Some Guy here: Well, I had only vaguely heard of the books and musical, but since I had some extra cash with me once in HMV, and the soundtrack was so cheap, I figured - why not? I like musicals.

I listened to the whole thing one night, and was really impressed. My Fiance immediately dove into it as well.

I think the reason the musical is so popular is for a few reasons. One, the songs are really easy to sing along to, and are usually quite funny (unlike that phantom of the opera reading letter scene where every freaking character is singing a different part over top each other.) The other reason is because a lot of the songs deal with issues like good and evil blah blah which a lot of younger people are still trying to deal with. Finally, the musical score is chuck full of powerful, rising notes that end in triumphant chords, which are always so damn fun to listen to.

Well, that's what I think, anyway, I could be wrong.