I thought those of you who were following the thread on movies might enjoy this--My daughter teaches a speech class at University of Virginia and one of the things she always does is take the students to the outdoor amphitheater to practice projection. They are instructed to recite their favorite poem, passage, etc. This year several of the ROTC guys chose to SING their favorite song from Les Miz! She was thrilled. The guys were all proud of themselves until a young woman majoring in voice took her turn and sang an aria. They admitted she won the day!
So apparently Les Miz is a big hit with men. We should have realized that already since one of her boyfriends from 20 years ago was a huge fan of the Broadway production and played the soundtrack everyday.
UPDATE on the "update"--My daughter reports that the guys continue to rave about Les Miz and intend to quote passages in the speech class. One guy is reading the book as a result of seeing the movie. Another says that he loves the play so much that he is afraid to see the movie for fear it will ruin the play for him. I can understand that (apart from my having hated the movie) because I thought I disliked West Sides Story until I saw a stage production in Boston. Turns out that it is the movie that I disliked. I think that seeing a live production makes it easier to suspend disbelief???? Anyway, I have now seen a version of WSS that matches the wonderful music to the story. I don't know that I will ever have a chance to see a good stage version of Les Miz, but based on my experience with WSS, I would give it a chance.
What a surprising story! We do not have many stage productions available, so we indulge in the movies and never know the difference for lack of comparison. We will see Les Miz this weekend, and we have seen WSS at least 20 times. WSS was showing in a local specialty theater with George Chakiris as a guest speaker.
Summers are just this side of hell, but you don't have to shovel sunshine...
