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lesmisloonyAs I have told people before, you all need to just learn that I am right about everything.
Louran (her name was changed from "Lauren" due to a comedic spelling error on my part and an annoying resemblance to "LaureL," who is basically my number one MOR buddy) had had enough of my constant chattering about my obsession with Mozart l'Opéra Rock and finally decided she needed to see what all the fuss was about, so we got tickets to see yesterday's matinée. Oh man I was excited. We had to take our final exam for French class at eight in the morning, and after it was finished we found ourselves standing in the middle of a massive snowstorm (which my host mom later referred to as "une tempête!") right outside the Panthéon. I lead an epic, epic life.
Anyway, then I started nagging Louran that I wanted to get to the Palais des Sports already, which baffled her as the show wasn't starting for about two and a half hours. SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND. Neither do I, to be honest, but I really wanted to get down there.
She made me wander around a Monop' with her (which was fine as I realised I hadn't actually eaten yet all day) and finally gave in to me and we were off!
There was a bit of a crowd lurking at the stage door, which gave me hope that we might get to see someonewonderflo wonderful before the show started. I figured I'd ask someone. I heard two fans speaking English, so I busted into their conversation and asked who had already been out. They turned out to be from Amsterdam and Strasbourg, two girls who had taken the train in for the weekend to see the show. And their friendship began based on seeing MOR together! It was another one of those conversations that starts out kind of slow until we both realise we have found someone equally obsessed and then it becomes "OH EM GEE I *LOVE* NUNO!" and "HOW ARE FLO'S EYES SO BEAUTIFUL?" and "ISN'T MIKELE'S DIVA ACT ADORABLE?"
Unfortunately, my stagedoor buddies were more educated than I, and when I expressed love for Flo one of them went, "Yeah, it's a shame he won't be here today."
WHAT.
Not only was Mister Flo missing, but there was no Maeva or Estelle either. I saw Merwan as Salieri, Marjolaine as Nannerl, and the lady who plays Mozart's mom as La Cavalieri.
If you had told me a year ago (or even a week ago!) that I would one day find myself sitting in the Palais des Sports watching Mikelangelo Loconte pounce around singing Le Trublion live with my arms crossed and a pout worthy of a four-year-old on my face, I would have thought you were ridiculous.
I mean, it was fine. Louran thought it was spectacular, and I guess it was. It just could have been flo much better.
On the other hand, since Merwan had to boring up the role of Salieri, that left a big slot open for "rapist clown," and guess who stepped into those brightly-coloured shoes!
Nuno!
Rambling review with lots of videos and pictures under the cut.
I partly wanted to finally capture the new "orchestrations" at the beginning of this song, but more importantly I thought you should all see that Marjolaine is approximately ten feet tall. It's too bizarre to see Solal looking UP at his daughter. She was pretty good, though!
The innkeeper was played by... some guy. He was pretty good. I don't really have much of an opinion on that song anyway. The guy was really energetic and had no wig or anything on.
We had excellent seats! I'd bought the 25 euro crap seats that only see half the stage (I AM SO POOR) but the place was kind of empty by MOR standards so we got moved right down to the main floor level.
It was nice to be able to make out peoples' facial features! And to be able to see Mélissa's fake eyelashes in action.
This is the first time I've seen the show since I finished the translating and subtitling project, so now that I basically have the DVD memorised it was really fun to be able to spot the differences and the ad-libs. And, more importantly, oh my gosh Diane. I have been consistently saying how much I love her, but I didn't realise how absolutely loveable and fantastic she is until this time around. Bless Diane. She doesn't do any of the things that Claire did, thus she is perfect. (Ah oui, vraiment, elle est...pfff... parfaite!)
I was outrageously excited for Nuno Clown. I believe my love of Nuno is documented. As is my fear of the clown.
Well, guess what. While Merwan Clown is terrifying and unsettling, Nuno Clown... is ADORABLE.
I think Nuno is so much better because he's so acrobatic. When Merwan does this song, he just sort of saunters around with his hands all limp in the air and I have no idea what he's trying to accomplish. With Nuno, it's like... "HIIIII WOLFGANG! Want to DANCE??? LOOK I FOUND YOUR DAD!" It was endearing.
