I dreamed a dream

Once upon a time, I had a best friend named Aaron.  We'd spend our time at school passing notes to each other, mostly discussing the girls he liked and what we were going to do that weekend, like whose house we were gonna hang out at or where the nearest stake dance was, and then there were days after school when we'd spend hours on the phone, with me sitting on the stairs with the cord pulled tight and shut in the door to the basement because we didn't have a cordless phone, discussing the girls he liked and where we were gonna hang out on the weekend.  (I never discussed the boys I liked because it was a good bet he'd let it slip within like 2 minutes.)

Good times.

Anyway, we might have spent a good amount of time talking about the girls he liked, but somehow along the way, he introduced me to two of the lifelong loves of my life-  Harry Connick, jr., and Les Miserables.

Today I want to talk about my love affair with Les Mis.

I remember how it started.  I spent two hours one evening sitting on those wooden stairs leading to the basement listening to Aaron explain the entire story to me.  Later at a party at his house, I found the sheet music to "On My Own" just sitting there on the piano, and although I couldn't read the music, the words found their way into my heart.  I'd always been a sucker for the unrequited romance.  At some point I bought the cassette tapes (which I still have).

Then one day the traveling Broadway production company was coming to town.  Aaron and I stood out in the cold (I think it was January or February) for hours, in a line that wrapped around the building, so that we could have the opportunity to buy crappy second balcony seats.

Even from those crappy seats, I knew I had never seen anything so amazing in my life.

I don't even know how many times I've seen it since. I think the number is somewhere between 6 and 10.   My favorite time was when I got to see it in London.  I've always preferred the London soundtrack over the Broadway one.  

Why do I love it so much?  It's hard to say. Or maybe not.  I don't know.  I'm usually not a fan of the tear jerkers, but this makes me cry every time. (knowing this, I still usually forget tissues) I could go into a whole post about the characters I love and why and the themes of love and forgiveness and redemption and charity and sacrifice, but I'd be writing for hours I am sure.

Anyways, as a parent, you dream of being able to share the things you love with your kids, and eagerly anticipate that moment.  I shared with them the story line and the music and although I think ideally I would have preferred to take them to a show at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake (cause that's my favorite theatre) we purchased tickets for everyone's birthday when it came to Gammage at ASU this last week. 

So we bought tickets.  Good tickets.  It was for all our birthdays.

And I would love to tell you that it was all worth it.  That I and my kids loved every minute of it.  But I can't.  I think Maddie did, but she is young and naive and hopefully there were things that were over her head.

It was a brand new production for the 25th anniversary of the show.  (whose idea was that anyway?)

For starters they changed the scenery. I've been watching this show for 20 years and this was the first time I'd seen any changes.  The jury is out how I feel about this.  I'm told the backdrop was based on Victor Hugo's art work, and some of it I thought was pretty cool.  I don't like change, and I think mostly I'm of the mind of "Hey, that was great for a change. Now Put It Back."  For instance, in the opening scene, you have the convicts in the prison, but for some reason they were rowing. Like they were on a boat. I don't understand why they were on a boat?  I don't know much about the French prison system from back in the day, so I was very confused as to why they were rowing.

And worse yet, they messed with some of the music. Some songs were faster.  They messed with the tempo.  And the instruments.  There were certain instruments playing that shouldn't have been.  I didn't like it.  The music DEFINITELY needs to be put back.

But worst of all, it was a little more, shall we say mature, than I am used to.  I know parts of it are pretty lewd.  Lovely Ladies comes to mind.  But it was just more so.  And more violent.  And maybe I've gotten more prudish with age, and I think being a parent will probably do that to you, but still.

And then there's the Thenaridier's and the scene at their inn.  First off, I hated the Thenardiers.  I've seen shows where in years past they have stolen the show.  The show is so heavy and dark at moments that it needs a little levity, a little comic relief.   Yeah, it's always been a little crude, but they took it to a whole new level this time.  And the Thenardiers made my skin crawl.  Seriously, I would cringe whenever they were on stage.  There was no comic relief.  But worst of all, there were some things going on during the big Master of the House song which were a little horrifying to me especially sitting next to my two kids.  Despite the fact that the couple was fully clothed, the words "graphic" and "obscene" come to mind.  

Nick asked me about it later.  "So you mentioned they added some stuff to the show that you weren't happy with, what about that part with those people on the balcony?"  "Yes.  Your dad and I were horrified at that.  That was definitely new."  "Oh ok, I was worried you had let me see it knowing it was in there."  (it was that bad!)

When it comes to all of that, they can definitely put it back to the way it was.

It wasn't all bad.  Javert's new suicide scene was pretty awesome. (As far as you can call a suicide awesome.)   Speaking of Javert, both of the performers for he and Jean Valjean were stellar.

And Eponine was AMAZING.  I usually cry when she dies, but I think that was the first time I had literally been moved to tears during her performance of On My Own.  I've heard that song a thousand times by incredibly talented artists, (it's one of my favorites, and as a teenager I identified with the whole unrequited love thing) but I think this was a first for me.

I think I can even settle for a compromise.  The new scenery can stay.  Every other change must go. 

Now I have a new dream.  To take my kids to see the London production of Les Mis.  I did some research and right now they are one of the few (maybe the only one) who are still showing the original production.  Thank heavens for those British and their love of tradition.  Who knows if we will ever make it, but it's good to have a dream.

~~~~~


"I dreamed a dream in time gone by.  When hope was high and life worth living. " - Fantine from Les Miserables.