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Les Misérables

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This article is about the novel. For the musical theatre adaptation, see Les Misérables (musical). For other uses, see Les Misérables (disambiguation).
Les Misérables
Jean Valjean.JPG
Jean Valjean as Monsieur Madeleine. Illustration by Gustave Brion

Author
Victor Hugo
Illustrator
Emile Bayard
Country
France
Language
French
Genre
Epic novel, historical fiction
Publisher
A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.

Publication date
 1862
Les Misérables (pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/ or /leɪ ˈmɪzəˌrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeʁabl(ə)]) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including The Miserable, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims and The Dispossessed.[1] Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.[2]
Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for the stage, television, and film, including a musical and a film adaptation of that musical.
The appearance of the novel was highly anticipated and advertised. Critical reactions were diverse, but most of them were negative. Commercially, the work was a great success globally.


Contents  [hide]
1 Novel form 1.1 Digressions
2 Hugo's sources
3 Plot 3.1 Volume I – Fantine
3.2 Volume II – Cosette
3.3 Volume III – Marius
3.4 Volume IV – The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis
3.5 Volume V – Jean Valjean
4 Characters 4.1 Major
4.2 Friends of the ABC
4.3 Minor
4.4 The narrator
5 Contemporary reception
6 English translations
7 Adaptations 7.1 Sequels
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Novel form
Upton Sinclair described the novel as "one of the half-dozen greatest novels of the world," and remarked that Hugo set forth the purpose of Les Misérables in the Preface:[3]

So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.
Towards the end of the novel, Hugo explains the work's overarching structure:[4]

The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details ... a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end.
The novel contains various subplots, but the main thread is the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean, who becomes a force for good in the world but cannot escape his criminal past. The novel is divided into five volumes, each volume divided into several books, and subdivided into chapters, for a total of 48 books and 365 chapters. Each chapter is relatively short, commonly no longer than a few pages.
The novel as a whole is one of the longest ever written,[5] with approximately 1,500 pages in unabridged English-language editions,[6] and 1,900 pages in French.[7][8][9] Hugo explained his ambitions for the novel to his Italian publisher:[10]

I don't know whether it will be read by everyone, but it is meant for everyone. It addresses England as well as Spain, Italy as well as France, Germany as well as Ireland, the republics that harbour slaves as well as empires that have serfs. Social problems go beyond frontiers. Humankind's wounds, those huge sores that litter the world, do not stop at the blue and red lines drawn on maps. Wherever men go in ignorance or despair, wherever women sell themselves for bread, wherever children lack a book to learn from or a warm hearth, Les Miserables knocks at the door and says: "open up, I am here for you".
Digressions
More than a quarter of the novel—by one count 955 of 2,783 pages—is devoted to essays that argue a moral point or display Hugo's encyclopedic knowledge, but do not advance the plot, nor even a subplot, a method Hugo used in such other works as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Toilers of the Sea. One biographer noted that "the digressions of genius are easily pardoned".[11] The topics Hugo addresses include cloistered religious orders, the construction of the Paris sewers, argot, and the street urchins of Paris. The one about convents he titles "Parenthesis" to alert the reader to its irrelevance to the story line.[12] He devotes another 19 chapters to Waterloo, the battlefield Hugo visited in 1861 and where he finished writing the novel. It opens volume 2 with such a change of subject as to seem the beginning of an entirely different work. One critic has called this "the spiritual gateway" to the novel, as its chance encounter of Thénardier and Colonel Pontmercy foreshadows so many of the novel's encounters "blending chance and necessity", a "confrontation of heroism and villainy".[13]
Even when not turning to other subjects outside his narrative, Hugo sometimes interrupts the straightforward recitation of events, his voice and control of the story line unconstrained by time and sequence. The novel opens with a statement about the bishop of Digne in 1815 and immediately shifts: "Although these details in no way essentially concern that which we have to tell..." Only after 14 chapters does Hugo pick up the opening thread again, "In the early days of the month of October, 1815...", to introduce Jean Valjean.[14]
Hugo's sources



 Eugene Vidocq, whose career provided a model for the character of Jean Valjean
Valjean's character is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq. Vidocq, an ex-convict, became the head of an undercover police unit and later founded France's first private detective agency. He was also a businessman and was widely noted for his social engagement and philanthropy. Vidocq helped Hugo with his research for Claude Gueux and Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man).[citation needed] In 1828, Vidocq, already pardoned, saved one of the workers in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders as Valjean does.[15] Hugo's description of Valjean rescuing a sailor on the Orion drew almost word for word on a friend's letter describing such an incident.[citation needed] Hugo used Bienvenu de Miollis (1753–1843), the Bishop of Digne during the time in which Valjean encounters Myriel, as the model for Myriel.[16]
In 1841, Hugo saved a prostitute from arrest for assault. He used a short part of his dialogue with the police when recounting Valjean's rescue of Fantine in the novel.[17] On 22 February 1846, when he had begun work on the novel, Hugo witnessed the arrest of a bread thief while a Duchess and her child watched the scene pitilessly from their coach.[18][19] He spent several vacations in Montreuil-sur-Mer, which became the model for the town he calls M____-sur-M__.[20] During the 1832 revolt, Hugo walked the streets of Paris, saw the barricades blocking his way at points, and had to take shelter from gunfire.[21] He participated more directly in the 1848 Paris insurrection, helping to smash barricades and suppress both the popular revolt and its monarchist allies.[22]
Plot
Volume I – Fantine