And that was all the recording I did during act one. I was saving up my camera battery for whatever Merwan might have in store in act two. I also noticed Da Ponte in Yamin's role during Le Trublion (or, at least, the role Yamin was playing on the DVD) so I started freaking out that Yamin might not be there either. Who understudies Yamin?? The little guy is like the mascot of the whole show for me. They can take away Maeva and Estelle--they can even take away Flo!--but if someone else comes out in the Rosenberg costume I think my head will just explode.
I was kind of keeping an eye on Louran, who is the kind of person who is very unlikely to dispense a compliment unless she feels like you're mad at her and the compliment will help. I was really worried she was going to dislike the show and then tell all our classmates that I was an idiot for going on about it for so long. Fortunately, MOR is un-dislikable. I knew I had her when, partway through Tatoue-moi, I saw her camera go up as she took a video of the song. She then leaned over to me and whispered "I see why you love him."
YESSSSS.
Oh, and remember that time Mikele's head got stuck in that curtain? I had told Louran about it because it was just a magical time in my life. Well, that curtain came down and I leaned over and whispered "There it is. It'll get ya." and about two minutes later Mélissa twirled through, was a jerk to Mozart, and then twirled away... but stopped midtwirl because... SHE HAD BEEN ENSNARED IN THE EVIL CURTAIN.
On Saturday afternoons the curtain gets hungry.
She came twirling back through to be mean to Mozart again, and we could all see that the curtain still had her. I think it was caught up in her dress and hair. Seriously, two out of three times I've seen the show someone gets stuck in that curtain. I know it looks super cool, but do you think maybe it should perhaps be removed? Or adjusted somehow? Someone's going to get strangled.
I couldn't tell if anyone onstage realised that Mélissa was still stuck, but I knew she was supposed to introduce him toNuno That Guy and then cross in front of him. I heard Louran whisper "Save her, Mikele!" as I readied my camera in case something horrible/amazing happened. But when That Guy came out as M Lange, he immediately freed Mélissa (it looked like he might have actually broken some of the curtain strings to get her out) before snooting out that "Monsieurrrr." at Mikele. And nothing bad happened.
By the way, I don't know if it was just me being mopey, but I felt like the energy level was really down from my previous times seeing the show. I told Louran during intermission that it was like everyone decided that since they weren't all going to be shown up by Flo in act two they don't need to try so hard. She told me to stop complaining.
Okay, so I really wanted to be open-minded about this Merwan guy. I've seen clips of his Assasymphonie on youtube and I thought he was quite good. I have mildly positive feelings toward his role in Le Roi Soleil and I've always heard stories about how nice he is at the stage door. I was crushed that there was to be no Flo, but I was a little pleased to be one of the few people who has seen Merwan in the role. (Now I want to see NUNO play Mikele... I mean Mozart...)
Unfortunately, even my shaky resigned hopes were up too high.
There were a few groups of those Roi Soleil fangirl types in the audience, and as intermission drew to a close they started screaming and chanting his name. I kind of wanted to start a NU-NO! NU-NO! chant, but I never do these things.
So, I know this is a weird observation, but Mikele usually has black flouncy lace cuffs and collar in this scene. I don't know where this white came from, but this is not the way it should be.
EVEN MIKELE'S SHIRT WAS AN UNDERSTUDY.
Here. Some Nuno Clown will make it better. Also feel free to appreciate my delighted giggling at his ad-libs.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
I love him. At the risk of being a douche, Merwan was kind of rendered unnecessary to me during this show. He's nowhere near as good at Salieri as Flo, and then his understudy for THE CLOWN completely blows him out of the water.
However, if Nuno were to become the permanent new clown, then That Guy would be Monsieur Stephanie, and I didn't realise how attached I was to Nuno's version of Stephanie until it was gone from me.
Basically, let's just put on Nuno l'Opéra Rock. It would be massively entertaining.
(It's also worth noting in that video that that is not Estelle. The Mozart's Mom lady stepped in here, and though she has an okay voice, I think she was messing up her lines. She's supposed to say something like why'd you cancel our rehearsals and then why aren't you answering and then "Est-il sourd? Il est sourd! Il est sourd, il est SOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUURRRAHHHHHHH" but I only heard that AHHHHHHHHHHH part there.)
Place je passe was, as always, a lot of fun to watch. During my subtitling adventures I became really attached to the joyous little dancer guy who goes "Bravo, Mozart!" at the end, so it was sad for me that I didn't see him in the troupe, but Mikele was leaping and posing so much that Louran's delighted giggling almost drowned out the music. I was pleased.
