Bob Calls Them Less Miserables

I did a little poking around on Google today. Happy to discover that I was "there" when history was in the making... The current edition of "Les Miserables" turned out to be the same music as in the original play. I actually expected Hollywood to change/corrupt it.

In 1978 Claude-Nichel Schonberg dedicated his attention to musicals when he and Alain Boublil conceived the idea for a stage musical version of Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables. The original production was staged at the Palais de Sports in Paris in 1980. In 1985 and 1987 respectively, the musical opened in London and on Broadway, to acclaim in each instance. The Broadway production was nominated for twelve Tony Awards in 1987 and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

Since I was a slightly naive graduate student from rural Kansas living in London in 1988, I took advantage of as many student tickets rates as I could afford -- probably viewing 6-7 musicals and plays on the various London stages for $5-15/ticket. I didn't realize that it was only the second or third year of "Les Miserables" at Leicester Square. Since it was the most "posh and expensive" theater, I made reservations to take Dale there when he came over to visit me at Christmas time. It was brilliant on the stage :-) and I totally enjoyed the recent movie-musical with girlfriends this weekend too. Here's some eye candy from the Leicester premier of the movie.