Pneumonochrome

So Messy and I went to see Les Miserables at the Pioneer Memorial Theater yesterday evening.  I love Les Miserables, and am fairly tolerant of technical mistakes or minor acting problems because I just enjoy the show that much.  Overall, I enjoyed the show.  The acting was excellent, the stage was phenomenal, and for the most part the singing was good too.

There were a couple of places where there were minor variations from the Original Broadway Cast Recording, where the actor moved up when the recording moved down, or the timing was slightly different, and I’m not saying it was bad, but it was a little distracting because my brain expects the music to be a certain way.  The mics were a bit shaky, but it was preview night, so I expected that.  I think, however, that it made a couple of the actors a little uneasy.  Javier sang amazingly, except once or twice when he had to hit really low notes and the microphone wasn’t working.  I’m sure he still sang well, but his voice didn’t carry very well without the mic, and I couldn’t hear him.  Fantine, in “I Dreamed a Dream,” had really wide-mouthed vowels, and it sound very ugly to me, I didn’t like it at all.  The rest of the singing she did, though, she wowed me as well.  Young Cosette could have used a little more coaching as well, as she tended to bite off her vowels really early (”I know a castle on a Cla-owwwwwwwd…”), but given that she was quite young, and a local actress, I’m sure she’s just still learning to do it.  The rest of the singing, however, was near perfect.

The acting was superb as well.  Valjean, Javier, Marius, Fantine, Cosette, Eponine, Enjolras, and especially the Thenardiers all seemed completely at-ease in their characters, and gave one of the most convincing performances I’ve ever seen on this stage.  It seemed special attention had been paid to not only make the costuming fit the characters, but also the scenes.  Javier had a chain running down the front of his costume during “Stars” that glittered in the stage lights, reinforcing the comparison Javier makes between himself and the stars, and reinforcing the idea that Javier is bound tightly to the idea of righteousness and justice.

The suicide scene was a bit hokey, though.  Javier jumps off a bridge and stands on the stage waving his arms slowly, flooded with blue light, as the bridge piece is slowly raised from the stage, then he lies down on the rotating portion of the stage and is rotated amidst some swirly lights to the back and off.  I think the arm-waving just made it a little too contrived for me, though I’m sure other people will think it was quite effective.

The set was designed with awesome attention to detail, and was really absorbing.  At the same time, the actors moved through it with ease.  The Barricade looked wonderful, like it had really been thrown together from whatever the students had been able to accumulate, but the actors navigated it like it was a grassy hill.  The lighting helped turn a desolate square into sewers, and a busy street into a factory.  It was really impressive.

Overall, it was an excellent performance.  The director, it turns out, was seated right behind us.  I mention this because I’m not one to give a standing ovation, even for excellent performances.  I show has to be near perfect before I will give a standing ovation.  The rest of the audience (as is common here in Salt Lake), however, had no qualms standing for this one.  So at the end of the performance, while everyone else was standing, I stayed seated and clapped for all I was worth.  With the director standing directly behind me.  (I didn’t know this until after the show).  Hopefully I didn’t offend him, but if I did, oh well, eh?

Today I went to the doctor to have a polio titre done because apparently I’m one booster short on the vaccination requirements for the University of Utah’s School of Medicine (I’ve had two doses, and their doctor, who was actually the one to give my my most recent polio dose and declare me immune for life, says I need three).  So, I needed to have a titre done to prove my immunity.  While the nurse was doing my intake before the doctor came for my blood, she asked me a series of questions that went something like this:

“How many days this week have you been physically active for more than 30 minutes?”

“2″

“How many days in an average week are you physically active for more than 30 minutes?”

“2-3″

“How do you learn best?  Reading, Hearing, Seeing, or Doing?”

“…. (thinking: What does this have to do with anything?!) I guess Reading…”

What the?  I thought it was somewhat amusing, and figured I’d relate it here.