Les Miserables Movie Premiere! Erica Heads To New York To Meet Hugh Jackman! Russell Crowe! Anne Hathaway! Amanda Seyfried! Samantha Barks! Eddie Redmayne! And More! Autographs! Signing! Musical Theater Madness!

I know the new movie adaptation of Les Miserables means a lot to people. The musical is beloved my people from several generations. I myself am not the musical theater buff… insert shocked face here… But one of our lovely MTF’ers loves musicals. I can only be talking about Erica!

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My sister Linda, Elisa in the Big Apple and myself are the first on the barricade for this long-awaited premiere.  25 years in the making…a sentimental favorite as my first musical ever…yep, this is the show that started me on theater so this day had a lot of meaning for me!
 
It’s a long day in the frigid rain and I’m also fighting off a cold (and losing). So not the most ideal circumstances and there’s a ton of construction for this lengthy red carpet.  We’re totally guessing at where the prime spot will be. Fingers crossed!
 

We have an early sighting as Tom Hooper, the director, walks by!  He’s walking behind us on the street and we smile and wave to him.  He is a bit startled to be recognized, but he smiles and nods back at us and continues on.  Not every day the director does a fly by! 
 
Mid-afternoon, the crazy Hugh fans arrive and the barricade gets pretty deep about an hour before the carpet. They put the finishing touches on the carpet and suddenly we are 15 feet further away from the drop off than we originally thought – uh oh!  We are suddenly in a not-so-great spot.  Linda and Elisa have one-sheet posters so that may help attract some attention. Fingers crossed!
 

Elisa has decided to up our chances and has made a sign which should help get some attention. 
 

 
Luckily we already have Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Samantha Barks and Tom Hooper on all of our posters.  Elisa and I also have Eddie Redymane as well.  So that means I still need Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Aaron Tveit, Sasha Baron Cohen and the two kids – Isabelle Allen and Daniel Huttlestone.  (Helena Bonham Carter isn’t expected today.) Yes, it’s a large cast!
 
Aaron Tveit is the first drop and he goes straight in. Ugh!  His publicist says he’ll come back out. I yell out “General Lamarque is dead! Come to the barricades!” which gets a laugh.  Eventually Aaron comes out – he starts 20 feet to our right and is posing and signing down the line

and then he stops.  Right before us. Seriously?!?!  We’re the ones that recognized and called for him and his handler purposefully stopped before us. Arg! Not a good sign!
 

 
We see Alain Boublil (writer) on the carpet.  How’d he get there?  We call out for him, and he looks at us, curious. 

He smiles at Elisa’s sign and takes a photo with his cell phone, but alas, he does not come over.
 

 
Eddie Redmayne arrives next and goes straight to carpet. Samantha Barks does the same. Yikes! 
 
We see the kids, Isabelle Allen and Daniel Huttlestone, being walked to the carpet and we start to cheer for them. Kids don’t always cross over, but thankfully both of them do!

They make their way down a decent distance along the barricade and, they actually make it down to us!  Isabelle is a cute little princess and Daniel keeps shaking his hair like he wants to mess it up (I don’t think he was enjoying his Bieber-do).

It’s so cute to see them sign in their very careful handwriting and Elisa gets a picture with Daniel. So adorable!

We see Sir Cameron Mackintosh drop on the carpet – he’s the uber producer who changed the face of the modern British musical by producing Les Miserables, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, etc…  We call out for him and he is a bit hesitant to come over, but eventually we persuade him and he comes straight to Elisa’s sign!
 

I whip out my Les Miserable Barbican program and he comes straight to it and identifies it from halfway across the street. He opens with “Wow! This is from the start of it all.” (My program is 27 years old and is from the first month of the show, when it opened at the Barbican Theater in 1985.) Sir Cameron is nice and chatty and takes his time in our section, but then heads out after a bit.  Good times!

Amanda Seyfried arrives next and heads towards the fans.

