BroadwayGirlNYC: Les Mis Memories

 

 

I am sure you've heard by now that BroadwayWorld is currently running a contest, asking readers to send in their first memories of the epic musical Les Miserables.  The show celebrated is 25th anniversary this year, and what better occasion to collect an entire generation of stories culled from this brilliant show?

As a columnist for BroadwayWorld, I've been lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of these touching stories.  I'm not a judge for the contest, so my opinion doesn't have bearing on who might win the Panasonic 32" LCD HDTV, Sony Blu-ray Player, and Blu-ray Copy of Les Miserables in Concert.  But, I have been so moved by these that I thought they must be shared!  I've taken snippets from many of the entries, and edited them together into a chorus of recollections of this beautiful musical. 

Kate: My first attendance of Les Mis was in the womb, which my mother attributes to an almost inbred love of this musical.

Robby: My earliest memories of Les Miserables are sitting in my living room as a toddler, while my parents played the Original London Cast Recording on our stereo.

Lindsay: I was 4 years old and dressed in a sparkly gold party dress. I saw a white limo waiting in our driveway. It would take us to NYC to see Les Mis on Broadway!

Samantha: I was five years old the first time I heard Les Miserables.

Cortney: The first time I saw Les Miserables I was 11. I had a group of friends who would go every December to see a show with our mothers and we had picked Les Mis.

Shane: I remember being at a Tower Records and seeing the record of the original London cast and begging my mom to get it for me....and she did. I sat in front of the record player listening to it over and over.

Paige: The first time I heard of Les Mis was when one of my friends performed "Bring Him Home" in voice class at school.

Emily: The first time I heard/saw this musical was when I found out Nick Jonas was going to be in it.

Lindsay: The obsession began in 7th grade when Katie Holmes sang "On My Own" on Dawson's Creek.

Daniel: My first memory of Les Mis was seeing the now Tony Award Winning Actress Alice Ripley, in the role of Fantine in the National Tour of Les Miserables in 1994. I was 13.

Sarah: I managed to see the 2006 revival with Aaron Lazar, Norm Lewis, Gary Beach, and Daphne Rubin-Vega.

Dan: I got to see Lea Salonga in the role of Fantine.

Kimberly: I loved the women in the story. Eponine and Fantine really resonated with me in how beautiful and elegant their sacrifices were, despite their characters coming from less-than-noble backgrounds. I was also mystified at the presence of the child characters, Gavroche and Young Cosette, and I remember being stunned that actors my age could have major Broadway roles.

Sarah: So many moments in the show still give me goosebumps every time I hear just a single chord, and I hope I never lose that sensation.

Adam: The beautiful and haunting opening notes of 'Bulding The Barricade" still gives me goose bumps.

Terri: Within the first 30 minutes, I was already crying like a baby, and continued to bawl throughout most of the show...and no one told me to BRING TISSUES!!!!!

Lexie: I was completely captivated, I stared at the stage and looked around the theatre and it was literally as if everything was shining, shivers went through my body and I was hooked.

Michael: I've never had chills so many times when seeing a show. The heartbreak of Eponine, the tremendous choral numbers, the lifelong struggle of Jean Valjean... it definitely brought me to tears.

Sean: When the girl who was playing Eponine sang "On My Own" I couldn't stop crying!

Evan: As a guy, I'm not one to usually burst into tears. However, when Valjean began to sing "Bring Him Home", I lost it. Quietly, I began to sob seeing how this man, devoted to his God, fully believed in the life, love, and future of a young boy. The show ended with, in my opinion, one of the best finales I had ever seen.

Matthew: At the end of the show, I looked over at my friend and tears were running down his face. We were both crying as the curtain fell. Both recent high school graduates and considered jocks, we wouldn't be caught dead crying, but this show moved us to a point of breaking down.

Jonathan: Les Miserables taught me that musicals could move you. It taught me that musicals could be as serious as any Shakespeare play. Les Miserables helped me get through many nights alone. Liking musical theater in South Carolina made me an outcast. Les Miserables helped me escape all that. Les Miserables gave me a mental place of solace.

Olivia: That, to me, is what great musical theatre is all about: when your heart pounds and you feel so excited you can barely breathe.

Scott: I was so moved by the entire experience; the spectacle and grandeur of the set and effects, the costumes, the music, the performers...everything. It was while watching that production that I decided that music theatre was what I was meant to do.

Meaghan: After seeing Les Mis on Broadway, I dedicated my life to pursuing theater, and Les Mis ended up being the first show I ever stage managed. To this day, I owe my passion for theater to Les Mis and the profound affects it had on me at such a young age.

Daniel: The show fueled me to study voice all throughout high school, entering a highly competitive College Conservatory of Music for Musical Theatre where I received my BFA in Musical Theatre.

Ben: It is because of Les Miserables that I am now an actor. In my teen years, wanting to be a part of something as great as this show, I started doing community theatre, and recently graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre. I am moving to New York in the near future and am so exciting to see what my career will bring. I thank Les Miserables for giving me the inspiration to do what I love.

Lynne: I saw Les Mis with my husband. As we watched the show, we became wrapped up in the music, the voices, the love story, the scenery to such an extent we were nearly speechless. A few years later, we returned to see Les Mis and to love it again. He passed away 7 years ago, but the music still moves me the way it did the night we first saw the show and brings back the memories of love both on the stage and in my life.

Michael: I have seen Les Miserables over 10 times together and EVERY time is just as wonderful.. This show is a classic and always will be to us and I'm sure millions. Now even my children love it. My daughter even had a part in the student production!

Mary: Les Miserables is my dad's favorite book and consequently his favorite musical, so one of my earliest memories is hearing my dad sing "Master of the House" to us when he was joking around or "Castle on a Cloud" when we were going to sleep.

Mariel: I found out that Les Mis was coming for its 25th Anniversary Tour through the US - and I got tickets for my parents. When I told my mom, it was like she was on one of the "Oprah's Favorite Things" episodes!

Christie: Les Mis was the first musical show that I was able to talk my husband into going with me. He insisted that he hated musicals and would never go to one. Well as you can imagine....He LOVED it. Thanks Les Mis for making my husband a believer. I'm eternally grateful!

Rebecca: I finally got to go see the show with my mom, and my grandmother. A show that 3 generations of girls could enjoy together. Sharing that moment with my mom and grandma made the show even more special. We gasped together, we cringed together, we cried together. I'll never forgot that summer day when I got to see Les Miserables with the people that mean the most to me in life.

Trevor: Thank you Cameron Mackintosh for making Les Mis what it is and for creating so many of my most fond memories.

Danny: As an audience member of Les Miserables, you form a bond with everybody else in the audience because together, every single person experiences loss, grief, sorrow, pain, and, most of all, love. The music draws you in and forces you to feel all of these emotions, among many more, and it won't let you go until after the story is completely told. Les Miserables is, simply put, a perfectly story told through beautiful music that everybody falls in love with, even after twenty-five years.