I'm Patrick Bateman???

 

STAY WITH ME ON THIS PLEASE
Okay hear me out guys, I promise that I'm not trying to be some kinda Sigma Male when I say that I am literally Patrick Bateman. No, I don't languish over my business card, I don't work on wall street (heaven knows I should never be trusted with any sort of finance job unless you want another financial crisis), and I most definitely don't murder women. That being said, me and the main character of American Psycho do have one thing in common, an obsession with the musical Les Misérables. 

I saw Les Misérables live in London on June 20th 2024. If you're wondering how I just have that date stored in my memory, it's because it was only a two days before the Best Day of my life (I'm not being nonchalant I promise I'll write about it next). For some background information, Les Misérables is a musical based on the French book of the same name written by Victor Hugo. It follows an ensemble of people during the June Rebellion (It happened in 1832 and you'll never guess which month!). The main plot of the story is that everyone in the story is, well, miserable. From revolutionaries to runaway criminals to prostitutes and in-keepers, the story follows the impact of poverty and corruption on the lowest members of society. 

For future reference, I will be shortening Les Misérables to Les Mis, because I don't hate myself. Les Mis was first adapted into a musical in 1985, and remained very underground and lowkey. Yeah, you already know I'm joking. This show was HUGE, running from 1987 to 2003 on Broadway, making it the second longest-running Broadway show at the time. The show won 8 tony awards, including Best Musical. It has since had numerous tours all across the world as well as Broadway and West End Revivals (WEST END REVIVAL I WATCHED IT THERE YES YES). Most importantly, it received the rite of passage for all incredible musicals, a really really bad adaptation, directed by Tom Hooper. YES THAT TOM HOOPER. 

I'd be surprised if you've never seen this poster

The musical has been referenced by countless pieces of media, both good and bad, from Hamilton and American Psycho (good) to BBC Sherlock (terrible). It's one of the few shows that I truly feels deserves every drop of hype it gets, maybe even more. If you're ever in London, New York, Japan, or one of the dozen places where Les Mis is playing, I couldn't recommend watching it more. 

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