Musical for score study

Hi Friends,
after a bit of hesitation I have gotten into studying the score for "Les Misérables" in some detail, and I think I am getting a lot out of it. Not only is it great to practice rapid score reading (with the lyrics helping some in not getting lost), but I also find that the general simplicity of the vertical structure makes it easy to focus on specific instrument groups.
In addition, I feel that it really teaches efficiency in orchestration because the orchestra isn't huge.

I suppose that if I ever get to a point where I can write for strings in a way as interesting as in this work, I can be really satisfied with myself. But that's lighyears down the road.

So, if you can at all stand musicals and feel like trying it, see if it helps you. The score can be found in many places, e.g.

https://mega.nz/#!dzA22YTR!5pRq3ewwB9LphoN3KK16BieNexjAuwsnnS6grSmkh6I

 

I’ve transcribed a whole bunch of this, but only in the form of figuring out melodies and harmonies at the piano (i.e without the actual “scribe” part). But from time to time make some full blown takedowns of film cues into Sibelius that take me days per piece.
I mentioned the musical above because I have the impression that studying that score is possible almost in real time, whereas with the more complex stuff (like the Last Starfighter theme I took down completely once) I’m not sure whether staring at the tiny details is actually and necessarily all that instructive. Here you can see a lot in a short time just following the score.
I’d be very interested in what people think about this, because there are many forms of “transcribing”, from extremely superficial to extremely meticulous. What do you think is the best learning tool? A mix?
Is being fast (like Mike often mentions as being his mode of working in composition) also something to strive for in transcription?
Btw, I’d describe my skill level as intermediate, probably with the handicap of being very study-oriented, as opposed to compositionally productive