When and How Did It All Start?

Quique · When and How Did It All Start?

When: I was about 6 years old the very first time I ever heard a Les Mis song. It was Patti LuPone's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream." The melody haunted me day in and day out. It was so beautiful, I couldn't get it out of my head.

How: The above event took place in my brother's car, while stuck in traffic on the Hollywood 101 freeway in Los Angeles. I was only into the music shortly after but then it was announced that the show would open at L.A.'s Shubert Theatre on 1 June, 1988. L.A. would be one of the first U.S. cities to host a production of Les Mis.

My family was always very tough on me when it came to grades and I would be severely punished if ever I got anything below a "B" on my report card. That semester, I had gotten a "C" in Math and so the proper punishment at the time would be barring me from seeing Les Mis. I had never seen a musical live onstage, so, I had no idea what I was saying when I defiantly exclaimed..."Eh, who cares! At least I can still listen to the cast album." Twisted Evil

lol. So, my three brothers bought tickets and went without me.

I was lucky that the L.A. production was a major success and was still running by the end of the following semester. So, when my grades improved, my parents decided to reward me by allowing me to finally see the show. My brothers loved it so much, they planned to see it a second time along with my older sister and twin sister. That was my chance to go and they bought me a ticket. We all attended the 23 June, 1989 evening performance and sat 7th row, orchestra center.

I was BLOWN away! Shocked

Have been madly obsessed ever since and have seen it a total of 25 times so far...which is actually nothing compared to other Les Mis freaks. The thing is, as crazy as it may sound, I have intentionally limited my viewings of the show because I fear I will one day get too used to it and that special feeling will be taken for granted. Yes, I'm that obsessed with it, lol.

OK, your turn.

Orestes Fasting

Now, you have to realize that I go through books like a weedwhacker, and at the point where our story begins it was sometime in February 2005 and I had just exhausted all the books I'd brought with me to college that semester. I was in the college bookstore staring morosely at their tiny fiction section, and thinking, "You know, I really need a book it will take me more than three days to finish."

Careful what you wish for, huh?

I actually read the book very slowly, over the course of the semester, putting it down for weeks and then picking it up again and demolishing two hundred pages in one sitting. And it didn't get me obsessed, really. At some point I rented the TAC and that didn't get me obsessed either. Hell, I saw the show in London in July 2005 and was vaguely annoyed by it.

And then, just to prove that nothing can stop an obsession whose time has come, all it took was my computer crashing and losing all my music--I had an ancient cassette of the OLC lying around and wound up listening to it. Repeatedly. I think at that point it was either go totally nuts or just give in and develop a Les Mis fixation, and well, here I am.

Mademoiselle Lanoire

My first exposure to LM came years ago, but I wasn't a fan until 2005.

http://narcissam.livejournal.com/158488.html?thread=1176344#t1176344

I was reading this thread, and I thought to myself, "Five kids? I thought they only had one! [having seen an LMSE prior to that] I suppose I need to read the book, don't I?" And I went and got it out from my library the next day. Finished it off in only about two weeks.

Fantine

Copied directly from my Fantine fansite/fanlisting (http://www.geocities.com/fantine_fanlisting) /shameless plug:

I first fell in love with Les Mis when I saw the TAC video around 1996. I was nine years old back then and I didn't really understand all the english songs and what was the meaning of it all. Nor did I know anything about Les Miserables being a stage musical. I used to sing along the songs, like On My Own, I Dreamed a Dream and Little Fall of Rain, but since english isn't my native language (dutch is) I probably screwed them up lol. My parents did enjoy my singing though.

