Submitted by Glenn Korbel, Nov 10, 2006 01:55

More than 20 years after it exploded on the New York Stage gratis of the RSC, Nicholas Nickelby stil makes Les Miserables look like the work of a great college drama department with a big budget.

This is not a knock on Les Miz, simply the observation that this show was not seminal but derivative and things learned by the RSC were put to good use by Cameron McIntosh. The two-night performance of NN with at least a half a dozen star-turning performances is the gold standard of Epic Broadway theater. The finale of Les Miz, with the ensemble sucking it up one more time to do a refrain does not pack anywhere near the emotional whallop of NN's final scene, where, to a haunting "God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen" sung by the ensemble amid a light snow, Nicholas picks up a crippled, homeless boy in his arms to again work towards the salvation of a cast-off soul.

Now, when that comes back, someone rouse me from my slumber.

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