Liz on "Les Miz"

Last month for cleaning checks I had the first act of the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert playing in the background. For this month I did act two.

I've been thinking a bit about Arizona lately since it's my second home. Arizona is important to me for a number of reasons. One of them should be, perhaps, the fact that Arizona is where I had my first exposure to Les Mis. It was the night before Girls' Camp. It was my first year and was going with my cousin's stake. While my cousin and her friends were outside playing in the pool, I went inside while my aunt was cleaning house. She had the original cast recording of Les Miserables playing while she worked (hence I guess the association with Les Mis and cleaning). I remember that some of the songs were fun to listen to.

Via Mi Isla Creations

We were at Camp LoMia over Sunday, and that night we had a fireside with Jenny Prince, whose theater camp I had been in for the last two summers. Jenny told the story of Jean Valjean's change of heart at the beginning of Les Mis--but at the time I had no idea that it was part of the same musical that my aunt was listening to the other day.

My junior year of high school, I moved to Snowflake/Taylor for a year. Best experience of my life. One of the reasons that was the case was my English class with the late Ms. Carolyn Cunningham. Ms. Cunningham required us to write up three book reports per semester on reading we had done on our own. One of the books available for our reports from her collection was an abridged version of Les Miserables. Ms. Cunningham told us at the beginning of the school year--heck, it may have been the first day of school--"If you don't read Les Miserables while you're in high school, you are not human."

Stagedoorish

There were a lot of things I learned from Ms. Cunningham that I took to heart. That line about Les Mis must have been one of them. I checked out the abridged version in January. Between all of my other assigned readings for Ms. Cunningham's class and the homework for my other classes (I was in nearly all honors/dual credit courses) it was slow going. But it was in class that I read about Jean Valjean's conversion. I finished Les Mis at the end of February. I loved it. I was just blown away by the feeling I had while reading it--like drinking orange juice. It made me feel excited. That was about all of the story that made sense to me at the time. I was able to keep the plot straight, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what the major themes were.

I've had the Mormon Tabernacle Choir album Showtime since high school and it's one of the CDs I have listened to OVER and OVER again. So I was familiar with the song "Bring Him Home." But I didn't quite have the context for the song after reading the book. I had yet to see the musical in any form.

Junior year, of course, was when Susan Boyle happened. I was blown away by the video like everyone else, but the song "I Dreamed a Dream" really spoke to me at the time.

In 2012, two things happened. The movie version of the musical came out. I have yet to see it, but for now let's just say Honest Trailers (link) and recommendations from other friends have ruined the chances of that for the time being. But 2012 was also when Alfie Boe guest starred with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for their annual Christmas concert. I had the privilege of being able to attend and watch him sing Bring Him Home IN PERSON. There is nothing quite like that. And I have never heard louder cheering in the Conference Center than when he performed that.

I have an aunt on my mom's side who LOVES Alfie Boe. She got me a copy of the Les Mis 25th Anniversary Concert on DVD in 2012, so that was how I finally saw the musical all the way through. I have watched it a handful of times, but it's an amazing experience every time. The 25th Anniversary concert in particular is when you get the reunion with four previous casts and it's awesome (I may just be biased but Alfie is the best Valjean. In any event, he's my Valjean).

Via makinghugospin.livejournal. Too good to pass up!

I haven't seen any other versions of the musical but I would like to.  I really regret not seeing it when Provo High School did it a couple years ago. (I also saw the non-musical movie starring Liam Neeson not long ago--it was an okay movie, a little different). I've heard from some friends that I'm not missing much by not reading the unabridged version of the novel. We'll see if that happens. And now I'm in the bad habit of listening to "One Day More" the day before a major movie comes out.

I think what has helped me to understand the story is listening to the musical over and over again, and paying attention to the story and the words. After his conversion, Jean Valjean spent his life serving others. He did what he could to help Fantine, and then he gave Cosette the best life possible. And then he rescued Marius so that he and Cosette could be together. Social justice and revolutions can only do so much. It is individual acts of service, kindness to others, and love that truly changes the world. "To love another person is to see the face of God." I truly believe that.

And I don't care if there are restrictions on being a Les Mis fan. I don't care if I don't have the most cultivated taste on Les Mis. I am a fan whether you want me in or not.