Les Miserables

Last Saturday, I had the chance to see one of my favorite musicals Les Mis for the third time. The first time I saw Les Mis was about ten years ago. I had the soundtrack to the musical long before this, and listened to it thousands of times. Although I haven't memorized all the words, I can sing my favorite parts by heart. Even Jean Valjean's part. I may not sing beautifully, and I am often off-key, but once I start Eponine's On My Own, I'm transformed into this waif, singing her tale of unrequited love in the streets of Paris.

Les Mis, as Vince has mentioned in his blog, is popular among the the old and the young audience alike. As with the book from which it was adapted, the musical has been translated into different languages and has been shown in different countries. Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg successfully adapted Victor Hugo's words into beautiful music. But I think a great part of the musical's universal appeal lies on Hugo's characters and their plights. Unfortunately poverty, prostitution, the battle between good and evil, exist today as they did during Hugo's time.