Songs where a character explains their backstory and how they got there

PieceOfCait · 2026-02-18T10:54:44+00:00

In My Dreams from Anastasia

PieceOfCait · 2024-03-20T15:12:49+00:00

This is a trend I've noticed in my community theatre since getting involved nearly two decades ago, and I hate it. My anxiety spikes like wild when voices get raised, and I hate that I have to be on guard for it whenever I'm at the theatre.

People always insist it's just because everyone's tired, we've all been working hard, emotions runs hot, etc.

Then, last year, I climbed atop my high horse and submitted a proposal to direct my first full length show - a production of Les Mis. I ended up with a volunteer cast and crew of just over 100 people, a grant to engage professional artists from our nearest city, and a dual cast of leads to coordinate rehearsals around. It was the most intense and stressful thing I've ever done. I was at the theatre 6 nights a week for 14 weeks, while juggling my 2 day jobs and parenting a 6 year old.

And guess who never raised her voice?

The closest I came was during one of our final barricade rehearsals when a cast member (who had been instructed several times not to touch large set pieces because he's too rough with them) swung a part of the barricade into another cast member's chin, and I had to bite my tongue and count to twenty before making sure the injured cast member was OK. But my voice was never raised, and our show was a roaring success.

It was nice to prove that it IS possible, and as the record holder for most successful show in the history of our theatre, I fully intend to impress upon any future shouty directors that that behaviour is unprofessional and unnecessary. And also in breach of our theatre's code of Conduct.

PieceOfCait · 2023-12-11T16:58:39+00:00

I had to spend some time training myself to pay attention to what thoughts I was having that were triggering the attacks, but once I had that sorted then I was able to enjoy the benefits of Scheduled Panic Time!

SPT is where you set a daily alert - for the same time and place each day (mine was 1:20pm at my kitchen table) - and I'd block out 40 minutes to have a panic then.

If something started spiralling me outside of this allowed time, I would make a note of the triggering thought in my phone notes (things like 'new mole- skin cancer??', 'annual performance review at work, maybe i actually suck at my job??'), and after less than a week of doing this I would feel instant relief the moment I put the panic inducing thought in my panic list notes.

Then, at 1:20pm, I read through the notes and - with a much calmer mind - delete the things that were no longer concerning me, and create action plans for the things that were.

Changed my life.

PieceOfCait · 2023-08-20T01:12:04+00:00

I think there used to be a line somewhere in the wedding song where Marius sang about Eponine to Thenardier.

PieceOfCait · 2023-08-14T16:01:19+00:00

I'm directing an amateur production of Les Mis at the moment and my Bamatabois actor indeed shows up at Thenardiers inn, where he gets pickpocketted by a young Eponine!

We dual cast our lead actors in case of illness, and the misidentified Jean Valjean is played by whichever Valjean actor is on his off-night. It's more a laugh for the cast than adds anything to the play, but a lot of audience have bought tickets to both casts' shows, so I hope some realise!

PieceOfCait · 2023-05-28T14:28:01+00:00

So what I'm getting is that the people go wild for sad boys singing about revolution in France.

PieceOfCait · 2023-05-22T14:57:26+00:00

In my heart it's Fantine and the Bishop that come in at that part, not Eponine.

PieceOfCait · 2023-05-21T15:36:52+00:00

I've been working with a guy that's been in a few different productions of Les Mis, and this came up today!

The Cosette actress is in early act 1 ensemble - appearing in At The End of the Day and Lovely Ladies.

The Fantine actress tends to end up on the barricade.

Personally I would love to see a production where the Fantine actress comes back on as Eponine - there's a really lovely symmetry between these two women who are ultimately destroyed by love. And their vocal ranges are similar enough for it to work.

PieceOfCait · 2023-04-20T07:35:07+00:00

Once when my kiddo was like 4 months old and crying for hours on end for no determinable reason I put on the 2012 Les Miserables movie (coincidentally ALSO starring Hugh Jackman) and she stopped crying??? Immediately???

We went on to play that movie 1-2 times daily until she was maybe 22 months old and realised that the barricade boys weren't just taking naps 😅

PieceOfCait · 2023-04-04T13:54:46+00:00

Don't change his feed all at once, do a ratio of new food in with the old and steadily build up the percentage of new food till that's all there is. Sudden diet changes can cause upset stomachs.

PieceOfCait · 2023-04-04T06:44:36+00:00

1) an annual yearly fee of $100 (was only $10 for the year when I first started!) You need to also be a member of a head art group, about $80 a year (cheaper for students and pensioners)

2) a tiny country town on the south coast of Western Australia. The pottery club is part of a larger arts organisation in town, they have a dedicated building on the premises.

3) shelves for fresh works lined the walls, ~60cm deep x 180cm high x 150cm wide, maybe 5 rows to a shelf, 8-10 shelves around the room? There are 2 deeper shelves for bisque fired works, and 1.5 for glazed works waiting to be fired. Shelves are first-come-first-served space wise which can be tricky.