Yeah!  However, she’s about 20 feet away from us — we’re worried that she’ll stop like Aaron did. 
Elisa urges me to yell something with one of her lines. Uh… “Amanda, have a heart full of love and come over!” Corny, I know, but, by some miracle, she finishes up with us and then heads to the carpet. Whew!

 
Tom Hooper also crosses over and signs down the other direction. Thank God we got him previously since he doesn’t make it over to us.  The ideal spot on the barricade really was really 20 feet to our right.  Sigh!
 
Sasha Baron Cohen arrives as, well Sasha Baron Cohen.  Not in character this time. He comes over and signs for quite a bit. The pros go nuts and I am glad to get him as he skipped a bit.
 

Hugh Jackman arrives next and the crowd goes wild. 

He heads straight to the crazy Hugh fans and quickly covers a large swath on the barricades. 

He’s signing his quick “HJ” and skipping a bit (including us) so I’m so very glad we got him earlier. 
 

Russell and his Indoor Garden Party posse arrive. Alan Doyle runs over for a quick picture with Elisa

while Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand head inside. 
 

Russell goes to the very far end of the barricade to sign.  Once again he doesn’t make it down to us.  Hurray for the Indoor Garden Party since we missed half the cast! 
 

Last to arrive is Anne Hathaway who is looking like a modern day Audrey Hepburn with super dominatrix boots.

She gets out and signs quite a bit for the fans with a firm “I already got you sir” for those pros who are double dipping. 

She recognizes Elisa in all the noise and chaos and says “good to see you!”
 

And that’s the cast! I got 5 of the 6 I needed (Anne Hathaway, the two kids, Amanda and Sasha) so I just need Aaron to complete this. Whew!
 
I actually have tickets to the premiere since is a sentimental favorite.  This was a terrific audience with enthusiastic applause after nearly every song. Most of the cast were in the audience so it is a chance for them to actually get applause for their numbers – something you don’t usually get in the movies!
 

 
Also, it was a pretty emotional group as there were lots of sniffles throughout the film.  (Me included.)  I had to pass tissue to the lady next to me as she was having a breakdown. 
 
We head to the afterparty and see John Hawkes, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Kind, Rutina Wesley and others mingling around. I also see Norm Lewis who played Javert in the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary concert. Surprisingly, there aren’t more Les Miserables stage alumni here.  
 
I get a moment with Anne Hathaway who is as nice as can be and completely mobbed by everyone.  She’s very warm and sweet and we part with a warm hug (a little akward with the height difference and her angel sleeve/cape) and a (fuzzy) picture.
 

Eddie Redmayne is also quite friendly as well.  We get a quick moment and Linda gets him to sign her ticket and I get a picture.
 

Amanda Seyfried changed into a much simpler dress and I bump into her several times.  I chat with her in passing, but didn’t actually stop her for a picture (silly me!). 
 
We spot Aaron Tveit, the last person I need on my poster, but he slips away and I don’t see him again.  Ah well! 
 
Samantha Barks is also around I see her chatting with Norm (they were both in the 25th Anniversary concert.) 
 

Hugh and Russell left fairly early and Sasha has planted himself in the corner with security around him so that pretty much says “go away!”
 
We bump into Alain Boublil who signs our posters.  I saw Claude-Michel Shoenberg (composer) a few times, but we weren’t close enough to say hi to him.  I see Herbert Kretzmer (lyricist), but knowing that he’s the rudest person I’ve ever tried to meet, we don’t even bother.
 
We spot Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) and, well, I can’t resist saying “hello.” Nope.  It’s a fun chat as he is a bit flush with the evening’s festivities.  He is so charming and friendly that I get another picture with him.  Yeah, can’t resist!
 

And so ends our night! A fantastic adaption of the film, a chance to express admiration to the cast and (with some previous good luck), a nearly completed poster.  It took 25 years for the film to be made, but the timing and all the pieces really seem right so it was worth it!