Les Misérables @ Harper Theater

Saw Les Misérables at the new Harper Theater in Hyde Park, Chicago, this week.  Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe are superb as Jean Valjean and Javert. Anne Hathaway nails the song "I Dreamed a Dream." Eddie Redmayne (as Marius) and Samantha Barks (as Eponine) are two very talented young actors to watch out for in future. Les Miserables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams, unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption...it is a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Written in 1862, Victor Hugo's novel is considered one of the greatest of the 19th Century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Misérables

The Guardian : "Based on the hit stage show adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel set among the deserving poor in 19th-century France, which climaxes with the anti-monarchist Paris uprising of 1832. Even as a non-believer in this kind of "sung-through" musical, I was battered into submission by this mesmeric and sometimes compelling film, featuring a performance of dignity and intelligence from Hugh Jackman, and an unexpectedly vulnerable singing turn from that great, big, grumpy old bear, Russell Crowe. With the final rousing chorus of "Do you hear the people sing?", the revolutionary-patriotic fervour is so bizarrely stirring, you'll feel like marching out of the cinema, wrapped in the tricolour, and travelling to Russia to find Gérard Depardieu and tear him limb from limb."