grantaire-lover1

[grantaire-lover1]

Enj desgin experiments from a bit ago….still figuring stuff out

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Valjean yay

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R…

Alt ver too since I couldnt decide

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Doodle of the guys ™

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Happy barricade day whoop!!

@barricadeday

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Happy june to them

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Him!!!

Close up and ref below cut:

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Pulls them out of my pocket

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R doodles from the past months!!!

Been in a crisis about his design eurgh

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Hi guys is this smth

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Thénardier doodles since hes incredibly fun to draw

(Also yes he is based off of the hungarian production shh)

[grantaire-lover1]

Posting this before valentines…..happy early valentines day everyone!!! :3

(Updated version bc I lwk hated how it looked at first)

[grantaire-lover1]

Some of my ramblings about the hungarian lesmis production!!

-So first of all I would like to start off saying that the whole show is so well choreographed and the costume and set design is amazing

-I live for the Hungarian translations of the songs, they’re really interesting, and sometimes even give you a bit more info than the english one

(My favorite being in master of the house where they roughly sing “why would the hero of waterloo even get accused” after the whole “seldom do you see honest men like me” bit and I just love that they incorporated that into it tbh)

-The whole thing actually is made so much livelier by the ensemble clapping/tapping to the beat. It feels more natural and more interesting imo especially during lovely ladies and master of the house

-Most of the instrumentals have some spice added to them at parts which I love and makes it feel less repetitive than it actually is, but you can still clearly tell which melody is which and where else is it used

-They also have a rotating stage!! Its so cool and does help some parts be more interesting/they can make faster scene changes. In the beggining of dog eats dog the sewer that Thénardier is in emerges from below the stage while spinning and its just so cool

Okay onto the Characters:

First up I’d like to point out that there are atleast 2 different actors/actresses for all the characters some even have 3 (Main characters mainly)

(I’ve seen I think all of the casts)

-Valjean: He has 3 actors and Solti Ádám is the weakest of them, but its extremely hard to outdo Pesák Ádám and Borbély Richárd. Their performances are the reasons I went back and watched it so many times. Theyre different in character, but their voices are just so so so good I cried when I first saw those two. And they were believable Valjeans, like yeah that is Jean Valjean. Both of them can be really aggressive with their voices and Valjeans soliloquy always gave me chills when I heard them sing it. Pesák Ádám was the first Valjean I saw on stage ever so I’m definitely basing my Valjean design off of him I love him so much I was so lucky to see him 6 times out of 11!

-Javert: 3 actors again! Posta Victor is easily my favorite Javert. He just looks sounds and acts like Javert. Hes so perfect for the role tbh. About the other two, they’re also really really good! I like them very much. Csiszár Istváns Javert is the gayest fucking Javert out of them. He always gets extremely close to Valjean and in the beginning when he gives Valjean the yellow papers he lifts his chin up with his cane. Also he uses his cane more like a hand extension/weapon instead of a normal cane which I really like and find interesting.

-Fantine&Cosette: All of their actresses are so pretty and their voices are so good I’m in awe anytime any of them sings. I don’t really have any notes on them since theyre just perfect. Cosette is just so cute and adorable with Marius I love them your honor.

-Éponine: I love both of her actresses!! Baranyi Hanna looks lwk exactly how I imagined Éponine to look like and Arany Tímea has an amazing fucking voice she can sing so powerfully its breathtaking. During a little fall of rain Éponine actually kisses Marius atleast twice (They’re little kisses but theyre there!!) she also feels way more real to me than in other versions idk its hard to explain, but I love her with all my heart

-Enjolras: There are 2 actors who play him and both of them are good, but I sure as hell prefer Szaszák Zsolt. He is literally just Enjolras. Cseh Dávid Péter is not bat either, but there were certainly some choices made. His Enjolras actually joined in at the end of the second Red&Black part that Grantaire started. Overall my problem is that times he can be really distant with the amis (like during drink with me he stays on top of the barricade the whole time and is mainly there for the barricade scenes), but they did him justice and thats all that matters for me.

This is also a good time to point out how bland the amis were. They had no specific clothes/patterns that made them recognizable and were mainly just the ensemble there. Enjolras only ever says the name of Grantaire and Combeffere (he always switches combeffere up with courfeyrac so he says “combeffere you take watch” instead of “courfeyrac you take watch” and it bugs the living hell out of me every time. And its not just that one of them memorized it wrong NO both of them say Combeffere instead of Courfeyrac, but any time Enjolras should adress the amis by name he just says “friends/brothers”. So you can only tell them apart if you know who sings which line. Because of this Enjolras and Grantaire interact like once during red&black when Enj tells R to put the bottle down, but thats it mainly. Also Gavroche was not always present on the barricade just came in when he needed to sing his lines, that said I do love that little guy.

