Idk how but I somehow blocked the fact that the entire reason I got back into Be More Chill was because I went to see a college production of the show back in April and I do in fact have some songs from the performance on my phone. They’re not great quality because it was nearly ninety degrees inside the theater and I was sitting on my phone to keep from getting kicked out for filming, but hey!

Okay so I went to Les Mis London and it was the best thing that happened this year so far. My first time seeing a musical live, can you imagine? (I can't) (This post may be very long, because I have a lot of feelings) London (it was my first time in London too), 7th March, 7 pm. Me and my classmates (yes I was in London on school trip) arrived in front of the Queen's theatre. I was freaking out just at the sight of the theatre, I'm not joking. God, I've never been so excited, I think... My friends kept looking at me weirdly, I wonder why...? We had the shittiest seats possible, of course, because we didn't want to pay too much, so we were literally in the last row. But who cares, I got to see my favourite musical! Many of my friends didn't even know the plot, honestly. (How can you follow a musical if you don't know the plot and you don't even understand English? How??) When the music started, well, it was an emotion too great to put it into words. I made a physical effort not to scream or cry or die right there. So, first part. Simon Gleeson is too good for my poor heart. I can't exactly make comparisons with other Valjeans, because this was my first time seeing Les Mis, but??? He was SO GOOD????? Everyone in the play was really good (wait until I get to the third part and start ramble about Les Amis), but Simon was the first one to strike me. Speaking of Les Amis, from my seat I couldn't see well, but I'm pretty sure I recognised most of the boys when they were playing the convicts. What can I say, I've been stalking all the actors on every social media for months. One of the best moments was when the stage started turning. I didn't know??? And the stage started to move and I was like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SORCERY??" It was AMAZING. Everything about the stage and the scenery and the props AND THE CLOTHES was unbelievable. (And don't get me started about the barricade) Second part! I really don't know what to say, it was perfect?? I can't point down some favourite moments, it was as good as I imagined it (and even more) (definitely more, my mind can't imagine that level of good) I loved the death of Fantine, they made it heartbreaking and I found myself crying (I cried a lot that night, yes). They used this powerful white light beam that lit her up when she died, and omg it was so symbolic. Little Cosette was too cute for my heart to handle, and little Eponine stuck her tongue out at her at some point?? My babies, I ship them a lot! Valjean swinging lil Cosette around and hugging her and holding her hand was the most adorable thing! Like yes I want to hug Simon Gleeson too (and I kind of did but shh let's go with order) Shall we get to part three? Yes! When "Paris, 1832" came up I nearly screamed. I have a question: is it part of Gavroche's character traits to have this heavy accent? Because if I hadn't know the words by heart I wouldn't have understood anything! He was fantastic, though. And so was Eponine! My baby, I love her so much and Hollie O'Donoghue was perfect. Then Enjolras and Marius showed up and I lost my shit. My friend grabbed my hand like "HERE HE IS MY FAVORITE CHILD" and I couldn't breathe omg help me I'm smiling like an idiot while I'm writing this. CHRIS COWLEY AND PAUL WILKINS DAMN Perfect voices, perfect looks, perfect everything. Les Amis were totally perfect. Just, WOW. I don't have words for this?? I'm still very emotional over The ABC Café and Red and Black. You know the post about 1. Locate Grantaire; 2. Cry? That's true. I started crying as soon as I saw my smol child. He was so perfect, thank god for Tom Aldridge. (Fun fact: he said Juan in the French way, not in the Spanish way, like Hadley in the 25th) (I tend to notice the most useless little things) Then there's a thing I'm not totally sure about. When R sang "Red", did he point at his hair?? (Tom Aldridge is ginger.) If he did, it would be the cleverest thing ever. (If someone knows, please tell me) When Chris started singing Do you hear the people sing I think my heart stopped for a second or so. I was so emotional! All the boys were around a table and Chris was standing on said table (why do I suddenly want to be a table??) and he was holding the red drape (I want to be a drape too??) and I was in the last row crying and holding my friends' hands. Why was I crying? Because Grantaire was sitting at the other side of the stage all alone with a bottle and I just CAN'T. MY POOR BABY. SOMEONE HUG HIM. Yes Enjolras I'm looking at you. Let's go on because I can't keep talking about Enj and R (or can I?) Okay now we have Cosette, my precious girl. I loved Charlotte Kennedy! I still don't understand why they make her wear a wig when she has this glorious golden hair on her own, but I do appreciate a brunette!Cosette. The best part was when Marius arrived at the Valjean's house gate and climbed it over, then approached to Cosette, sang "I'm doing everything all wrong" and RUN AWAY CLIMBED THE GATE AGAIN. He freaked out! It was such a Marius thing to do oh my god! Paul Wilkins, everyone. (The he came back singing "I do not even know your name") Okay, now. One day more. THE EMOTION! OH MY GOD! I started crying at the first notes. I had