mrs-javert

[mrs-javert]

Tim Burton Style Inspector

[mrs-javert]

Javert fan confession: I can't listen to Earl as Javert. Those Rrrrrrrrr's grate on my nerves after 5 minutes.

\o/

I recently bought the 25th Anniversary Tour Cast Album of Les Mis. And upon hearing Earl Carpenter’s parts, his recognizable rolled “r” got me thinking. Because just like that it seems a bit strange, but I came to a conclusion that quite satisfy myself and I wanted to share.

Soooo…

What do we know about Javert : he was born inside a jail from a gypsy woman and a dad he never knew since he was convicted to the chain gang for life before he was even born.

What else do we know ? We know Javert is a bohemian. Now I don’t know if Earl read the book or not (for example I read JOJ said he read it twice or something, anyway) but the fact that Javert is a bohemian may have led him to roll his “r”. Let me explain my reasoning behind this.

First off all, I narrowed my options and I don’t know much about bohemians/gypsy people and I mean no harm, if my vision is missing a point and you know it, please do tell, I’ll be happy to learn something more ! Anyway, let’s start :

Bohemian is a vague word, it could refer to different origins/nationalities : spanish (from Andalucia especially), Egyptian or Romanian (at least I narrowed to those three because I’ve already seen those nationalities when people talk about bohemians).

Spanish is a latin language, a rhotic language with a roll on the “r”.

I listened to several romanian videos : you hear the r-s there’s a slight roll as well.

As for the Egyptian Arabic, r-s are quite present as well.

So as regard the three possible languages, you can have an explanation. Now :

Earl speaks Arabic (he spent some of his youth in Middle East) so that could be a possibility.

But the name, Javert. If we assume it’s the name he got from his mother then we can think about this :

Javert is not really a name in French (not at all even). More like a family name and even. it’s pretty unique. I’ve looked a bit through onomastics and what is the nearest from Javert in French is the name Xavier. Remember the Javert being a bohemian part ? Okay so the name Xavier has a close equivalent in Spanish : Javier (pronunced Raviair). Javier / Javert that’s pretty close isn’t it ? Orthographically speaking at least. In phonetics what is closer to Javert is the variant Xaber/Xabier (the x being pronunced ch).

Back to my point : imagine Javert’s mother was a Spanish woman. Imagine her giving birth to her son in prison and naming him Xabier/Xaber. But since she’s in prison the guards don’t pay attention and hear her say Xabier/Xaber (which in phonetics would give something like Cha for the first syllable and for the “b” a sound between b and v and then “air”). It could totally be possible that the guards just wrote down what they heard or something that sounded like it and wrote down Javert the “ch” sound becoming a “j”.

Sooooo now imagine Javert is of Spanish origin (taking into account what we just said about his name and the fact that he’s bohemian). We know his mother did not lived long after he was born but imagine her talking to him in spanish and it just stays in him. He learns to speak and speaks french (which is a rhotic accent as well) but somehow he has this habit of slightly rolling his r-s and that’s something he can’t really shake off.

Then Earl’s rolling r-s make perfect sense :

- French is a rhotic language

- Javert is a bohemian and three possible mothertongues are rhotic (or more or less)

- Javert could be a deformation of Xabier/Xaber, a spanish name and Spanish rolls the r-s

(- And Earl knowing Arabic could be a thing as well you know if he assumes the bohemian part comes from Egypt and that Javert is just a name he was given in prison)

[mrs-javert]

I just stumbled across the best photo ever

It looks like Valjean’s about to break into some furious breakdancing and Javert’s all “yo step back this is gonna be sick”

[mrs-javert]

Out of curiosity... And not meaning this to become bashing or an argument since no two fans have the same opinions...

What are people's feelings on Phil Daniels as London Thenardier?

I'm just not feeling the character from him myself.

I kinda feel sorry for the guy as he really does look (to me) like he's struggling and I've now seen 3 quite large mistakes and messed up/forgotten lines from him last week.

Anyone got any views/opinions?

--------

I've seen him 3 times and I've always felt disappointed by him. Even during the 30th Anniversary show when I felt like I've genuinely seen the best performance I've ever seen from anyone on stage, he just did not work for me at all. The main problem I have with him is that he is not going for a threatening/scary Thenardier (or is not allowed to go for it, maybe), and the show quite clearly goes the usual direction with him and Mme Thenardier as comic relief instead. Only he is not actually playing for laughs by employing any of the usual Thenardier jokes on stage. I mean, that's far from my favourite Thenardier interpretation anyway, but that is clearly where they want him to go, only... he's just going along with it without putting any work into it? He just comes across as incredibly bland to me as a result.

[mrs-javert]

Out of curiosity... And not meaning this to become bashing or an argument since no two fans have the same opinions...

What are people's feelings on Phil Daniels as London Thenardier?

I'm just not feeling the character from him myself.

I kinda feel sorry for the guy as he really does look (to me) like he's struggling and I've now seen 3 quite large mistakes and messed up/forgotten lines from him last week.

Anyone got any views/opinions?

[mrs-javert]

A wonderful bit of cosplay fun at Les Mis London yesterday with the very kind and lovely Adam Bayjou (1st cover Valjean) and Bradley Jaden (Enjolras). Very kind of them to spare me a moment to indulge my cosplay shenanigans :)

#Les Miserables #les miserables cosplay #cosplay

[mrs-javert]

Quast spam from ITV3!

[mrs-javert]

If you're in the UK, put ITV3 on for a Midsummer Murders dose of Philip Quast!

[mrs-javert]

Very pleased to receive my official Les Mis 30th anniversary print today! 😃

#Les Miserables

[mrs-javert]

That escalated quickly... O_o

With no reason I decided to turn the first art into a series. Barricades. Semi-dark!Valjean. Different casts.

- Broadway. Karimloo x Swenson - London. Lockyer x Secomb - Berlin. Vynnyk x Kröger

[mrs-javert]

Your cosplay of Javert is amazing ! No wonder you even received Cameron Mackintosh's compliments for it !

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!Much love, and Thank you!!!!

[mrs-javert]

Because it's Team Javert, and it's December! :-)

#Javert #cosplay

[mrs-javert]

On the fourth day of December, your Secret Santa sent to you...

four Javerts!

(form Deviant artistyouyanwuzhu —  http://youyanwuzhu.deviantart.com/art/Javert-Doodle-555262077)

@acekatherineplumber

[mrs-javert]

(x)

[mrs-javert]

Original and current cast singing One Day More at Les Misérables 30th Anniversary Gala finale.

You can still watch the video by making a small donation to Save The Children; head here for more information. 

[mrs-javert]

The Confrontation |  Valvert  [current London cast] Valjean!Lockyer and Javert!Secomb

❤

[mrs-javert]

guys don’t get too bummed about javert not being in the final barricade heaven!! like that’s the barricade boys’ and valjean’s and fantine’s idea of heaven because it is a free france where no one is suffering or impoverished

but maybe javert is in heaven and his heaven is just him sitting in a room that echoes where he can say his name all he wants, as loud as he wants