「レ・ミゼラブル」でミゼラブル ”Les Miserables" Made Me Miserable

Today, I saw a musical “Les Miserables” at Aichi Prefectural Art Theater. It lasted for about two hours and a half. The singers and the orchestra players were all foreigners (they say it is a London production). The musical was performed in English with Japanese subtitles.

I paid 19,500 yen for the musical. That’s a lot of money. I hoped I would enjoy as much as I paid. But alas. The performance made me ‘miserable.’

First, I hardly understood the singers’ English. Probably, I understood less than 20 percent of the performance. To comprehend English songs was far more difficult than English conversation because the simple utterance of a word or words takes a long, long time.

Second, the volume was so loud and noisy that I was afraid that my ears would be damaged. I often put my fingers in the ear holes to protect ear drum injuries.

Third, stage lights were so bright that they often blinded my eyes. Some of the lights were aimed at the audience. They shot the lights at us, audience. I couldn’t keep opening my eyes. I don’t understand the director’s intention to make the stage lights too bright.

Fourth, the Japanese subtitles were difficult to read, because the letters were so small that I was not able to read them at all. So, I failed to understand the whole story. Maybe my seat was on the third floor, from which the subtitle screens were far away. My seat was S (special) seat, though. The letters should be twice as large as the present size.

About 20 years ago, I saw a musical “Oliver” based on “Oliver Twist” written by Charles Dickens. I enjoyed it very much. However, I did not enjoy “Les Miserables” at all. It was a waste of money, time, and energy. To tell you the truth, I felt pain in my heart at the latter part of the performance. I was unable to breathe deeply. So, I tried to breathe slowly and steadily so that I would not die of heart failure. Thank God, after the performance finished and when I went out of the theater, I was alive and breathed normally.

I should have gone to see my favorite Kabuki at Misono Theater where Musume Dojoji is performed.

ゴミ袋を漁る烏 Crows Hunting food

 私はマンションに住んでいる。火曜と金曜は生ごみをゴミ集積所に出す日である。この火曜日にゴミ袋を持って、集積所に行って驚いた。烏が既に出してあったゴミ袋を突っついて中の生ごみを道路一杯に散らしてあった。道路が生ごみだらけだ。ゴミ集積所の担当はマンション組合の保健委員である。放置しておけば、保健委員の人が散らかったゴミを掃除してくれる。しかし、あまりに酷いので、せめて大きなゴミだけでもと思い、散らかっているゴミ袋や紙切れや、食べ残しなどを足で道路脇にどかしていた。すると、私のマンションの向かいに住んでいるSさんが、箒と塵取りを持って現れた。Sさんは、ゴミだらけの道路を自発的に掃除しようと来てくれたのだ。偉い人だ。自分はそこまでやらずに、せいぜい足でゴミを道路わきに寄せようとしていた。Sさんは立派な人で尊敬する。