Greetings, musical theatre geeks, and everyone else. 8/30 '15
Maybe you've heard this already, maybe you haven't.
Kyle Jean-Baptiste, the youngest and the first African-American actor to play Jean Valjean on Broadway, 21 years old, died either last night or this morning. He fell off of his mom's fire escape.
I saw this video before, and it bugged me how hard these guys were on their mics (come on! let the mic do the work! it exists for a reason!), but I wanted to share it with you, if for no other reason, than letting his delivery of "before you chain me like a slave again" resonate in your viscera, and how he sings "I am warning you, Javert" at 2:08.
Whatever your art is, keep practicing.
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This happened on Jeremy's birthday, too.
Kyle Jean-Baptiste: That name was destined for fame.
His delivery is gorgeous. An incredible loss.