Because of this man....
After the first act, Becca and I started frantically searching the playbills. We looked at each other wondering what each of us was so desperately searching for?? Until we found his name. The name of the actor that was currently playing Jean Valjean. Ramin Karimloo. Hmmmmmmppf. I wonder how you pronounce that.
I, of course, pronounced it like any other redneck hill-billy would. The same way you pronounce Ramen noodles.
Becca looked at me like I was a freak and said it was obviously "Rameeeeen." Being the speech language pathologist-extraordinaire that she is, of course she was right. So the second act carried on and at the conclusion of this remarkable performance by this unknown star we both were a little dizzy, dazed and confused. Where did he come from? How is he so incredibly talented? Is that voice real? Is this real life? We sat there in a daze until we were graciously escorted from the theatre by an angry and sweaty usher. We went back to the hotel that night and did what any rational, sober, clear-minded young ladies would do in this situation. We googled/facebooked and twittered the crap out of him until we knew more about him than his own mother.
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| HI, SON |
In an unfortunate turn of events it turns out he's Canadian. And that is where the story ends, folks. Haha, just kidding. Anyway, he was born in Iran and moved to Canada with his family at a young age. He's mostly known for his performance as the "phatom" in the Phatom of the Opera in London.
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| OH MY GOD |
Becca and I were actually some of the first people to see Ramin as Jean Valjean because we went during the show's few weeks in previews. The buzz about his phenomenal rendition as prisoner 24601 was just starting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/theater/ramin-karimloo-brings-brawn-to-broadways-les-miserables.html?_r=0
After a fun-filled week in NYC Becca left for home and I got back on with life. Although we carried on about Ramen Noodles for a good month and a half to anyone who would listen about how they NEEDED to go see Les Mis and this amazing talent who played Valjean. And then last Sunday something spectacular happened.
This.
I walked into a restaurant in the theatre district and saw RAMEEEEEEEN. He was sitting in a booth by the door and I walked right past him and then turned and looked again and realized who it was. When I sat down at our table I immediately grabbed my phone.
And this conversation ensued.
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Oh man, I was sooooo nervous to approach him. But I knew I had to do it. I made sure Michaela had her phone in hand to take some action shots. And I walked right up to his booth. My heart was pounding so hard and I realized at that moment that I must not have been breathing because there was no breath in my lungs when I opened my mouth to talk. I have no actual memory of what I said. Something like: ooooble doooooshow sooooow sAHHHHHHmazing shoooooo ahhhhhmazzzzing cobbledooo. yep. At one point I think turned and pointed to my friends behind me but I'm not real sure. But this is when he stood up and Michaela grabbed a quick pic. And then I said something like: ohhhh mai sooooo shoooorry for entrooooping. Thaaaaaank youuuuuu. bye bye. And then bolted.
One of the most popular and beautiful songs to come out of Les Mis, and sung by Valjean, is "bring him home." Naturally, when I called my mother later that night she needed to know "did I 'bring him home'"?
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***ADDENDUM****
I have to make a quick update to this post.
This last week my company's entire executive team and shareholders were in New York for the board meeting. On Monday night we had a town hall meeting and dinner with everyone from the New York office. As I was chatting with some of the people from out of town, I asked if anyone was doing anything fun while they were in the City. The global head of HR said she came in early with her daughter and they went shopping and saw some shows. Naturally, I asked "WHICH SHOWS DID YOU SEE"?? In a way too overly-excited tone.
Her eyes brightened and she got this huge grin on her face and said, "Oh man, we saw the best performance of Les Mis the other night!"
No. Way.
No way, no way, no way, no way, no way. I hurriedly rushed over to her. Clearly by the look on my face she could tell this was major news. As I could tell by the look on hers that she was in desperate need of telling me why the musical was so fabulous. I'm about 100% certain we now had the attention of the entire executive team and all the shareholders in the room. Not because we were jumping up and down. But because we were shrieking "Ramin, Ramin, Ramin, Ramin." They all probably wanted to know why we were so excited about ramen noodles, and wondering if this joint was really serving that for dinner tonight.
And then I remembered. The. Freaking. Picture.
I said "wait. OHMYGODYOURGONNADIE" and then left to go retrieve my phone. I found the picture and said "this is what happened last Sunday." The look on her face was priceless. She kept looking at the phone and then back at me and then at the phone. And said - um, can you please text me that picture? My daughter is going to die.
Pretty sure all of our colleagues now think we're crazy. The next morning I get an email from her saying "so fun visiting with you last night. Can you send me the picture again? I didn't go through"
LOL.