-Marius: Again I absolutely LOVE both of his actors they’re both so Marius Pontmercy. I have not seen Jenővári Miklós for a while since he got sick righ before they started playing and he was out for all of the plays. I do love him and miss him dearly tho and he was the first Marius I’ve seen on stage and he is absolutely perfect for the role. I really like the bow he does when he introduces himself to Cosette. As for Tóth Dominik at first I was skeptical of him, but hes so cute and I love his energy every time he plays Marius. He grew on me after 2plays and I really like him as Marius now. When he sings empty chairs at empty tables his voice is so powerful it always makes me cry. I can not express how much that guy makes me want to pick Marius up like a cat I love him.

Also had the chance to see an ensemble member play Marius bc if yaknow some guy was sick…but given he had like 1 day to prepare he killed it!! His voice actually suits Marius. They should get him as a 3rd actor for him tbh.

And I also saw Solti Ádám playing Marius again (he was previously Marius) and I don’t think they told him they updated the choreography. He was so confused at times poor guy, he tried his best and it was interesting to see him in that role.

-The Thénardiers: They were just amazing. They had such good energy and their constant bantering and just little insults to one another was so fun to watch. Madame Thénardier is SO LOUD all of her actresses were constantly screaming and they made it sound good. As for Thénardier both of his actors played him wonderfully, I love dog eats dog/the sewers in this version. I do like Sánta Lászlós Thénardier a bit more he was just a tiny bit more funny (for example during the bargain/waltz of trechery when he jumped closer to valjean to take Fantines letter he said a little “hoppity-hop” and then started singing his lines which I absolutely fucking adore. He is just so entertaining I love the Thénardiers so much.

I think thats it!! Sorry for the lengthy rambling I hope its coherent enough, I just cant get enough of this production and I needed to put it out here.

(Questions are welcomed and will be answered to the best of my abilities thank you for coming to my ted talk)

[grantaire-lover1]

POSTA VICTOR MENTIONED!!! I absolutely adore his Javert sm hes like the most Javert to ever Javert tbh. He was the main reason I bought some tickets last minute to yesterdays show but it was absolutely worth it

And Borbély Richárd is such a good Valjean I’m so glad you saw this cast op!! I don’t know which cast was the first one you saw, but Borbély Richárd and Posta Victor are literally the best possible options there!! (I’ve seen all casts so this says a lot)

Also youre so real, Tóth Dominik also grew on me after seeing him a few times, and now he might be my favorite Marius

I saw Hungarian Les Mis again [Budapest january 26th 19:00] with a slightly different cast and heres my honorable mentios from the night:

- First of all Javert. (Posta Viktor the man you are) I have never seen a Javert being more of an old feral street dog than his. He was whimpering, growling, shaking all night and it was delightful.

- Also im so sorry to all the big name westend and broadway actors who play Valjean but none of you can sing like Borbély Richárd, he opted up ALL THE TIME i have never heard man sing like that hes insane.

- Cosette(Haraszti Elvíria) was a little frisky little freaky(cant explain)??? Loved her. Very horny cosette (and marius!) indeed

- I had a different grantaire (cant find the actor yet im sorry here hes not like a proper character character) and he wasnt that much of a character than the last silly guy but. And hear me out. After Enjolras told him to put the bottle down he bared his teeth and bit at him??? The acting choices!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is such an insane choice so make😭😭😭 also his drink with me verse was Devastating, he also opted up and almost like wailed in sadness?(also started his part by holding enjolrases shoulder, chefs kiss)(also enjolras at this part realised he forgot to roll up his sleeve and spent the entire song rolling up his sleeve while sitting on top of the barricade)

- on the note of enjolras nothing compares to Szaszák Zsolt imo, and yeah… i did not like Cheh Dàvid Pèters character choices most of the time. He was very manly and stern and i think this is one of the most common mistakes enjolras actors do. But he DID sing and by the end i realised he has this Haunted look in the eyes from the first moment hes on stage. this enjolras knew they will die, he was born to die, his eyes were never full of hope just desperation and determination.(i will probably draw that)

- Oh Mariuses (Tóth Dominik, he really grown on me from the last time i have seen him) empty chairs made me eat my hat bc of the staging and the singing, he had this slighty deep voice which is so rare imo for marius and its was Vey Haunting but the staging?? Bawling my eyes out😭 when the amis comes to stage in full white and marius sings about his guilt he kinda walks towards them and they turn away but he seems to not realise this, and by the end of the song he kinda realises that they are there but they walk off stage😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

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Older Valvert drawing I forgot to post here

(huge L) (its been on my insta tho for a while)

No text version and ref under the cut:

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That one photo as them

Ref:

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Mainly R with a little enjoltaire sprinkled in I’ve drawn up until now