Then in early 2003 I watched the TAC video again, and once more I was stunned by Fantine. When I was younger I always thought that she was very beautiful and I desperately wanted that long blonde hair (maybe that's why I let it grow so long). It was the first time that I watched the whole show (we used to skip some songs like the Runaway Cart and Confession and such) and I watched the credits. I then found out that this woman playing Fantine was called Ruthie Henshall. I decided to look her up on the web. I was shocked to find out that Ruthie actually had black hair, instead of what I had always thought of the blonde hair to be her natural colour. I gave it a rest. But, I had already begun to create an obsession, so I once again visited Ruthie's site and began to learn more about her. And that is how I became more of a Ruthie fan. I was no longer shocked by her hair colour, lol. And now I started to watch the video more and more, and then I decided to create this fanlisting, which was hosted on geocities back then. It has moved a couple of times, but now it is back in it's old place. When I started it, the site was rather crappy and it didn't have all this extra information, it was just a Fanlisting. After a few months I bought the Les Mis TAC DVD from Amazon.com and I watched it about three times a week. I captured (literally) 400 pictures of Fantine (call me obsessed). Then I rented the book from the library and I read it in my summer vacation. It gave me such a different view on Les Mis. A few weeks later I bought the Les Mis 1998 movie with Liam Neeson and Uma Thurman. I also watched that one a couple of times (I know that most people don't like this movie, and I agree that there are lots of errors in it). Then I begged my parents if we could go to see the musical in London. They hesitated but finally gave in. So when we went on holiday to England in October 2003, we went to see it! Of course after seeing it properly I fell even more in love with Les Mis. And it was so different from what I had imagined! I never realized that the TAC wasn't the complete musical. Since then I have seen Les Mis in a total of three times. Which is quite a lot, considering that I have to travel from The Netherlands to London. Some weeks after seeing Les Mis for the first time, I won a signed photo of Joanna Ampil as Fantine. This triggered my urge to buy more Les Mis related stuff. I have the Worth Fighting For poster and a Cosette Logo Poster... Eventually the exitement of buying stuff ceased. Altough I am still a fan, I'm no longer as obsessed as I was. And that is for the best. Sometimes you got to let go, yet still hold on.

C'est mon histoire.

LesMisForever

I already told this story.

I went to see �Les Miserables� for the first time on Tuesday 23rd Of October 2001. I was 30 years old then (Yes, I am an ancient guy Very Happy

). It was meant as a treat for a friend who came to visit London. I didn�t know what to expect. I have never been to any musical before then.
Although I didn�t get all the lyrics (English is not my mother language), and some scenes, the general effect was tremendous. I had tears in my eyes by the time they reached �Empty Chairs at Empty Tables�. I wasn�t sobbing, or anything, but I couldn�t hold my tears. And even now, it is one of my very favourite songs.
One of my favourite memories was my friend�s reaction at the interval. She is not into revolutions at all. But, at the interval she told me �That is how revolutions should be�.
I was impressed by everything I saw. Afterwards, I started digging, rented the TAC, and after few months I went to see it again. My second time was probably the most enjoyable, because by that time I knew the lyrics (some even memorised) and all the plot details.
This visit had a profound effect on my �entertainment� life. It sucked me into the world of theatre, and I never looked back again. So, that date will always be special to me.
At the end of 2003 I decided to read the novel. I finished it in 4-5 months. Sometime around April/May 2004. Despite all its shortcomings, It is one of the best I ever read, and believe me a bookholic.

I have seen the show 9times in total, and going this Wednesday for my 10th visit. I deliberately pace my visits, although it is sometimes hard to resist with me being in London.
I am a huge fan of the show, and I think it is in a league of its own. No other musical comes even close to it, but I don�t think I am �Obsessed� with it, even though my brother thinks otherwise Smile

Electricity24601

Well, here's my story:

It's the summer of 2004. I'm in London on vacation with my parents. It's the first time I've ever been to Europe- and I am totally captivated with the British culture.
It's the last night, and we go to a see a show. It's called Les Miserables. I had heard of it, knew it was famous, heard it was good. But I wasn't prepared for HOW good it really was. I was bawling from A Little Fall of Rain until the Finale. I turned around and watched the director's monitor during the last battle on the barricades. I couldn't bare watching the characters I had come to love so quickly die.
One actor especially knocked me off my feet: John Owen-Jones. After I got home I began researching him and the show, and joined the amazing JOJ forums. With the help of my best friend who also loves theatre, I began discovering other shows. The rest is pretty much history- I've discovered that I love musical theatre more than pretty much anything, and that I want to pursue something involved with theatre as a career. I've seen tons more shows, started my own broadway website, and met a bunch of amazing people along the way. All because of Les Mis!

