our community players are doing les mis this summer. i was so excited to be fantine or part of the ensemble before i found out the production age limit is eighteen. i then dreamed of playing trumpet or horn, as i have played pit for several of their shows, but found out they’re hiring professionals. my entire summer has been ruined.

earl carpenter’s rolled rs are the best thing that’s happened to les mis.

i wish more people in the les mis fandom would try to explore lesser-known musicals beyond the world of andrew lloyd webber, wicked, and rent.

i hate it when highlights recordings leave out “a little fall of rain”. i’d honestly rather have that over “on my own”, if i had to pick.

i feel so blessed to be in this musical because there are so many people who will never have that opportunity. to be playing my dream role of fantine makes it even better.

i really love the wedding chorale.

sometimes i can’t bear listening to the finale or finishing the brick because i feel empty at the end; it’s the emptiness i feel whenever something good has come to an end. yet at the same time, a part of me feels completed and whole, because to me, les misérables is and always will be my silver candlesticks.

i absolutely love “do you hear the people sing?”, but i never really fangirled over it. the incoherent flailing is reserved for “à la volonté du peuple”.

cosette is my least favorite character in the musical; she’s so boring and one-dimensional. but when i read the brick, she became one of my favorites. her story has many more layers and i like that it doesn’t only focus on her love for marius.

my favorite version of “on my own” is the olc with frances ruffelle. it’s the only one i’ve heard that feels “éponine” enough.

this fall i will be transferring to a new college. “drink with me” never ceases to bring amazing memories to mind from the two semesters i spent at school with some of the most amazing friends i’ve ever had. i wish i could share it with them, but none of them are familiar with les mis.

i want mia wasikowska to play éponine someday.

i was adopted by my parents when i was five, and my favorite bedtime story my dad told was one about a man who stole a loaf bread and saved the child of a dead woman from a cruel fate. years later, my high school was doing les mis. i asked my theater friends about it, and they told me the plot. i recognized it as my dad’s old bedtime story. when i asked him why he kept the name secret, he said, “i knew it would find you someday, when you were ready to hear it.”

i hope they don’t use the ‘pretending’ riff in the movie.

my favorite part of the tenth anniversary concert is watching lea salonga cheer for everyone during the bows. she makes the most adorable facial expressions ever.