Sooo, 7 months after the last post ...

Three of my family went to see the live theatre production of Les Mis in Toronto before Christmas. The music was amazing, as were the acting and sets. We were, however, extremely disappointed in some very inappropriate crudeness (I guess that's redundant ) of numerous small parts, not only during the two songs in which those are quite expected, but throughout a couple of other scenes as well. Pretty poor taste, I would say. Cancelling those bits out, though, it really was a treat to see live.

EDIT: The fellow who played Enjolras reminded us very much of Aaron Tveit, who we thought was bang-on phenomenal in the recent film.

I've picked up this book again after about 6 months off. I put it down for other books and, well, I never picked it back up until this week. I'm going slowly, as it's my alternate while I also read The Book Thief, but I'm going to attempt to finish it this year. I started it in January of last year, so I really should get a move on.

So far my favorite characters are the Bishop Myriel and Jean Valjean. It feels as though I haven't really got to know most of the rest of them due to all of the social and political commentary.

Oooh, how are you liking The Book Thief, st? ......... erm, wups, that's for another thread.

My favourite character in Les Mis, hands down, is the Bishop of Digne/ Bishop Myriel/Monseigneur Bienvenu. Even though Valjean is right up there as well, if it were not for the Bishop, who knows to what end Valjean's life would have taken him. In the overall timeframe, Myriel's appearance is little, but his influence is huge and lasting.

Oh yes, Hugo's commentaries have the strong tendency to ramble.

The Bishop is a favorite character of mine as well (after all, he likes to mediate under the stars!). Ditto to jo's observation that in the overall canvas he's a minor character but sets the stage for everything that follows.

I found that Hugo's commentaries ran the gamut from fascinating (the Waterloo one was like being there) to dull (the sewers of Paris) but in hindsight I'm glad my first reading was the unabridged version.

Thanks for your comments on the live performance, jo. Glad you enjoyed it, at least in part.