maybe the musical expresses this earlier because it doesn't show the siege of "Korinth".
kemathenga 2 years ago
This is completely OOC, of course. Feuilly staggering around hugging a bottle and Enjolras cuddling Grantaire. Hugo would rub his eyes in disbelief, but - I LOVE IT :-).
BTW - who's playing Grantaire in this?
kemathenga 2 years ago
of course. how dare they translate some of Hugo's subtext into actual interaction? and that is a hug, not a cuddle. and Feuilly isn't staggering at all. at least not from what I can see.
and it's Keith Anthony Higham as R, he was understudy Grantaire last season.
LegsandJump 2 years ago
Well, subtextes are tricky , they may bemroe of an "eisegesis" than an "exegesis", in other words: what the reader wants to read more than what the author wants to say. The relationship between Enjolras and Grantaire in the book doesn't include hugs anywhere.
As for Feuilly he doesn't seem to be too steady to me but I admit I was flippant in that. Is KAH still with the cast? I'm going to see it in London in January.
kemathenga 2 years ago
No, they don't hug in the book. Nor do the students witness Eponine's death. Nor does Enjolras wave the flag. Nor does Valjean shoot a sniper. See?
Hugo made it very clear by referring to Orestes&Pylades, Antinous, Achilles&Patrocles, etc. when talking about Enjolras and Grantaire that there is a certain connection. The musical puts the characters into different situations and so the dynamics play out more or less visibly and there are different interactions.
This interpretation is wonderful : )
LegsandJump 2 years ago
Do not misunderstand me, I love this interpretation and I believe it is possible to take the death-scene from the book and kind of broaden it towards an interpretation like that. But that we love it does not necessarily mean that Hugo meant it like that. In the Achilles/Patroklus comparison Hugo was talking solely about Grantaire, he does not describe their relationship. When he wants to send Grantaire off the barricade Enjolras does not behave very Achilles-like, does he? ;-).
kemathenga 2 years ago
love how she gets carried away love this scence
balletDancergirl22 2 years ago
when R was singing his lines during "Drink With Me" Marius was just like "that's not a comforting thing to say"!!!!lol!!! well, R is a cynic and a skeptic.
Enjolras and R!!! touching foreheads and hugging each other!!
poor Feuilly is so ignored and neglected..
godgivendesire 2 years ago 6
can I just say... re-watching this, I love the "soft", subtle acting. Often, especially in musicals, the acting is too "grandiose" on stage - most of the audience won't even see much of the facial expressions - however, here you can see it and it adds so much credibility... the actors disappear behind the characters, you forget it's "on stage", really.
LegsandJump 2 years ago 8
What a gorgeous man
timaenot 2 years ago 19
lovely! thanks for posting dear marla! I see this Javert has styled himself after Philip Quast. excellent.
donnatella 2 years ago 3
*dies of squee*
Drink with Me is made of so much win in so many ways! AAAH!
mercifulreddeath 2 years ago 9
This is AMAZING!!! It made so happy but also made me cry so much!
Is this Keith Anthony Higham? I've not seen him as Grantaire, but if it's him then he's really good. I love the way he shrugs Marius off - what are Marius' problems compared to the fact that he's just been hugged by - HAS JUST TOUCHED FOREHEADS WITH! - Enjolras? Love it so much!! David is fantastic as always - I love the way he shakes off Feuilly and keeps the contact with Grantaire. And his face when Grantaire suddenly hugs him!
idhrahil 2 years ago 28
this is probably the best drink with me ever. david is amazing, and i think keith anthony higham is a better grantaire than richard woodford (but woodford has an amazing javert)
rebelteen666 2 years ago 8
actually, i think in the book, grantaire was gay for enjolras, which was the only reason he joined the students, and when they captured enjolras (unlike in the musical) grantaire gave himself uup, asking to be killed along with enjolras
rebelteen666 2 years ago
well, it's not as simple as "he was gay for Enjolras". I mean, subtext-wise, he probably was. But it's so much more. He does not believe in the cause because he doesn't understand it, but he believes in Enjolras and he is, as Hugo puts it, his satellite.
LegsandJump 2 years ago 5
yeah thanks thats actually a much better way to put it :)
rebelteen666 2 years ago
Actually, I have a rather different view. I think his scepticism is a choice - he chooses to believe in nothing because he does not want to - and that he does understand the cause. I cannot see him sco comprehensively scorning what he does not understand I think he understands it better than he would want anyone to know.
idhrahil 2 years ago 4
I see, but I was going by Hugo's "All those words: rights of the people, rights of man, the social contract, the French Revolution, the Republic, democracy, humanity, civilization, religion, progress, came very near to signifying nothing whatever to Grantaire": Having R understanding it all and *still* scorning it would have made him superior to everyone in the group, even Enjolras, and he isn't, Hugo clearly indicates that Grantaire is inferior.
LegsandJump 2 years ago 4
[continued:]
Yes, he is a sceptic, but only because he can't see - and therefore not believe in - the grandeur of it all. However, he believes in Enjolras, the incarnation of these ideas.
It is only minutes before his death, in "Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk" that Grantaire realizes the extent of "all those words": he understands and joins Enjolras with the words: "Long live the Republic! I'm one of them."
At least that's what I gather from the text.
LegsandJump 2 years ago 6
*hyperventilates as well* David! Right there! I can see him so clearly! If you have any more videos with this cast, please do share them!! =)
ilikesmike 2 years ago 7
*hyperventilates* Enjy/R hug...tender moment....squee....!!!
AbaisseABC 2 years ago 9
*is dead*
... oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.
*watches 6:55 - 7:32 over and over again*
: )
LegsandJump 2 years ago 7