been waiting for that moment for AGES! And then when the whole cast goes "OOOOOONE DAAAAAAY MOOOORE" I really lost it, it was perfect. End of the first act. Second act. Let's just say that I WASN'T READY. When On my own started, my friend whispered "You go my girl Eponine! One of us", like do you know that this was supposed to be an emotional moment? And it was, when Hollie sang "All my life, I've only been pretending", one of my favourite parts in general, it was so perfect. After A little fall of rain, when Eponine died, they did again the thing of the white light beam, and I cried. R hugged Marius after she died. Now. I need to calm down. "Courfeyrac, you take the watch", and I knew my end was near. During the Feuilly/Jehan/Joly part, R was sitting, then he stood up and I just went "I'm not gonna survive this". "It's your life just one more lie?" They were standing next to each other and then they hugged. Enj was holding R so tight, and R had his arms around Enj's shoulders. And I was crying. They kept holding each other until the Marius part, then Enj placed one hand on R's hip, they parted a little and they stayed in that position for a moment. Then they walked away. I probably died. My friend squeezed my hand and whispered "Did you see that too? Did it happen for real?" WOAH The Ship God was generous with our poor souls and gave us Chris Cowley and Tom Aldridge, to let this ship sail on and on. Later we even explained our literature teacher the whole ExR story, and she said that she'd read Les Mis again and check those parts. Why isn't she my teacher, why?? (But my literature teacher basically admitted the Patroclus and Achilles relationship, so I'm not complaining) I was already a crying mess when Simon started singing Bring him home. Wow. Just wow. Outstanding. I fell in love with Simon Gleeson even more, unbelievable. At the end I was in a puddle of tears, that became a flood of tears with the second attack. "Until the earth is free" R was kneeling next to a wounded student and Enj came and they did the forehead touch like Ramin and Hadley in the 25th. ("THERE IT IS") At some point I kind of lost track of the other Amis, I was too concentrated over Enjolras and Grantaire. Enj climbed the barricade and disappeared behind. (All my mind could think was "NO") R climbed the barricade behind Enj and just stood on the top UNARMED. And they shot him. And he fell backwards, hanging upside down from the barricade. Then the stage turned. And we could see the front of the barricade. And Enjolras. They did the white light beam thing. (I may be crying right now) THEY DIED IN THE SAME POSITION. (It is true that the upper circle seats are the best ones. Beyond the barricade, you can see Les Amis get up and run away in the wings.) Paul Wilkins did a fantastic Empty chairs at empty tables. He really has a wonderful voice, I'm so in love with him! Enj and R were side by side when Marius was singing. A friend of mine asked "Who's your favourite barricade boy?" and I just pointed them like "Those two in the middle. But actually all of them." Last part. The wedding was adorable, because I could recognise all the Amis and it was like they were still alive and happy at Marius and Cosette's wedding. They did the white light beam thing with Valjean too. (Simon Gleeson was incredible until the very end. Great actor and GREAT VOICE) I wasn't ready for the epilogue. Still, it was amazing. "And it wasn't a dream... Not a dream, after all!" If I didn't have the photos, I'd probably think I had hallucinated the whole play! Because it was perfect. My dream came true! AND IT'S NOT OVER! We had the great idea to go at the stage door, "Let's see if we're lucky and we get to meet some of the actors". PEOPLE I MET SIMON GLEESON SOMEONE PINCH ME PLEASE BECAUSE IT'S BEEN 5 DAYS AND I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT He was so kind and cute and he signed our tickets (I kept the pen, it's sacred). I really don't know how I managed to speak in English, since my mind was far gone. AND THEN PAUL WILKINS SHOWED UP HE'S EVEN MORE HANDSOME IN PERSON OMG HOW CAN THAT MAN BE SO CUTE He saw I already had Simon's autograph and he said something like "Simon's signature is so swirly and good, then look at mine..." And I just replied something like "No omg it's okay I love it" because I really couldn't think clearly. Okay now. You know who was there too? Of all the people in the world, YOU KNOW WHO WAS THERE?? EMILY LANGRIDGE. YES I MET EMILY FUCKING LANGRIDGE SHE SAW LES MIS LONDON THE SAME DAY I SAW IT AND SHE CAME AT THE STAGE DOOR TO SAY HELLO TO HER OLD CASTMATES I CAN'T BELIEVE I LUCKY I'VE BEEN But I was freaking out a bit (or maybe a lot), so I asked her to sign the ticket too! And she just looked at me in a weird way like "You know I wasn't in this, right?" And I just replied "YES YES I know I'm sorry" She was so kind, I love her. But then my and my friends kind of ended up in the middle of a family reunion, and it was pretty awkward. I'm so sorry Emily, Paul and Simon, we got the wrong moment to ask you the autographs! AAAAND LAST ONE CHRIS COWLEY I asked him to sign the ticket and I handed him the pen (the same pen. It's the most precious thing I have, after the signed ticket). He couldn't open it! It's that kind of pens where you have to twist it instead of press the top, and he was so confused and he asked me "How does this work? Do I have to twist it?" At the end we were both laughing. Bless him omg! So there it is, my first Les Mis experience! It was amazing and I really still can't believe it happened! (Did someone really read all this thing?)