Les Miserables is returning to the National Theatre in D.C. at the end of the year, so I'm going to take a few of my Virginia friends to see it as a present to both myself and them. I've never actually seen the show, although I know the book by heart. The song book, that is, not the literature (although that too, was a worthwhile read, if you skipped over the lengthy tangents which were thinly disguised governmental essays). I'm a fan of musicals where the music and the story are equally important, which is why I think most classical Broadway shows are fairly trite and uninspired. I jsut don't like the absurdity of having a magic bell-tone followed by a random burst of song for no apparent reason between snippets of dialogue.

My feeling is, if you're going to write a musical, you should really make it a musical, and not allow the music to be a slave to the performers or story. I think both Les Miserables and Miss Saigon both manage to pull that off, although I haven't seen either one. I did see Martin Guerre a few years back, but it was essentially a re-arrangement of the Les Mis music in a different context. All three musicals are by the same writers, for anyone who's not big on the musicals world.

Anyhow, I've got five front-balcony seats reserved for the December 15th show, so wave up there if you happen to be present.