Les Miserables, Queen's Theatre, London

Les Miserables - the longest running musical in the world and equally so by count of how many times Irene has said she wanted to see it. In fact, it has been a decade long desire of hers to see this musical, so how did it stack up?

Well, one word comes immediately to mind - brilliant! Having waited a decade to see this, Irene (and I) didn't mind waiting a couple of months longer so that we can get decent seats (but by no means great seats) and on a decent night (Friday night). That is how crazy this show is, I mean, being the longest running musical, you'd imagine the demand would've died down a bit but no, far from it! And I guess that's an indication of how good this musical is.

Prior to seeing this, we've seen the 25th anniversary concert at a cinema in Sydney, as well as downloaded the soundtracks and listened to the songs, and so had some pretty high expectations. But whatever expectations we had, they were all blown away by Alfie Boe's voice, if nothing else! Boe, as Valjean, was spectacular - a truly great tenor! In fact, listening to the downloaded songs now, Boe was by far better than whoever it is I'm listening to now!

But enough about Boe. Credit for this great show also goes to everyone involved, not least Victor Hugo, who wrote such a great story, and Cameron Mackintosh, who produced the first adaption from the original French version. Although there's an element of romance in the plot, the main story is more sophisticated and explored issues such as the early 19th century French society, human greed, stereotyping, and other human elements that are often the makings of great and meaningful stories. But a great story is only great if it is told well and what we saw tonight was definitely a well told story.

Apart from a great story, great music, and great cast, the production was also superb. I particularly liked the scene where Marius and Cosette were meeting behind the gates of Cosette's home while Eponine was standing outside the gates (during the song "A Heart Full of Love"). That scene was simply a work of art!

All in all, a great musical well deserving of all its praises and customer demand. It exceeded all our expectations, especially Boe, who was superb! In fact, Irene loved it so much that she has already started talking about seeing it again, and I wouldn't mind too.