I thought it would be easy to write the post-Les Misérables blog. Bound to be able to say how great it was, well done cast, couldn't have done it without the crew, Director and MD held it all together, etc etc. All true of course.

But I imagine those lucky enough to see it would put it rather differently, and not just in the almost-conventional 'best thing I've seen at King's' way either. Apart from anything else, this was a production professional enough to reserve its 'thanks' to the cast gathering afterwards - rightly so! And then never before have I (who had least to do with it) had so many emails and messages of congratulations. One read 'totally blown away. This is a school which knows there is no limit to what it can do. This was a new level'. It was exceptional, a moving experience, an emotional one, and a totally professional one too: music, (and notably singing), technical accomplishment (in a very limiting space), the look of the set and costumes, acting, sound and lights: all quite exceptional.

More than the sum of its parts then: more teamwork than individual achievement. But few would deny the achievements of Luke Howarth, or Lizzie Roberts and Ellie Sowden, of Zara Fyfe and Miranda Harle, of Georgina Inkster and Emily Parker - all of whom captured emotion, senstivity and the mad Dickensian rush of the story. Seb Fayle, Rupert Hands, Tom Cuffin-Munday and Mike Ellis, Megan Larmour and Adam Jones/Dan Titmuss who provided a wonderful display of villainy and humour; a host of students and robbers and servants, the six splendid 'Little Cosettes', and a page full of chorus - all fantastic. Above all, of course, the Director Mr Hughes, MD Mr Robinson and Producer Dr MacMahon, and debutant star Aled Elmore, the leaders of this enterprise. Life changing stuff. Thank you all.

I think I wrote last week (I know I've said it before) that what makes Les Misérables (the novel) one of the great works of all time (for all that it is absurd at times, too long, sentimental etc) is that it says something stark and unavoidable and touching about what it means to be a human being. It is a novel with heart and soul and grandeur . Our version of the musical had all those things too. Bravo.