SNEAKERS 57: Les Miserables in Graham

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Les Miserables in Graham

Back in June, my friend Deb and I headed to Graham, Texas to see our friend Jimmy sing Jean Valjean in the Graham Community Theater production of my favorite musical Les Miserables. Graham is Jimmy's hometown. He came to Tech and met Deb and I met him through her. He is a tenor with the Lyric Opera in Chicago among other accomplishments. He was the only professional singer who performed with several really talented and moderately talented local performers and they did a good job. It is an ambitious production if you are not familiar...it is mostly sung start to finish. The stage was at the Graham High School auditorium an it was a very nice facility. All in all, everyone involved had a lot to be proud of.

Along the road in Megargal, TX we saw a really pretty church and I had to stop and take a few pictures.

I had to laugh at their sign. 7 AM. Seriously?

We also saw some buffalo in a field and I tried to take their picture too but they were not very cooperative.

And then it was on to the show:

I was too slow on the draw with my camera. By the time I realized I could take a picture it was too late.

And here is Jimmy. And Cosette and Marius.
This photo was taken by Jimmy's friend Randy Black and I'm using it with his generous permission.

And on the way home, we had to laugh at the "Guthrie Bypass". Guthrie is a town with about 50 people in it and TXDOT built a bypass around it because they have a lot of truck traffic go through and I think there was a curve that was a little dangerous. We pulled off to see if the old rock service station that had been there forever was still there. It isn't. There was a time it was the only place to stop over a long road from Vernon to Dickens. Now there is basically nowhere to stop. Not progress. Anyway, at the overpass, TXDOT put brands on the wall and they look pretty cool: