So breathtaking and sombre at the same time

People Are Being Brought to Tears by 13-Year-Old’s Rendition of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”

The talented youth, named Cormac Thompson, released a video of himself singing the iconic piece to help raise money for a charity called Acting for Others, which provides financial and emotional support to theater workers in need. In the video, we see the British chorister vocalizing into a microphone, his melodic voice gliding into high notes with ease as a gentle piano accompanies the lyrics. Interspersed in the short film are haunting clips of coffins, solitary figures, and scenes of medical staff, all of which allude to the traumas brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sad news from Broadway

Kyle Jean-Baptiste, who was the youngest and first black actor to portray Jean Valjean in Les Misérables on Broadway, has died after a fall from a fire escape at the age of 21.

Kyle Jean-Baptiste, Broadway's first black Jean Valjean, dies after fall

Actor Kyle Jean-Baptiste, who made history as the first African-American to play the lead role in a Broadway production of "Les Miserables," died Friday night in New York.

Marc Thibodeau, a spokesman for the production, said Saturday that Jean-Baptiste fell from a fire escape.

"The entire Les Miserables family is shocked and devastated by the sudden and tragic loss of Kyle, a remarkable young talent and tremendous person who made magic -- and history -- in his Broadway debut," the production said in a statement. "We send our deepest condolences to his family and ask that you respect their privacy in this unimaginably difficult time."

Here he is on his first performance this summer, singing 'Bring Him Home':

Quote of the day

Fantine, Eponine: 'Take my love, for love is everlasting.'
Fantine, Eponine, and Jean Valjean: 'And remember the truth that once was spoken: to love another person is to see the face of God.'

(From the musical Les Misérables, which I listened to (and mouthed to words to and once everyone left the library, sang loudly with) at work tonight. Although those lines belong to the musical, there are some lovely quotes by by Victor Hugo, author of the book, including on the subject of love, at the Good Reads Victor Hugo Quotes page) [although be careful; the second line above appears on the page as a quote from Hugo, when I cannot find it in the text]. But others are quite legitimate. For example, this one:

“Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable.”― Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris, or The Hunchback of Notre-Dame [This quote is verifiably in Chapter IV.]

Listening to

'A Little Fall of Rain' from Les Misérables, which never fails to bring tears to my eyes, what with Eponine's unrequited love, dying in the arms of the man she loves.

So I've gotten quite a bit accomplished. The living room looks livable again, the dishes are washing, the recyclable bin is almost full again, and I've got some trash to take out. Basically, I have been hoarding all sorts of stuff that I just haven't had the energy to deal with, and haven't wanted to deal with, and it's time to get rid of it all.

So I'm taking a break now. It's not quite lunchtime. I'm going to check the bus schedule and see how best to do the grocery run. I'm tempted to do a fairly big run and take my granny cart. I can fit six reusable bags in there. The problem is that the cart is bigger than the newer ones I've seen, and doesn't fit on the bus well, and I don't want to take all those bags out or anything, so I may just go ahead take the bus over there (after dropping the book off at the library), go to Kroger and do my shopping, and then walk home.

I just looked out of my window and one of my neighbours, who takes the bus quite often, is out walking her cat. You never know what you'll see around here.

Okay, back to Les Mis. I'm up to 'Bring Him Home'. :) This is the 10th Anniversary concert in the Royal Albert Hall, and Colm Wilkinson singing, particularly that long last note, just makes chills run down my spine. I got the CD ages ago, but at some point I'd like to get the DVD as well. One thing I like about this concert, too, is they took many of the actors who had played Valjean, throughout many countries, and did a rendition of 'Do You Hear the People Sing?' as a compilation of phrases in various languages from Hungarian to Japanese as an encore, then ending with the whole cast and them singing 'One Day More' as a second encore. It's quite interesting.