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| | Author | Message | Faith
Posts: 7
Since: 3/2/2003
172.161.114.180
| 3/11/2003 8:35:50 PM 
Broadway 16th Anniversary Memories
In celebration of the 16th anniversary on March 12, I was wondering if anyone had any special memories that they'd like to share here?
I'll start with some of mine. 
- The Broadway 10th anniversay, 3/12/97, was simply amazing! It's incredible to me to realize that this was already 6 years ago. I clearly remember how excited we were when Robert Marien started singing "Le Grand Jour" (the French version of "One Day More") after the curtain speeches.
- I have great memories of the 1990 cast, over at the Broadway Theater, since that was when I first really started to love the show.
- I have the BEST memories of a specific performance in 1999 that I shared with some friends whom I rarely see. We made it special. 
- On a more poignant note, I can still remember seeing the show in March 1998, just a few days after the death of Laurie Beechman. I already had a ticket, but I debated staying home. Obviously, I ended up attending the show and I'm sure it's not surprising that I cried through all the Fantine moments. And ever since then, whenever I see Fantine in the finale scene, I think of Laurie and how she must be looking down and smiling on all the people she loved.
Anyone else?
| Jasmine
Posts: 1
Since: 3/12/2003
198.140.63.114
| 3/12/2003 9:04:52 AM
My best memories :)
Wow, this is fun. So many to name!
- My favorite memory of seeing the show on Broadway was when Lea Salonga debuted as Eponine, 1/5/93. My best friend and I had seen the rest of this cast before, but there was this amazing energy that night, in everyone's performances. It was a great night, with lots of flashbulbs going off during the show and at curtain call.
But Lea really is a scene stealer-- I couldn't help but watch her in every scene she was in, and what's funny is, so did most of the cast. Funny things I noticed that night like Lawrence Anderson (Enjolras) lingering around a little longer upstage after Look Down to watch the Eponine/Marius conversation, or everyone on stage, including Richard Kinsey (Javert) getting teary eyed after "A Little Fall of Rain."
- 6/2/93 The same friend went with me to see Donn Cook as Jean Valjean. She was curious about him since she saw him as Piangi in Phantom. I'd seen Donn Cook twice at this point and something about him seemed different. During intermission, we kept talking about Donn's performance and people around us kept giving us looks. Anyway we find out AFTER the show that the entire time we were seeing Craig Schulman!! We finally read the playbill. At first we thought, it must have been a last minute switcheroo, but his pic was right there on the marquee (we must have been blind!)
- I also have many fond memories of the various casts that were there in 1993 and 1994. My dad had passed away just as I was starting college the year before, and seeing Les Miz became a sort of therapy for me. It sort of started it all, the need to see it multiple times, and I got into writing parodies and fan fic because of that year.
It's still like this, whenever I feel down, I go see Les Miz.
| Eponine
Posts: 2
Since: 3/26/2003
141.154.185.221
| 3/26/2003 2:39:06 PM
My Les Miz Memories
Hey Faith! I'm so glad you added this forum. =) I've had 2 prominent Les Miserables memories that I'd like to share =)
The first is October 30th 2002 when I first saw the Broadway production. I had seen it in London when I was 9 and my school was going for a field trip to nyc to see Les Miz (best thing about my school). I wasn't excited about it because I'd already seen it but just not really remembered it. I got so into it. By intermission I was on the edge of my seat, my face was lit up and the curtain closed and I was in total awe. I had never seen anything so moving and so powerful before. I knew I would never forget that day.
