NSR - Les Miserables... amazing!
 

OK.... this is absolutely Not Spine Related... if you are not interested in the theater... skip this.

Last weekend I took my 18 year-old daughter with me to NY for the 4th International Conference on Ethics in Biomedical Research. It was a grueling weekend but the conference was great (I'll post more later) and we got to see Les Miserables.

We had talked about going to see something that we haven't seen before, but when I learned that Lea Salonga was playing Fantine... I had to go see it. She was in the dream cast 10th anniversary recording as Eponine and I've seen her play that part. I've also seen her Tony winning performance as Kim in Miss Saigon.... she is absolutely amazing. It was too good to pass up... seeing her in a different role.

We got excellent seats. It's been about 6 years since we've seen it and our memories must have faded.... this was better than ever... better than we remembered. Each big finish had the audience completely awestruck... If you have not seen this... make sure you don't miss it when it comes to your part of the country.

Lea Salonga was fantastic and really stood out... although Celia Keenan-Bolger was up to the task, playing Eponine opposite Salonga, who many feel is the best Eponine ever. The songs they did together were incredible.

I can't say enough about it... go see it. They have extended the broadway tour well into the summer. www.lesmiserables.com.

Mark

PS... Rent is touring... another excellent production. I'll see it Thursday night in So. Cal...

http://ispine.org/picture_library/les-mis-1.jpg

Julius and I recently saw Wicked, the first show I've been to in several, and I do mean several years. I love live theater and though I did find sitting for that long just a little difficult, next time I'll bring my tush-cush for a little added comfort and should do just fine.

The only other negative is the COST. Like I said, it's been years and I was out of the loop. Ouch! But I'm sure we'll go again.

Wicked was great. With some dumb-luck, we stumbled into the last weekend of the pre-broadway tune-up run in San Francisco, so we got to see Idina Menzel in her Tony winning performance as Elphaba. Kristen Chenowith as Glinda with a Guh was also wonderful.

If you get the DVD of Rent, Idina Menzel is great as Maureen... She was in the original Broadway cast and was nominated for a Tony for Rent.

BTW, I learned that Rent was coming to town because of a great service that Cervie Queen told me about. www.goldstarevents.com has a weekly mailer that tells you about events in your area. Events that are not selling out are often available on goldstar for 50% or even less. We've found some wonderful performances via goldstar and it often causes us to go see things that we never would have even known about. Not only big productions like Rent (available on goldstar at 50% this week), but also small community theaters.

I'll post here about Rent... seeing it tonight.

Mark

PS... Les Mis most expensive seats were $111... orchestra... seemed reasonable - especially for such a massive production.