Fantine by Margaret Hall
The story begins in 1815 in Digne, as the peasant Jean Valjean, just released from 19 years' imprisonment in the galleys—five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts—is turned away by innkeepers because his yellow passport marks him as a former convict. He sleeps on the street, angry and bitter.
Digne's benevolent Bishop Myriel gives him shelter. At night, Valjean runs off with Myriel's silverware. When the police capture Valjean, Myriel pretends that he has given the silverware to Valjean and presses him to take two silver candlesticks as well, as if he had forgotten to take them. The police accept his explanation and leave. Myriel tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, and that he should use money from the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.
Valjean broods over Myriel's words. When opportunity presents itself, purely out of habit, he steals a 40-sous coin from 12-year-old Petit Gervais and chases the boy away. He quickly repents and searches the city in panic for Gervais. At the same time, his theft is reported to the authorities. Valjean hides as they search for him, because if apprehended he will be returned to the galleys for life as a repeat offender.
Six years pass and Valjean, using the alias Monsieur Madeleine, has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of a town identified only as M____-sur-M__ (i.e., Montreuil-sur-Mer). Walking down the street, he sees a man named Fauchelevent pinned under the wheels of a cart. When no one volunteers to lift the cart, even for pay, he decides to rescue Fauchelevent himself. He crawls underneath the cart, manages to lift it, and frees him. The town's police inspector, Inspector Javert, who was an adjutant guard at the Bagne of Toulon during Valjean's incarceration, becomes suspicious of the mayor after witnessing this remarkable feat of strength. He has known only one other man, a convict named Jean Valjean, who could accomplish it.
Years earlier in Paris, a grisette named Fantine was very much in love with Félix Tholomyès. His friends, Listolier, Fameuil, and Blachevelle were also paired with Fantine's friends Dahlia, Zéphine, and Favourite. The men abandon the women, treating their relationships as youthful amusements. Fantine must draw on her own resources to care for her and Tholomyès' daughter, Cosette. When Fantine arrives at Montfermeil, she leaves Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, a corrupt innkeeper and his selfish, cruel wife.
Fantine is unaware that they are abusing her daughter and using her as forced labor for their inn, and continues to try to meet their growing, extortionate and fictitious demands. She is later fired from her job at Jean Valjean's factory, because of the discovery of her daughter, who was born out of wedlock. Meanwhile, the Thénardiers' monetary demands continue to grow. In desperation, Fantine sells her hair and two front teeth, and she resorts to prostitution to pay the Thénardiers. Fantine is slowly dying from an unspecified disease.
A dandy named Bamatabois harasses Fantine in the street, and she reacts by striking him. Javert arrests Fantine. She begs to be released so that she can provide for her daughter, but Javert sentences her to six months in prison. Valjean (Mayor Madeleine) intervenes and orders Javert to release her. Javert resists but Valjean prevails. Valjean, feeling responsible because his factory turned her away, promises Fantine that he will bring Cosette to her. He takes her to a hospital.
Javert comes to see Valjean again. Javert admits that after being forced to free Fantine, he reported him as Valjean to the French authorities. He tells Valjean he realizes he was wrong, because the authorities have identified someone else as the real Jean Valjean, have him in custody, and plan to try him the next day. Valjean is torn, but decides to reveal himself to save the innocent man, whose real name is Champmathieu. He travels to attend the trial and there reveals his true identity. Valjean returns to M____-sur-M__ to see Fantine, followed by Javert, who confronts him in her hospital room.
After Javert grabs Valjean, Valjean asks for three days to bring Cosette to Fantine, but Javert refuses. Fantine discovers that Cosette is not at the hospital and fretfully asks where she is. Javert orders her to be quiet, and then reveals to her Valjean's real identity. Weakened by the severity of her illness, she falls back in shock and dies. Valjean goes to Fantine, speaks to her in an inaudible whisper, kisses her hand, and then leaves with Javert. Later, Fantine's body is unceremoniously thrown into a public grave.
Volume II – Cosette



 Portrait of "Cosette" by Emile Bayard, from the original edition of Les Misérables (1862)
Valjean escapes, is recaptured, and is sentenced to death. The king commutes his sentence to penal servitude for life. While imprisoned at the military port of Toulon, Valjean, at great personal risk, rescues a sailor caught in the ship's rigging. Spectators call for his release. Valjean fakes his own death by allowing himself to fall into the ocean. Authorities report him dead and his body lost.
Valjean arrives at Montfermeil on Christmas Eve. He finds Cosette fetching water in the woods alone and walks with her to the inn. He orders a meal and observes how the Thénardiers abuse her, while pampering their own daughters Éponine and Azelma, who mistreat Cosette for playing with their doll. Valjean leaves and returns to make Cosette a present of an expensive new doll which, after some hesitation, she happily accepts. Éponine and Azelma are envious. Madame Thénardier is furious with Valjean, while her husband makes light of Valjean's behaviour, caring only that he pay for his food and lodging.
The next morning, Valjean informs the Thénardiers that he wants to take Cosette with him. Madame Thénardier immediately accepts, while Thénardier pretends to love Cosette and be concerned for her welfare, reluctant to give her up. Valjean pays the Thénardiers 1,500 francs, and he and Cosette leave the inn. Thénardier, hoping to swindle more out of Valjean, runs after them, holding the 1,500 francs, and tells Valjean he wants Cosette back. He informs Valjean that he cannot release Cosette without a note from the child's mother. Valjean hands Thénardier Fantine's letter authorizing the bearer to take Cosette. Thénardier then demands that Valjean pay a thousand crowns, but Valjean and Cosette leave. Thénardier regrets that he did not bring his gun and turns back toward home.
Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris. Valjean rents new lodgings at Gorbeau House, where he and Cosette live happily. However, Javert discovers Valjean's lodgings there a few months later. Valjean takes Cosette and they try to escape from Javert. They soon find shelter in the Petit-Picpus convent with the help of Fauchelevent, the man whom Valjean once rescued from being crushed under a cart and who has become the convent's gardener. Valjean also becomes a gardener and Cosette becomes a student at the convent school.
Volume III – Marius
Eight years later, the Friends of the ABC, led by Enjolras, are preparing an act of anti-Orléanist civil unrest on the eve of the Paris uprising on 5–6 June 1832, following the death of General Lamarque, the only French leader who had sympathy towards the working class. Lamarque was a victim of a major cholera epidemic that had ravaged the city, particularly its poor neighborhoods, arousing suspicion that the government had been poisoning wells. The Friends of the ABC are joined by the poor of the Cour des miracles, including the Thénardiers' eldest son Gavroche, who is a street urchin.
One of the students, Marius Pontmercy, has become alienated from his family (especially his grandfather M. Gillenormand) because of his liberal views. After the death of his father Colonel Georges Pontmercy, Marius discovers a note from him instructing his son to provide help to a sergeant named Thénardier who saved Pontmercy's life at Waterloo – in reality Thénardier was looting corpses and only saved Pontmercy's life by accident; he had called himself a sergeant under Napoleon to avoid exposing himself as a robber.
At the Luxembourg Gardens, Marius falls in love with the now grown and beautiful Cosette. The Thénardiers have also moved to Paris and now live in poverty after losing their inn. They live under the surname "Jondrette" at Gorbeau House (coincidentally, the same building Valjean and Cosette briefly lived in after leaving the Thénardiers' inn). Marius lives there as well, next door to the Thénardiers.
Éponine, now ragged and emaciated, visits Marius at his apartment to beg for money. To impress him, she tries to prove her literacy by reading aloud from a book and by writing "The Cops Are Here" on a sheet of paper. Marius pities her and gives her some money. After Éponine leaves, Marius observes the "Jondrettes" in their apartment through a crack in the wall. Éponine comes in and announces that a philanthropist and his daughter are arriving to visit them. In order to look poorer, Thénardier puts out the fire and breaks a chair. He also orders Azelma to punch out a window pane, which she does, resulting in cutting her hand (as Thénardier had hoped).
The philanthropist and his daughter enter—actually Valjean and Cosette. Marius immediately recognizes Cosette. After seeing them, Valjean promises them he will return with rent money for them. After he and Cosette leave, Marius asks Éponine to retrieve her address for him. Éponine, who is in love with Marius herself, reluctantly agrees to do so. The Thénardiers have also recognized Valjean and Cosette, and vow their revenge. Thénardier enlists the aid of the Patron-Minette, a well-known and feared gang of murderers and robbers.
Marius overhears Thénardier's plan and goes to Javert to report the crime. Javert gives Marius two pistols and instructs him to fire one into the air if things get dangerous. Marius returns home and waits for Javert and the police to arrive. Thénardier sends Éponine and Azelma outside to look out for the police. When Valjean returns with rent money, Thénardier, with Patron-Minette, ambushes him and he reveals his real identity to Valjean. Marius recognizes Thénardier as the man who "saved" his father's life at Waterloo and is caught in a dilemma.
He tries to find a way to save Valjean while not betraying Thénardier. Valjean denies knowing Thénardier and tells him that they have never met. Valjean tries to escape through a window but is subdued and tied up. Thénardier orders Valjean to pay him 200,000 francs. He also orders Valjean to write a letter to Cosette to return to the apartment, and they would keep her with them until he delivers the money. After Valjean writes the letter and informs Thénardier of his address, Thénardier sends out Mme. Thénardier to get Cosette. Mme. Thénardier comes back alone, and announces the address is a fake.
It is during this time that Valjean manages to free himself. Thénardier decides to kill Valjean. While he and Patron-Minette are about to do so, Marius remembers the scrap of paper that Éponine wrote on earlier. He throws it into the Thénardiers' apartment through the wall crack. Thénardier reads it and thinks Éponine threw it inside. He, Mme. Thénardier and Patron-Minette try to escape, only to be stopped by Javert.
He arrests all the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette (except Claquesous, who escapes during his transportation to prison; Montparnasse, who stops to run off with Éponine instead of joining in on the robbery; and Gavroche, who was not present and rarely participates in his family's crimes, a notable exception being his part in breaking his father out of prison). Valjean manages to escape the scene before Javert sees him.
Volume IV – The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis



