Quique
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Favorite Scene?We all talk about our favorite songs but what's your favorite onstage scene visually?
For me, it's the set-up for "On My Own."
I know lots of people claim they hate the song, the character, or whatever but, like the song's orchestrations, I love the setting for very different reasons than most.
I just love the simplicity of it all and the overall "picture," what it symbolizes, and the feel I get from it. It just speaks to me - Eponine dressed in oversized men's trenchcoat, centerstage with warmly glowing but shuttered windows scattered all around her, and their light shone on the stage floor.
It's not a spectacular scene by any means, but it's the most intimate, and I love that about it.
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Aimee
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I love the whole thing [of course] but as a scene I love the love trio: the whole excitement Cosette and Marius feel and Epoinine looking on. The music is stunning and I love it.
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Timmy_Wishes he was Quast
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For me it has to be the sewers scene...with one day more a close second.
The sewers section because of the beautiful segue that the music has from the mournful refrain of Bring Him Home into the spine chilling Dog Eats Dog. The way the Barricade peals back, and the ligthing here is tremendous with the main beanms focused out into the audience, tempraily blinding them and allowing Thenardier to appear in an erie sillohette with the body of the poor student drapped over his shoulders. As well as the harsh brutaltiy of the actions of thenardier as he ruthlessly pillages the bodies of the dead (and undead). Got me going in London!!
Then One Day More! The beauty of this is how all the characters seemlessly flow into one number, with no feeling it's being "forced" in anyway to achieve what the musical number requires. Along with that no matter how many times i watch it i still get shivers as the red flag starts to wave in the background.
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eponine5
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I love the epilogue, not so much for the set (or rather the absence of one) , but just for the whole atmosphere that it has. I love the way Valjean comes on with those two lit candles. Then when Fantine and Eponine come on either side and the white light shines on him when he dies is just amazing. I also love it when all the other characters step forward to join them.
And yeah, I also love the very beginning of Dog Eats Dog when the barricade comes apart, and you can only see Thenardier's silhouette standing in the archway with the body.
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Quique
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Yeah, it's not necessarily the set for me either. It's just the feel I get. Like you, I also love the epilogue's atmosphere. It's another very beautifully intimate scene in the show. The look of those candles lit there onstage is almost surreal and the old Valjean is heartbreaking.
Then when Fantine appears, it's like whoa! Such a splash of light. Ahhh...love that scene.
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eponine5
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I know. It's hard to distinguish whether it's actually the set, the lighting, the music etc. which is what makes the scene so amazing. I guess it's normally a combination, like at the end of On My Own when Eponine stands centre stage for a few seconds while the barricade is coming on either side of her.
By the way Quique, I LOVE your signature!
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UniquePerspective
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I love the lighting of the chain gang scene. Limited lighting, and there seems to be an ominious atmosphere to the scene when it is done with that lighting, exactly as it should be.
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Jekkienumber24601
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all the barricade stuff! When Enjolras sings "let others rise to take our place! Until the earth is Free!" always the highlight of the show for me.
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Orestes Fasting
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Dead Enjolras: Now with revolutionary new dangling action!
Yes, I admit it, I'm a sucker for the barricade spinning around to reveal dead!Enjolras. It's so overdramatic and loses its emotional punch after about the fifth time you see the show, but it's still a nifty idea. (A bit less nifty if you're in the upper circle in London and can see all the dead people get up and walk off the back of the barricade, but oh well..)
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eponine5
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There are too many! Just thought of another one: At the End of the Day, when you first see the people through the smoke, and gradually they begin to stagger towards you. And I always get shivers when they reach out towards the audience...
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Quique
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| eponine5 wrote: | | There are too many! Just thought of another one: At the End of the Day, when you first see the people through the smoke, and gradually they begin to stagger towards you. And I always get shivers when they reach out towards the audience... |
You mean, this scene...?
I love that scene as well. Again, simple, but somehow spectacular.
That pic is from the 3rd U.S. national tour, btw.
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LesMisForever
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| Orestes Fasting wrote: | Dead Enjolras: Now with revolutionary new dangling action!
Yes, I admit it, I'm a sucker for the barricade spinning around to reveal dead!Enjolras. It's so overdramatic and loses its emotional punch after about the fifth time you see the show, but it's still a nifty idea. (A bit less nifty if you're in the upper circle in London and can see all the dead people get up and walk off the back of the barricade, but oh well..) |
Amen! 
....and to stay with the revolutionary theme, i LOVE that red flag waving at the end of my "One Day More".
I once went with a friend, who is not into revolutions at all, but at the interval she told me "That is how revolutions should be", lol.
Well, the power of that breathtaking finale of Act 1 i guess.
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LesMisIsLove
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For me, it's the final scene of "One Day More" when the flag is being waved. The second time I saw it (the first time I was too young to remember), this was such a moment for me. It was the most moving moment. It probably helps that I'm an activist, so I'm inspired by the revolutionary songs...
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What Is This Feeling?
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Ok, I liked the feeling, and setting of a many of the scenes, but one that really stood out to me, just recently seeing the Revival was Beggars at the Feast? The Wedding! So bright, and exubrant! It had a very good feel to it! Especially, since the rest of the musical is nothing like that at all! So yeh, I loved the wedding!
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lostquiche
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The red flag, and the people marching, all singing their own yet the same song is just so cool. (one day more, I mean) Also a heart full of love with Marius and Cosette all in their own little world and then Eponine just looking on. It's so heartbreaking!
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EponinesRain
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| lostquiche wrote: | | The red flag, and the people marching, all singing their own yet the same song is just so cool. (one day more, I mean) Also a heart full of love with Marius and Cosette all in their own little world and then Eponine just looking on. It's so heartbreaking! |
Took the words right out of my mouth. These scenes are my favorite, as well. The fact that everybody is in his/her own world, yet still contributes to a larger, bigger whole of the song...and how their songs converge (in choreography/step and in music) at the close of the song is what makes "One Day More" such a masterpiece. The three part harmony for 'A Heart Full of Love' is awesome, with Eponine leaning against the gate while Marius and Cosette are frolicking inside. Great use of foreground and background, depth of field...
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LesMisForever
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Hello
I am not fan of the whole Marius-Cosette songs. I don't dislike them, but i don't like them that much either. Normally, i relax during them.
However, i love the scene when Eponine and Cosette stand facing each other either side of the fence. Although no words are exchanged, it is quite powerful. Well, to me at least.
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eponine5
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| LesMisForever wrote: | Hello
However, i love the scene when Eponine and Cosette stand facing each other either side of the fence. Although no words are exchanged, it is quite powerful. Well, to me at least. |
YES! That always hits me so hard when I see Cosette and Eponine mirrored in that way and you see how much their lives have swapped around. I love the way that it is so quickly slipped in and there is just that shock there when they see each other after so many years and you don't know what they are thinking, or even whether they both recognise each other (I guess Eponine might after Eponine's Errand).
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