23 Years of Les Misérables

It was January 1990, and we were in London on our honeymoon. We were freezing cold under layers of winter coats, scarves, and gloves, but we were in love and didn't care. Our friend, who had loaned us her Swiss Cottage flat for our entire honeymoon, urged us to take in a show while we were in town. We asked her for suggestions, and she recommended Les Misérables. We had never heard of it before, but we took her advice and bought tickets.

We showed up at the theater and were immediately struck by how formally everyone was dressed. Ladies were alight in their finest, and many gentlemen wore tuxedos. We took it all in, looked at each other and realized this was an event.  We settled into our seats and pre-read the synopsis of each act. It was a good thing we did because once it began, we were swept away into the epic.

The music, the glorious music, carried us through each twist and turn of the story. And the story...I had never been so gripped by a story before, nor had been so taken in by the characters. The condemned man who, through mercy, becomes righteous. The self-righteous man who, through mercy, becomes self-condemned. The outcast suffering the consequences of sin, both her oppressor's and her own, receiving grace at the moment she least deserved it. The maiden in the bliss of first love, and the maiden in the agony of unrequited love. Unsung heroes fighting for a better day until the bitter end. A parent loving the way only a parent should love, holding nothing back, even when--or maybe especially when--it is time to let go.

When the last song was sung and the final curtain call came, we were left stunned. We rode the tube back to the flat and talked about the story the rest of our honeymoon and for months afterward. We promised each other that we would return to London on our 10th anniversary to experience it all again.

Fast forward ten years. We had a baby and a toddler by then and realized that returning to London wasn't going to happen anytime soon. A good friend, who owned a concierge business, mentioned that Les Misérables was playing in Los Angeles. We immediately knew where we wanted to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

The Los Angeles theater scene was a little different than London's. We spotted a few glitzy dresses, but we also noticed designer jeans. There was not a tuxedo in sight. Instead of being served fancy hors d'oeuvres at a private table during intermission, we stood in line at the snack stand to place our own orders. 

But none of the trappings mattered. It was Les Misérables, and we fell in love with the story and the music all over again.

A few months ago, we heard that another movie release of Les Misérables was due around our 23rd anniversary. I was cautiously optimistic. I had tried watching the first 15 minutes of the Liam Neeson version, and as much as I truly admire Neeson's acting, I just couldn't get embrace it fully. All through the years, I had associated Les Misérables with the music. Without the melodies, the plot seemed uncomfortably naked. 

The new movie did not disappoint us. Truth be told, we were both taken aback by how intensely we would be moved again by the story. It wasn't only the stunning cinematography or the compelling performances, such as Anne Hathaway's knife-to-the-heart rendition of I Dreamed a Dream, or Jean Valjean's Bring Me Home, which reduced me to a torrent of tears, it was the fact that we now had years of life experiences tucked into our souls. Experiences that now framed the story for us in a deeper way.

In the years between our honeymoon and this, our 23rd year of marriage, we've watched our babies grow up and learned the bittersweet joy of parental love. We've witnessed reality trampling youthful dreams. We've suffered the pain of injustices. We've wept in prayer over our loved ones. We've grieved the deaths of our precious fathers. We've also received great mercy. And we've seen hardened people change by the love of God. 

We ourselves were the hardened. We ourselves are now the beloved.  

Les Misérables is not perfect. Only the gospel is. But this story will run in our veins until the day we die. 

We were so grateful to have seen this new movie and wanted to share it with others. This time, out-of-town family who were visiting came along as well as Jonathan, who is 15. I couldn't wait to introduce the story and the music to them, and I hoped that they would love it as much as we did.

At the end, when the final credits were rolling, I turned to my teen son, who is almost the age of Marius and the blush of first love and a soldier's call to fight. I asked, "What did you think?" 

Pause. Then he said, "Profound." 

"What was profound?"

"Everything."

Later, when Alan asked which movie he liked better, Les Misérables or The Hobbit, without a pause he said, "Les Misérables." 

A boy after our own hearts. 


"God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-7