 Éponine prevents the robbery at Valjean's house
After Éponine's release from prison, she finds Marius at "The Field of the Lark" and sadly tells him that she found Cosette's address. She leads him to Valjean's and Cosette's house on Rue Plumet, and Marius watches the house for a few days. He and Cosette then finally meet and declare their love for one another. Thénardier, Patron-Minette and Brujon manage to escape from prison with the aid of Gavroche. One night, during one of Marius's visits with Cosette, the six men attempt to raid Valjean's and Cosette's house. However, Éponine, who has been sitting by the gates of the house, threatens to scream and awaken the whole neighbourhood if the thieves do not leave. Hearing this, they reluctantly retire. Meanwhile, Cosette informs Marius that she and Valjean will be leaving for England in a week's time, which greatly troubles the pair.
The next day, Valjean is sitting in the Champ de Mars. He is feeling troubled about seeing Thénardier in the neighbourhood several times. Unexpectedly, a note lands in his lap, which says "Move Out." He sees a figure running away in the dim light. He goes back to his house, tells Cosette they will be staying at their other house on Rue de l'Homme Arme, and reconfirms to her that they will be moving to England. Marius tries to get permission from M. Gillenormand to marry Cosette. His grandfather seems stern and angry, but has been longing for Marius's return. When tempers flare, he refuses his assent to the marriage, telling Marius to make Cosette his mistress instead. Insulted, Marius leaves.
The following day, the students revolt and erect barricades in the narrow streets of Paris. Gavroche spots Javert and informs Enjolras that Javert is a spy. When Enjolras confronts him about this, he admits his identity and his orders to spy on the students. Enjolras and the other students tie him up to a pole in the Corinth restaurant. Later that evening, Marius goes back to Valjean's and Cosette's house on Rue Plumet, but finds the house no longer occupied. He then hears a voice telling him that his friends are waiting for him at the barricade. Distraught to find Cosette gone, he heeds the voice and goes.
When Marius arrives at the barricade, the "revolution" has already started. When he stoops down to pick up a powder keg, a soldier comes up to shoot Marius. However, a man covers the muzzle of the soldier's gun with his hand. The soldier fires, fatally shooting the man, while missing Marius. Meanwhile, the soldiers are closing in. Marius climbs to the top of the barricade, holding a torch in one hand, a powder keg in the other, and threatens to the soldiers that he will blow up the barricade. After confirming this, the soldiers retreat from the barricade.
Marius decides to go to the smaller barricade, which he finds empty. As he turns back, the man who took the fatal shot for Marius earlier calls Marius by his name. Marius discovers this man is Éponine, dressed in men's clothes. As she lies dying on his knees, she confesses that she was the one who told him to go to the barricade, hoping they would die together. She also confesses to saving his life because she wanted to die before he did.
The author also states to the reader that Éponine anonymously threw the note to Valjean. Éponine then tells Marius that she has a letter for him. She also confesses to have obtained the letter the day before, originally not planning to give it to him, but decides to do so in fear he would be angry at her about it in the afterlife. After Marius takes the letter, Éponine then asks him to kiss her on the forehead when she is dead, which he promises to do. With her last breath, she confesses that she was "a little bit in love" with him, and dies.
Marius fulfills her request and goes into a tavern to read the letter. It is written by Cosette. He learns Cosette's whereabouts and he writes a farewell letter to her. He sends Gavroche to deliver it to her, but Gavroche leaves it with Valjean. Valjean, learning that Cosette's lover is fighting, is at first relieved, but an hour later, he puts on a National Guard uniform, arms himself with a gun and ammunition, and leaves his home.
Volume V – Jean Valjean
Valjean arrives at the barricade and immediately saves a man's life. He is still not certain if he wants to protect Marius or kill him. Marius recognizes Valjean at first sight. Enjolras announces that they are almost out of cartridges. When Gavroche goes outside the barricade to collect more ammunition from the dead National Guardsmen, he is shot by the troops.