My second memory is my most recent one. On February 16th was the 3rd time I saw the show. (December 22nd was my second and I met the cast and was overjoyed.) I had kept in touch with Christiana Anbri (Young Cosette) and she offered me a backstage tour. I accepted and met her in front of the theater and she opened up this whole new world for me. I stood on a real live Broadway stage. And I got to see all the behind the scenes work on my favorite show! It was great. And the show of course was spectacular and as powerful as ever. Diana Kaarina is my favorite actress, my role model, favorite Eponine, everything. I look up to her so much. And I'd met her last time and we'd sort of kept in touch through emails and letters. So when I went to the stage door, she came out and gave me a hug. That made the day perfect. LOL. I talked to her and she said she could tell from my determination to be on Broadway someday that I would make it. I almost cried. She's such a wonderful person. And the rest of the cast was incredibly sweet to me too. They're all great people.
Well those are my memories!
My Love Always,
Meredyth
| Miriam
Posts: 2
Since: 6/9/2003
200.154.12.167
| 6/9/2003 2:11:04 PM
my memories
Hi Guys! I am new here in the forum, but you might know me from le Cafe, though.
Well, I have great memories from seeing les miz, but my last one was the best. I had a backstage tour and got to be there during the strike. I will tell you all about it!
I saw the show on March 5th
On that morning I was thinking "well, this is probably my last chance to see Les Miz on Bway, (well, at least til they make a revival), so I will just try to get a tour".
So it was around 6:30 I went to the stage door, and one of the musicians was getting inside the Theatre that moment. Since I am not shy at all, I asked him is I could have a tour, since he didn't know he told me to come in side and talk to the doorman - so I got in, and this is what I said: "Hi, I came all the way from Brazil just to see the show for the last time, and I was wondering if I could have a tour or something?" I know it sonds crazy, but it was actually true. I went all the way from home – Brazi – to try to see les miz for the last time.
So he said no problem, one of the stage hands gave me a tour. So, when he was showing me some things one stage I look back and guess who I see? David McDonald! You have no idea how nice he is! He gave me a playbill and he wrote a little note on it, oh, and he asked me where I was going to sit so he could wave at me at the curtain call .
Well, after that I got to meet Lauren Kennedy, and the funniest thing happened, cause the stagehand that gave me the tour told me to either sing or dance on stage - I am really shy when it comes to singing like out of nothing you know?! - so after many no's they convinced me to sing, so Lauren heard me singing “I dreamed a dream” (It was their choice), lol. I've also met Gina Millo backstage when I had finished my tour. But there were like still 40 minutes to the show, since it was not really cold, I waited outside to see some of the cast members who were arriving, so I met Andrew Hoeft when I was stepping outside at the stage door, and a few minutes latter I see Diana Kaarina and Aymee Garcia, the thing is, I didn't know Aymee Garcia, because the last time I saw the show Betsy Jolyn was Madame Thenardier. They were really nice!!
So, okay after the girls got inside I see David Gagnon and Nick Wyman (he was on his cell phone, so I got to talk to David Gagnon for a pretty good time!). So when I was taking a picture with Nick guess who appears?! Kevin Kern! It was really fun! They are so nice!!! You can't imagine how funny they can be!
Well, latter on I was still waiting outside, so Kristin Klabunde comes at the door, at then she was like, “hey wait inside here so we can talk”. so I was there talking with Kristin and the door guy, then I asked him is Christopher Mark Peterson had arrived yet (I´ve met him in 2001 after I saw the show, and we spoke for like 20 minutes or so – that’s another story if you want me to write about it, just ask! ), so he told me yes, and since it was too close to the show I couldn't go upstairs and meet him, so he told me to come to the stage door right after the show and he would let me in backstage and tell CMP to wait and the other actors to wait. Mean while, Nick Wyman comes down the stair and he was like "Miriam?! What are you doing here?! Who let her in here?" like joking of course! He is sooo nice!
So, anyways, after the show I got to meet like everyone of the cast and I got to talk to Sandra Turley and guess who was waiting?! yey, CMP! You can't believe how mad I was when the picture I took with him didn't come out! well, at least I have the one from 2001. I've also met Randal Keith, Roger Seyer and Terrence Mann after the show! They are all sooo nice!