I was also a little nervous. Because we all know what happens right after Place je passe.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
I was so delighted to see that Yamin was indeed here that I almost forgot Merwan was onstage. Because the screaming Roi Soleil fangirls somehow didn't give it away. Then again, it wasn't hard to forget Merwan was onstage at any point. EVEN WHEN HE WAS THE ONE SINGING.
Also, That Guy is playing Stephanie in the clip. He and Yamin have a cute rapport, but then again Yamin would have a cute rapport with a table, so really I wish Nuno could have scraped off his clown makeup and come out to play this role too. Not that That Guy was bad... just that Nuno is much better.
Le Bien qui fait mal approached.
When Flo delivers his lines in that absurdly low, smouldery voice, it's like the whole building stops breathing for a second to listen to him. BECAUSE HE IS MAGICAL. When Merwan delivers a line... I don't really even hear it. And I promise it wasn't just "mon prejugé!" but it was in fact a real opinion. I honestly thought he was going to be really good and I was going to be satisfied that, even though I missed out on Flo, I had gotten the rare chance to see Merwan as Salieri.
Look at how funny Yamin is being.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
Yes, I cut off right before Le Bien qui fait mal. I'm actually glad I did, because I don't really want to remember being underwhelmed by one of the most fantastic theatre experiences there is.
Okay, so we've all seen Flo do this song. Usually I'm so caught up in how great the music is and how overwhelmingly sexy the dancers are being (and the hotness of Flo's costume) that I don't think about the actual acting he is doing. But now, thanks to Merwan, I know that Flo's acting in this song is AMAZING. Merwan just seemed kind of stiff and shuffled around the blocking whereas Flo is flopping all over the place. At this point I was still expecting Merwan to do something to deserve those cheering fangirls, but he did not. Not even a little bit. The worst part for me was at the end when Mozart's mom started in singing Estelle's part. She can hit the notes or whatever, but her voice is nowhere near as powerful. So I watched a stiff Salieri stroll around amidst leather-clad sexy dancers while a sub-par opera singer faltered out a few weak notes in the back.
Here. This is a much more entertaining video of this song.
"...and then he gets eaten by a clown."
This is from... March, maybe? I'm a little ashamed of how porky I was there and even more ashamed of how bad I am at dancing compared to Anna... it's like I'm Merwan and she's Flo!! Also, I'm pretty sure we were out of breath because we had just performed a really spastic rendition of L'Assasymphonie in which I had played a seizure dancer.
Anyway. Back to the show I actually saw.
Then Mozart got tricked into marrying Constance (I was so disappointed to see that my beloved "La Force Publique? Mais QUI êtes-VOUS m'SIEUR?" line was being delivered with a lot more skill. Actually, all the bad acting moments I was looking for have been corrected. STOP IMPROVING, MIKELE. IT DETRACTS FROM MY ENJOYMENT. Louran even said she couldn't hear his Italian accent! D:
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
I didn't realise until later that she did not wear a tall version of the butterfly dress. Also, that adorable squeal you hear when Mozart proposes to Constance? Louran. Oh yeah, I got her.
And everybody look at how great Diane is.
So that scene leads right in to this one.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
ALL WRONG. I mean, okay, yeah, the counting thing is very funny. Yamin is very funny. But why is Merwan so STIFF? And I know it's weird to complain about being stiff when it's SALIERI FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE but there is a difference. Maybe it's charisma? I don't know. Someone else tell me you know what I'm trying to say.
More importantly... there is no "Rosenbeeeeeeeeeeerg" in what is actually called "The Rosenbeeeeeeeerg Scene"! Now, afterwards my new stagedoor buddies told me that Flo doesn't always do it either, but on Thursday the Brazilian girls told me that they had complained to Flo that he hadn't done it and, at the next performance, he had put it back in (because he is the nicest human of all). Why would you take this out? It's like if Yamin decided to skip his "Trop! Trop! Trop de no-tes!" line. I hope I never see a show wherein Flo doesn't go "Rosenbeeeeeeeeeeerg" because it will break my heart.
So it went on.
I am not kidding when I tell you that I constantly forgot Merwan was even onstage. But then one of the Roi Soleil fangirls would scream and I would be like, "Oh, is he actually moving or something?" but he usually wasn't.