 Valjean in the sewers with the wounded Marius (US edition, 1900)
Valjean volunteers to execute Javert himself, and Enjolras grants permission. Valjean takes Javert out of sight, and then shoots into the air while letting him go. Marius mistakenly believes that Valjean has killed Javert. As the barricade falls, Valjean carries off the injured and unconscious Marius. All the other students are killed. Valjean escapes through the sewers, carrying Marius's body. He evades a police patrol, and reaches an exit gate but finds it locked. Thénardier emerges from the darkness. Valjean recognizes him, but his filthy appearance prevents Thénardier from recognizing him. Thinking Valjean a murderer lugging his victim's corpse, Thénardier offers to open the gate for money. As he searches Valjean and Marius's pockets, he surreptitiously tears off a piece of Marius's coat so he can later find out his identity. Thénardier takes the thirty francs he finds, opens the gate, and allows Valjean to leave, expecting Valjean's emergence from the sewer will distract the police who have been pursuing him.
Upon exiting, Valjean encounters Javert and requests time to return Marius to his family before surrendering to him. Javert agrees, assuming that Marius will be dead within minutes. After leaving Marius at his grandfather's house, Valjean asks to be allowed a brief visit to his own home, and Javert agrees. There, Javert tells Valjean he will wait for him in the street, but when Valjean scans the street from the landing window he finds Javert has gone. Javert walks down the street, realizing that he is caught between his strict belief in the law and the mercy Valjean has shown him. He feels he can no longer give Valjean up to the authorities but also cannot ignore his duty to the law. Unable to cope with this dilemma, Javert commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine.
Marius slowly recovers from his injuries. As he and Cosette make wedding preparations, Valjean endows them with a fortune of nearly 600,000 francs. As their wedding party winds through Paris during Mardi Gras festivities, Valjean is spotted by Thénardier, who then orders Azelma to follow him. After the wedding, Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an ex-convict. Marius is horrified, assumes the worst about Valjean's moral character, and contrives to limit Valjean's time with Cosette. Valjean accedes to Marius' judgment and his separation from Cosette. Valjean loses the will to live and retires to his bed.
Thénardier approaches Marius in disguise, but Marius recognizes him. Thénardier attempts to blackmail Marius with what he knows of Valjean, but in doing so, he inadvertently corrects Marius's misconceptions about Valjean and reveals all of the good he has done. He tries to convince Marius that Valjean is actually a murderer, and presents the piece of coat he tore off as evidence. Stunned, Marius recognizes the fabric as part of his own coat and realizes that it was Valjean who rescued him from the barricade. Marius pulls out a fistful of notes and flings it at Thénardier's face. He then confronts Thénardier with his crimes and offers him an immense sum to depart and never return. Thénardier accepts the offer, and he and Azelma travel to America where he becomes a slave trader.
As they rush to Valjean's house, Marius tells Cosette that Valjean saved his life at the barricade. They arrive to find Valjean near death and are reconciled with him. Valjean tells Cosette her mother's story and name. He dies content and is buried beneath a blank slab in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Characters
Major
Jean Valjean (also known as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, and Urbain Fabre) – The protagonist of the novel. Convicted for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's seven starving children and sent to prison for five years, he is paroled from prison nineteen years later (after four unsuccessful escape attempts added twelve years and fighting back during the second escape attempt added two extra years). Rejected by society for being a former convict, he encounters Bishop Myriel, who turns his life around by showing him mercy and encouraging him to become a new man. While sitting and pondering what Bishop Myriel had said, he puts his shoe on a forty-sou piece dropped by a young wanderer. Valjean threatens the boy with his stick when the boy attempts to rouse Valjean from his reverie and recover his money. He tells a passing priest his name, and the name of the boy, and this allows the police to charge him with armed robbery – a sentence that, if he were caught again, would return him to prison for life. He assumes a new identity (Monsieur Madeleine) in order to pursue an honest life. He introduces new manufacturing techniques and eventually builds two factories and becomes one of the richest men in the area. By popular acclaim he is made mayor. He confronts Javert over Fantine's punishment, turns himself in to the police to save another man from prison for life, and rescues Cosette from the Thénardiers. Discovered by Javert in Paris because of his generosity to the poor, he evades capture for the next several years in a convent. He saves Marius from imprisonment and probable death at the barricade, reveals his true identity to Marius and Cosette after their wedding, and is reunited with them just before his death, having kept his promise to the bishop and to Fantine, the image of whom is the last thing he sees before dying.
Javert – A fanatic police inspector in pursuit to recapture Valjean. Born in the prisons to a convict father and a fortune teller mother, he renounces both of them and starts working as a guard in the prison, including one stint as the overseer for the chain gang of which Valjean is part (and here witnesses firsthand Valjean's enormous strength and just what he looks like). Eventually he joins the police force in the small town identified only as M____-sur-M__. He arrests Fantine and butts heads with Valjean/Madeleine, who orders him to release Fantine. Valjean dismisses Javert in front of his squad and Javert, seeking revenge, reports to the Police Inspector that he has discovered Jean Valjean. He is told that he must be incorrect, as a man mistakenly believed to be Jean Valjean was just arrested. He requests of M. Madeline that he be dismissed in disgrace, for he cannot be less harsh on himself than on others. When the real Jean Valjean turns himself in, Javert is promoted to the Paris police force where he arrests Valjean and sends him back to prison. After Valjean escapes again, Javert attempts one more arrest in vain. He then almost recaptures Valjean at Gorbeau house when he arrests the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette. Later, while working undercover behind the barricade, his identity is discovered. Valjean pretends to execute Javert, but releases him. When Javert next encounters Valjean emerging from the sewers, he allows him to make a brief visit home and then walks off instead of arresting him. Javert cannot reconcile his devotion to the law with his recognition that the lawful course is immoral. He takes his own life by jumping into the Seine.
Fantine – A beautiful Parisian grisette abandoned with a small child by her lover Félix Tholomyès. Fantine leaves her daughter Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, innkeepers in the village of Montfermeil. Mme. Thénardier spoils her own daughters and abuses Cosette. Fantine finds work at Monsieur Madeleine's factory. Illiterate, she has others write letters to the Thénardiers on her behalf. A female supervisor discovers that she is an unwed mother and dismisses her. To meet the Thénardiers' repeated demands for money, she sells her hair and two front teeth, and turns to prostitution. She becomes ill. Valjean learns of her plight when Javert arrests her for attacking a man who called her insulting names and threw snow down her back, and sends her to a hospital. As Javert confronts Valjean in her hospital room, because her illness has made her so weak, she dies of shock after Javert reveals that Valjean is a convict and hasn't brought her daughter Cosette to her (after the doctor encouraged that incorrect belief that Jean Valjean's recent absence was because he was bringing her daughter to her).
Cosette (formally Euphrasie, also known as "the Lark", Mademoiselle Lanoire, Ursula) – The illegitimate daughter of Fantine and Tholomyès. From approximately the age of three to the age of eight, she is beaten and forced to work as a drudge for the Thénardiers. After her mother Fantine dies, Valjean ransoms Cosette from the Thénardiers and cares for her as if she were his daughter. Nuns in a Paris convent educate her. She grows up to become very beautiful. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy and marries him near the novel's conclusion.
Marius Pontmercy – A young law student loosely associated with the Friends of the ABC. He shares the political principles of his father and has a tempestuous relationship with his royalist grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand. He falls in love with Cosette and fights on the barricades when he believes Valjean has taken her to London. After he and Cosette marry, he recognizes Thénardier as a swindler and pays him to leave France.