So, now I will write you all about the strike!
Anyways, on Friday morning I went to buy tickets to see Aida, I didn’t know the strike would be on that night. So, after I got my tkts I went to the Virgin store at times square to meet with my friend Silvia, who is also from Brazil, and she was going to show me some ballet stuff, since she is a professional ballerina here and she lived in NYC for a while a few years ago. So we spend the whole day close to the Lincoln Center, cause there is basically where everything were...
Well, about 5pm I started to get back to the hotel (Milford Plaza), which is on 45th street, so I could get ready to see the show. When I get at times square I see all these people yelling and holding signs "musicians on strike!" so I was told that there wouldn’t be any shows that night. At first I was sooo mad! But then I was like "well, I will go to the hotel, take a shower, and then when I leave to get my ticket refund I will stay out side walking around, no big deal", since only my brother and I went to NY this time, and he was on this workshop, so I would be on my own for the whole weekend.
About 6 I left the hotel. The Aida theatre is on 46th, so I need to get to times then to 46. But there were too many people walking on 45, so I thought I'd go trough 46th - which is the Les Miz stage door. So I was walking my way to Bway, and I saw the whole cast outside. The cast members that knew me were all like “hey, Miriam! How are you?” these kind o things, so I stayed there and talked with them. A few minutes latter I look to my side and see Carla -Christiana Anbri (young Cosette) mom's, I knew them both from last year…they gave me a tour – I can tell about it latter too…
Then a few minutes latter, Stephen Scarpulla – who I met in 2001, same day I met Christopher Mark Peterson- showed up, and well, he was really excited to see me again, we kept in touch since 2001. After a while, I don’t remember who, told the cast to move to the 45th street, so they could be in front of the theatre. So I was like “okay! See you guys latter” then Kevin Kern tells me to join them to the strike, and I was like "r u sure there won’t be any problem?" he was like “no problem at all”...
So I was like, okay! This is once in a life time chance... Before that, Nick Wyman sees me, and he was like “hey Miriam! What are you doing here?”, joking of course! I was like I am supporting! lol... Well, then I stayed around there all Friday night! It was a cold but AMAZING experience; you know, those only in NY things, lol. And I remember they were all “Oh, that’s too bad you are missing Aida!” but well, I’ve seen the show once, I can see it again another year, but how many times will I be able to participate of something like that?
Then on Saturday, at 1pm I was leaving the hotel to I meet my friend at 2pm, cause we were seeing a ballet thing that afternoon. So I was going to walk around then meet her. So I am walking on 45th street, where the Les Miz picket line was, and again, Nick Wyman sees me, and he was like “Don’t you have a job?” joking because I was there, lol. So well, I stayed there for like 30 minutes talking to him, and then I had to run and meet my friend. So at night, since my friend went to San Francisco after we saw the ballet, I was on my own again, so I was like, well, I will just walk around the streets and do whatever. So okay, I am passing again through LM around 6, and CMP sees me – he was the only actor that time – so I stayed there talking to him, ‘til the end of the strike that night. Well, anyways, he introduced me to most of the people who worked on the show. And the funniest thing happened; he comes out of nothing and says "I know exactly who you are!".
When I met him for the first time in 2001, I stayed talking to him like almost 20 minutes after the show - my english was not really good that time - and since I was waiting for my parents to come pick me up at the theatre I saw him coming off the stage door, and asked him for his autograph so we talked for a while when finally my parents showed off. so we took a picture. If you see me now, you couldn’t imagine how shy I was, so I was posing next to him to take the picture, and he was like "Hey, you are not taking the picture like that! Put your arm around me and skeeze me!"... he was really funny!!! He even told me I was more out going now then I was back then, lol.
So, I don’t remember who said that they were finished for that night see you guys tomorrow, or something, I was like, well I won’t be here tomorrow, so he gave me a goodbye hug and told me to keep in touch! He is really nice, and defenly has a really good memory.
