Les Mis
Well here I am sitting at work, and I am beyond tired. But I am not going to complain as the cause of my sleepiness was well worth these consequences.
Last night I took Ashley to Les Miserables for a Birthday gift. She had mentioned a while back that she wishes that she could go and experience this once more, as this is the show's last run.
It was beyond amazing, to start with by my definition I was expecting to view a musical and instead was met with an opera. For me the distinction between the two is simple. In a musical the lines are spoken, and music is an important but auxiliary part of the production. I am not even pretending that the music isn't amazing, just showing that the dialogue is meant to be totally understood. In an opera, the lines are sung, the music is THE FOCUS, not an auxiliary. In this point, the actual lines are less important than the feeling that the music brings.
I love operas, they are some of the most beautiful and moving bodies of music in existence. So far you can tell I was very pleased, but there is so much more. The lead male character, Jean Valjean, was so powerful. You could feel his plight and you felt such amazing compassion for him. The story is amazing and being set in Pre-Revolutionary France leads such power to the production. It was a time when the lines between rich and poor were becoming so wide that the people had nothing to lose by trying to revolt and change things.
For those who don't know this story...... Set in pre-revolutionary France, a man is released from prison after a 19-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his nephew. He was required to carry release papers which while they allowed him to walk the streets placed him in a larger and more oppressive prison. After attempting to rob a Bishop who offered him food and shelter, and having the bishop not only refrain from turning him into the authorities but attempting to further aid him, this man makes a large change in his life, and becomes an honest and successful man, but yet becomes a fugitive and he breaks his parole by not presenting these papers wherever he goes.
Years later he meets a woman who through a turn of events he turned a blind eye to and in doing so unknowingly allowed the worst of atrocities to befall her. When he finds her near death and about to be arrested herself, he rescues her and takes her to a hospital, and agrees to raise her daughter who was being fostered by a pair of despicable abusive tavern owners.
I could give the whole plot... but really some thing just need to be seen to be understood..... This was written by Victor Hugo and will raise such passion in anyone who sees it I believe....
I find such parallels with this story in my own life.... Maybe that is why it has moved me so much but I can say with honest, it has been worth every cent of the $160.00 I have spent thus far to feel an experience like no other.
Last night I took Ashley to Les Miserables for a Birthday gift. She had mentioned a while back that she wishes that she could go and experience this once more, as this is the show's last run.
It was beyond amazing, to start with by my definition I was expecting to view a musical and instead was met with an opera. For me the distinction between the two is simple. In a musical the lines are spoken, and music is an important but auxiliary part of the production. I am not even pretending that the music isn't amazing, just showing that the dialogue is meant to be totally understood. In an opera, the lines are sung, the music is THE FOCUS, not an auxiliary. In this point, the actual lines are less important than the feeling that the music brings.
I love operas, they are some of the most beautiful and moving bodies of music in existence. So far you can tell I was very pleased, but there is so much more. The lead male character, Jean Valjean, was so powerful. You could feel his plight and you felt such amazing compassion for him. The story is amazing and being set in Pre-Revolutionary France leads such power to the production. It was a time when the lines between rich and poor were becoming so wide that the people had nothing to lose by trying to revolt and change things.
For those who don't know this story...... Set in pre-revolutionary France, a man is released from prison after a 19-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his nephew. He was required to carry release papers which while they allowed him to walk the streets placed him in a larger and more oppressive prison. After attempting to rob a Bishop who offered him food and shelter, and having the bishop not only refrain from turning him into the authorities but attempting to further aid him, this man makes a large change in his life, and becomes an honest and successful man, but yet becomes a fugitive and he breaks his parole by not presenting these papers wherever he goes.
Years later he meets a woman who through a turn of events he turned a blind eye to and in doing so unknowingly allowed the worst of atrocities to befall her. When he finds her near death and about to be arrested herself, he rescues her and takes her to a hospital, and agrees to raise her daughter who was being fostered by a pair of despicable abusive tavern owners.
I could give the whole plot... but really some thing just need to be seen to be understood..... This was written by Victor Hugo and will raise such passion in anyone who sees it I believe....
I find such parallels with this story in my own life.... Maybe that is why it has moved me so much but I can say with honest, it has been worth every cent of the $160.00 I have spent thus far to feel an experience like no other.