Éponine (the Jondrette girl) – The Thénardiers' elder daughter. As a child, she is pampered and spoiled by her parents, but ends up a street urchin when she reaches adolescence. She participates in her father's crimes and begging schemes to obtain money. She is blindly in love with Marius. At Marius' request, she finds Valjean and Cosette's house for him and sadly leads him there. She also prevents her father, Patron-Minette, and Brujon from robbing the house during one of Marius' visits there to see Cosette. After disguising herself as a boy, she manipulates Marius into going to the barricades, hoping that she and Marius will die there together. Wanting to die before Marius, she reaches out her hand to stop a soldier from shooting at him; she is mortally wounded as the bullet goes through her hand and her back. As she is dying, she confesses all this to Marius, and gives him a letter from Cosette. Her final request to Marius is that once she has passed, he will kiss her on the forehead. He fulfills her request not because of romantic feelings on his part, but out of pity for her hard life.
Monsieur Thénardier and Madame Thénardier (also known as the Jondrettes, M. Fabantou, M. Thénard. Some translations identify her as the Thenardiess) – Husband and wife, parents of five children: two daughters, Éponine and Azelma, and three sons, Gavroche and two unnamed younger sons. As innkeepers, they abuse Cosette as a child and extract payment from Fantine for her support, until Valjean takes Cosette away. They become bankrupt and relocate under the name Jondrette to a house in Paris called the Gorbeau house, living in the room next to Marius. The husband associates with a criminal group called "the Patron-Minette", and conspires to rob Valjean until he is thwarted by Marius. Javert arrests the couple. The wife dies in prison. Her husband attempts to blackmail Marius with his knowledge of Valjean's past, but Marius pays him to leave the country. He becomes a slave trader in the United States.
Enjolras – The leader of Les Amis de l'ABC (Friends of the ABC) in the Paris uprising. Passionately committed to republican principles and the idea of progress. He and Grantaire are executed by the National Guards after the barricade falls.
Gavroche – The unloved middle child and eldest son of the Thénardiers. He lives on his own as a street urchin and sleeps inside an elephant statue outside the Bastille. He briefly takes care of his two younger brothers, unaware they are related to him. He takes part in the barricades and is killed while collecting bullets from dead National Guardsmen.
Bishop Myriel – The Bishop of Digne (full name Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, also called Monseigneur Bienvenu) – A kindly old priest promoted to bishop after a chance encounter with Napoleon. After Valjean steals some silver from him, he saves Valjean from being arrested and inspires Valjean to change his ways.
Grantaire - Grantaire (Also known as "R") was a student revolutionary with little interest in the cause. A drunk, pessimistic, artistic yet sophisticated man, described as "frightfully ugly" and a renowned dancer and boxer. He admires and reveres Enjolras often describing him as "a fine statue!" Grantaire was mesmerised by Gavroche, acting as an older brother to him. Grantaire was treated disrespectfully by Enjolras, causing him to fall into a constant state of drunkenness - eventually leading to Grantaire passing out for the majority of the June Rebellion until he awakens to find Enjolras about to be executed by the National Guard. Grantaire dies alongside him, whilst finally announcing his support for the Republic.
Friends of the ABC
A revolutionary student club. In French, the letters "ABC" are pronounced identically to the French word abeissés, "the abased".
Bahorel – A dandy and an idler from a peasant background, who is known well around the student cafés of Paris.
Combeferre – A medical student who is described as representing the philosophy of the revolution.
Courfeyrac – The centre of the Friends. He is honourable and warm, and is Marius' closest companion.
Enjolras – The leader of the Friends. A resolute and charismatic youth, devoted to progress.
Feuilly – An orphaned fan maker who taught himself to read and write. He is the only member of the Friends who is not a student but a workingman.
Grantaire – An alcohol drinker with little interest in revolution. Despite his pessimism, he eventually declares himself a believer in the Republic, and dies alongside Enjolras.
Jean Prouvaire (also Jehan) – A Romantic with knowledge of Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and an interest in the Middle Ages.
Joly – A student of medicine who has unusual theories about health. He is a hypochondriac and is described as the happiest of the Friends.
Lesgle (also Lègle, Laigle, L'Aigle [The Eagle] or Bossuet) – The oldest member of the group and the son of a man who was granted a dukedom by Louis XVIII after helping him into a carriage. Considered notoriously unlucky, Lesgle started balding aged twenty-five. It is Lesgle who introduces Marius to the Friends.
Minor
Azelma – The younger daughter of the Thénardiers. Like her sister Éponine, she is spoiled as a child, impoverished when older. She abets her father's failed robbery of Valjean. On Marius and Cosette's wedding day, she tails Valjean on her father's orders. She travels to America with her father at the end of the novel.
Bamatabois – An idler who harasses Fantine. Later a juror at Champmathieu's trial.
(Mlle) Baptistine Myriel – Bishop Myriel's sister. She loves and venerates her brother.
Bougon, Madame (called Ma'am Burgon) – Housekeeper of Gorbeau House.
Brevet – An ex-convict from Toulon who knew Valjean there; released one year after Valjean. In 1823, he is serving time in the prison in Arras for an unknown crime. He is the first to claim that Champmathieu is really Valjean. He used to wear knitted, checkered suspenders.
Brujon – A robber and criminal. He participates in crimes with M. Thénardier and the Patron-Minette gang (such as the Gorbeau Robbery and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet). The author describes Brujon as being "a sprightly young fellow, very cunning and very adroit, with a flurried and plaintive appearance."
Champmathieu – A vagabond who is misidentified as Valjean after being caught stealing apples.
Chenildieu – A lifer from Toulon. He and Valjean were chain mates for five years. He once tried to unsuccessfully remove his lifer's brand TFP ("travaux forcés à perpetuité", "forced labour for life") by putting his shoulder on a chafing dish full of embers. He is described as a small, wiry but energetic man.
Cochepaille – Another lifer from Toulon. He used to be a shepherd from the Pyrenees who became a smuggler. He is described as stupid and has a tattoo on his arm, 1 Mars 1815.
Colonel Georges Pontmercy – Marius's father and an officer in Napoleon's army. Wounded at Waterloo, Pontmercy erroneously believes M. Thénardier saved his life. He tells Marius of this great debt. He loves Marius and although M. Gillenormand does not allow him to visit, he continually hid behind a pillar in the church on Sunday so that he could at least look at Marius from a distance. Napoleon made him a baron, but the next regime refused to recognize his barony or his status as a colonel, instead referring to him only as a commandant. The book usually calls him "The colonel".
Fauchelevent – A failed businessman whom Valjean (as M. Madeleine) saves from being crushed under a carriage. Valjean gets him a position as gardener at a Paris convent, where Fauchelevent later provides sanctuary for Valjean and Cosette and allows Valjean to pose as his brother.
Mabeuf – An elderly churchwarden, friend of Colonel Pontmercy, who after the Colonel's death befriends his son Marius and helps Marius realize his father loved him. Mabeuf loves plants and books, but sells his books and prints in order to live. When Mabeuf finds a purse in his yard, he takes it to the police. After selling his last book, he joins the students in the insurrection. He is shot dead raising the flag atop the barricade.
Mademoiselle Gillenormand – Daughter of M. Gillenormand, with whom she lives. Her late half-sister (M. Gillenormand's daughter from another marriage), was Marius' mother.
Magloire, Madame – Domestic servant to Bishop Myriel and his sister.
Magnon – Former servant of M. Gillenormand and friend of the Thénardiers. She had been receiving child support payments from M. Gillenormand for her two illegitimate sons, who she claimed were fathered by him. When her sons died in an epidemic, she had them replaced with the Thénardiers' two youngest sons so that she could protect her income. The Thénardiers get a portion of the payments. She is incorrectly arrested for involvement in the Gorbeau robbery.
Monsieur Gillenormand – Marius' grandfather. A monarchist, he disagrees sharply with Marius on political issues, and they have several arguments. He attempts to keep Marius from being influenced by his father, Colonel Georges Pontmercy. While in perpetual conflict over ideas, he does illustrate his love for his grandson.
Mother Innocente (a.k.a. Marguerite de Blemeur) – The prioress of the Petit-Picpus convent.
