Les Misérables (musical) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The musical Les Miserable is a Broadway institution within itself. When people heard they were making Les Mis into a movie, many were excited and concerned about how it would translate to the big screen. What I didn’t expect, however, was how it would feel seeing it for the first time since becoming a mother.

I’ve seen Les Mis performed live three times. Once on Broadway and twice with the touring group. Each performance brought a new level of emotional complexity. Les Mis is not a one-trick pony to say the least. So when my husband and I went to see it in the movie theaters, we were bowled over by the direct pain we felt for these children and their tortured parents.

Before we were parents, we imagined how it would feel to know our child was in peril, to reach the point where we would be willing to sell even our bodies to keep our children safe. But imagining what it would be like and actually understanding the depths of what a parent would do are two completely different things. Continue Reading →