Man, this is one of the most bitter livejournal entries I've ever posted.
Now we're leading up to l'Assasymphonie.
I didn't even consider videoing the song. I figured nothing worth remembering would happen, and guess what? I was right.
One of the saddest parts was when Flo would have gone YEEEEOOOOOWWWWwwwwWWWWwww and Merwan just kind of went "Hmmmm." He does have a very nice voice and I've been told he is a very nice man. I don't want to sound like I hate Merwan or anything, just... if I ever found out I'd bought tickets to see him as Salieri again I'd probably try and sell them on the street corner. Or exchange them for a vending machine waffle.
Here are some pictures from L'Assasymphonie.
I felt particularly vindicated when Louran leaned over and whispered "Yeah, he's really boring. I've heard this song on your iPod and it's usually, like, really good." See? And she hasn't even fallen in love with Flo like me. So it's not just my fangirl brattiness. It is an actual problem.
As I previously said, Merwan doesn't really move. I mean, he does the required blocking, but it's painfully obvious that he's only doing it because it's what comes next. With Flo, even though he does the same basic thing every time, it seems like he's just that into it. Since seeing show yesterday I went and watched my video of Flo's on-the-verge-of-tears performance of this song from the other Saturday I went, and I was just like, "Yeah. This is what it should be."
Then I took a rather long video. I started out just wanted to capture potential Yamin antics, but then I realised that that new Don Juan scene was coming up (it wasn't on the DVD!) and then I realised that Marjolaine was about to sing Dors mon ange, so I kept the camera rolling.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
I cannot get over how tall Marjolaine is. Also, the Don Juan scene makes me happy. Even though that trap door is still full of wtf.
And Victime de ma victoire began! One of my primary goals in seeing the show yesterday was going to be capturing Flo's drunken Jack Sparrow walk (if he did it again) because I love it, but then I remembered... it was a no-flo. (Get it???)
Anyway, the song started up and I heard Louran groan, so I turned to make a commiserating face with her. When I did, I saw the six-year-old French kid sitting next to Louran, who had been leaning forward expectantly, collapse back into her seat, cross her little arms, and make the same pouty face I was making at the beginning of the show. She legit said, "Eugh. C'est Merwan."
You summed it up, little French kid. I don't know if she expected Flo to descend upon the theatre in a blaze of magic and rescue us all from the monotony, but unfortunately it did not happen.
Oh and. You know the part in this song where Flo goes YEEEOOOOWWWwwwWWWwww, leaps off the stage, and runs through the audience screaming "C'EST MOZART QUE L'ON ASSASSINNNNNE!" yeah. And then he runs up some stairs, flails around a little, runs across the balcony, and finally stops to perform the last refrain without even being out of breath?
That's another thing I never appreciated enough until yesterday.
Because in the empty hole where the YYEEEEOOOOWWWwwWWWwww should have been, Merwan casually strolled down the stairs into the audience. And then he casually strolled up an aisle. All the dancers were forced to move at the same speed. Which was a casual stroll. I was so outraged I grabbed my camera.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
If you look really closely you can see a girl in the audience pawing at him during his final line. That was my favourite part of the whole song.
I also think something went a little wrong during the Pa pa pa pa's, but I'm not sure. I think maybe Yamin actually *is* sick and his voice cracked on his part? Maybe?
Then we were at the final scene.
It was nice to see people playing their proper roles. And I got a chance to be reminded how much I love these three. Diane has utterly won my soul for not being annoying as Claire and for being nice at the stage door, we all know how I feel about Nuno, and we all DEFINITELY know how I feel about Mikele.
Of course, the warm fuzzy feelings were interrupted by Estelle's understudy (who did, of course, carry off this song very well. It was just weird because it looked like his mother had been reincarnated as an opera singer who had then died and then come back as an angel to beckon him into the great beyond...)
And then the manlove scene was crushingly manlove-free. I mean, they still did the clutching and stuff, and the singing as all well and good, but I was so jaded at this point that it seemed miserable.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
Halfway through that video I noticed that people were already running down to the front of the stage. I wanted SO BADLY to join them, but Louran refused to push the other people on our row out of the way. So I had to wait patiently like a polite person. Dislike.
