Les Misérables in Melbourne

Whew.

2014 has been quite a ride.

Looking at everything that has happened, I'm not sure whether the positives and negatives came in equal proportions this year.  It has been a hell of a ride (In both good and bad. See? Yin and Yang.)

Year 2 is also a demanding year for my course, where we were tested on everything we learnt since Day 1. I sat through the 3-hour paper and walked out thinking "I'm glad THAT's over. I'm ready to fly back to Singapore now." Only to remember that there's another 3-hour paper the following Monday.

Whatever happened to my good ol' hardworkingness?

Still, I'll like to focus, if I can, on the positive. Which admittedly, is far easier to do once the examinations are over.

Because misery loves company, there are few post-exam activities more suitable than Les Misérables, where watching other characters getting maligned, chased and killed do help ease our minds off our exams performance.

About the only picture I managed to snap. The design of the stage was intricate and I wanted to touch everything, but I didn't want to be the first person to be banned from the Theatre in front of a full house.

One problem with things that are hyped is that I often set my expectations up too much. I went in with a niggling feeling that I might not like it.

I need not be worried; the musical was fantastic. The sheer talent of the cast was palpable, even for a musical rube like myself. In the entire 2+ hours of the musical, there was not a single moment when I was bored, or wished that a song would end earlier. Some of my favourites: Do You Hear the People Sing, and Bring Him Home (a solo by Valjean). When the last notes of Bring Him Home reverberated through the theatre, I was tempted to yell "Encore!" But again, I didn't want to be kicked out of the premises. See? You can't take me anywhere.

Post-musical, we were milling around the entrance of the theatre and decided to take a group photo. We smiled prettily(?)  at a lady walking in our direction, but she quickly circled around us and crossed the street in her hurry to get away. Damnit!

We eventually found a fellow musical-goer to take a picture of us, so all's well that ends well.

See? We're such lovely people. I don't understand why the first lady avoided us like that. Maybe she didn't understand what we were saying. Maybe her parents were cousins?

And a few days later, I woke to a pleasant surprise to a tweet that my friend sent out.

Hayden Tee plays the role of Marius, one of the protagonists in Les Misérables.  

We spent $115 per pax, which is pretty reasonable considering we were seated on the 7th row from the stage.

If you're sitting on the fence about this musical, bite the bullet and go for it! And I say this at the risk of setting your expectations about this too high.

Because as I realised, while soulfully searching through YouTube for the soundtrack, no expectation can be set too high to surpass. At least when it comes to this cast of Les Misérables.

Les Misérables

Tue 25 Nov to Sat 20 Dec 2014

Her Majesty's Theatre, 

219 Exhibition St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Phone: (03) 8643 3300

After the show, we went to Le Petit Gateau .