broadwaybelle22

I was 5. I can remember my parents listening to that cd over and over again, and crying every time. One night my dad was sitting in the kitchen listening to empty chairs at empty tables and I was worried that he had tears streaming down his cheeks. He then clicked the cd back to number one and began to tell me the whole story of les miserables, and the reasons for the characters singing all of the songs. Now, I was 5, and I sat there for hours listening to that cd. I can remember me loving Eponine's voice as a kid(Francis Ruffelle), and my dad's explanation. He said that her voice had to be much sweeter than Cosette's because Marius didn't love her. I don't know why but that explanation kind of stuck with me. Then a few years ago I finally saw it on broadway and was blown away. But I'm never going to forget my dad and me sitting at that table. I don't know, I havn't really seen him cry that much since Smile

.

happyguava

My very first voice lesson - I was 10 and my teacher pulled out a song called "Castle on a Cloud" and said I would probably like to sing it and it might sound nice in my voice. I took it home and learned it, and my grandma said she had a tape that had it on there. It was the OLCR. I listened to it over and over again and I fell in love with the whole score. It became my favourite show.

I read the book and I loved that as well (although that was much more recent - the 10 year old version of me had no desire to read it!) and then earlier this year I got to be in it.

eponine5

When I was younger I always used to go to about 1 musical a year. One year, my mum was trying to decide what musical we should go see and I had heard of this musical called "Les Miserables". I had no idea what it was about or anything really except that it was set in France and my mum had seen it once with the original London cast and loved it. So, for no reason I can think of, I asked my mum if we could go and see this musical. At first she said no on the grounds that I wouldn't like it...Well, we saw it in late December and by the interval I was hooked. I went back with the tune of "Lovely Ladies" in my head Rolling Eyes

and the next morning I began researching it on the internet.
Well, somehow I found out more stuff about it, and I whatever second I had on the computer I spent listening to the 10 songs from the Symphonic recording that is on the official site or those 30 second clips of each cast recordings on Amazon.
Being the spoilt brat that I am, within a week I was begging my parents to let me see it again. We booked a performance in May and by the time I saw it for the second time, I knew all the lyrics and had read the book. Yes, I openly admit I am obsessed.

Paula74

For me, Les Miserables started with The Phantom of the Opera. I was obsessed with the latter during that first year or so after it opened on Broadway (and still am). I bought Michael Crawford's first album and my favorite song on it was "Bring Him Home." I knew nothing of Les Miserables at the time. I tried reading a summary of the novel, but it was poorly written and confused me.

Still, I begged and pleaded to see it. I was about 14 or 15. I remember sobbing through it. I remember a young Hugh Panaro singing "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables."

I read the novel shortly after - it has been my favorite book since.

flying_pigs

Well, my mum used to watch the TAC every now and then and I'd never watch it with her because it looked boring. However, for some reason the only bits I seemed to catch was when Colm and Ruthie were on the stage together. I then listened to a random musical CD my mum had because I was obsessed with other musicals (eg. Joseph and Starlight Express *shakes head sadly*) and I Dreamed a Dream came on (sang by Martine McCutcheon- oh dear!) and I came to the conclusion that Valjean was Fantine's lover! Well, you know what young minds are like!

My mum then gave me her OLC to listen to, and I finally got to see it 2004 and have been 4 more times since! And now it's my tip-top number 1 musical!

phantomphan85

I have loved Les Mis since I was seven and my Mum took me to see a touring production after I heard the music and expressed a wish to see the show. Since then I have seen it 4 more times and watched the TAC too many times to count. My ultimate dream is to be in it one day.