Patron-Minette – A quartet of bandits who assist in the Thénardiers' ambush of Valjean at Gorbeau House and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet. The gang consists of Montparnasse, Claquesous, Babet, and Gueulemer. Claquesous, who escaped from the carriage transporting him to prison after the Gorbeau Robbery, joins the revolution under the guise of "Le Cabuc" and is executed by Enjolras for firing on civilians.
Petit Gervais – A travelling Savoyard boy who drops a coin. Valjean, still a man of criminal mind, places his foot on the coin and refuses to return it.
Sister Simplice – A famously truthful nun who cares for Fantine on her sickbed and lies to Javert to protect Valjean.
Félix Tholomyès – Fantine's lover and Cosette's biological father. A rich, self-centered student, he abandons Fantine when their daughter is two years old.
Toussaint – Valjean and Cosette's servant in Paris. She has a slight stutter.
Two little boys – The two unnamed youngest sons of the Thénardiers, whom they send to Magnon to replace her two dead sons. Living on the streets, they encounter Gavroche, who is unaware they are his siblings but treats them like they are his brothers. After Gavroche's death, they retrieve bread tossed by a bourgeois man to geese in a fountain at the Luxembourg Gardens.
The narrator
Hugo does not give the narrator a name and allows the reader to identify the narrator with the novel's author. The narrator occasionally injects himself into the narrative or reports facts outside the time of the narrative to emphasize that he is recounting historical events, not entirely fiction. He introduces his recounting of Waterloo with several paragraphs describing the narrator's recent approach to the battlefield: "Last year (1861),on a beautiful May morning, a traveller, the person who is telling this story, was coming from Nivelles ..."[23] The narrator describes how "[a]n observer, a dreamer, the author of this book" during the 1832 street fighting was caught in crossfire: "All that he had to protect him from the bullets was the swell of the two half columns which separate the shops; he remained in this delicate situation for nearly half an hour." At one point he apologizes for intruding–"The author of this book, who regrets the necessity of mentioning himself"–to ask the reader's understanding when he describes "the Paris of his youth ... as though it still existed." This introduces a meditation on memories of past places that his contemporary readers would recognize as a self-portrait written from exile: "you have left a part of your heart, of your blood, of your soul, in those pavements." He describes another occasion when a bullet shot "pierced a brass shaving-dish suspended ... over a hairdresser's shop. This pierced shaving-dish was still to be seen in 1848, in the Rue du Contrat-Social, at the corner of the pillars of the market." As evidence of police double agents at the barricades, he writes: "The author of this book had in his hands, in 1848, the special report on this subject made to the Prefect of Police in 1832."
Contemporary reception
The appearance of the novel was a highly anticipated event as Victor Hugo was considered one of France's foremost poets in the middle of the nineteenth century. The New York Times announced its forthcoming publication as early as April 1860.[24] Hugo forbade his publishers from summarizing his story and refused to authorize the publication of excerpts in advance of publication. He instructed them to build on his earlier success and suggested this approach: "What Victor H. did for the Gothic world in Notre-Dame of Paris [The Hunchback of Notre Dame], he accomplishes for the modern world in Les Miserables".[25] A massive advertising campaign[26] preceded the release of the first two volumes of Les Misérables in Brussels on 30 or 31 March and in Paris on 3 April 1862.[27] The remaining volumes appeared on 15 May 1862. Critical reactions were wide-ranging and often negative. Some critics found the subject matter immoral, others complained of its excessive sentimentality, and others were disquieted by its apparent sympathy with the revolutionaries. L. Gauthier wrote in Le Monde of 17 August 1862: "One cannot read without an unconquerable disgust all the details Monsieur Hugo gives regarding the successful planning of riots."[28] The Goncourt brothers judged the novel artificial and disappointing.[29] Flaubert found "neither truth nor greatness" in it. He complained that the characters were crude stereotypes who all "speak very well – but all in the same way". He deemed it an "infantile" effort and brought an end to Hugo's career like "the fall of a god".[30] In a newspaper review, Charles Baudelaire praised Hugo's success in focusing public attention on social problems, though he believed that such propaganda was the opposite of art. In private he castigated it as "tasteless and inept" ("immonde et inepte").[31]
The work was a commercial success and has been a popular book ever since it was published.[32][33] While exiled in England shortly after its publication, Hugo telegraphed his English publishers a one-character query: "?". Hurst & Blackett replied: "!".[34] Translated the same year it appeared into several foreign languages, including Italian, Greek, and Portuguese, it proved popular not only in France, but across Europe and abroad.
English translations
Charles E. Wilbour. New York: Carleton Publishing Company, June 1862. The first English translation. The first volume was available for purchase in New York beginning 7 June 1862.[35] Also New York and London: George Routledge and Sons, 1879.
Lascelles Wraxall. London: Hurst and Blackett, October 1862. The first British translation.[35]
Translator identified as "A.F." Richmond, Virginia, 1863. Published by West and Johnston publishers. The Editor's Preface announces its intention of correcting errors in Wilbour's translation. It said that some passages "exclusively intended for the French readers of the book" were being omitted, as well as "[a] few scattered sentences reflecting on slavery" because "the absence of a few antislavery paragraphs will hardly be complained of by Southern readers." Because of paper shortages in wartime, the passages omitted became longer with each successive volume.[35]
Isabel Florence Hapgood. Published 1887, this translation is available at Project Gutenberg.[36]
Norman Denny. Folio Press, 1976. A modern British translation later re-published in paperback by Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-044430-0. The translator explains in an introduction that he has placed two of the novel's longer digressive passages into appendices and made some minor abridgements in the text.
Lee Fahnestock and Norman McAfee. Signet Classics. 3 March 1987. An unabridged edition based on the Wilbour translation with its language modernized. Paperback ISBN 0-451-52526-4
Julie Rose. 2007. Vintage Classics, 3 July 2008. A new translation of the full work, with a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo's life, a chronology, and notes. ISBN 978-0-09-951113-7
Christine Donougher. Penguin Classics, 7 November 2013. A new translation of the full work, with a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo's life, a chronology, and notes. ISBN 978-0141393599
Adaptations
Main article: Adaptations of Les Misérables
Since its original publication, Les Misérables has been the subject of a large number of adaptations in numerous types of media, such as books, films, musicals, plays and games.
Notable examples of these adaptations include:
The 1935 film directed by Richard Boleslawski, starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
The 1937 radio adaptation by Orson Welles.[37]
The 1958 film adaptation directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, with an international cast starring Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, and Bourvil.[38] Called "the most memorable film version", it was filmed in East Germany and was overtly political.[39]
The 1978 television film adaptation, starring Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins.
The 1980 musical, by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.[40]
The 1995 film, by Claude Lelouch , starring Jean-Paul Belmondo [41]
The 1998 film, starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush.[42]
The 2000 TV miniseries, starring Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich.[43]
The 2012 film of the musical, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway.[44]
A 2013 Japanese manga adaptation by Takahiro Arai, to be published in Shogakukan's Monthly Shonen Sunday magazine from September 2013.[45]
Sequels
Laura Kalpakian's Cosette: The Sequel to Les Misérables was published in 1995. It continues the story of Cosette and Marius, but is more a sequel to the musical than to the original novel.
In 2001, two French novels by François Cérésa that continue Hugo's story appeared: Cosette ou le temps des illusions and Marius ou le fugitif. The former has been published in an English translation. Javert appears as a hero who survived his suicide attempt and become religious; Thénardier returns from America; Marius is unjustly imprisoned.[46] The works were the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit brought by Hugo's great-great-grandson.[47][48]
See also

