LES MIS�RABLES A Musical in 2 Acts, a Prologue and 4 Scenes by Alain Boublil and Claude Michel Sch�nberg, based on the novel by Victor Hugo : Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Music by Claude Michel Sch�nberg : Original text by Alain Boublil, Jean Marc Natel and James Fenton Palais de Sport, Paris - 17 September, 1980 (107 perfs) Barbican Centre, London - 30 September, 1985 (63 perfs) Transferred to Palace Theatre, London - 4 December, 1985 -still running Broadway Theatre, New York - 12 March, 1987 - still running THE STORY: Prologue - 1815 Digne Jean Valjean, released on parole after 19 years on the chain gang, finds that the yellow ticket-of-leave he must, by law, display condemns him to being an outcast . Only the saintly bishop of Digne treats him kindly and Valjean, embittered by years of hardship, repays him by stealing some silver. Valjean is caught and brought back by police. He is astonished when the Bishop lies to the police to save him. He also gives him two candlesticks. Valjean vows to start his life anew. 1823 Montreuil-sur-Mer Eight years have passed and Valjean, having broken his parole and changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine, has risen to become both a factory owner and Mayor. One of his workers, Fantine, has a secret illegitimate child. When the other women discover this, they demand her dismissal. The foreman, whose advances she has rejected, throws her out. Desperate for money to pay for medicines for her daughter, Fantine sells her locket, her hair and then joins the whores in selling herself. Utterly degraded by her new trade, she gets into a fight with a prospective customer and is about to be taken to prison by Javert when "The Mayor" arrives and demands she be taken to hospital instead. The Mayor then rescues a man pinned to the ground by a runaway cart. Javert is reminded of the abnormal strength of convict 24601, Jean Valjean, a parole-breaker, whom he has been tracking for years but who, he says, has just been recaptured. Valjean, unable to see an innocent man go to prison in his place, confesses to the court that he is, in fact, prisoner 24601. At the hospital, Valjean promises the dying Fantine to find and look after her daughter Cosette. Javert arrives to arrest him but Valjean escapes. 1823 Montfermeil Cosette has been lodged for five years with the Th�nardiers who run an inn, horribly abusing the little girl whom they use as a skivvy while indulging their own daughter, Eponine. Valjean finds Cosette fetching water in the dark. He pays the Th�nardiers to let him take Cosette away and he takes her to Paris. But, Javert is still on his trail .... 1832 Paris Nine years later there is great unrest in the city because of the likely demise of the popular leader, G�n�ral Lemarque, the only man left in the government who shows any feeling for the poor. The urchin Gavroche us in his element mixing with the whores and beggars of the capital. Among the street gangs is one led by Th�nardier and his wife, which sets upon Valjean and Cosette. They are rescued by Javert who does not recognise Valjean until after he has made good his escape. The Th�nardier's daughter Eponine, who is secretly in love with the student Marius, reluctantly agrees to help him find Cosette with whom he has fallen in love. At a political meeting in a small caf�, a group of idealistic students prepare for the revolution they are sure will erupt on the death of G�n�ral Lemarque. When Gavroche brings the news of the General's death, the students, led by Enjolras, stream out onto the streets to whip up popular support, only Marius is distracted by thoughts of the mysterious Cosette. Cosette is consumed with thoughts of Marius, with whom she has fallen in love. Valjean realises that his "daughter" is changing very quickly but refuses to tell her anything of her past. In spite of her own feelings for Marius, Eponine sadly brings him to Cosette and then prevents an attempt by her father's gang to rob Valjean's house. Valjean, convinced it was Javert who was lurking outside his house, tells Cosette they must prepare to flee the country. On the eve of the revolution, the students and Javert see the situation from their different viewpoints. Cosette and Marius part in despair of ever meeting again; Eponine mourns the loss of Marius; and Valjean looks forward to the security of exile. The Th�nardiers, meanwhile, dream of rich pickings underground from the chaos to come. The students prepare to build a barricade. Marius, noticing that Eponine has joined the insurrection, sends her with a letter to Cosette. It is intercepted at the Rue Plumet by Valjean. Eponine decides, despite what he has said to her, to rejoin Marius at the barricade. The barricade is built and the revolutionaries defy an army warning that they must give up or die. Gavroche exposes Javert as a police spy. In trying to return to the barricade, Eponine is shot and killed. Valjean arrives at the barricade in search of Marius. He has the opportunity of killing Javert but, instead, lets him go. The students settle down for a night manning the barricade and in the quiet of the night, Valjean prays to God to save Marius from the onslaught which is to come. The next day, with ammunition running low, Gavroche runs out to collect more - and is shot. The rebels are all killed, including their leader, Enjolras. Valjean escapes into the sewers with an unconscious Marius. After meeting Th�nardier, who is robbing the rebel corpses, he emerges into the light only to meet Javert once more. He pleads for time to deliver the young man to hospital. Javert decides to let him go and, in his uncompromising principles of justice having been shattered by Valjean's demonstration of mercy, he kills himself by throwing himself into the swollen Seine. A number of Parisian women come to terms with the failed insurrection and its victims. Unaware of the identity of his rescuer, Marius recovers in Cosette's care. Valjean confesses the truth of his past to Marius and insists that after the young couple are married, he must go away rather than taint the sanctity and safety of their union. At Marius and Cosette's wedding, the Th�nardiers try to blackmail Marius. Th�nardier says Cosette's "father" is a murderer and, as proof, produces a ring which he has stolen from one of the corpses in the sewers the night the barricades fell. It is Marius' own ring and he realises that it was Valjean who rescued him that night. He and Cosette go to Valjean where Cosette learns, for the first time, of her own history before the old man dies, joining the spirit of Fantine, Eponine and all who died at the barricades. Musical Numbers Prologue - The Company Soliloquy - Jean Valjean At the End of the Day - Unemployed, Factory Workers I Dreamed a Dream - Fantine Lovely Ladies - Ladies, Clients Who Am I? - Jean Valjean Come to Me - Fantine, Jean Valjean Castle on a Cloud - Young Cosette Master of the House - Th�nardier, Mme Th�nardier, Customers Th�nardier Waltz (of Treachery) - Th�nardier, Mme Th�nardier, Jean Valjean Look Down - Gavroche, Beggars Stars - Javert Red and Black - Enjolras, Marius, Students Do You Hear the People Sing? - Enjolras, Students, Citizens In My Life - Cosette, Jean Valjean, Marius, Eponine A Heart Full of Love - Cosette, Marius, Eponine One Day More - The Company On My Own - Eponine A Little Fall of Rain - Eponine, Marius Drink with Me to Days Gone By - Students, Women Bring Him Home - Jean Valjean Dog Eats Dog - Th�nardier Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide) - Javert Turning - Women Empty Chairs at Empty Tables - Marius Wedding Chorale - Guests Beggars at the Feast - Th�nardier, Mme Th�nardier Finale - The Company Scenes and Settings Prologue: Digne, (France). 1815. Act 1 Scene I: Montreuil-sur-Mer, 1823. Scene 2: Montfermeil, 1823. Scene 3: Paris, 1832. Act 2 Paris, 1832. http://www.nodanw.com/shows_m/miserables.htm
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