June 5 ~ Les Mis!

I have always loved Les Miserables. I read the book many years ago, and have seen the musical several times. A few months ago, the 25th anniversary production of Les Mis aired on PBS, and featured Nick Jonas as Marius. Nick Jonas is 1/3 of “The Jonas Brothers,” a band loved by “tweens” everywhere. They even have their own TV show. They’re kind of like the Partridge Family of this generation.

I wasn’t a big fan of Nick Jonas’ performance as Marius, but Ryan was! Ryan started asking me all kinds of questions about Les Mis – the story, the characters, the music, and how many times I had seen it. I got out my soundtrack, as well as my two prior video versions of Les Mis. Ryan loved it all!

Fast forward a few months to the night we went to the symphony. Ryan spotted signs for Les Mis posted at Abravanel Hall. It was currently playing at Capitol Theater. I explained to him that tickets had probably been sold out for a year, and told him our adventures standing in line for tickets over the years. I also explained how expensive tickets would be. He was devastated that we likely wouldn’t go.

One night after Ryan went to bed, I decided to just look to see the ticket situation. As I suspected, tickets through the Capitol Theater were almost sold out, with just one seat available here and there, most of them with somewhat obstructed views. I looked on KSL.com, and there were dozens of tickets for sale! I called on a few, and we ended up purchasing two tickets for the evening program, Sunday, June 5.


As we walked in, the woman who took our tickets suggested that Ryan might need a “booster.” You can imagine how well that went over with my 11-year-old macho boy! I suggested that we check them out, just in case there was someone tall in front of him. We’ve been to the Nutcracker at Capitol Theater before, but had never had the booster recommended. It turned out that they were extra seat cushions. When Ryan realized that, he grabbed two. :) He was on the aisle, so between the location of his seat and his two booster cushions, he had a great view!

We couldn’t help but stop at the souvenir stand. I know – we paid 10 times as much for the things we bought as we should have. We got a souvenir program, a fridge magnet, and a shirt for Ryan that had “24601” in a script font on the front. He thought that would be neat – only people who know about Les Mis would know the significance of the number.

The performance was amazing, as it always has been. I had read that there were some staging/scenery changes this time around. The rotating stage had been removed, which (to me) really only affected the barricade scene. However, new amazing backgrounds had been added to almost every scene (city streets, sewers, etc.). More than the prior backgrounds in those scenes, these had movement, which added an even more realistic feel to those scenes. It was absolutely wonderful!

Ryan and I have been listening to Les Mis constantly in the car since the performance. I am so glad that he enjoys it so much. He has now started reading the book. I’ll make this little athlete a cultured, well-rounded young man no matter what!