Etoile

It was almost exactly a year ago. My parents had tickets to the final tour and wanted me to go with them. At this point I only knew two things about Les Mis: 1) My parents saw it years ago and liked it (but they liked every show they went to), and 2) The plot was centered around an old French guy who sat on a bench and yelled at people walking past. I didn't even know it was a musical. If I had known I probably would've stayed home because I wasn't a big fan of musicals. And I almost didn't go anyway because I had an English project due the next day and I really needed the points. But for some reason or other, I decided to go. The rest is history.
Obviously, I was blown away. A musical that wasn't ridiculously cheesey and kid-friendly? Amazing. The music blew me away. The story blew me away. It went against everything I knew about musicals. For the most part I didn't get what was going on because I was sitting too far back to understand what anyone was saying. But for some reason it did a lot more for me than sitting near the front row for 42nd Street, Oliver, Cats, and West Side Story. It took Les Mis to finally convince me that I liked musicals.
Well, when I got home that night I stayed up reading the synopsis from the program (so much for my English project). I finally understood the plot and decided to read the book. A few days after the show, I began downloading some of the songs off the internet and ordered the TAC recording. Little did I know I was on the path to obsessiondom...
Looking back, it's amazing how far I've come after one year. I've already had the time to spread the fever to other people around me and get them obsessed with both the book and musical. Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I had decided to stay home and do my English project that one fateful night...

Tenalto

When I was six, I heard an older girl sing "Castle on a Cloud" for our elementary school talent show. I remember liking the tune and thinking she was Cinderella, pre-ball.

Flash forward about seven years. I was over at a friends house, flipping through a piano book of showtunes. The title of one song caught me for some reason, and I asked her to play it. She did, and I recognized "Castle on a Cloud," the song that had entranced me years before. Later that evening, on the way to rent a movie, she popped her OBC CD into the car stereo and played "Plumet Attack." I remember thinking that the girl had a really bizarre voice.

Two years after, I had some Barnes and Noble gift cards. I was just beginning my exploration into musical theater and wanted to get a big, impressive CD. So I bought the OBC Les Mis. And I was hooked. I recognized "I Dreamed a Dream," which I had originally hated because it had been badly performed by a girl at my school.

And now I'm here. Jeepers.

