Les Miserables

One of the "ups" of 2017 was the boys performance in Les Mis at the local high school.  It was very well done.  Vivace played Gavroche and Andante played Enjolras.  They worked very hard to put this together and all the actors were terrific, which made it a stellar production.  Patience rented a car and drove with three friends home from college just to see them.  They were not disappointed and declared it to have been totally worth it.  All this meant a LOT to the boys.  Our director is amazing and the show received compliments from many who know this production well. 

Among the comments I heard were:

-Never seen a high school production this good.
-Professionally done
-The caliber of the singing was amazing.
-Stunning choreography
-Love the live pit orchestra - made it real.
-Everyone did well (referring to all the actors) and that made it particularly good.  It can't be done well if only some (of the actors) sing or act well.  (Implication is that it would be lopsided and one person's excellent performance would just make the others' seem to be of lesser quality).
-I saw it in Boston done professionally, and this was far better.

Suffice it to say that it wowed people, many of whom knew the show and had certain expectations because of that, and I'm not sure how any acting our boys will do in the future will compare.  It was a "once in a lifetime" experience, and was worth every minute of practice, and every ounce of exhaustion.  Bravo.

The link to the video is below, but please keep in mind (after all that praise) that the recording does not do justice either to the music or to the acting.  This recording emphasizes everyone's faults and you can't hear the orchestra well. I hope you will not be disappointed.  Note also that Vivace had been sick for two weeks (roughly) and was just getting his voice back the night this was filmed.  Normally his voice would be much stronger (and more on key).

Check it out here. https://vimeo.com/246959243 Password: musical2017 (if needed).

If you just want to check out the boys, they are in the opening scene (chain gang), and then again from roughly 50 min on.  

At 1:09.50 ish (start a little before - song starts 1:07?), both boys are prominent and on the risers shouting "Vive la France" at the end of an impassioned song... fabulous moment for me as a mom to have them both together on stage like that.    And again, at 1:22 and many points following that (song starts ~1:20) before intermission...