At 29 years old, Les Miserables is the longest running musical in west end history. It is based on the 19th Century novel of the same name by Victor Hugo, who is also famous for writing the book ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’. The show is a favourite to many musical theatre fanatics, including myself, and has something in it for everyone. It goes from dramatic songs of rebellion to emotional ballads over the course of the show, whose story spans a good 15 years, and everyone can relate to at least one of the large cast of characters.
The story mainly follows the character of Jean Valjean’s life during the beginning of the 19th century. It begins with him being released from custody after 19 years of hard work for committing a petty theft. This was common during the time period, when even minor crimes would have had severe sentences. Unfortunately, once released the character struggles to find work, since no one wants to hire an ex-criminal, but when a Bishop acts kindly towards him, he runs away, breaking his parole, and vowing to make a new start as an honest man.
Sometime later, Valjean has achieved this mission. He is now the owner of a factory and is kind to his workers. However, when one of them, Fantine, is fired by his factory foreman, she is left with nothing, and must turn to crime in order to pay for her daughter, who is being raised by a corrupt innkeeper and his wife. Fantine eventually gets ill and dies, but not before Valjean sees what has happened and promises her he will raise her daughter in his care. He then buys the daughter from the innkeeper and runs again, since the police chief, Javert, has realised his true identity as a criminal.
Time moves on further, and now Cosette, Fantine’s daughter has grown up. She and Valjean move to Paris, where they are caught up in a revolution. She soon falls in love with Marius, one of the revolters. When Valjean finds out about her love for Marius, he joins the revolution in order to ensure the boy’s safety. The rest of the story follows the revolution, which eventually fails, and Valjean realises he must leave Cosette to a new life with Marius, since he cannot tell her the truth about his past. He then dies himself, before the epic finale, where we are given a glimpse of the final revolution, which did change France forever.
Of course, Les Miserables is one of the hardest and most complex stories to explain, because of its large cast, and extreme length, but I have tried to just describe it in its barest form. There are many characters and plots which I haven't covered here, but to really understand it, I can only stress that you should take a trip to see it on stage. This story really does a good job of reminding us about how many people suffered before the French revolution was won, and how, though it was a team effort, each individual played a big part in their own story. Focusing on just a small group of revolutionaries helps us to see the bigger picture in terms of the extent of suffering during the French Revolution.
Boublil and Schonberg’s amazing score is at points so emotional it could reduce you to tears, but also contains lighter moments, which are generally brought to life through the characters of Monsieur and Madame Thenardier, the innkeeper and his wife.
In 2012, the motion picture of the musical was released, featuring actors such as Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmane, Amanda Seyfried and Anne Hathaway, and both the 10th and 25th anniversary concerts of the show provide good staging and spectacle from your sofa. But if you want the original, and in my opinion, the best experience of this story, then a trip to see it in the theatre is not to be missed!
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