When I was younger (don't remember the exact age) my parents took me and my brother to the World Trade Center TKTS booth where we got tickets for both Les Miserables and Beauty And The Beast. I remember VERY little of my first visit to the show at such a young age, other then the fact that I was very close in the orchestra to the stage. I also remembered having to have my father take me into the lobby during the battle scene due to the fact that the gunshots were too loud for me to handle and scared the crap out of me. Between the two shows at that young age, I enjoyed Beauty far more then I did Les Miserables. But, I feel that was to be expected considering the fact that I was too young to have enjoyed the beauty that was Les Miserables.
A few years later at the age of 15, my family took a trip to London where one of the shows that we saw was Les Miserables. Sadly, my vision of the show was tainted based upon the negative experience that I had had when I was younger so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have.
When I heard that they were bringing it back to Broadway I decided to give the cast recording of the original Broadway cast another go. Having broken or lost (I don't recall which) my Ipod I was carrying around with me a portable CD player that way I had some music to listen to during my commute to school everyday. I was hooked and loved that which I was listing to. I did some research and bought the Complete Symphonic Recording and then later on the french revival recording of Les Miserables. When the revival came out I ended up seeing it a total of fifteen times and even was able to go to the closing night performance thanks to the amazingly friendly box office worker. I had gone to the box office during the week to ask about standing room after having known that the entire rest of the closing week and the closing night performance was sold out. I went there having to ask for advice as to what time I should get there. The guy told me that the price, and at first I was not sure of if he had understood my question and he then repeated the price. It turned out that he was nice enough to sell me a standing room ticket for the closing night performance earlier in the week then on the day before as per usual. Of course I didn't complain.
I do think, however, that my favorite memory of the show was with the revival and that was even before I set foot into the Broadhurst that night. I was in a theatre program in the city only a block away from the theatre district in Hell's Kitchen. During our lunch break I went to the box office to pick up my ticket for that evening's performance. During the run of Les Miserables, they had a screen that showed a live feed of what was going on onstage. As I got to the box office the scene that was going on was the bit of speak singing between Valjean and Cosette leading up to One Day More. I stayed and watched One Day More, and I knew at that very moment, I was in for a real treat that night. And, that only made me look forward more to what I was going to see that night.
I do hope the Les Miserables tour does stop somewhere near the NY area that way I am able to get my Les Miserables fix.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear"
Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