That was like my best Les Miz memory, cause I think it put all my memories together. Great way to say goodbye, don’t you think?!
Well, hope you liked to hear about my NY adventures, Sorry for such a long post though. By the way, if you’d like to see the pictures I put them all in a website: www.freewebs.com/mirinhass sign the guest book if you go! it is not a les miz site, just a picture site, okay?!
Love, Miriam
Last Edited 6/9/2003 2:17:00 PM
| Colle
Posts: 7
Since: 8/24/2005
64.136.27.226
| 8/24/2005 1:50:10 PM
Thank you everyone...
for sharing your memories of Les Mis Broadway. I never got to see the show on Broadway but I have seen the tour twice. Jasmine, I hope you read this, I would like to know about Lea as Eponine in some of the scenes that were not in the TAC, like "the Robbery" and "Eponine's Errand," if you could remember.
| myangell02
Posts: 2
Since: 10/12/2005
205.188.117.70
| 10/12/2005 11:29:46 PM
A little late...
I know this message is posted a little after-the-fact, but I wanted to share my earliest memories of Les Mis... My mom became a fan after hearing Colm Wilkinson perform on a local morning news show, when I was about 4 or 5 years old... And from then on, for a long while, that was her only driving music, so I was well-saturated with it. Hence, why I tend to say, "I grew up on Les Mis."
I vividly remember standing up in the isle (my mother always recalls it as I kept trying to stand in my chair.) and doing what I usually did when Les Mis was playing, attempting to belt out the songs as if I were in the car on a trip with my mom... My mom says she was pretty much mortified- but, hey, I was no more than 5(I know, because Les Mis opened on broadway on my 5th birthday...making it all the more special to me!), and I was enjoying the music the way I knew how (something, I'm told, I also did at a college performance of Annie within the same year or two!), by singing along. Since I first heard this amazing musical, it and I have been inseperable...even before my young mind could grasp all of what was really going on on the stage (to my mom's relief), even before I realized that the adult Eponine was way more interesting than the young Cosette, who I think I picked because she had the only little girl's part to identify myself with, long before all of the depth of the storyline sank in, Les Miserables, and everything about it, had made itself a part of my soul.
| oldgold
Posts: 1
Since: 8/28/2008
71.167.156.23
| 8/28/2008 8:03:58 PM
"You can not die without seeing it."
That is what a dear friend had told me about Les Mis on Broadway when I mentioned to him that Les Miserables was my favorite story. My sister was in Manhattan on Friday, May 16, 2003, so I asked her if she could get tickets. She called me at about 11a.m. to tell me that the last three performances were sold out but she'd hang around the theater and see what she could do.
I was really disappointed but said a prayer and returned to my work. At 1p.m. she called back, "I can't believe it! I was sitting in front of the theater and the fellow in the ticket booth called me over, I had told him how much you wanted to see it, and said,'Two seats just became available.'". YES!
Early departure from work, quick change, express to Grand Central, and by 6, Mary and I were ordering dinner. Waiting for our meal, I glanced over at Mary and saw, for the first time, and I was then 52, a woman of beauty and poise, not the pain in the neck kid sister I'd always endured. It sounds kinda dopey but it was a profound moment for me.
We arrived at the theater and were seated in the tenth row, center. To my right was a couple from Cincinnati who'd been looking forward to that moment for six months. "I just want to warn you now, my husband will be singing along for the entire performance. He knows every word. He listens to the two CD recording all the time. I hope it doesn't bother you." (It must have been contagious, I've been doing the same for five years now).
The performance was beyond my powers of description. At the finale I sat, just barely, with a broad smile, tears streaming down my cheeks, feeling as if I was being levitated by the sheer beauty and power of the experience.
At the intermission I noticed a large movie camera set up in the back. Does anyone know how a copy of that recording might be obtained?
Thanks for this site and the opportunity to recall a wonderful moment.
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