And then we did C'est bientôt la fin. I was wondering aloud what would happen next without Flo's guitar, and I got my answer.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
This video is kind of a mess. I tried to turn the camera on Louran, who does not know any words but was moshing with me like a champ, and then she suggested I film a hot extra. So I did. And it's hard to take a steady video when you're bouncing around in a giant crowd of fangirls. I really like the part where someone passes Da Ponte a note. I love Da Ponte.
And there you have it. I am right about everything. Or at least, I am right to love Florent Mothe.
My new buddies invited me back to the stage door today, so I'm going to try to see if there are any tickets left I can afford. Meaning I shall now post this and go get me a shower.
Louran (her name was changed from "Lauren" due to a comedic spelling error on my part and an annoying resemblance to "LaureL," who is basically my number one MOR buddy) had had enough of my constant chattering about my obsession with Mozart l'Opéra Rock and finally decided she needed to see what all the fuss was about, so we got tickets to see yesterday's matinée. Oh man I was excited. We had to take our final exam for French class at eight in the morning, and after it was finished we found ourselves standing in the middle of a massive snowstorm (which my host mom later referred to as "une tempête!") right outside the Panthéon. I lead an epic, epic life.
Anyway, then I started nagging Louran that I wanted to get to the Palais des Sports already, which baffled her as the show wasn't starting for about two and a half hours. SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND. Neither do I, to be honest, but I really wanted to get down there.
She made me wander around a Monop' with her (which was fine as I realised I hadn't actually eaten yet all day) and finally gave in to me and we were off!
There was a bit of a crowd lurking at the stage door, which gave me hope that we might get to see someone
Unfortunately, my stagedoor buddies were more educated than I, and when I expressed love for Flo one of them went, "Yeah, it's a shame he won't be here today."
WHAT.
Not only was Mister Flo missing, but there was no Maeva or Estelle either. I saw Merwan as Salieri, Marjolaine as Nannerl, and the lady who plays Mozart's mom as La Cavalieri.
If you had told me a year ago (or even a week ago!) that I would one day find myself sitting in the Palais des Sports watching Mikelangelo Loconte pounce around singing Le Trublion live with my arms crossed and a pout worthy of a four-year-old on my face, I would have thought you were ridiculous.
I mean, it was fine. Louran thought it was spectacular, and I guess it was. It just could have been flo much better.
On the other hand, since Merwan had to boring up the role of Salieri, that left a big slot open for "rapist clown," and guess who stepped into those brightly-coloured shoes!
Nuno!
Rambling review with lots of videos and pictures under the cut.
I partly wanted to finally capture the new "orchestrations" at the beginning of this song, but more importantly I thought you should all see that Marjolaine is approximately ten feet tall. It's too bizarre to see Solal looking UP at his daughter. She was pretty good, though!
The innkeeper was played by... some guy. He was pretty good. I don't really have much of an opinion on that song anyway. The guy was really energetic and had no wig or anything on.
We had excellent seats! I'd bought the 25 euro crap seats that only see half the stage (I AM SO POOR) but the place was kind of empty by MOR standards so we got moved right down to the main floor level.
It was nice to be able to make out peoples' facial features! And to be able to see Mélissa's fake eyelashes in action.
This is the first time I've seen the show since I finished the translating and subtitling project, so now that I basically have the DVD memorised it was really fun to be able to spot the differences and the ad-libs. And, more importantly, oh my gosh Diane. I have been consistently saying how much I love her, but I didn't realise how absolutely loveable and fantastic she is until this time around. Bless Diane. She doesn't do any of the things that Claire did, thus she is perfect. (Ah oui, vraiment, elle est...pfff... parfaite!)
I was outrageously excited for Nuno Clown. I believe my love of Nuno is documented. As is my fear of the clown.
Well, guess what. While Merwan Clown is terrifying and unsettling, Nuno Clown... is ADORABLE.
I think Nuno is so much better because he's so acrobatic. When Merwan does this song, he just sort of saunters around with his hands all limp in the air and I have no idea what he's trying to accomplish. With Nuno, it's like... "HIIIII WOLFGANG! Want to DANCE??? LOOK I FOUND YOUR DAD!" It was endearing.
And that was all the recording I did during act one. I was saving up my camera battery for whatever Merwan might have in store in act two. I also noticed Da Ponte in Yamin's role during Le Trublion (or, at least, the role Yamin was playing on the DVD) so I started freaking out that Yamin might not be there either. Who understudies Yamin?? The little guy is like the mascot of the whole show for me. They can take away Maeva and Estelle--they can even take away Flo!--but if someone else comes out in the Rosenberg costume I think my head will just explode.
