Les Miserables / Los Miserables

I've been trying to write about my experience at Les Mis for the past week, and I think I've come to the conclusion that it was indescribable. 



Teatro Lope de Vega
 Gran Via, Madrid

I knew since my second day in Madrid that I was going to buy tickets to see the show.  I passed the (clearly under constuction) Teatro Lope de Vega on Gran Via and saw the Los Miserables sign.  I remember thinking, "That's strange, I thought Les Mis was retired.  It definitely doesn't play on Broadway anymore. Maybe its an old sign the construction workers haven't removed yet."  When I found out it was actually opening in Madrid in November 2010, I went loca.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Lets rewind about 15 years.....


Back in 1994-1995 (at some point during my kindergarten or 1st grade career) my parents introduced me to the Les Miserables soundtrack from the original 1987 Broadway cast.  I started listening to it then, and never stopped.  Now that I actually teach 1st graders, it seems more than strange to me that a 6 year old would want to listen to people sing about death, poverty, and French rebellions...but hey, when have I ever been normal? Why start asking that question now?  One of my very clear memories from living in the old house on Glenwood Avenue in Yonkers is of a play-date I had with a friend.  The two of us were up on the third floor, and I put on the song "Come to Me" from Les Mis.  My mom's room was right across the hall, and I begged and begged her to show my friend her imitation of Fantine dying by falling on the bed....because I thought it was amazing.  



Marius & Enroljas at the barricade

When I got a little older, and started to really listen to the lyrics and the talent in the singers' voices, I became even more obsessed.  Don't even get me started on how jealous I was when my sister got to go see it on Broadway with her French class in high school...or how mad I was when I found out it had retired, and I had missed my chance.



Valjean at the barricade





 Even though the Madrid show was a Spanish adaptation, the show was just as amazing as I had always imagined it to be.  I bought myself a ticket to the Dec. 10 show as an early birthday present.  I was seated in the upper balcony, but in the first row. 

The Teatro Lope de Vega alone was worth the visit.  It was built in the 1940s and seats about 1,500 people.  I walked into the lobby and felt like I was walking into the lobby of the Titanic.  I half expected Leonardo DiCaprio to be there when I got to the top of the stairs. 

As for the show itself, it really was indescribable.  The actors voices were so powerful, and confident, and projected to every corner of the theater.  (Yes, I cried at about 3 different times during the show and once at the end when the 3 little kids took their bow.) M. and Mme. Thénardier were amazingly funny, Valjean and Enroljas' voices were impossibly perfect, the special effects seemed like magic, and I completely forgot about the real world for 3 hours.  Let's just say...it was the best thing I've ever seen in my life.