The opening bars of Les Miserables have made my heart go pitty-pat since the age of 14. There's just something about this play — the Goliath of musical theater — that gets those of us who go full-nerd for stage musicals right at the throat.
In fact, if I'd known this anniversary concert was happening at London's O2 Arena, I would've thrown financial responsibility to the wolves and booked my happy ass on a flight to England in a heartbeat. Having it on DVD is, I suppose, an acceptable concession for my ignorance.
For the purists out there, you should know going in that this is not the original cast. Colm Wilkinson doesn't make a stage appearance until after the finale, and Lea Salonga is playing Fantine, not Eponine. And if none of that made sense to you, the rest of this review is going to look like alien hieroglyphs.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.