Do you hear the people sing?
So this post is a bit different, but I feel like it's something I'm going to love writing and something I would love to share with you all. It's a little bit cringey, but today I am going to post my Les Miserables origin story.
So it all begins in 2011 when I watched 'My Week With Marilyn' and I fell completely in love with Eddie Redmayne, and when I was stalking him one day, it was announced he would be playing Marius Pontmercy in a film adaptation of Les Miserables. I had heard of Les Mis at this point, but had never really listened to it or anything. That all changed. As soon as I found out Eddie Redmayne would be in the film, I went full fangirl. I listened to the OBC recording, the 10th anniversary and the 25th anniversary and fell in love with the music. I then watched both dvd's of the concerts that were available - the 10th anniversary and the 25th anniversary (cue me falling in love with Eponine and her being my favourite character). Then one day at school, I felt like all my prayers had been answered at once. My drama teacher in year 10 decided he was going to take us to London to see Les Mis on stage so we could write about it the following week in our drama mock exam. I was overjoyed.
So we went down to London, but there was something my drama teacher failed to mention. He didn't book the tickets (for 15 students and 2 teachers) until the week before, so we were sat in the dress circle - not a problem - but I was sat pretty much behind a pole. So I spent the whole show peering around a pole. Nevertheless, I was still so happy at the fact that I was seeing a musical I loved live. I was very lucky when I went as I got to see Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean and Hadley Fraser as Javert - 2 of the best actors in the musical theatre industry in my opinion. The entire performance completely blew me away and Les Miserables immediately became my favourite musical just like it is today.
After my trip to London, my obsession only increased. I listened to the soundtracks on repeat, I stalked their twitter page and website, I found as many performances online (legal ones - the oliviers, the tony's...) and then eagerly awaited the release of the 2012 film.
The film came out and I was not disappointed. It was very different to the stage show, but that is only to be expected. Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman and Aaron Tveit were amazing in their roles (Eddie Redmayne goes without saying) and Sam Barks' portrayal of Eponine was just heartbreaking (In a good way). After watching the film, I decided to read the book 'The Brick' and I absolutely loved it - there were so many little details which made the characters more heartbreaking that weren't known in the musical - no spoilers though. Then about a year later - about July 2013, I entered a competition to see Les Miserables on stage, and I was one of the winners. This meant I would be able to see Carrie Hope Fletcher (Someone I am a big fan of) on stage in my favourite musical as my favourite character. I decided to leave my good friend Harry to choose the seats we wanted. Again, Harry left it until a week before (Seriously Harry?!) and we ended up in the dress circle. However, fate was against me and I had a giant sat in front of me, so I spent the performance peering around them, Nevertheless the show blew me away again and made me fall in love with the musical even more, if that was even possible, and Carrie's interpretation of Eponine was spectacular. Harry and I did go to stage door to try and meet Carrie but she couldn't stop that evening for various reasons, so I went home and watched the Les miserables film instead...
Fast forward to October 2013, and I receive a message from Harry that may have just made me jump for joy. Paraphrasing, it goes like this:
'So I spoke to Helen, and if you want, you can be a member of the ensemble and take part in Les Miserables. Let me ASAP because you need to rehearse.'
I was all but ready to die of happiness. Just to be in the ensemble of Les Miserables school edition was AMAZING. So I rehearsed until I knew the show inside out. And then a problem arose. there was no understudy for the girl who was to play Eponine, who was slowly getting increasingly worse with her case of tonsillitis. So, all the girls over the age of 13 had to audition - including me. I don't quite know why to this day, but it was in fact me who was chosen to be the understudy, and then when Lauren (Eponine) was beaten by her tonsillitis, I took over. I was terrified, nervous and excited at the same time, bearing in mind this was my first big part in ANY school show. So I went on stage, terrified as hell, in my favourite show as my favourite character, I honestly felt like the luckiest person alive.
Which then brings us almost up to present day. I continued to stalk Les Mis in every way possible online - twitter, tumblr, facebook, youtube...the lot. And then Christmas 2015 came round. I received possibly the best christmas present EVER. 2 tickets to see Les Miserables on January 29th in the stalls - good seats (Cough *Harry* Cough) to see my favourite musical BEFORE Carrie Hope Fletcher leaves, meaning I have one more chance to go to Stage Door and meet her. Needless to say, I am excited as hell.
