I tried to watch Les Mis. It hurt so bad.

I wanted to have a rewarding cultural experience. I read the book years ago and found it deep, one you want to reread some time but never got a chance. I reread Moby Dick in 2002 and it blew my mind.   How could 4o years on Broadway be wrong?

Scenery was cool, it felt rich and spectaculish, and for about 8 minutes i was into it, til Beckie said “what the hell are you watching, Disney Channel“?

True.

Maybe I shoulda know it was more opera than musical…i can barely stand musicals. The only one I ever liked was Rock of Ages, and that’s only cause i grew up in the 80’s and can’t fight my formative hairband years. Somehow i was singling along with the Les Mis soundtrack, and i’ve no idea where i’d heard all those songs i’d heard them a million times before. Still, the effects of the big screen can’t suspend the disbelief provided by the intimacy of the theater.

I bet I would really enjoy this on Broadway. I lost all focus when Maximus and Wolverine had a scene that went like this:

Wolverine: Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Maximus: Bismillah! No, we will not let you go, we will not let you go.
Wolverine: Let me go
Maximus:   Will not let you go.
Wolverine:   Never, never, never let me go. Oh, mama mia, mama mia let me go.

From there I flew through it at 6x speed, which showed depth of plot about as much as an episode of Jessie. The original was 3000 pages long.

But I am now resolved to put the Victor Hugo version on my kindle – abridged edition.