The Search for the Miserable

How do you feel when the item you've been looking for is now finally available? Hmm, we call it as the 'natural high'.

Just last Monday, amidst the traffic and the ever-complaining heat, I decided to go to Manila to do some errands. It proved to be such a tiring experience. I even managed to jump from one place to another, imagine me covering three municipalities namely Makati, Manila and lastly Pasay respectively.

What I did would probably put Spiderman to shame.

But the biggest surprise of all is finding a treasure within the busy streets of Quiapo, where all the pirated DVDs are scattered everywhere. My goal? To buy the complete set of Roswell episodes and that darn farewell season of Sex in the City. Unfortunately they're nowhere to be found.

I was about to call it quits when I decided to lounge around the area and check for other interesting titles. I even saw copies of 'My Sassy Girl' DVD (The Korean megahit) displayed from one corner making it widely available to everyone. A few months back, it was relatively unknown, making it (Sassy Girl) hard to find in these areas.

Continuing with my journey, I checked this new wing called, 'the concert department'. This is where DVDs from Taiwan is sold, mostly concert DVDs with the likes of Madonna's Music tour, Michael Buble and even Led Zeppelin. I decided to browse for a few titles when a familiar picture caught my eye. I gasped in excitement when all of a sudden I realized that the search for this damn DVD is finally over!

There on the cover of the DVD proudly displays the picture of Cosette, the official logo of Les Miserables-The Musical. For the first time in my life, I was holding a copy of my most favorite musical of all time, the 2-disc DVD of The Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert. The dream cast, with Lea Salonga playing the part of Eponine.

Enough of the superlatives? No way!

This DVD which is priced at around $20 (check with Amazon) has been around the world since 1996. At that time human beings around the world are totally clueless about DVD. If my memory serves me right, I only own a copy of this on VHS, I was able to record the concert during its Philippine telecast. After a few more years, born after the VCDs, the DVD was finally invented. MOst of the best-loved movies and musicals are now readily available on DVD format.

I prayed that somehow, Cameron Mackintosh (famed producer of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon) would release Les Miserables on DVD. Thank God because he answered my prayer. LOL! The DVD was released finally in Amazon.com. And the rest is what they call history.

I am now the proud owner of the Les Miz concert DVD and the long wait is finally over.