Les Miserables in Singapore

The last time Les Miserables was in Singapore was 30 years ago. 

Musicals were not a big thing and I was too young and poor to afford a decent ticket for one. 

I bought a $90 ticket for Phantom of the Opera and the seat was so far that we were given a pair disposable binoculars each to watch the musical. It wasn’t a fantastic experience so after that, I didn’t bother to pay for tickets of big-name musicals. 

That said, I did go for local plays and inexpensive likes to fulfil that literary wants within.

It was late April when I found out that Les Miserables World Tour was going to end in May, I underwent a brief struggle before I decided that Coco should have a go at it. If not now, then when? I finally booked two tickets on 8 May, 8pm.

Seats were limited and prices were exorbitant. I paid $280 per ticket for it and the seats were 16 seats away from the stage. Fortunately, we didn’t have someone super tall sitting right in front of us and the seats were quite central. It was a good experience this time.

Les Miserables is a special musical for me. The memory of watching its cartoon, in Mandarin no less, sticks with me since a child. For some reason, I remember the Chinese version of the name Cosette very well. It inspired me to give Coco the name when I had her. I felt that Coco should have a chance to watch the musical, live, from which her name came from. 

A French friend had told me it’s not a good name to give but I thought it a lovely name. 

 

Everybody was taking pictures at the entrance and posters so we did as the Romans do.

Coco wowed and took a surround video at the theatre at the entry which was quickly stopped by a security crew.

Those mussel-like things were the theatre lights. They kept fascinating me throughout the performance. “When did this come down? When did that happen? When did they install the bridge?”

The orchestra was a level above the stage. I really like that as I often wondered how it looked like at the orchestra pit when the orchestra was below the stage.

Everybody was taking videos and pictures at the ending so I did likewise.

Coco refused to buy any souvenirs. She said the $50 t-shirt was a poor print. She could do a better job herself. I ended up buying a $25 mug.

Walking out of the Sands theatre at 11.15pm.

I had come half-prepared to be disappointed for the price-point I had paid. It’s not THE original Les Miserables musical after all. There are a few Asian faces in a musical with French setting, which I thought would not be authentic. 

My fifth sister who had watched it earlier said she couldn’t understand half the musical. Her husband who had watched it with her had his experience marred by the guy seated in front of him sporting a cockatoo hairstyle. I had also read reviews that seemed to try too hard to glorify it. 

After the musical, I was very glad to have come. The ‘Asian faces’ I had discriminated against had powerful and theatrical vocals that rendered their ethnicity obsolete. In fact, I couldn’t decide who was the best performer. Every time I think,”Wow, this guy/lady is good!”, the next performer sang better, if not equally well. There wasn’t an inferior performer.

When I asked Coco for her opinion, she felt that the best performer had to be the guy who cast as Valjean. 

Coco described the musical as ‘spectacular’. She had watched the movie version starring Anne Hathaway and she knew exactly where to watch at every scene but for the musical, she felt that there were so many things going on at the same time that she didn’t know where to look. She said she didn’t imagine that a musical could be so much fun. 

When asked if she would watch musicals in future, she said she would only watch them if she is rich. She felt that musicals are not for the average person. She even took note of a girl ‘who was easily ten years younger than’ her who was wearing a Chanel scarf, carrying a Hermes bag and wearing a pair of Van Cleef earrings.

Coco kept asking me why I had not given her the name Eponine instead. She felt that Cosette is a ‘flat’ or ‘2D’ character while Eponine is more interesting and is multi-faceted. 

I replied her frankly that I didn’t know about Eponine. Even if I did, I wouldn’t have given her the name. It doesn’t sound pretty and she’s the product of two money-minded and wicked hearted innkeepers. Now that I had watched the musical, all the more I wouldn’t have given the name to my child. She’s not loved by someone she loved. 

My idea of the character Cosette was that she was well-loved by everyone and I hoped that my baby would also enjoy the same kindness and love. 

Coco asked,”What’s so great about being loved by a fugitive, a prostitute and a rebel?”

That made me do a bit of reflection. To a certain extent, I also prostituted myself for my daughter. I remarried thinking it would give her a better life. While the character, Fantine, died, for many years, I died within, living like  zombie.

The discussion of the musical transported me back to my A level literature class, critiquing the performance and doing character analysis and that was only possible because the person I watched it with was Coco. She provided insights and perspectives about the musical and characters that I never thought about.

It was a worthy night.