Unflattering Portraits of Barricade Boys

…………………………………………………I’m so tempted to just post this without any explanation whatsoever but… the story is that qserasera mentioned wanting to see Enjolras as a shoujo manga artist and Grantaire as his adoring assistant a la Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun, and then something happened and everything went to shit and I have ended up mercilessly tracing the first chapter of GSNK just to make my way to a pamphleteering punchline??? And that’s why Grantaire looks like he does here, because Sakura is like four feet tall with eyes the size of dinner plates— OH WHATEVER, WHAT’S DONE IS DONE, LOOK AT THIS SHITSHOW I am so sorry qserasera lf;dkhg

The important thing here is that if you have not yet read GSNK, there is a GSNK-shaped hole in your life that needs to be filled immediately! If this travesty leads to just one person picking up GSNK and reading it through, it will have all been worth it in the end u__u

The shit Marius does

New illustration from Takahiro Arai’s twitter! There was an earlier tweet with the pencil sketch of this, but it was so light that you could hardly make out anything. Now, however, with some of the coloring completed, you can really see the in-progress cover of Volume 5! That’s Marius hesitating with the pistol and the Gorbeau house on the left (front) cover, Cosette (?) in Marius’ coat, and the Thenardiers on the right. If I read the tweet right, Volume 5 will go on sale in May!

(Yes, they’re up to this point in the manga. Yes, I am two months behind in my manga summaries. Yes, I have been putting them off because Thenardier is really hard to understand and he talks an awful lot in those chapters.)

remember that time enjolras spent wandering around paris by himself listing all the important and lovely things about each of his friends and giving himself an excited pep talk and being so so happy about the concept of the revolution

what a dork

“I love all my friends. Combeferre, Jean Prouvaire, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Bahorel, Joly, Bossuet and (looks at hand) Granger.”

when i imagine marius he doesn’t look anything like eddie redmayne but when i see eddie redmayne i’m still like ‘looking sharp pontmercy’ 

aime-moi moins mais aime-moi longtemps

Modern Les Mis - Claquesous

I just stumbled across the best photo ever

It looks like Valjean’s about to break into some furious breakdancing and Javert’s all “yo step back this is gonna be sick”

Do I have to bring this back?

Beverage warning applies. Uploader will not be responsible if anyone’s keyboard has a sudden accident with liquid.

Friends, listen to this.  It takes 10 seconds and will drastically improve the quality of your existence.

WHAT WHAT WAS THAT WHAT HAPPENED EVERYONE LISTEN TO THE THING AND PERHAPS TOGETHER WE CAN EXPLAIN WHY VALJEAN um exploded?!?

VALJEAN U OK?!

that sounded like some serious vocal chord damage right there

What in the diddly darn

This is Vikidal Gyula, ladies and gentlemen, a Hungarian Valjean from several years ago. His “Bring Him Home” is…interesting.

Backstory:

Hungarian Musical Theatre was in its very early stages, even by the time Les Mis opened in 1985. One of the biggest movements into advancing musical theatre in Hungary was when the “Rock Theatre” opened and started a musical program in, I think it was 1980. Interestingly enough, this theatre brought together pop singers, rock singers (well known and unknowns), and put them through basic theatre training courses (dance, diction etc.)

They staged non-replica, large scale productions of a variety of the newest, or most popular shows such as Evita, Cats, Hair, JCS, and in 1987 they got the rights to do Les Mis.

Vikidal Gyula, the man you hear in this clip, was a popular rock vocalist in his earlier years and by this point was participating in the “Rock Theatre”, having previously performed in Mr. Mistoffelees in Cats, Peron in Evita, and Pilate in JCS. His voice had always been rough but his untrained rock screaming kind of tore any semblance of what he should have to pieces. So by the time he got to theatre, he had…nothing. But, being a popular name and a charismatic performer none the less, he got roles.

Now, his range…if you wanna refer to it as range, would technically be baritone and he usually took on baritone roles. But being a rock singer, if there was anything out of his natural range he’d just scream it.

For some reason, he was given Valjean when they staged Les Mis. The vocally-dead baritone got a tenor role. This wouldn’t be nearly as bad if it weren’t for the fact that their Judas, Pal Makrai, a very capable and wonderful singing tenor (up to D5), got Javert. I’ve often wondered if there was just a mix up on the cast list but they rolled with it anyway for fun.

Anyway, Vikidal was like this THE WHOLE SHOW. It wasn’t just this song. It was the entire show. And it is painful to listen to. I don’t know why they let that happen. But oh well. According to Cameron Mackintosh it was ‘edgy’.

Vikidal Gyula’s popularity in musicals has slightly waned in recent years, but he actually came back to Les Mis years later in the role he should have gotten from the start, Javert, when he sang a lot more comfortably (doesn’t mean good). And this coming year he will finally come full circle as he takes on the only role his voice has left, The Bishop.

Fun stuff.

os amigos do ABC

Valentine’s Day in Japan is a day when women give chocolate to men in their lives. The men are expected to reciprocate on March 14, White Day. (more info about this custom [here])

So with that in mind, please enjoy this series of Les Mis Valentine’s Day comics from Takahiro Arai’s twitter.

First up, Enjolras and his HUGE mound of chocolate, with Courfeyrac, Bossuet, and Grantaire looking on. Enjolras is sighing, while the text in the lower right reads “His true love is Patria.” The accompanying text in the tweet read “困る”, or “bothersome.”

"Damn you!!" Courfeyrac and Bossuet yell. The accompanying text is "酒だ！酒だー！みんな飲むぞー！！ " or "Wine! Wine! Everyone, drink up!"

Upon sighting Jehan Joly and Bahorel with their chocolate, Bossuet and Courfeyrac yell, “Traitors!!” Grantaire drains his bottle (thanks to @pilferingapples for catching my mistake! But does this mean that Musichtta only gave chocolate to Joly? *gasp!*).

LES MIS: WHAT THEY WERE REALLY THINKING  who am i?  who am i…? - i was expecting like cinderella or something what just happened here??