I Dream a Dream

SO excited to see this movie.

I know there have been numerous interpretations of Les Miserables on the big screen, but it has fallen short of my expectations. When I watched those films, at the back of my mind, the songs from the musical kept playing in my head. Like when the scene where Fantine was dying, I swear I could hear her singing "Come to me, Cosette, the night is fading..." Or when Cosette was being maltreated by the Thenardiers, the angelic voice of a child played "There is a castle on a cloud..." in my head, and then I knew it would be all right. 

I was lucky to have watched Les Miserables the Musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil on Broadway in New York two decades ago. Some songs were also part of the UP Concert Chorus repertoire in our 1990 world tour. So the music never left me.

In 1990, New York. With my UPCC friends.

Eponine's songs "On my Own" and "A little Fall of Rain" never fail to pinch my heart. Now when Filipina Lea Salonga took the part in the 10th Anniversary of the musical in 1995, all the other Eponine's faded. Just watch her here:

 Sniff. 

And now Les Miserables THE movie, based on the musical--and a dream cast too! Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert, Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thenardiers, etc, etc. Watch how they wove Anne Hathaway's heart-wrenching rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" with the powerful scenes of the movie. I swear I got misty-eyed when I saw this trailer for the first time last night.

Oh, I can't wait till it's on IMax.