I was kind of keeping an eye on Louran, who is the kind of person who is very unlikely to dispense a compliment unless she feels like you're mad at her and the compliment will help. I was really worried she was going to dislike the show and then tell all our classmates that I was an idiot for going on about it for so long. Fortunately, MOR is un-dislikable. I knew I had her when, partway through Tatoue-moi, I saw her camera go up as she took a video of the song. She then leaned over to me and whispered "I see why you love him."
YESSSSS.
Oh, and remember that time Mikele's head got stuck in that curtain? I had told Louran about it because it was just a magical time in my life. Well, that curtain came down and I leaned over and whispered "There it is. It'll get ya." and about two minutes later Mélissa twirled through, was a jerk to Mozart, and then twirled away... but stopped midtwirl because... SHE HAD BEEN ENSNARED IN THE EVIL CURTAIN.
On Saturday afternoons the curtain gets hungry.
She came twirling back through to be mean to Mozart again, and we could all see that the curtain still had her. I think it was caught up in her dress and hair. Seriously, two out of three times I've seen the show someone gets stuck in that curtain. I know it looks super cool, but do you think maybe it should perhaps be removed? Or adjusted somehow? Someone's going to get strangled.
I couldn't tell if anyone onstage realised that Mélissa was still stuck, but I knew she was supposed to introduce him to
By the way, I don't know if it was just me being mopey, but I felt like the energy level was really down from my previous times seeing the show. I told Louran during intermission that it was like everyone decided that since they weren't all going to be shown up by Flo in act two they don't need to try so hard. She told me to stop complaining.
Okay, so I really wanted to be open-minded about this Merwan guy. I've seen clips of his Assasymphonie on youtube and I thought he was quite good. I have mildly positive feelings toward his role in Le Roi Soleil and I've always heard stories about how nice he is at the stage door. I was crushed that there was to be no Flo, but I was a little pleased to be one of the few people who has seen Merwan in the role. (Now I want to see NUNO play Mikele... I mean Mozart...)
Unfortunately, even my shaky resigned hopes were up too high.
There were a few groups of those Roi Soleil fangirl types in the audience, and as intermission drew to a close they started screaming and chanting his name. I kind of wanted to start a NU-NO! NU-NO! chant, but I never do these things.
So, I know this is a weird observation, but Mikele usually has black flouncy lace cuffs and collar in this scene. I don't know where this white came from, but this is not the way it should be.
EVEN MIKELE'S SHIRT WAS AN UNDERSTUDY.
Here. Some Nuno Clown will make it better. Also feel free to appreciate my delighted giggling at his ad-libs.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
I love him. At the risk of being a douche, Merwan was kind of rendered unnecessary to me during this show. He's nowhere near as good at Salieri as Flo, and then his understudy for THE CLOWN completely blows him out of the water.
However, if Nuno were to become the permanent new clown, then That Guy would be Monsieur Stephanie, and I didn't realise how attached I was to Nuno's version of Stephanie until it was gone from me.
Basically, let's just put on Nuno l'Opéra Rock. It would be massively entertaining.
(It's also worth noting in that video that that is not Estelle. The Mozart's Mom lady stepped in here, and though she has an okay voice, I think she was messing up her lines. She's supposed to say something like why'd you cancel our rehearsals and then why aren't you answering and then "Est-il sourd? Il est sourd! Il est sourd, il est SOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUURRRAHHHHHHH" but I only heard that AHHHHHHHHHHH part there.)
Place je passe was, as always, a lot of fun to watch. During my subtitling adventures I became really attached to the joyous little dancer guy who goes "Bravo, Mozart!" at the end, so it was sad for me that I didn't see him in the troupe, but Mikele was leaping and posing so much that Louran's delighted giggling almost drowned out the music. I was pleased.
I was also a little nervous. Because we all know what happens right after Place je passe.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
I was so delighted to see that Yamin was indeed here that I almost forgot Merwan was onstage. Because the screaming Roi Soleil fangirls somehow didn't give it away. Then again, it wasn't hard to forget Merwan was onstage at any point. EVEN WHEN HE WAS THE ONE SINGING.
