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Vanessa20

Characters' appearances, Brick vs. musical

This is very random and kind of weird, but I just felt like asking it. Very Happy

I've noticed that some people on Deviantart who do fan art for both the novel and the musical tend to make Enjolras blond in their Brick drawings (obviously), but dark-haired in their musical drawings.

So I was wondering, does anyone here have different mental images for the characters in the musical (when you do fanart, etc), than for Hugo's originals? Apart from clothing (Since Adrienne Neofitou's don't always fit Hugo's descriptions), I tend to imagine the musical characters as looking the same as Hugo's originals. OK, maybe I imagine musical!Eponine as prettier than Brick!Eponine (it's hard to help that), but even then, I'd never draw her with a different hair color.

Just wondering about what goes on in other people's minds. Very Happy
PureDiamondLight

It's difficult to say, especially as character's appearances on stage obviously differ with the different actors that play them. To me Jonathan Williams just looks like Valjean. His face is exactly how I'd always thought of him in my head. To me Valjean must have a very gentle, expressive face. Not all Valjeans I've seen match my imagination.

Also, certain characters (like, for example, les Amis) get very little "solo" time in the musical, but have very pronounced appearances and characteristics in my head because of all the -ahem- fanfiction I spend far too much of my time reading and writing.

However, for certain characters like Javert, I just have the overriding impression of piercing eyes and sideburns. So pretty much any actor can convey that!

Finally, I don't think anyone will ever be able to come close to looking like the Enjolras of Hugo's book, or of my imagination. It's not really humanly possible, because, well, he's not really meant to look like your average human, is he?

Ooh, and I have seen a skinny Mme Thenardier, which didn't sit right with me at all - I mean, she's meant to resemble an ogre, isn't she? I didn't actually see her perform - it's just a picture I've seen a few times - but to me it didn't look right.

Oh, and I once saw an schools version where young Cosette was taller than Valjean.

Not a good move.
Dona Quixote

Well, the thing is that Victor Hugo actually spend a very small amount of time discussing the appearances of his characters (except for Fantine, which he spends a lot of time on because he's trying to increase her image of innocence). Like, he'll give us a little, like Marius is handsome or whatever, but I don't recall him actually saying anything about say, Marius's hair color. I do remember him saying that young Eponine's hair was reddish, like her mother's, but I've always personally pictured her with very dark hair, dark brown, almost black.

This is my personal image of Eponine in my head. This is a graphic I made for my portrayal of Eponine on a role play website called Rewritten City. The model is Hanna Beth Merjos.



As for everyone else, I don't have any set pattern. I would always prefer Fantine to be blonde, but obviously in the musical that is not set in stone the way it is in the book. I typically see Cosette as brunette, because in general she is a more subdued character (not to stereotype brunettes as subdued, but I don't imagine her with her mother's blondeness or anything too dark).

In my current SE production, Fantine is tan with dark hair, Cosette brunette, and Eponine blondish/brown (she's also part Japanese, very reminiscent of Lea Salonga in appearance). Mme. Thenardier, who I would also prefer to be ogre-like, is really more average in shape than anything notably large. The perfect casting, in my opinion, is Javert, because the guy is a tall jock-type who is really imposing with the fish-whacker he's been carrying around. lol
Ulkis

Marius has black hair.

Also, we must't forget his passionate nostrils. Smile
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