Quique	When and How Did It All Start? When: I was about 6 years old the very first time I ever heard a Les Mis song. It was Patti LuPone's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream." The melody haunted me day in and day out. It was so beautiful, I couldn't get it out of my head. How: The above event took place in my brother's car, while stuck in traffic on the Hollywood 101 freeway in Los Angeles. I was only into the music shortly after but then it was announced that the show would open at L.A.'s Shubert Theatre on 1 June, 1988. L.A. would be one of the first U.S. cities to host a production of Les Mis. My family was always very tough on me when it came to grades and I would be severely punished if ever I got anything below a "B" on my report card. That semester, I had gotten a "C" in Math and so the proper punishment at the time would be barring me from seeing Les Mis. I had never seen a musical live onstage, so, I had no idea what I was saying when I defiantly exclaimed..."Eh, who cares! At least I can still listen to the cast album." lol. So, my three brothers bought tickets and went without me. I was lucky that the L.A. production was a major success and was still running by the end of the following semester. So, when my grades improved, my parents decided to reward me by allowing me to finally see the show. My brothers loved it so much, they planned to see it a second time along with my older sister and twin sister. That was my chance to go and they bought me a ticket. We all attended the 23 June, 1989 evening performance and sat 7th row, orchestra center. I was BLOWN away! Have been madly obsessed ever since and have seen it a total of 25 times so far...which is actually nothing compared to other Les Mis freaks. The thing is, as crazy as it may sound, I have intentionally limited my viewings of the show because I fear I will one day get too used to it and that special feeling will be taken for granted. Yes, I'm that obsessed with it, lol. OK, your turn.
Orestes Fasting	Now, you have to realize that I go through books like a weedwhacker, and at the point where our story begins it was sometime in February 2005 and I had just exhausted all the books I'd brought with me to college that semester. I was in the college bookstore staring morosely at their tiny fiction section, and thinking, "You know, I really need a book it will take me more than three days to finish." Careful what you wish for, huh? I actually read the book very slowly, over the course of the semester, putting it down for weeks and then picking it up again and demolishing two hundred pages in one sitting. And it didn't get me obsessed, really. At some point I rented the TAC and that didn't get me obsessed either. Hell, I saw the show in London in July 2005 and was vaguely annoyed by it. And then, just to prove that nothing can stop an obsession whose time has come, all it took was my computer crashing and losing all my music--I had an ancient cassette of the OLC lying around and wound up listening to it. Repeatedly. I think at that point it was either go totally nuts or just give in and develop a Les Mis fixation, and well, here I am.
Mademoiselle Lanoire	My first exposure to LM came years ago, but I wasn't a fan until 2005. http://narcissam.livejournal.com/158488.html?thread=1176344#t1176344 I was reading this thread, and I thought to myself, "Five kids? I thought they only had one! [having seen an LMSE prior to that] I suppose I need to read the book, don't I?" And I went and got it out from my library the next day. Finished it off in only about two weeks.
Fantine	Copied directly from my Fantine fansite/fanlisting (http://www.geocities.com/fantine_fanlisting) /shameless plug: I first fell in love with Les Mis when I saw the TAC video around 1996. I was nine years old back then and I didn't really understand all the english songs and what was the meaning of it all. Nor did I know anything about Les Miserables being a stage musical. I used to sing along the songs, like On My Own, I Dreamed a Dream and Little Fall of Rain, but since english isn't my native language (dutch is) I probably screwed them up lol. My parents did enjoy my singing though. Then in early 2003 I watched the TAC video again, and once more I was stunned by Fantine. When I was younger I always thought that she was very beautiful and I desperately wanted that long blonde hair (maybe that's why I let it grow so long). It was the first time that I watched the whole show (we used to skip some songs like the Runaway Cart and Confession and such) and I watched the credits. I then found out that this woman playing Fantine was called Ruthie Henshall. I decided to look her up on the web. I was shocked to find out that Ruthie actually had black hair, instead of what I had always thought of the blonde hair to be her natural colour. I gave it a rest. But, I had already begun to create an obsession, so I once again visited Ruthie's site and began to learn more about her. And that is how I became more of a Ruthie fan. I was no longer shocked by her hair colour, lol. And now I started to watch the video more and more, and then I decided to create this fanlisting, which was hosted on geocities back then. It has moved a couple of times, but now it is back in it's old place. When I started it, the site was rather crappy and it didn't have all this extra information, it was just a Fanlisting. After a few months I bought the Les Mis TAC DVD from Amazon.com and I watched it about three times a week. I captured (literally) 400 pictures of Fantine (call me obsessed). Then I rented the book from the library and I read it in my summer vacation. It gave me such a