Les Miserables - the gold star of musicals

Susan Boyle made headlines when she recently appeared in Britain's Got Talent. Her powerful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" catapulted her to international fame. For me, the song transported me back to my undergraduate days when I went on a student tour to Europe and had the opportunity to catch Les Miserables at London's West End.

For the benefit of those who are unaware, Les Miserables is a musical based on the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. From Wiki: Set in early 19th-century France, it follows the intertwining stories of a cast of characters as they struggle for redemption and revolution. The characters include a paroled convict named Jean Valjean who, failing attempts to find work as an honest man with his yellow ticket of leave, breaks his parole and conceals his identity; the police inspector Javert who becomes obsessed with finding Valjean; Fantine, the single mother who is forced to become a prostitute to support her daughter Cosette; Cosette, who, after her mother's death, becomes Jean Valjean's adopted daughter and who eventually falls in love with a revolutionary student named Marius; the Thenardiers, the unscrupulous innkeepers who initially foster Cosette, and who thrive on cheating and stealing; Eponine, their young daughter who is hopelessly in love with Marius; Gavroche, a young beggar boy; and a student leader Enjolras who plans the revolt to free the oppressed lower classes of France.

In my opinion, Les Miserables is probably one of, if not the best musical to ever have hit the stage. It's the intricate plot, richness of characters and complex web of human emotions that make for a compelling story. Not to mention the wonderful, wonderful music. "I Dreamed a Dream" is but one of many in a string of memorable songs. Since its first London performance on 8 October 1985, Les Miserables has become both West End and Broadway's longest running musical to date, longer than Cats and Phantom of the Opera.

Inspired by Susan Boyle's performance, I borrowed the Les Miserables 2-CD set from my sister and introduced it to Lesley-Anne. She downloaded the music to her handphone and after listening to it end-to-end twice, she was seriously hooked. She said she couldn't get the songs out of her head and by day three, she practically knew all the lyrics by heart.

I caught Les Miserables on the stage for a second time when the musical travelled to Singapore in 1994. It still gave me chills. I'm hoping it will come again, I'd love to bring Lesley-Anne this time. If you haven't heard the musical, I encourage you to get the original album.

Below is a video of Lesley-Anne's favourite song in the musical, "One Day More". This song sums up the intricacy of Les Miserables. Each character wonders what the new day will bring, from hope and optimism to doubt and despair. This recording was part of the Tenth Anniversary version performed at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1995. The singers are the original London cast members.

I feel that the songs by themselves are less meaningful than when set in the context of the story, so if you're a Les Miserables newbie, I recommend getting the original album, not the Tenth Anniversary one, which just features the songs performed in concert. But hopefully this video gives you a flavour of the beauty that is Les Miserables.

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