I bawled through most of the 2nd act, first when Eponine just got over the barrier and was shot, and died singing in Marius' arms; then when Gavrosh crossed the barrier to get ammunition from the dead enemy soldiers and was shot, but kept getting ammo, then threw his bag of ammo up to the men on the barrier, who missed it, and finally when the last shot was fired and Gavrosh died.
I also cried when the leader of the rebels, Enjolras, lay dead over the barrier with the rebel flag, and Gavrosh lay dead below, the rotating stage turned to show just them dead. Everyone else in the revolution died too except Marius and Valjean. Valjean dies in the end though, so only Cosette and Marius live (besides the inn keeper and his wife- who were hysterical!!).
Particularly worth mentioning was the scene in which Javert kills himself. In the previous scene a bridge was shown above the actors on stage, for the suicide scene the bridge came down to the floor, Javert jumped over the rail & held on, then let go and the bridge raced up into the riggings, and the actor motioned that he was sinking in the river to his death. It was so creative.
Eponine, Cosette, Valjean, Fantine, and Javert were particularly good.
I bought lots of souvenirs and am glad, because it was a show well worth remembering. There are still very minute details I don't know, and probably won't for awhile, but it was so wonderful to see it finally.
The kids were very professional, and although Marius didn't have that great of a voice, the production was simply marvelous!!
Another touching scene was when Marius sang "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" about his dead buddies, and they walked up behind him as a group in a ghostly, yet chummy stance.
Fantine and Eponine came to take Valjean away at the end in a similar manner, and Marius and Cosette faked that he was still in his chair and not up (the actor) walking away- great!
The hopelessness of the revolt really hit me, and that made the whole thing even sadder.
The curtain call was fun. They came out several times and all seemed very nice and full of group camaraderie. I miss it, and and wish I was up there, doing that kind of thing...in time, in time.
We ate before the show at a fancy department store restaurant. We met Moto after the show, then went to eat at a great place called Kattin-Oh, where they bring out various plates of food and smaller dishes to eat off of.
It wasn't too fun afterward, though, because of the long car trip home (which was actually nice, compared to the train ride up, which was probably longer...which, by the way, was mostly a Japanese lesson, and very nice). It was also not good because they stopped at a Beddhist Temple to worship on the way. They were in there for 45 minutes, while I sat in the car- then the priest came out and blessed the car. He got in the front passenger seat, the drivers seat, blessed the doors, the hood, etc...strange!
It was a fabulous day though...hope there are more like this one!!
P.S. The use of echoes was masterfully done in elongating final notes and lengthening, ever so slightly, the dying notes of actors and actresses. Fabulous!!
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