Welcome to my theatre journal! Here I will be documenting every show I've gone to, and participated in.

Les Miserables

So far the only and first musical I've seen live! I saw it twice, once at the Alexela concert hall and the second time at the Theatre Vanemuine. Both of the times it was really good, but I liked seeing it at Vanemuine more, because in Alexela the orchestra was SO loud to the point where I couldn't hear a word the actors were singing! And I also slipped and almost fell off the balcony, but that's not the fault of anyone but myself.	I saw it a few years ago, and I'm writing this a long time after seeing it, so I don't remember a lot about the performances itself, but I'll try. A super cool thing about the staging was there was this really, really big wheel in the set. The prisoners pushed it at the beginning of the prologue, and then throughout the show it was raised and lowered when drama arose. It was also used as part of the barricade! It was really cool, but I was so paranoid about it falling down.
The staging of I Dreamed A Dream was also cool, in my opinion, because it didn't exist. Fantine just stood in front of a lowered stage curtain and sang. It was amazing. The staging of Lovely Ladies was great too. The women were doing acrobatics in slings, it was super cool. (Even though I was too embarrassed to look at it all... that's what happens when you go see shows with family.)	I was so eager to see the Confrontation that I missed it, both times! I was just thinking about how cool it will be and then, boom, before I know it, confrontation over. I definitely remember Valjean handcuffing Javert to Fantine's bed, though. It wasn't as weird as it sounds!
Can I just talk about how good Master of the House and the Thenardier Waltz of Treachery were? Lauri Liiv and Hannes Kaljujärv blew it out of the park. Liiv, I felt, was a much more comedic Thenardier and I preferred him, but Kaljujärv's was really sinister and intimidating. Unfortunately, Kaljujärv's mic blew out when I saw the show, so I couldn't enjoy it to the whole. During the Waltz of Treachery, Eponine came on the stage just as Thenardier was singing about their kindness, and he shooed her away. It was hilarious. Valjean also pulled a gun on the Thenardiers. Yay.	Look Down was really good but Gavroche's voice was really, really weak. The Enjolras section was super good. The Robbery was also great, though I don't remember a lot of it. The love montage was great. Marius scaled a fence and fell down, which was some great comic relief. Maria Listra as Cosette was a wonder to behold. Before On My Own, people started clapping because they assumed the rain sounds was clapping. At the end, Eponine wrapped a huge French flag around herself. Symbolism!
The barricade section? Fantastic. The guns felt real and scared me every single time. Javert wore thigh-high boots with his disguise, and Gavroche kicked him in the ass, which was very epic of him. There was a lot of day/night symbolism in the whole; even Red and Black was retranslated into Day and Night. The lightning went totally red once Enjolras was shot.	Javert's Suicide was insane. I loved it. LOOOOOVED it. Both Matvere and Nugis blew it out of the park, they were so amazing. They used the same set pieces as they used in Stars, so the symbolism was super neat. Instead of any fancy stuff, Javert just fell back-first down the back of the bridge, off stage. I couldn't help but wonder what doing that every other day for years would do to a man's back. Nugis' Javert was really Quast- and Carpenter-ish, and I really liked it, though that's not saying that Matvere was bad, because he wasn't. His voice was really rich and good, too!

I really, really, enjoyed this show! 10/10 in my eyes! I'm depressed that it was taken out of the repertoire, but I understand it completely.