Les Miserable

Posted by Marci on Dec 2, 2010 in | 0 comments

The lighted windows on the dark stage created the scene of Paris at night in 1832. The spotlight hit Eponine dressed as a boy. From this tiny woman came a voice so large and sweet it seemed all movement or breath from the audience ceased. As Eponine sang, her passion exploded to the rafters and it was if I could feel her love for a man who didn’t return her feelings. The song I’d played a million times as a girl came from her heart and filled the theater.

For a moment I was that girl again walking in the woods listening to this song as I dreamt of someday finding love, seeing the world, and not feeling so alone.

Les Miserable was my favorite story as a teenager and when my French class went to Boston to see the musical I had ached to join them, but I didn’t want to ask my parents for the money. I knew my mother wanted to give me everything I desired, but her financial situation wouldn’t allow the luxury of going to see a musical. So I never asked.

The song ended and the crowd exploded – a few people jumped to their feet with the emotion of the performance. I looked around the Queen’s theater. Here I was, finally making this dream come true. Not only was I seeing Les Miserable in the theater, but I was seeing it in London eleven rows from the stage.

I thought about the song’s title, On My Own. When I’d listened to the song as a child I pretended that I walked as Epinone did imagining love that would protect me and make my world perfect. Little did I know then, that the love I would find would be inside of me, and that I had the power all on my own to make my dreams come true.