And the winner is...

Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman at
the Golden Globes Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

I am not much of a television awards person. I don’t really know the difference between the Peoples’ Choice, the Oscar, the Peabody or the Golden Globe. Yet last night after the NFL playoffs I stumbled upon the Golden Globes just as they were announcing the winner of Best Supporting Actress, which went to Anne Hathaway for her role in Les Misérables. Hugh Jackman also picked up a Golden Globe for his role as Jean Valjean, and the film walked off with Best Musical.

As it happened I had just seen the movie the night before at the Phillips Place theater. It was moving and inspiring, but to be honest, I think it paled in comparison to when I saw it on stage in New York City.   Don’t get me wrong, the movie did win the Golden Globe and is fantastic. It is just different, that’s all.

We have a family joke around our house about the night, years ago, when Corrine and I took our son, Andy, and daughter, Sarah, to see Les Misérables on Broadway. Corrine, Sarah and I were excited, but Andy was not happy. He could not believe that we were in New York City and were going to a play instead of a Yankees game. To him, it was heresy. He grumbled the whole way to the theater. And then it happened. The curtain lifted, the actors appeared, the music began and magic filled the room.  

He was hooked, as were we all. For days we found him and Sarah singing lines from the play.

I hope you have had a chance to see the play and/or the movie. I don’t know of any story outside the Bible that captures so well the eternal struggle between the giving of the law and offering of grace as seen through the life of Inspector Javert and Valjean’s.

Any of you love Les Misérables as much as I do?  And if you saw it, what moved you and stirred your soul?  And did you need Kleenex to go along with the popcorn?

God bless 24601 and all of us.