In the Eighties I Took Eight High School Kids to New York to See a Production of Les Miserables

Dear Lord, I was blown
away. Though I had been
in theatre for decades, and
was teaching it, and directing

several shows a year, I
was deeply enough touched
to remember the details of the
production to this very day. The

revolving circular stage
worked wonders for the
movement causing stunning
juxtapositions of the actors

choreographed so the
stage pictures shifted from
second to second lending
an almost dance quality to the

blocking. And the wrenching
music took me to deeper emotional
reactions than I had ever been while
seeing a stage production. And now

some thirty years later, Sue,
Ian and I saw the motion picture
version yesterday, and I was
equally touched, swamped by

the human frailty, the musical
wonderment, the beautiful camera
work without sacrifice to the essence
of the score. If anything the film version

takes us closer to the Parisian
grit and the period of the action,
and the glory of being human when
it comes loaded with dangers and loss.