different view on Les Mis. A few weeks later I bought the Les Mis 1998 movie with Liam Neeson and Uma Thurman. I also watched that one a couple of times (I know that most people don't like this movie, and I agree that there are lots of errors in it). Then I begged my parents if we could go to see the musical in London. They hesitated but finally gave in. So when we went on holiday to England in October 2003, we went to see it! Of course after seeing it properly I fell even more in love with Les Mis. And it was so different from what I had imagined! I never realized that the TAC wasn't the complete musical. Since then I have seen Les Mis in a total of three times. Which is quite a lot, considering that I have to travel from The Netherlands to London. Some weeks after seeing Les Mis for the first time, I won a signed photo of Joanna Ampil as Fantine. This triggered my urge to buy more Les Mis related stuff. I have the Worth Fighting For poster and a Cosette Logo Poster... Eventually the exitement of buying stuff ceased. Altough I am still a fan, I'm no longer as obsessed as I was. And that is for the best. Sometimes you got to let go, yet still hold on. C'est mon histoire.
LesMisForever	I already told this story. I went to see �Les Miserables� for the first time on Tuesday 23rd Of October 2001. I was 30 years old then (Yes, I am an ancient guy ). It was meant as a treat for a friend who came to visit London. I didn�t know what to expect. I have never been to any musical before then. Although I didn�t get all the lyrics (English is not my mother language), and some scenes, the general effect was tremendous. I had tears in my eyes by the time they reached �Empty Chairs at Empty Tables�. I wasn�t sobbing, or anything, but I couldn�t hold my tears. And even now, it is one of my very favourite songs. One of my favourite memories was my friend�s reaction at the interval. She is not into revolutions at all. But, at the interval she told me �That is how revolutions should be�. I was impressed by everything I saw. Afterwards, I started digging, rented the TAC, and after few months I went to see it again. My second time was probably the most enjoyable, because by that time I knew the lyrics (some even memorised) and all the plot details. This visit had a profound effect on my �entertainment� life. It sucked me into the world of theatre, and I never looked back again. So, that date will always be special to me. At the end of 2003 I decided to read the novel. I finished it in 4-5 months. Sometime around April/May 2004. Despite all its shortcomings, It is one of the best I ever read, and believe me a bookholic. I have seen the show 9times in total, and going this Wednesday for my 10th visit. I deliberately pace my visits, although it is sometimes hard to resist with me being in London. I am a huge fan of the show, and I think it is in a league of its own. No other musical comes even close to it, but I don�t think I am �Obsessed� with it, even though my brother thinks otherwise
Electricity24601	Well, here's my story: It's the summer of 2004. I'm in London on vacation with my parents. It's the first time I've ever been to Europe- and I am totally captivated with the British culture. It's the last night, and we go to a see a show. It's called Les Miserables. I had heard of it, knew it was famous, heard it was good. But I wasn't prepared for HOW good it really was. I was bawling from A Little Fall of Rain until the Finale. I turned around and watched the director's monitor during the last battle on the barricades. I couldn't bare watching the characters I had come to love so quickly die. One actor especially knocked me off my feet: John Owen-Jones. After I got home I began researching him and the show, and joined the amazing JOJ forums. With the help of my best friend who also loves theatre, I began discovering other shows. The rest is pretty much history- I've discovered that I love musical theatre more than pretty much anything, and that I want to pursue something involved with theatre as a career. I've seen tons more shows, started my own broadway website, and met a bunch of amazing people along the way. All because of Les Mis!
broadwaybelle22	I was 5. I can remember my parents listening to that cd over and over again, and crying every time. One night my dad was sitting in the kitchen listening to empty chairs at empty tables and I was worried that he had tears streaming down his cheeks. He then clicked the cd back to number one and began to tell me the whole story of les miserables, and the reasons for the characters singing all of the songs. Now, I was 5, and I sat there for hours listening to that cd. I can remember me loving Eponine's voice as a kid(Francis Ruffelle), and my dad's explanation. He said that her voice had to be much sweeter than Cosette's because Marius didn't love her. I don't know why but that explanation kind of stuck with me. Then a few years ago I finally saw it on broadway and was blown away. But I'm never going to forget my dad and me sitting at that table. I don't know, I havn't really seen him cry that much since .
happyguava	My very first voice lesson - I was 10 and my teacher pulled out a song called "Castle on a Cloud" and said I would probably like to sing it and it might sound nice in my voice. I took it home and learned it, and my grandma said she had a tape that had it on there. It was the OLCR. I listened to it over and over again and I fell in love with the whole score. It became my favourite show. I read the book and I loved that as well (although that was much more recent - the 10 year old version of me had no desire to read it!) and then earlier this year I got to be in it.