So this was a little bit of a rambly post, but I enjoyed writing it, and I hope there will be a nice post to follow this up on Friday night or Saturday!
So it all begins in 2011 when I watched 'My Week With Marilyn' and I fell completely in love with Eddie Redmayne, and when I was stalking him one day, it was announced he would be playing Marius Pontmercy in a film adaptation of Les Miserables. I had heard of Les Mis at this point, but had never really listened to it or anything. That all changed. As soon as I found out Eddie Redmayne would be in the film, I went full fangirl. I listened to the OBC recording, the 10th anniversary and the 25th anniversary and fell in love with the music. I then watched both dvd's of the concerts that were available - the 10th anniversary and the 25th anniversary (cue me falling in love with Eponine and her being my favourite character). Then one day at school, I felt like all my prayers had been answered at once. My drama teacher in year 10 decided he was going to take us to London to see Les Mis on stage so we could write about it the following week in our drama mock exam. I was overjoyed.
So we went down to London, but there was something my drama teacher failed to mention. He didn't book the tickets (for 15 students and 2 teachers) until the week before, so we were sat in the dress circle - not a problem - but I was sat pretty much behind a pole. So I spent the whole show peering around a pole. Nevertheless, I was still so happy at the fact that I was seeing a musical I loved live. I was very lucky when I went as I got to see Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean and Hadley Fraser as Javert - 2 of the best actors in the musical theatre industry in my opinion. The entire performance completely blew me away and Les Miserables immediately became my favourite musical just like it is today.
After my trip to London, my obsession only increased. I listened to the soundtracks on repeat, I stalked their twitter page and website, I found as many performances online (legal ones - the oliviers, the tony's...) and then eagerly awaited the release of the 2012 film.
The film came out and I was not disappointed. It was very different to the stage show, but that is only to be expected. Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman and Aaron Tveit were amazing in their roles (Eddie Redmayne goes without saying) and Sam Barks' portrayal of Eponine was just heartbreaking (In a good way). After watching the film, I decided to read the book 'The Brick' and I absolutely loved it - there were so many little details which made the characters more heartbreaking that weren't known in the musical - no spoilers though. Then about a year later - about July 2013, I entered a competition to see Les Miserables on stage, and I was one of the winners. This meant I would be able to see Carrie Hope Fletcher (Someone I am a big fan of) on stage in my favourite musical as my favourite character. I decided to leave my good friend Harry to choose the seats we wanted. Again, Harry left it until a week before (Seriously Harry?!) and we ended up in the dress circle. However, fate was against me and I had a giant sat in front of me, so I spent the performance peering around them, Nevertheless the show blew me away again and made me fall in love with the musical even more, if that was even possible, and Carrie's interpretation of Eponine was spectacular. Harry and I did go to stage door to try and meet Carrie but she couldn't stop that evening for various reasons, so I went home and watched the Les miserables film instead...
Fast forward to October 2013, and I receive a message from Harry that may have just made me jump for joy. Paraphrasing, it goes like this:
'So I spoke to Helen, and if you want, you can be a member of the ensemble and take part in Les Miserables. Let me ASAP because you need to rehearse.'
I was all but ready to die of happiness. Just to be in the ensemble of Les Miserables school edition was AMAZING. So I rehearsed until I knew the show inside out. And then a problem arose. there was no understudy for the girl who was to play Eponine, who was slowly getting increasingly worse with her case of tonsillitis. So, all the girls over the age of 13 had to audition - including me. I don't quite know why to this day, but it was in fact me who was chosen to be the understudy, and then when Lauren (Eponine) was beaten by her tonsillitis, I took over. I was terrified, nervous and excited at the same time, bearing in mind this was my first big part in ANY school show. So I went on stage, terrified as hell, in my favourite show as my favourite character, I honestly felt like the luckiest person alive.
Which then brings us almost up to present day. I continued to stalk Les Mis in every way possible online - twitter, tumblr, facebook, youtube...the lot. And then Christmas 2015 came round. I received possibly the best christmas present EVER. 2 tickets to see Les Miserables on January 29th in the stalls - good seats (Cough *Harry* Cough) to see my favourite musical BEFORE Carrie Hope Fletcher leaves, meaning I have one more chance to go to Stage Door and meet her. Needless to say, I am excited as hell.
So this was a little bit of a rambly post, but I enjoyed writing it, and I hope there will be a nice post to follow this up on Friday night or Saturday!
Until next time
Leyla
xx
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