Monday 20 December 2010

A Bit Of This And That

I still feel sleep deprived which is starting to take it's toll on me. It's not that I can't sleep, the problem is that I can't fall asleep! It feels like I've tried everything, but so far, no luck! I guess I have to hope that my holiday trip will make things change.

Speaking of which ... I will leave on Wednesday morning to visit my families for the holidays, and I will be back late on January 3rd. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, but it will be tough since it will be my first trip there without Zorro in a long time. It will also be quite difficult to celebrate Christmas without him.

This pas Friday, finally, my Les Misérables in Concert 25th Anniversary DVD finally arrived - yay! :) I got an email on November 24, saying it had been shipped, so I was starting to get seriously worried - but at least it did arrive and of course I watched it almost immediately! :) I won't make a real review of it, after only having seen it once, but I don't think I can help myself from making a few comments!

I love the fact that the 25th anniversary concert is so much longer than the 10th anniversary concert (TAC), they have included almost the entire musical which was fantastic! That being said, I was absolutely horrified to realize they removed "Little People"!! *gasp* I'm in love with the Original London version so I was a bit let down when they changed it to another version - but removing it completely (almost), that's almost criminal, isn't it?
I have to say the stage in general was better than in TAC, more props and set pieces, which made for a better dynamic on stage. Unfortunately I felt that many of the performers didn't quite take advantage of that. They still use microphone stands - is it really that impossible to use head-mics?? - and that made a lot of the cast just "stand there" instead of trying to interact with one another.

It was great to see that they included the speeches at the end (Cameron McIntosh, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg) - I still will never understand why they removed the TAC speeches from the DVD when they are included in the video.
The finale with the 1985 cast was absolutely amazing! While I think only Michael Ball from that cast are among my favourites, it was fantastic to see them all on stage together - and the four Jean Valjeans (Colm Wilkinson, John Owen-Jones, Simon Bowman and Alfie Boe) was also wonderful (gotta say, that was a really nice version of "Bring Him Home"!)!

Oops, quite a few comments there ...:)
Unfortunately I won't get the chance to watch the DVD any more before I leave, but I will try to watch it and make a proper review when I get back here in January.

While I haven't been at Uni that much lately, I made an appearance there this past Friday. I didn't get that much done, but I managed to borrow a book from the library, and I also ran into an old friend there, that I haven't seen in quite a while. We ended up talking for about an hour, and that was really nice! Not much has been working out at Uni lately, so it came as a bit of a list. We also found out we'll be going to the same seminar tomorrow afternoon.

This weekend has been a bit tough, with regards to Zorro. It goes up and down, which is only natural, I guess... At times, things work, and I can go about my business without constantly thinking about him - but then at times, the grief just stabs me like a knife straight though the heart - and just trying to grasp the fact that I have to live the rest of my life without him, and that I will never ever see him or hear him or feel him ever again ... well, that's what makes me lie sleepless at nights ...

I'm right now in the middle of the last preparations for my trip but I will hopefully be able to update the blog at least once before I leave.
Take care!

8 comments:

The Darkest Night said...

Loved reading your comments on this, and looking forward to your review! :-) (been blogging about it too, but might write more about it in my Les Miz blog some day..I sure have some mixed opinions about it after seeing it 3 times).

Jessica said...

Thanks! I hope I'll get the time to write a review fairly soon! Looking forward to reading your comments on it too, but I have a lot of catching up to do now, after having been away from internet for 2 weeks ...:)

The Darkest Night said...

that sounds good :-) looking forward to reading it!

aw thanks! yeah i totally understand!

I have actually seen the dvd 3 times now.. (had to re-watch TAC once too LOL...too few Michaels in the new one! ;-) )

I'm starting to get to the "notice weird details"-phase, which is always fun LOL

I really wish I had a working dvd player now (or a computer that wasn't dying) because I really want to see my broadway dvd now that I'm in such a les miz phase again LOL

Jessica said...

LOL Sounds like you're in a really funny phase right now ... and I have a feeling I have a lot of Les Miz watching to do! :) Things will be pretty hectic the next couple of months - but there's always time for Les Miz, right?! :)

Aw, I really hope you'll be able to get a working dvd and/or computer really soon!

The Darkest Night said...

yeah....there is ALWAYS room for les miz in your life, me thinks ;-)

I'm starting to rather like Javert btw...if you wanna know LOL

well new computer has been ordered but not sure when I get it... might have to wait a month or so to get a new dvd player (especially since I have not even been able to find the kind I want).

Jessica said...

I think I agree with you - there's no excuse for skipping Les Miz! :D
And yay ... me likes to like Javert! *lol*

I hope you get your computer soon, and that you can avoid all the mishaps I seem to be having with ordered stuff these days!

The Darkest Night said...

Nope - Les Miz is a must! No excuses! lol

yeah..he's starting to grow on me LOL Well, we saw a great Javert in London, my favourite Javert EC is on the new CD (only listened to it on Spotify) and I also like NL on the 25th anniversary dvd...so quite a Javert-focus right now..which feels strange LOL

Jessica said...

Lol! :)
Sounds good you've found some Javerts you like lately! Me like! :)