Portal icon Novels portal
Elephant of the Bastille
Fex urbis lex orbis
François Cérésa (in French)
Jean Val Jean, abridged version in English (1935)
References
1.Jump up ^ Novelist Susanne Alleyn has argued that "the phrase “les misérables”, which has a whole range of subtly shaded meanings in French, is much better translated into English as “the dispossessed” or even as “the outsiders” — which can describe every major character in the novel in one way or another — than simply as “the miserable ones” / “the wretched ones.” No, It’s Not Actually the French Revolution: Les Misérables and History.
2.Jump up ^ "BBC News – Bon anniversaire! 25 facts about Les Mis". BBC Online. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
3.Jump up ^ Sinclair, Upton (1915). The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. Charles Rivers Editors. ISBN 978-1-247-96345-7.
4.Jump up ^ Alexander Welsh, "Opening and Closing Les Misérables", in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 155; Vol. 5, Book 1, Chapter 20
5.Jump up ^ "Read the Ten Longest Novels Ever Written". Amazon.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
6.Jump up ^ "Les Miserables – Books by Victor Hugo". Penguin Group (USA). 3 March 1987. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
7.Jump up ^ "Hugo : Les Misérables: Amazon.fr: Victor Hugo, Maurice Allem: Livres". Amazon.fr. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
8.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables – poche – Fnac.com – Victor Hugo – Livre ou ebook". Livre.fnac.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
9.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables – poche – Fnac.com – Victor Hugo – Livre ou ebook". Livre.fnac.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 39-42
11.Jump up ^ A. F. Davidson, Victor Hugo His Life And Work (J.B. Lippincott, 1929), Kindle Location 4026, 4189
12.Jump up ^ Victor Brombert, "Les Misérables: Salvation from Below," in Harold Bloom, ed., Modern Critical Views: Victor Hugo (Chelsea House, 1988), 195
13.Jump up ^ Brombert, "Salvation from Below," 195-7
14.Jump up ^ Alexander Welsh, "Opening and Closing Les Misérables," in Harold Bloom, ed., Modern Critical Views: Victor Hugo (Chelsea House, 1988), 151-2
15.Jump up ^ Morton, James (2004). The First Detective: The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq, Criminal, Spy and Private Eye. NY: Overlook Press. pp. ??.
16.Jump up ^ Edward Behr, The Complete Book of Les Miserables (Arcade, 1993), 29
17.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo, Things Seen, vol. 1 (Glasgow and NY: George Routledge and Sons, 1887), 49–52. The chapter is title "1841. Origin of Fantine". Behr quotes this passage at length in Behr, Complete Book, 32-6.
18.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo, Choses vues: nouvelle série (Paris: Calman Lévy, 1900), 129–30
19.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 29-30
20.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 32
21.Jump up ^ Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. NY: W.W. Norton. pp. 173–4.
22.Jump up ^ Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. NY: W.W. Norton. pp. 273–6.
23.Jump up ^ Victor Brombert, "Les Misérables: Salvation from Below", in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 198–9; Vol. 2, Book 1, Chapter 1
24.Jump up ^ "Personalities.". New York Times. 10 April 1860. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
25.Jump up ^ Behr, Compete Book, 38
26.Jump up ^ La réception des Misérables en 1862 – Max Bach – PMLA, Vol. 77, No. 5 (December 1962)
27.Jump up ^ "les miserables, victor hugo, First Edition, 1862". ABE Books. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
28.Jump up ^ PDF)
29.Jump up ^ dealCOM, webmaster@dealcom.com. "Publications et écrit – CULTURESFRANCE". Adpf.asso.fr. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
30.Jump up ^ Letter of G. Flaubert to Madame Roger des Genettes – July 1862 Archived 30 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
31.Jump up ^ Hyslop, Lois Bee (October 1976). "Baudelaire on Les Misérables". The French Review 41 (1): 23–9.
32.Jump up ^ Réception des Misérables en Grèce by Marguerite Yourcenar
33.Jump up ^ Réception des Misérables au Portugal
34.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo at Encyclopædia Britannica (accessed 29 November 2012)
35.^ Jump up to: a b c Moore, Olin H. (March 1959). "Some Translations of Les Miserables". Modern Language Notes 74 (3): 240–6. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
36.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – Project Gutenberg". Gutenberg.org. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
37.Jump up ^ Radio Programs Scheduled for this Week, The New York Times, 25 July 1937
38.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
39.Jump up ^ Behr, Edward (1989). The Complete Book of Les Misérables. NY: Arcade. pp. 152–3.
40.Jump up ^ The Broadway League. "The official source for Broadway Information". IBDB. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
41.Jump up ^ AlloCine, Les Misérables, retrieved 2015-09-23
42.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
43.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
44.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
45.Jump up ^ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-07-13/cirque-du-freak-arai-launches-manga-adaptation-of-les-miserables-novel
46.Jump up ^ Riding, Alan (29 May 2001). "Victor Hugo Can't Rest in Peace, As a Sequel Makes Trouble". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
47.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables: la suite rejugée en appel". Le nouvel observateur. 30 January 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
48.Jump up ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (1 February 2007). "French Court Says Yes to Misérables Sequels". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables.
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Les Misérables
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Les Misérables

