Madeleine MacMillan (Fontaine)
Mme. Panaccione
Elementary French 1
Les Misérables
 Victor Hugo began writing it in 1836
 It was published in 1862
 It is the story of Jean Valjean, a convict on the run and
the people he meets along the way
•In 1980 Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel
Schönberg created the first musical version
of Les Misérables
•It was more of a French opera then a musical
 Some of the songes now well know in les mis were not
part of the otiginal version
 “Stars” Javert’s Soliloquy
 “Carousel” Sung by the women after the Barricades
 The women’s song ‘Carousel’ was only written after
rehearsals started out of sheer consideration of the
women in the cast
 In the French music, the prostitues song ‘Lovely
Ladies’ had no erotic connotations whatsoever
 Was originally called ‘La Nuit’
‘Lovely Ladies’
'Stars’
•Some of the songs, such as, ‘On My Own’ which is
sung by Éponine, were originally sung by other
characters
•‘On My Own’ (originally ‘La Misère’) was sung by
Fantine
•Adapting ‘On My Own’ from the original French was
the one that gave writers the most trouble.
•The melody is repeated several times throughout the
musical
 ‘Bring Him Home’ is the most moving song in the
musical
 It was written as a much needed lyrical movement
after the barricade
 While it is the most moving, it was also the most
difficult piece of music to put lyrics to
 ‘Bring Him Home’ is a prayer of Valjean’s life
‘Bring Him Home’
•As many of the cast as possible was chosen from the
ranks of the Royal Shakespeare Company
Alun Armstrong and Sue Jane Tanner as
the Thénardiers
Roger Allam as Javert
•Several internationally know stars came to london on
their own to audition for the lead role of Jean Valjean
• Topol, the Israeli star of Fiddler on the Roof
• Max Von Saydow
•They all had outstanding acting abilities they just
weren’t quit right for the part vocally
 Colm Wilkinson was eventually cast as Jean Valjean
 He was the last person to be cast before rehearsals
started
 Considerable musical rewriting when they cast
Wilkinson because originally the part of Valjean was
written for a deep baritone
 Wilkinson was a Tenor
The very last person cast for Les Misérables was Patti
LuPone as Fantine
• She was cast two weeks into rehearsals
 There where Major problems on how to make the
scenery fit on the stage and how to change it
•Opening Night was October 8th,
1985 at the Barbican
•Some of the musical changes
were made within hours of the
Première
•The initial reviews of Les Mis
were “non-selling reviews”
•The negative reviews
outnumbered to good
•However even with the reviews
the Barbican show was sold out
•Over 60 million people in 42 countries have seen Les
Misérables
•It has been preformed in 21 different languages
•Les Misérables is the worlds longest running musical
 A movie version of the musical is coming out on
December 25th, 2012
 Jean Valjean-Hugh Jackman
 Fantine- Anne Hathaway
 Javert- Russel Crowe
 Cosette- Amanda Seyfried
 Marius-Eddie Redmayne
 Madame Thénardier-Helena Bonham Carter
 Éponine-Samantha Barks
 Thénardier-Sacha Baron Cohen
The Complete Book of Les Misérables by Edward Behr
http://www.lesmiserablesfilm.com/
http://www.lesmis.com/