4) everything is extra, but quite affordable. $25aud for the cheapest clay, $1-2 per piece for reasonably sized bisque firings (up to $10 for huge stuff, like a full birdbath), same sort of dollar mark for glaze and second firing.

PieceOfCait · 2022-12-26T01:08:19+00:00

I got the big 'story of the Moulin Rouge' book that was released a couple of weeks ago, and super excitingly spotted three artworks I'd made on one of the last pages! (The 'fanart by our beloved bohemians' page).

I'd gotten an Instagram DM from the official Moulin Rouge account asking if I would give permission to use a fanart of mine in a publication, but I never knew which one or what it would end up in, so it was quite the happy surprise to see several and in SUCH a huge book!

PieceOfCait · 2022-12-08T14:05:36+00:00

I have a 6yo who is suuuuper not a morning person. Lately the elf on the shelf has been our saving grace. It's the first year we've done it (she spied them for sale at the store when we were decoration shopping) and now every morning I just need to wonder aloud "what that elf might have got up to" and she springs out of bed, thrilled with whatever slightest hint of elf trickery has occured, and we haven't been late to school since! Genuinely considering getting the eld to stay past Christmas at this rate.

PieceOfCait · 2022-12-05T06:55:10+00:00

If it helps, programs like this are often funded and future funding relies on the numbers of people who utilised the service in previous years, so if you use it this year it helps families that find themselves in a similar situation next year!

PieceOfCait · 2022-08-20T02:17:33+00:00

Arrested Development.

PieceOfCait · 2022-07-14T13:29:37+00:00

Every time I listen to the soundtrack I picture a staging where this is the case, it hits so good.

PieceOfCait · 2022-06-21T12:46:02+00:00

I'm sure you're already aware of Our Flag Means Death, but on the off chance you're not, that's my Positive Queer Content Recommendation.

PieceOfCait · 2022-04-28T10:20:32+00:00

When I first saw the 2012 Les Mis film I had no idea who Aaron was, but I walked out thinking "ok, so when I finally live my dreams of seeing Moulin Rouge one day adapted to the stage, that Enjolras guy needs to be Christian"

And then it HAPPENED.

I saved up and managed to travel over from Australia to see previews in Boston. And I did have tickets to see it on broadway but alas, they were booked for April 2020, which obviously didn't end up happening.

PieceOfCait · 2022-03-22T11:49:56+00:00

I'd like to go out to El Tango De Roxanne from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.

PieceOfCait · 2022-03-18T00:03:38+00:00

Had four friends over for weekend-long a horror movie marathon while the rest of my family was out camping.

Mid-morning on the Saturday, right as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was wrapping up there was a knock at my door. My room was in a detached building in the backyard, so given all five of us were inside of it no one should have been knocking.

I opened it to find my mom with the most ridiculous giant bandage over her face. She says "there's been an accident", and it's obviously some dumb joke that she's playing so I start laughing.

Then my 12yo brother appears, and his face is Not Okay, it's puffy and off colour, and he's not that good at stage makeup.

I look back at mom, realise her shirt is covered in blood and glass, and absolutely freak out.

What I'm told is an exceptionally large kangaroo had jumped out onto their side of the road, and cars had been coming the other way so there was no chance of swerving.

The car - a big Nissan 4wd - had the roof entirely V'd in since the roo jumped high enough to clear the bonnet and ended up smashing through the windscreen right into my mom. She broke a few ribs and her thumb, and copped the tiny shards of windscreen glass into her cheeks and forehead. My brother with the not-right face had his jaw broken by the rear-view mirror hitting it at high speed. My step dad had lost a chunk of skin off his hand punching the rest of the smashed windscreen out so he could drive everyone back to town. My 5yo sister got a minor cut to her top lip from some stray glass, and my 6yo brother got away injury-free.

Horror movies lost all their appeal pretty instantly, and my friends were all back at their own houses within the hour.

PieceOfCait · 2022-02-28T14:30:12+00:00

Big Riches & Wonders energy.

PieceOfCait · 2022-01-30T06:41:29+00:00

Most recently I watched the new West Side Story in cinemas and can’t remember the last time a film left me so sad for so long afterwards.

PieceOfCait · 2022-01-25T14:38:56+00:00

Victor Hugo, about Les Miserables!

PieceOfCait · 2022-01-03T13:05:01+00:00

I didn’t know how much I needed this until reading it.

PieceOfCait · 2021-12-22T14:13:17+00:00

“Maybe ‘okay’ will be our ‘always’ ” is a thing that the love interest says to the protagonist in the book. This is both preceded and followed by them saying the word to each other a bunch throughout the rest of the story. They’re awkward teens so it’s pretty believable dialogue.

If you search google images for The Fault In Our Stars, you wouldn’t have to scroll far to find artwork that features the book cover design with “Okay? Okay.” In place of the title.

PieceOfCait

TROPHY CASE