#nathaniel hackmann

now make like a tree or whatever

NOVEMBER 2nd - DAY 2: Favourite Character/Arc

 Jean Valjean ...“my soul belongs to God I know, I made that bargain long ago; He gave me hope when hope was gone. He gave me strength to journey on.”

Valjean has my favorite character in all of theatre, and he has my favorite arc as well. I love so much about Valjean. I love that he’s a good, practicing Catholic who is trying to live out his faith. I love that he is a man who started at the lowest of the low, a violent desperate thief, but by God’s grace he is able to make something of himself and be a good, honest man.

“Confrontation,” Broadway, 2014. Earl Carpenter as Javert, Nathaniel Hackmann as Jean Valjean.

Earl is a consummate Javert: his voice is rich, powerful and piercing, almost reminiscent of Philip Quast, and his fearsome determination and rage are appropriately frightening. Nathaniel, an understudy, looks and sounds slightly youthful for Valjean and doesn’t sound secure on every note, but he still holds his own well.

Unfortunately, they have to perform the Connor/Powell staging of the scene, which as I’ve often mentioned before, I don’t care for. I like it even less now than I did when I first saw it in 2011. First of all, having Javert whip Valjean to the floor with a chain, and then give him an extra shove too, is unnecessary and distorts his characterization. Of course police brutality is an issue that needs to be addressed, but as @secretmellowblog has repeatedly pointed out in her meta, part of the whole point of Hugo’s Javert is that he’s an unusually good, morally upright policemen, never brutal or dishonest the way others are, but is still ruthless and unjust because the law is ruthless and unjust. Then there’s the tug-of-war with the aforementioned chain, which feels overly stagy and choreographed at best, unintentionally comic and homoerotic at worst. Then, worst of all, is Valjean throttling Javert with the chain: it robs both characters of their dignity, especially Valjean, and as I’ve written before, in light of recent world events, it’s very uncomfortable to see a chokehold portrayed as a heroic act of self-defense.

Casting Goals: Sunday in the Park with George

“Sunday, by the blue, purple, yellow, red water.”

Nathaniel Hackmann (u/s Valjean) - Valjean’s Soliloquy

both fit with biff's character, but it's really neat how you can get such a different impression of him depending on who plays him when you see the show.

i think this is most obvious in the way they deliver a particular line before "teach him a lesson," when lorraine asks "biff, can't you take a hint?"

nate's biff shrugs, casual and maybe a little self-conscious, and says, "yeah, i'll take whatever i can get." he leans closer, hoping (because he doesn't understand the saying) that she'll say yes to their date. when she walks away with her girls he seems almost confused before channeling that into anger at "calvin."

will's biff escalates right away, raising his voice to assert "i will take ANYTHING i can get!" maybe anger is just his default setting, as we see in the rest of a show with will!biff. maybe he's suddenly defensive in front of lorraine, but he still doesn't understand the phrasing so it makes him look silly. who knows!

“Dawn of Anguish,” “Second Attack/Death of Gavroche” and “The Final Battle.” Broadway, 2014. Kyle Scatliffe as Enjolras, Andy Mientus as Marius, Nathaniel Hackmann as Jean Valjean, John Rapson (?) as Grantaire, unknown Gavroche.

An excellent performance by everyone. Kyle’s Enjolras is fierce, caring and majestic all at once, John Rapson’s Grantaire (I don’t know for sure if it’s him, but I’m fairly positive) is heartbreaking, and the uncredited Gavroche is excellent too.

I’d also like to take some time to appreciate the effective details of the 2014 Broadway staging. I know I tend to talk like an old fogey when it comes to Les Mis productions, waxing on and on about how magnificent the classic Nunn/Caird staging was and how the Connor/Powell staging never quite equals it, but the Connor/Powell staging is effective and moving in its own right, and I’d like to give it some praise for a change.

Grantaire’s close friendship with Gavroche is one of my favorite aspects of this production. I’ve seen Nunn/Caird Grantaires try to send Gavroche away with the women and fathers too, but never take a moment to talk to him and hug him goodbye first! <3 <3 And then we have Grantaire frantically trying to climb over the barricade after Gavroche when he goes to collect the bullets, but protective Enjolras stopping him! Oh my heart!

I’m so grateful that the Broadway revival (and subsequent tours) altered the 2009 staging so that instead of dying offstage, Gavroche makes it back to the top of the barricade only to be shot down into Enjolras’s arms. I’ll admit I like it just as well as Nunn and Caird’s classic staging. Arguably it gives his death even more heartbreaking emphasis. While the Nunn/Caird staging does depict the killing itself more intimately and brutally, the turntable instantly sweeps his body out of sight afterward. But here we can’t look away from the dead boy as Enjolras hands him down to Grantaire, and as Grantaire carries him toward us, screams over him, and keeps on mourning over him even as the battle rages around him.

The staging of the moment when Marius is shot is like a cross between the traditional version (Enjolras and Grantaire run to his side, then share a moment) and the 2006 Broadway version (Grantaire and Valjean run to his side, Valjean gently dismisses Grantaire – e.g. “I’ll take care of him, you’ve got a battle to fight” – then gets down to the business of rescuing him). Here we have Enjolras and Valjean at his side, with Valjean directing his “I’ll handle this, son” gestures to Enjolras, who then meets Grantaire as he charges toward the barricade and shares a moment with him. This is a good combination, I think. It suits Valjean’s dedication to protecting Marius, but also has the Marius/Enjolras friendship reinforcement and the E/R moment of the original staging.

It’s always good to see an E/R hug. <3 <3

I’ve noticed a very small difference between Nunn and Caird’s handling of the two big symbolic gunshots and Connor and Powell’s. In the original production, the first one kills Enjolras, while the second kills all the others and leaves them to collapse in slow motion. In the Connor/Powell version, the first shot wounds Enjolras and makes him drop the flag, but he still stands tall in defiance, while the second shot kills him, with all the others quickly dying afterwards in a volley of more realistic gunfire. Both variations I think are effective; I can’t say which one I prefer.

Either way, I think it’s interesting that in both stagings, Enjolras is the first of the barricade boys to die. It’s just the opposite of Hugo’s version, where he and Grantaire are the last to go. But I suppose it’s effective symbolism onstage. The death of Enjolras equals the death of the rebellion; the doom of all the revolutionaries is sealed when their leader falls.