24601

On Valentines Day, Robyn and I went to watch the much vaunted musical, Les Miserables. Now, we've heard a great deal about this show, people who've seen it more than once because it's so good, claiming it as their favourite show, 'you have to see it' etc etc but for some reason I've never known what the heck it's about? Well we saw it and it did not dissappoint and the more I think about it in hindsight, the better it seems to become.

I battled to follow some of it, but what I did follow, and fully catch, was memorable. It's based on the book (of the same title, meaning 'The Poor ones') by French author Victor Hugo, and is just a great piece of masterfully inter-twined script-writing. The reason why I like 'Les Mis' so much, is because the subject matter and story are so real and meaningful. It's not about a lion looking for his cub, or about a hack dancer with a drug problem trying to make his mark on the LA dance scene, it's REAL and we could learn from it if we chose to. It examines the importance of realtionships and having love/passion in your heart. I won't tell you too much more, but the story is based around the long, dark, road to redemption walked by (ex-con – hence the '24601' title) Jean Valjean, who, from this day forward (even though the story is most probably fictitious) shall be my new hero. It's kind of like a rags to riches story, but also of how a person can change and reform himself if he really wants to and believes that that is the path he must take. Other than that, it contains everything you would expect from a west-end show, brilliant stage design, lighting and costumes and possibly the most emotional and moving solo (think Pippen's solo to the Steward of Gondor during the Final Lord of the Rings movie) towards the end by the legendary Jean Valjean which sent the crowd into rapturous applause.