eponine5	When I was younger I always used to go to about 1 musical a year. One year, my mum was trying to decide what musical we should go see and I had heard of this musical called "Les Miserables". I had no idea what it was about or anything really except that it was set in France and my mum had seen it once with the original London cast and loved it. So, for no reason I can think of, I asked my mum if we could go and see this musical. At first she said no on the grounds that I wouldn't like it...Well, we saw it in late December and by the interval I was hooked. I went back with the tune of "Lovely Ladies" in my head and the next morning I began researching it on the internet. Well, somehow I found out more stuff about it, and I whatever second I had on the computer I spent listening to the 10 songs from the Symphonic recording that is on the official site or those 30 second clips of each cast recordings on Amazon. Being the spoilt brat that I am, within a week I was begging my parents to let me see it again. We booked a performance in May and by the time I saw it for the second time, I knew all the lyrics and had read the book. Yes, I openly admit I am obsessed.
Paula74	For me, Les Miserables started with The Phantom of the Opera. I was obsessed with the latter during that first year or so after it opened on Broadway (and still am). I bought Michael Crawford's first album and my favorite song on it was "Bring Him Home." I knew nothing of Les Miserables at the time. I tried reading a summary of the novel, but it was poorly written and confused me. Still, I begged and pleaded to see it. I was about 14 or 15. I remember sobbing through it. I remember a young Hugh Panaro singing "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables." I read the novel shortly after - it has been my favorite book since.
flying_pigs	Well, my mum used to watch the TAC every now and then and I'd never watch it with her because it looked boring. However, for some reason the only bits I seemed to catch was when Colm and Ruthie were on the stage together. I then listened to a random musical CD my mum had because I was obsessed with other musicals (eg. Joseph and Starlight Express shakes head sadly) and I Dreamed a Dream came on (sang by Martine McCutcheon- oh dear!) and I came to the conclusion that Valjean was Fantine's lover! Well, you know what young minds are like! My mum then gave me her OLC to listen to, and I finally got to see it 2004 and have been 4 more times since! And now it's my tip-top number 1 musical!
phantomphan85	I have loved Les Mis since I was seven and my Mum took me to see a touring production after I heard the music and expressed a wish to see the show. Since then I have seen it 4 more times and watched the TAC too many times to count. My ultimate dream is to be in it one day.
Etoile	It was almost exactly a year ago. My parents had tickets to the final tour and wanted me to go with them. At this point I only knew two things about Les Mis: 1) My parents saw it years ago and liked it (but they liked every show they went to), and 2) The plot was centered around an old French guy who sat on a bench and yelled at people walking past. I didn't even know it was a musical. If I had known I probably would've stayed home because I wasn't a big fan of musicals. And I almost didn't go anyway because I had an English project due the next day and I really needed the points. But for some reason or other, I decided to go. The rest is history. Obviously, I was blown away. A musical that wasn't ridiculously cheesey and kid-friendly? Amazing. The music blew me away. The story blew me away. It went against everything I knew about musicals. For the most part I didn't get what was going on because I was sitting too far back to understand what anyone was saying. But for some reason it did a lot more for me than sitting near the front row for 42nd Street, Oliver, Cats, and West Side Story. It took Les Mis to finally convince me that I liked musicals. Well, when I got home that night I stayed up reading the synopsis from the program (so much for my English project). I finally understood the plot and decided to read the book. A few days after the show, I began downloading some of the songs off the internet and ordered the TAC recording. Little did I know I was on the path to obsessiondom... Looking back, it's amazing how far I've come after one year. I've already had the time to spread the fever to other people around me and get them obsessed with both the book and musical. Sometimes I wonder where I would be if I had decided to stay home and do my English project that one fateful night...
Tenalto	When I was six, I heard an older girl sing "Castle on a Cloud" for our elementary school talent show. I remember liking the tune and thinking she was Cinderella, pre-ball. Flash forward about seven years. I was over at a friends house, flipping through a piano book of showtunes. The title of one song caught me for some reason, and I asked her to play it. She did, and I recognized "Castle on a Cloud," the song that had entranced me years before. Later that evening, on the way to rent a movie, she popped her OBC CD into the car stereo and played "Plumet Attack." I remember thinking that the girl had a really bizarre voice. Two years after, I had some Barnes and Noble gift cards. I was just beginning my exploration into musical theater and wanted to get a big, impressive CD. So I bought the OBC Les Mis. And I was hooked. I recognized "I Dreamed a Dream," which I had originally hated because it had been badly performed by a girl at my school. And now I'm here. Jeepers.

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