Les Miserables on Broadway

Both Brian and I have seen the Broadway production of Les Miserables before. Brian saw it in New York when he was on a high school choir trip in 2000 and once in Portland with his Dad. I saw it with my high school band in Salt Lake City in 1998 or 1999 (I don't remember the year). Our band had been learning to play the music and our director arranged for the trip so that we could enjoy the show. I remember sitting in the theater just mesmerized by the play.  

Our friend, Matt Murray, reviews Broadway plays. He often gets an extra ticket or two to the plays he reviews. He received one extra ticket to Les Miserables and invited Brian along. Brian knows how much I love Les Mis and so he bought me a ticket so that I could go with them! What a great guy. :) 

Les Mis is playing at the Imperial Theater on West 45th St, just off of Times Square. It's an itty-bitty building, more long than it is wide, and without its marquee you wouldn't give it a second glance as you walked past.

We arrived 15 minutes before our planned meeting time with Matt. It's so hard to plan your commute to arrive at the right time. It always seems like the subway gets you there super early or late, whether you leave on time or not. This phenomenon is especially exaggerated lately on the weekends due to various delays and the fact that the seven train doesn't go all the way into Manhattan because of construction. Oh well, such is life when you're dependent upon the MTA. The day was beautiful -- sunny and warm with a cool breeze. We enjoyed the warm sun on our faces as we waited outside. I took advantage of the extra time and wandered around taking pictures.

This metal plate was embedded into the sidewalk in front of the theater's front doors. It reads: "Les Miserables Broadway Premier March 12, 1987 A Living Legend."

Due to subway delays, Matt was running late. So I decided to go in and find my seat while Brian waited outside. He couldn't get in without Matt. My seat was towards the back of the orchestra section. It gave me an excellent, centered view of the stage. The lights went out and the play started and I was worried because I hadn't seen Brian and Matt come in yet. I was concerned that they wouldn't let them in after the play started, but just after the introduction I saw them being led to their seats by an usher (we weren't sitting together; they were farther up on the right side of the theater). They had made it in time, so I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and sit back and enjoy the play.

I found some pictures online to give you a glimpse of the production. If you plan to see it sometime and don't want any spoilers don't scroll down.

Source

Source

Source

The play was wonderful. The staging was different from when we saw it before. Instead of the stage revolving it remained stationary and the different backdrops moved in and out from either side of the stage.

Source

I'm not going to tell the story here, that would take too long and I'm sure you are already familiar with it. If not, you should read the book or look it up online to find out more. It's wonderfully written and tugs at my heart strings every time I watch or read it. 

Brian loves the song "Valjean's Soliliquy." It always makes him tear up, but don't let on that I told you. This song reveals Jean Valjean's thoughts and conflicting emotions as he turns his back on his life as a thief to follow God after being shown kindness and generosity from a bishop. The line "He told me that I have a soul, how does he know?" always gets to me when I hear it. 

My favorite song is "I Dreamed a Dream" sung by the character Fantine. It's so heartbreaking and moving as it talks about her hopes and dreams and how they have been stolen from her; how her life has turned into a living hell. It always makes me cry. Caissie Levy played Fantine, and I was a little worried that she wouldn't do this song justice because her singing in the beginning of the play was a bit weak, but she came through and gave a great performance.

Will Swenson played Javert. I didn't even recognize him until after the intermission when I remembered that he was playing the part. I've fallen in love with the song called "Stars" that his character sings. My favorite version of it is from the movie when Russell Crowe sings it. The music is so beautiful and it lets you understand Javert a bit better.

Source

One interesting thing that they did was have the people march in place during part of the song "Do You Hear the People Sing." Meanwhile, the image projected on the background screen moved so that it looked like they were marching down the street. It was actually kind of cool.

Source

Kyle Scatliffe, who played Enjolras the leader of the revolution (wearing the red vest), also did a great job. His voice was wonderful.

Source

Ramin Karimloo, who played Jean Valjean, was amazing. He did such a fantastic job, especially while singing "Bring Him Home." I've always like this song, but never loved it until I heard Mr. Karimloo sing it. He was strong and confident in the high falsetto register of the song, making it so beautiful that it might have been my favorite song from this performance.

Source

As you've probably surmised from reading my thoughts of our experience, I am far from a professional reviewer of plays. If you would like a professional's opinion you can check out Matt's review here.

We had a wonderful time, and afterwards Brian and I stopped at our favorite Peruvian restaurant, Pio Pio Riko, located on the corner of 46th St and Greenpoint  in Sunnyside. Not sure of its exact name, but it is delicious. Brian ordered some dish called ceviche mixto, which was a plate of slippery pieces of octopus, white fish, clams, shrimp, and tiny little whole squids. And it was all covered in onions. You can tell that I was not excited about his meal. It was served with cooked sweet potato and what looked like corn on the cob but was actually hominy. I had their rotisserie chicken, which is amazing! It is so moist and full of flavor. I'm salivating just writing about it again. My chicken came with beans and rice and we ordered a side of fried plantains. It truly was a "Ratatouille" experience, just like when the little mouse tastes combinations of things and colorful explosions appear in his head. They also have this amazing green sauce that is a mildly spicy. If you ever come visit us, we will take you there. And the best part about this restaurant is that it is affordable and filling!

It was a successful NYC day.