FAREWELL TO MICHELLE NICASTRO

Michelle Nicastro as Eponine 1988

I am heartbroken. I just returned from seeing Les Miserables at the Ahmanson in L.A.  It was breathtaking. I cried through the whole thing, not just because I love the play (I've seen it 5 times in 23 years), but because seeing it again brought back powerful emotions from my first Les Mis experience so long ago.

I first saw the show at the Shubert in 1989. I loved Fantine (played by Elinore O'Connell), but that's a story for another day. I also was riveted, moved to heart wrenching sobs with Eponine, played by amazingly talented Michelle Nicastro. I never forgot Michelle. Her performance (which I saw 3 times) left an indelible mark on my soul.

Ten years later she performed a children's show at our local Valencia shopping mall. By then she was known as the voice of Odette in the The Swan Princess. I arrived with my 3-year-old daughter, Carissa, and my original Les Mis program. When I asked her to sign it for me, she was very touched that I had remembered her.

After the show tonight, I was waxing nostalgic. So I looked Michelle up on the internet. It tears me up to say this, but I learned that Michelle passed away this past November from breast and brain cancer. So, I just want to remember her tonight, and how her voice and her spirit touched at least one soul in a most powerful and permanent way.

Good-bye Michelle, my Eponine. May God keep you close to his heart.

I am so, so sad...

Michelle autographed my program 10 years later!

Eponine & Marius