Also, That Guy is playing Stephanie in the clip. He and Yamin have a cute rapport, but then again Yamin would have a cute rapport with a table, so really I wish Nuno could have scraped off his clown makeup and come out to play this role too. Not that That Guy was bad... just that Nuno is much better.
Le Bien qui fait mal approached.
When Flo delivers his lines in that absurdly low, smouldery voice, it's like the whole building stops breathing for a second to listen to him. BECAUSE HE IS MAGICAL. When Merwan delivers a line... I don't really even hear it. And I promise it wasn't just "mon prejugé!" but it was in fact a real opinion. I honestly thought he was going to be really good and I was going to be satisfied that, even though I missed out on Flo, I had gotten the rare chance to see Merwan as Salieri.
Look at how funny Yamin is being.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
Yes, I cut off right before Le Bien qui fait mal. I'm actually glad I did, because I don't really want to remember being underwhelmed by one of the most fantastic theatre experiences there is.
Okay, so we've all seen Flo do this song. Usually I'm so caught up in how great the music is and how overwhelmingly sexy the dancers are being (and the hotness of Flo's costume) that I don't think about the actual acting he is doing. But now, thanks to Merwan, I know that Flo's acting in this song is AMAZING. Merwan just seemed kind of stiff and shuffled around the blocking whereas Flo is flopping all over the place. At this point I was still expecting Merwan to do something to deserve those cheering fangirls, but he did not. Not even a little bit. The worst part for me was at the end when Mozart's mom started in singing Estelle's part. She can hit the notes or whatever, but her voice is nowhere near as powerful. So I watched a stiff Salieri stroll around amidst leather-clad sexy dancers while a sub-par opera singer faltered out a few weak notes in the back.
Here. This is a much more entertaining video of this song.
"...and then he gets eaten by a clown."
This is from... March, maybe? I'm a little ashamed of how porky I was there and even more ashamed of how bad I am at dancing compared to Anna... it's like I'm Merwan and she's Flo!! Also, I'm pretty sure we were out of breath because we had just performed a really spastic rendition of L'Assasymphonie in which I had played a seizure dancer.
Anyway. Back to the show I actually saw.
Then Mozart got tricked into marrying Constance (I was so disappointed to see that my beloved "La Force Publique? Mais QUI êtes-VOUS m'SIEUR?" line was being delivered with a lot more skill. Actually, all the bad acting moments I was looking for have been corrected. STOP IMPROVING, MIKELE. IT DETRACTS FROM MY ENJOYMENT. Louran even said she couldn't hear his Italian accent! D:
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
I didn't realise until later that she did not wear a tall version of the butterfly dress. Also, that adorable squeal you hear when Mozart proposes to Constance? Louran. Oh yeah, I got her.
And everybody look at how great Diane is.
So that scene leads right in to this one.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
ALL WRONG. I mean, okay, yeah, the counting thing is very funny. Yamin is very funny. But why is Merwan so STIFF? And I know it's weird to complain about being stiff when it's SALIERI FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE but there is a difference. Maybe it's charisma? I don't know. Someone else tell me you know what I'm trying to say.
More importantly... there is no "Rosenbeeeeeeeeeeerg" in what is actually called "The Rosenbeeeeeeeerg Scene"! Now, afterwards my new stagedoor buddies told me that Flo doesn't always do it either, but on Thursday the Brazilian girls told me that they had complained to Flo that he hadn't done it and, at the next performance, he had put it back in (because he is the nicest human of all). Why would you take this out? It's like if Yamin decided to skip his "Trop! Trop! Trop de no-tes!" line. I hope I never see a show wherein Flo doesn't go "Rosenbeeeeeeeeeeerg" because it will break my heart.
So it went on.
I am not kidding when I tell you that I constantly forgot Merwan was even onstage. But then one of the Roi Soleil fangirls would scream and I would be like, "Oh, is he actually moving or something?" but he usually wasn't.
Man, this is one of the most bitter livejournal entries I've ever posted.
Now we're leading up to l'Assasymphonie.
I didn't even consider videoing the song. I figured nothing worth remembering would happen, and guess what? I was right.
One of the saddest parts was when Flo would have gone YEEEEOOOOOWWWWwwwwWWWWwww and Merwan just kind of went "Hmmmm." He does have a very nice voice and I've been told he is a very nice man. I don't want to sound like I hate Merwan or anything, just... if I ever found out I'd bought tickets to see him as Salieri again I'd probably try and sell them on the street corner. Or exchange them for a vending machine waffle.
