Around ten, I took the train to Leicester with my last forty pounds in my wallet. I went up to the ticket booth and said, "I have twenty-five pounds. What's the best seat I can get for tonight?"
The man was ruddy-faced and jollier than typical English men. He pulled up the chart and said, "Well, it's a little obstructed..." he pointed at the very first row, cornered with the pit and the stage. "It's twenty pounds." I asked how obstructed the view was, and he said that you couldn't see people lying down in the back because you were so close. I stuffed money into the window and laughed out loud at my good luck. So cheap! Les Mis in London! I still can't believe my good luck.
Queen's Theater
That evening, I got my act together and headed to the show. I sat next to a pair of girls who had seen the show fourteen times (no joke), and almost blew out my ears leaning too close to the orchestra pit (timpany just below). It was so close, I could see the beads of sweat on everyone's foreheads.
The show was unbelievable. The set was like a wooden transformer, changing from a front gate to a bar to a broken down fort so effortlessly. Traveling through the exposition meant a rotating stage, crazy costumes, and some really delightful shining stars. I'd seen Les Mis in Provo, and I think their Jean and Fantine were so fantastic, but the London Javert, Epponine, and the small boy were totally boss. The show's messages of suffering, slow redemption, loss, trying so hard and still not making it, really draw crowds more than the happy-go-lucky messages of other musicals. I think it's because we all don't know what it's like to be happy, but we all know what it's like to be miserable. The show brings that out in those moments when we hope that everything will be okay for those fictional characters, and it's not. If only we could protect that boy and tell him not to go over the fort. But we can't. And we keep coming to the show, to feel once again that we can't control much, that other people matter more than we, that we need to care about them or our lives are just a waste.
I guess a show like this helps us remember that we all can fall, and we all can rise again. Those relationships we have make us who we are and maybe ideals aren't the only things we should fight for. That's what I came away with. If anyone gets the chance to got to London, go experience Les Mis.
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