But last night, I happened to catch the very end of a PBS special in honor of the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables. Wow -- 25 years?? That show (along with Phantom of the Opera) was such a huge part of my high school experience. Or, er... I mean... elementary school. Yeah. Preschool. Because I'm only about 28 years old now... Yeah. That sounds about right. (I will mention that the 25 year anniversary was for the London version -- the Broadway version opened a few years later. So I haven't QUITE been away from high school for 25 years. Yet.) My geeky drama/chorus friends and I knew all the words to every song in that show... we sympathized with the unfairly hunted Valjean, yet understood Javert's commitment to his duty... we were heartbroken by Fantine's lost dreams and Eponine's plight of unrequited love... and my girlfriends and I would swoon over Michael Ball's soaring vocal rendition of Marius (he used to be completely adorable, by the way. I think he's gained about 40 pounds since then. But seriously -- He. Was. Adorable.)
And there are so many great songs in this show, but I think "One Day More" is probably the one song that could stop me in my tracks and reduce me to the equivalent of a musical-theater junkie high on harmony every single time I heard it. And I still feel compelled to jump up and give someone a standing ovation when it's over (which is particularly weird when you're alone in your house). It's the song I happened to catch last night as I was flipping through channels, and I immediately turned up the volume on my TV (neighbors? What neighbors??) so I could listen. It was cool to see most of the "originals" singing again, and afterwards, THIS song was stuck in my head for a while. And make sure you stick around until the end of the song... it's just... like... the best end of a song ever... it's even better if you turn it up really loud... I will now listen to it again and give another standing ovation in my living room:
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