By Lenny Traube

IN ITS 13TH BROADWAY YEAR AND STILL GOING STRONG: That would be "Les Miserables," the all-time Show Of Shows, which opened Mar. 12, 1987, to mixed notices at the Broadway Theatre, following rave reviews and a long run in London, before moving on Oct. 17, 1990 to the Imperial on West 45th Street, where it’s still packing them in. Back then, the top ticket cost $45; today it’s $80. Now, midway into its 13th Broadway year, this is a theatrical phenomenon, judging by the full house of rapt theatregoers who exploded in a standing ovation at last Wednesday evening’s final curtain. Considering that this is a musical that runs three and one/half hours (the first act alone lasts two hours), it is remarkable that the cast can produce such a second performance on a matinee day.

An even more outstanding example is the entrepreneurial one set by producer Cameron Mackintosh, who, in addition to "Les Miz," also has"Cats," "Miss Saigon" and "Phantom of the Opera" presently on Broadway. This canny Scotsman, who has presented hundreds of shows all over the world, now has 50 different musicals in production. The Victor Hugo classic at the Imperial, however, has to be his premier accomplishment. It’s Broadway’s fourth longest running show of all time, was the winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Book, Score and Director, has been seen by 7.5 million people in New York alone since 1987, and internationally has played to over 40 million people who’ve contributed box office grosses of $1.8 billion.

The epic saga, sweeping through three decades of stormy French history, tells the famous story of fugitive Jean Valjean (Fred Inkley), pursued by the indefagitable Inspector Javert (Philip Hernandez) in a lifelong effort to escape capture. Hernandez, who earlier played Valjean on Broadway (the only thespian to have done both roles) displays a beautiful baritone voice. Inkley’s rich tenor is used to maximum effect to narrate his flight from the bulldog Javert. Also integral to the cast in the important role of Fantine is Alice Ripley (one of the joined twins in "Side Show") whose singing of "I Dreamed A Dream" is an Act I highlight. Since this is really an opera with no spoken dialogue to advance the action, my chief criticism of the musical dialogue is that a Jerry Herman could have been used to compose the generic ballads. As it is, the rhymes are pedestrian and there are no melodies to hum as you walk out. Definitely not a Cole Porter-type score either.

Nonetheless, the show, as the New York Post’s Donald Lyons noted "is quite a package...too often musically unsatisfying but finally a thrilling and exhiliarating experience."

RECOMMENDED: the Pierce Brosnan-Renee Russo remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen, crime caper, "The Thomas Crown Affair," which I saw in a sold-out house at the College Point Twelveplex in Whitestone; it’s been playing to near capacity audiences since the week-ago opening, manager Richard Gomez said. Brosnan is handsome and bored as the billionaire dilettante who filches a million-dollar Monet painting just for the thrill of it; Russo is beautiful as the Javert-like insurance investigator out to apprehend him, who gets caught by Brosnan herself. Critic Rex Reed, that master of alliterative prose, called it "slick, sexy and steamy...the summer’s most refreshing surprise."

Also meritorious is "Dick," the cunning comedy about the Watergate scandal, which I saw at the United Artists Bayside Quad. The film’s interesting premise is that "Deep Throat" (chief scandal source for Woodward and Bernstein) was actually two teenage giggling airheads, who lived at the Watergate. They wind up as dog walkers to a befuddled President Richard Nixon. Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams are perfect as the airheads, and Dan Hedaya looks and sounds like the disgraced President.