Nando's and Les Mis

Sometimes, I'm that girl who says "Les Miserables" as "Less Miserable-s". Not because I'm uneducated on the unnatural tendencies of the French to add unnecessary letters into their words (seriously, singing French solo pieces in high school were my least favorite because the language barrier was so much more difficult than Italian or German. Granted, I think I only learned one solo French piece. And the choral songs we did were much better since we all bonded in mutual confusion over the pronunciation of the words till we finally got it right.) but instead because it's fun, just like saying fajitas or tortillas the way they're spelled instead of the correct pronunciation. Well last night I had to set aside this habit in favor of the correct pronunciation since I went to the West End to see Les Miserables on stage and that would just be utterly disrespectful.

To backtrack a bit...a couple of other wonderful things happened yesterday as well. 

First: for my Art class we got to see a gallery of Manet's (not to be confused with Monet) works, which was very interesting, beautifully done, and free (for us-perks of studying in London is getting into places free that normal people have to pay for). The ticket is also a nearly Tiffany Blue color-very pretty. One interesting aspect of the gallery was the color of the walls. Most art galleries have white (or at least light) colored walls. Not so with this particular exhibit. The walls in a majority of the rooms were a dark grey/light black. A reason for this (and this is just my assumption) might be because it brings out the light in Manet's works, and it seems apparent that he enjoys contrasting light and dark. Another fun aspect to observe was Manet's transition into Impressionism. Very cool. 

Second: A few of us went out to Nando's for dinner. Delicious and reasonably affordable, which are the two most important things in choosing a meal. And (shout out to my 1D fangirl friends) apparently One Direction eats/has eaten there, so that's cool (although honestly I'm sure they've had McDonald's at some point too so I feel like y'all could have some special 1D moment and eat there in their honor). But the food was good and we all had a lovely time!

 one great thing about Nando's is all the different sauces

and the fancy glasses they give you for water

and my awkwardly fantastic friends just add to the fun

 the menu was fun

oops, blurry

it was difficult to tell what ethnic style Nando's was shooting for

mexican/salsa-ish music

some tribal decor

italian sounding name

so confused

 we enjoyed our meal very much

So that was great. But, the night was not over yet! Next came Les Mis. Listen to the soundtrack, see the movie, and Wikipedia the basic story line, and then you will touch on what I experienced. I must say, the movie was very well done and seemed to overplay/change a couple details to make it more of a tear jerker. However, there were a couple times toward the end of the show when everyone around me was sniffling and wiping away their tears.

There's just so much, I can't explain Les Mis, it's just not possible. So I'll hit a couple highlights about the show that will be relevant to those of y'all who have not yet had any education on the story but also interest those of you who have already seen (and cried through) the movie ten times.

The set: it totally set Les Mis on a whole other level. A significant portion of the stage acted as a wheel, which could be rotated for multiple purposes (and I believe was used to its full potential in order to make a massive difference in this stage version of the story). There's the obvious rotation of set pieces, rolling one side around to the back to reveal a new location or perspective on that scene. Then there was rotating in the new scene from the back (which was blacked out) to the front for a super quick set change. But the way it was used in the first portion of the show impressed me immensely, with Jean Valjean walking through different scenes as they rotated around him. [I may be explaining this horridly and I hope that wasn't a total bore. You just really need to see it to understand. It was way cool.]

The actors: their voices and acting were exemplary. Excellent. There was just one character who I preferred vocally from the movie over this stage edition, which is surprising because everyone in this did a phenomenal job. The children were also very talented, and the boy who played Gavroche really made an impression on me (both because of his role in general and because of his performance).

The music: Fantastic.

In comparing the movie to the stage edition, I attained a greater appreciation for both the show and the movie. The movie was fabulously done, and it's apparent now that the film clearly meant to be a very dramatic tear jerker. The stage version meant even more to me because it seemed more authentic and genuine, very real. I had very high expectations and the show did, in fact, exceed them.

sitting up in the nosebleeds

but it was totally a non-issue

it was easy to see and hear everything

no matter where you sat