In August 2023, California got a surprise visit from a Hilary. No, not Clinton, a hurricane named Hilary. Y'all remember her, the one that gave us more rain than we asked? The one that caused those earthquakes in Ventura county? Does that ring a bell? Where I live, the rain was non-stop. It was horrible and was even worse on August 20th. That day was very special to me and my mom. That day we were going to see Les Misérables at the Pantages in Hollywood. So how does a horrible, relentless, category 4 hurricane like Hilary stop people from seeing a musical about France? Attend this tale and find out.

    The show started at 2. My parents arrived at 1:20 PM to the front of the Pantages. As me and my mom got out, we said goodbye to my dad as he drove off. After getting inside, I was able to take off the hood of my rain jacket. It made me look like an Assassin's Creed character(which I thought was cool), but it was so warm inside that I was burning inside the hood. After $11 spent for some Sour Patch Kids and 2 waters along with waiting in line for the restroom, we finally got to our seats. The stage looked something straight out of a book. It was Paris in 1823, a dark blue sky and below the tops of the buildings. White smoke came out of most of them, but one was black, and it looks like those dementors in Harry Potter. It was amazing and after some quick announcements about cast change ups along with ASL and captions available to the left of the stage, we began. I'm not going into detail about it as this is something you'll have to be in the room, but some key points. I Dreamed A Dream is a gut-punching song, One Day More and Do You Hear the People Sing are amazing songs, On My Own is the same as I Dreamed A Dream, and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables is just haunting. Also to anyone who watched the 2012 movie, good news! Javert doesn't suck! His death scene is really cool too, and I can't for the life of me figure out how they do it. It's just awesome! 

    This is a great musical and I highly recommend watching it. The set is stunning, the costumes are historical and look like something from a museum, and the performers give it their all with the songs(they are guaranteed to make you cry. Especially Dreamed a Dream. Don't fight me.). It's in the same category as Hairspray where it takes place in a certain era and uses some things that happened in that time to drive the story. If there is a production nearby, don't hesitate and buy tickets, you'll thank me later.

Note: I hid some other musical references in here. First one to name them all wins.