At the End of the Day

It has been a nostalgia-filled week for me. Last night, I went with Mandolin to see Les Miserables at the Forrest Theatre in downtown Philly. I last saw it when I was about as young as Gavroche, and the production was exactly the same, at least from what I remembered. (Lowender pointed out to me that all productions probably are.) Everything, down to the kinds of voices each character had, were just as I had remembered them from the live and recorded versions, even though most of those involved when I originally heard it must be long gone.

I have no shame in my appreciation of Broadway and its ability to create a standardized, musically whole and dramatic experience. What's more, the songs in Les Miserables are filled with terrific pop melodies, and the tunes from the different numbers are actually interrelated in a meaningful way. Hearing it and seeing it again brought back memories, just like hearing the Advantage play the Nintendo Bubble Bobble theme earlier this week. And like any good indie-rock record, the musical itself is top-heavy, with most of the high quality hits coming in the first half of the play.