A couple of points...

[Talissa]

Okay, so I'm not sure how many of you have read the book, but there are a couple of things in the musical which have never really sat properly with me.

Firstly, the Epilogue. Why exacty is it Fantine and Eponine who appear to Valjean as he's dying? Sure, they symbolise sacrifice, but Valjean only met Eponine once and probably wouldn't recognise her. Wouldn't the Bishop make more sense? Or even just Fantine by herself? Of course, Schonberg probably wanted to show off that pretty harmony, but still...

Also, the Cafe. It seems quite common in the musical to call the actual cafe the ABC Cafe. It wasn't called that. Friends of the ABC was what they called themselves, taking up the mandatory pun as a rallying name. Of course, in the transition to the musical, that got translated to mean that the actual Cafe was called the ABC. When our director decided to call our Cafe the Cafe Musain, which I'm fairly sure is what it's called in the book, half the cast thought it was wrong and were upset with it.

Anyway, anyone have any opinions on these (or any other points you might like to bring up)?

~Julia

PS. I may be rather short-tempered today, so don't be alarmed if I say anything nasty. I'll try not to, though

[Tinechorwen]

Lol, don't worry, half of us are probably artists/actors/musicians and we have a reputation for being moody, so I'm sure we'll all say something horrible at least once.

Eponine being there has always bothered me a bit too. Sure, they couldn't really leave her out as by that stage, whether they are dead or alive, all the female leads are out of the stage prominently. But that group there is all focused really around Cosette, Fantine her mother, Valjean sort of her father, Marius her husband. And then there's....Eponine. And having the Bishop there is quite a good idea, after all he certainly played a large part in Valjeans life and pretty much affected all the others because of it.

And because I haven't read the boo, can't comment on the cafe name, but I think it's champy that your director changed it back, did you use that in the performance or did it get scraped due ot complaining/

[Talissa]

Well since we didn't see the set until dress rehearsals, there wouldn't have been time to change it, so we used it.

Another thing the director did was give the students red sashes instead of tricolor, which is what is traditional. And it makes sense, really, seeing how the tricolor was the symbol of the king.

~Julia