Here are some pictures from L'Assasymphonie.
I felt particularly vindicated when Louran leaned over and whispered "Yeah, he's really boring. I've heard this song on your iPod and it's usually, like, really good." See? And she hasn't even fallen in love with Flo like me. So it's not just my fangirl brattiness. It is an actual problem.
As I previously said, Merwan doesn't really move. I mean, he does the required blocking, but it's painfully obvious that he's only doing it because it's what comes next. With Flo, even though he does the same basic thing every time, it seems like he's just that into it. Since seeing show yesterday I went and watched my video of Flo's on-the-verge-of-tears performance of this song from the other Saturday I went, and I was just like, "Yeah. This is what it should be."
Then I took a rather long video. I started out just wanted to capture potential Yamin antics, but then I realised that that new Don Juan scene was coming up (it wasn't on the DVD!) and then I realised that Marjolaine was about to sing Dors mon ange, so I kept the camera rolling.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
I cannot get over how tall Marjolaine is. Also, the Don Juan scene makes me happy. Even though that trap door is still full of wtf.
And Victime de ma victoire began! One of my primary goals in seeing the show yesterday was going to be capturing Flo's drunken Jack Sparrow walk (if he did it again) because I love it, but then I remembered... it was a no-flo. (Get it???)
Anyway, the song started up and I heard Louran groan, so I turned to make a commiserating face with her. When I did, I saw the six-year-old French kid sitting next to Louran, who had been leaning forward expectantly, collapse back into her seat, cross her little arms, and make the same pouty face I was making at the beginning of the show. She legit said, "Eugh. C'est Merwan."
You summed it up, little French kid. I don't know if she expected Flo to descend upon the theatre in a blaze of magic and rescue us all from the monotony, but unfortunately it did not happen.
Oh and. You know the part in this song where Flo goes YEEEOOOOWWWwwwWWWwww, leaps off the stage, and runs through the audience screaming "C'EST MOZART QUE L'ON ASSASSINNNNNE!" yeah. And then he runs up some stairs, flails around a little, runs across the balcony, and finally stops to perform the last refrain without even being out of breath?
That's another thing I never appreciated enough until yesterday.
Because in the empty hole where the YYEEEEOOOOWWWwwWWWwww should have been, Merwan casually strolled down the stairs into the audience. And then he casually strolled up an aisle. All the dancers were forced to move at the same speed. Which was a casual stroll. I was so outraged I grabbed my camera.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
If you look really closely you can see a girl in the audience pawing at him during his final line. That was my favourite part of the whole song.
I also think something went a little wrong during the Pa pa pa pa's, but I'm not sure. I think maybe Yamin actually *is* sick and his voice cracked on his part? Maybe?
Then we were at the final scene.
It was nice to see people playing their proper roles. And I got a chance to be reminded how much I love these three. Diane has utterly won my soul for not being annoying as Claire and for being nice at the stage door, we all know how I feel about Nuno, and we all DEFINITELY know how I feel about Mikele.
Of course, the warm fuzzy feelings were interrupted by Estelle's understudy (who did, of course, carry off this song very well. It was just weird because it looked like his mother had been reincarnated as an opera singer who had then died and then come back as an angel to beckon him into the great beyond...)
And then the manlove scene was crushingly manlove-free. I mean, they still did the clutching and stuff, and the singing as all well and good, but I was so jaded at this point that it seemed miserable.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
Halfway through that video I noticed that people were already running down to the front of the stage. I wanted SO BADLY to join them, but Louran refused to push the other people on our row out of the way. So I had to wait patiently like a polite person. Dislike.
And then we did C'est bientôt la fin. I was wondering aloud what would happen next without Flo's guitar, and I got my answer.
(In case the embed doesn't work.)
This video is kind of a mess. I tried to turn the camera on Louran, who does not know any words but was moshing with me like a champ, and then she suggested I film a hot extra. So I did. And it's hard to take a steady video when you're bouncing around in a giant crowd of fangirls. I really like the part where someone passes Da Ponte a note. I love Da Ponte.
And there you have it. I am right about everything. Or at least, I am right to love Florent Mothe.
My new buddies invited me back to the stage door today, so I'm going to try to see if there are any tickets left I can afford. Meaning I shall now post this and go get me a shower.
