Beth Winter

Calling out to London and UK people - in the eventuality that one can be in London on Thursday-Saturday this week, how does one get (cheap) tickets to something like Phantom, Les Miserables, Priscilla, possibly Wicked?

(Also, anyone want to meet up? Evenings should be free-ish.)

I'm still in studying hell (fingers crossed on Saturday, please!) but concert schedules have their own rhythm. I don't remember that much from the one on Monday, but that is mostly because I was fading with blood pressure swings. I hope they didn't think I was asleep ~.~ I did notice that Jakub had new photos in the background slideshow - including ones from the Oberhausen concert where they let him open the second act as Phantom. I just about fell over when I saw that part!

(It did feature the one and only Wenn Liebe in Dir Ist as a Sarah-Herbert duet, because our second Alfred skipped out at the last moment and Sarah was in the audience anyway.)

Other people's clips:

One Song Glory - I do like the take on the song.

Till I Hear You Sing Once More - ...yes, you're one of my favourite Phantoms, stop making me interested in Paint Never Dries!

And that goes double for you, dear girl.

I Dreamed a Dream - EDYTA ♥

A Heart Full of Love - driving home the point that he should have been in Les Mis.

And the greatest surprise: the ushers/stagehands, a pair of complete newcomers, looking both all of 16, and bringing the house down with Boote in der Nacht. Go kids!

http://vimeo.com/user6151504/videos <- a high school musical of Star Wars: A New Hope. This is rather awesome, even if Vader could use a better mic. Part 3 of Act 1 is the best :D

I got through the entire 2010 full-length archive in one big burst yesterday, so here are some favourites in alphabetical order by fandom :) Expect more when madness goes live!

( Fandoms: Carmilla, Castle, Coldfire, Elisabeth, Historian, Mentalist, Rose of Versailles, Scarlet Pimpernel, V for Vendetta, Vorkosigan )

So. Let's say, hypothetically, that your absolute favourite got a first major role in a theatre in this city in four years. And let's say that this role is Javert in Les Miserables.

I am convinced that they added a dishevelled, grey-haired, Krolock-like Javert prowling the barricade and checking the faces of the corpses just for me.

(Good show. Fantastic show. Or the bits I can remember, because I kind of died after Stars and then again after the suicide. That, or I fainted from hyperventilating so much.)

So. Edinburgh Les Mis.

Set broke down. Projections were fantastic, they moved through the sewers! And the director, cast, or both, ship Enjolras/Grantaire. Lots. Including in Beggars at the Feast, where they were servants in the background stealing the whole scene, and stealing scenes from this particular set of Threnadiers was hard indeed.

Thanks to fyrie's cheerleading, I got autographs from Threnadier, Grantaire (Enjolras walked out talking on his mobile, but gave us a wide grin), Eponine and Jean Valjean. So, yes. Good few minutes chatting to John Owen Jones, who is a lovely person with a voice that can blow the roof off.

Full review later. Once I actually remember the details. Good show. Dear heavens, good show.

*falls over* NOT another Phantom-like disaster after all.

Yep, cast for Warsaw Les Mis is up.

Valjean - first place to guy I saw as Quasimodo in Notre Dame, who is lovely. Damian as Valjean II, but I can live with that as long as he's not first place. (I repeat - lovely guy, not a dramatic lead.) Third Valjean to ex-second Krolock, who's been working on his voice a lot since then.

Javert - see icon. I cannot express how delirious I am about this guy being back in Warsaw, in THIS role. (Our Koukol is second Javert and oh, he's lovely and he's going to be brilliant.)

Fantine - third Christine and girl who was Esmeralda. Brilliant. My favourite ex-Magda as second Fantine, also good.

Eponine - haven't seen the first girl in anything, but Malwina will be second ♥

Cosette - first Christine. I'm a fan. Second Christine is second Cosette

Marius and Enjolras - first Raoul, plus pop singer I like, and our Black Vampire up for second Enjolras while second Alfred is second Marius (I adore both of those to pieces)

Threnadier - second Phantom, who is a brilliant, brilliant character actor. Second cast is our second Abronsius who ended up doing most shows.

I may need ticket money ;)

I can haz DVD.

I can haz the DVD I've wanted since October 22, 2006.

And yes, the sets were budget, the voices rock and not musical (except for HIM and GIT, because there are shivers, and not only from the Swirliest of Cloaks), the tensions running high.

But Sarah and Alfred were in love, rockstar love with sparkles on, the Jewish prayers were real prayers, and the cloaks Swirled. Dear gods, they swirled.

I have the DVD, and I can have this any. Time. I. Want.

(New dream DVD: same show, Crack Edition.)

It's no secret I love HIS voice to utter distraction, and the way he moves and dances and works that Cloak, but I also forgot how good a Sarah she was, rockstar and innocent and for once, seventeen for real. Here, have a promo clip ♥

Thank you everyone for the kind comments on my last post. Mourning is never easy, but we're managing. I'm afraid I'm not yet at the stage when I can answer them without crying.

It helps that there's still Lestat, the kindest, most golden-hearted feline vampire ever to walk the earth. He follows us around the flat, cuddles up with me at night, and each time we mention Tonio's name he looks around in frightened puzzlement. "Where is he? When is he coming back?"

(And there are other things. fyrie sent an amazing Elisabeth gift. I had tickets, bought back in September, for a Disney concert with certain someones, and yesterday I both teared up at the wonderful orchestrations - Disney tugs on heart-strings like no other - and melted a little at having Krolock, in full Krolock mode if not in the costume, sing If I can't love her with thunder and lightning and swirling an invisible cloak. Tomorrow, I'm going to be seeing our Herbert sing Spamalot duets at himself. It all helps.)

We'll be going to the seaside for Christmas after all, leaving on Tuesday evening so that we can bury my darling at the lakeside cottage on Wednesday. I'll be back on Sunday evening, but since the grandparents have a net connection, I won't be fully absent.

After three days of Roman angelic overload, I'm finally up to a review of Tuesday's gala.

To get bad things out of the way first: the concert was advertised with posters and annoucements featuring only Jan Ammann and Kevin Tarte, leading me to assume that they'd feature in at least half the concert. Instead, in a three-hour concert Kevin got one solo, Jan two, and there were two duets between the two of them, out of thirty-seven songs. I think that if the poster for a concert features only two stars, one can reasonably expect them to take up more than 13.5% of its duration. (One can also expect, say, drama musicals rather than crossdressing and Disney. One can be wrong.)

( But there was still crack. And Jakub! My favourite Herbert and Phantom is all grown up and playing to audiences of thousands! )

Audio bonus

And to save you from the wall of text up there:

Jan Ammann - Nature Boy

Jan Ammann and Kevin Tarte - Stars (demonic version)

Jakub Wocial, Jan Ammann - Phantom / Rockstar Phantom

Kevin Tarte and Jan Ammann - The Winner Takes It All