Les Misérables at CliffsNotes.com
Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
French text of Les Misérables, scroll down to see the links to the five volumes
Les Misérables at Project Gutenberg – English translation.
Review by Edwin Percy Whipple The Atlantic Monthly. July 1862.


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Les Misérables by Victor Hugo


Characters
Jean Valjean ·
 Javert ·
 Fantine ·
 Cosette ·
 Marius ·
 Éponine ·
 Enjolras ·
 Gavroche ·
 Thénardiers ·
 Bishop Myriel ·
 Patron-Minette ·
 Friends of the ABC
 

Film adaptations
1909 ·
 1917 ·
 1925 ·
 1934 ·
 1935 ·
 1948 ·
 1952 ·
 1958 ·
 1978 ·
 1982 ·
 1995 ·
 1998 ·
 2012
 

Concerts
1995 ·
 2010
 

Other adaptations
Les Misérables (musical) ·
 Les Misérables (radio) ·
 Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette ·
 Jean Val Jean ·
 List of adaptations
 

Television adaptations
Les Misérables (1974 telenovela) ·
 2000 (TV) ·
 Les Misérables (2014 telenovela)
 

Songs and soundtracks
Songs from Les Misérables ·
 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" ·
 "I Dreamed a Dream" ·
 "On My Own" ·
 "One Day More" ·
 "Suddenly" ·
 Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
 



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Victor Hugo










































































Authority control
WorldCat ·
 VIAF: 182463101 ·
 LCCN: no96003851 ·
 SUDOC: 027354636 ·
 BNF: cb13516296h (data)
 

  


Categories: Les Misérables
1862 novels
Novels set in 19th-century France
French novels adapted into films
Novels by Victor Hugo
French historical novels
Novels set in Paris
Novels adapted into plays











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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables








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Les Misérables

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This article is about the novel. For the musical theatre adaptation, see Les Misérables (musical). For other uses, see Les Misérables (disambiguation).
Les Misérables
Jean Valjean.JPG
Jean Valjean as Monsieur Madeleine. Illustration by Gustave Brion

Author
Victor Hugo
Illustrator
Emile Bayard
Country
France
Language
French
Genre
Epic novel, historical fiction
Publisher
A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.

Publication date
 1862
Les Misérables (pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/ or /leɪ ˈmɪzəˌrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeʁabl(ə)]) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including The Miserable, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims and The Dispossessed.[1] Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.[2]
Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for the stage, television, and film, including a musical and a film adaptation of that musical.
The appearance of the novel was highly anticipated and advertised. Critical reactions were diverse, but most of them were negative. Commercially, the work was a great success globally.


Contents  [hide]
1 Novel form 1.1 Digressions
2 Hugo's sources
3 Plot 3.1 Volume I – Fantine
3.2 Volume II – Cosette
3.3 Volume III – Marius
3.4 Volume IV – The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis
3.5 Volume V – Jean Valjean
4 Characters 4.1 Major
4.2 Friends of the ABC
4.3 Minor
4.4 The narrator
5 Contemporary reception
6 English translations
7 Adaptations 7.1 Sequels
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Novel form
Upton Sinclair described the novel as "one of the half-dozen greatest novels of the world," and remarked that Hugo set forth the purpose of Les Misérables in the Preface:[3]

So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.
Towards the end of the novel, Hugo explains the work's overarching structure:[4]

The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details ... a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end.
The novel contains various subplots, but the main thread is the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean, who becomes a force for good in the world but cannot escape his criminal past. The novel is divided into five volumes, each volume divided into several books, and subdivided into chapters, for a total of 48 books and 365 chapters. Each chapter is relatively short, commonly no longer than a few pages.
The novel as a whole is one of the longest ever written,[5] with approximately 1,500 pages in unabridged English-language editions,[6] and 1,900 pages in French.[7][8][9] Hugo explained his ambitions for the novel to his Italian publisher:[10]

I don't know whether it will be read by everyone, but it is meant for everyone. It addresses England as well as Spain, Italy as well as France, Germany as well as Ireland, the republics that harbour slaves as well as empires that have serfs. Social problems go beyond frontiers. Humankind's wounds, those huge sores that litter the world, do not stop at the blue and red lines drawn on maps. Wherever men go in ignorance or despair, wherever women sell themselves for bread, wherever children lack a book to learn from or a warm hearth, Les Miserables knocks at the door and says: "open up, I am here for you".
Digressions
More than a quarter of the novel—by one count 955 of 2,783 pages—is devoted to essays that argue a moral point or display Hugo's encyclopedic knowledge, but do not advance the plot, nor even a subplot, a method Hugo used in such other works as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Toilers of the Sea. One biographer noted that "the digressions of genius are easily pardoned".[11] The topics Hugo addresses include cloistered religious orders, the construction of the Paris sewers, argot, and the street urchins of Paris. The one about convents he titles "Parenthesis" to alert the reader to its irrelevance to the story line.[12] He devotes another 19 chapters to Waterloo, the battlefield Hugo visited in 1861 and where he finished writing the novel. It opens volume 2 with such a change of subject as to seem the beginning of an entirely different work. One critic has called this "the spiritual gateway" to the novel, as its chance encounter of Thénardier and Colonel Pontmercy foreshadows so many of the novel's encounters "blending chance and necessity", a "confrontation of heroism and villainy".[13]
Even when not turning to other subjects outside his narrative, Hugo sometimes interrupts the straightforward recitation of events, his voice and control of the story line unconstrained by time and sequence. The novel opens with a statement about the bishop of Digne in 1815 and immediately shifts: "Although these details in no way essentially concern that which we have to tell..." Only after 14 chapters does Hugo pick up the opening thread again, "In the early days of the month of October, 1815...", to introduce Jean Valjean.[14]
Hugo's sources



 Eugene Vidocq, whose career provided a model for the character of Jean Valjean
Valjean's character is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq. Vidocq, an ex-convict, became the head of an undercover police unit and later founded France's first private detective agency. He was also a businessman and was widely noted for his social engagement and philanthropy. Vidocq helped Hugo with his research for Claude Gueux and Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man).[citation needed] In 1828, Vidocq, already pardoned, saved one of the workers in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders as Valjean does.[15] Hugo's description of Valjean rescuing a sailor on the Orion drew almost word for word on a friend's letter describing such an incident.[citation needed] Hugo used Bienvenu de Miollis (1753–1843), the Bishop of Digne during the time in which Valjean encounters Myriel, as the model for Myriel.[16]
In 1841, Hugo saved a prostitute from arrest for assault. He used a short part of his dialogue with the police when recounting Valjean's rescue of Fantine in the novel.[17] On 22 February 1846, when he had begun work on the novel, Hugo witnessed the arrest of a bread thief while a Duchess and her child watched the scene pitilessly from their coach.[18][19] He spent several vacations in Montreuil-sur-Mer, which became the model for the town he calls M____-sur-M__.[20] During the 1832 revolt, Hugo walked the streets of Paris, saw the barricades blocking his way at points, and had to take shelter from gunfire.[21] He participated more directly in the 1848 Paris insurrection, helping to smash barricades and suppress both the popular revolt and its monarchist allies.[22]
Plot
Volume I – Fantine



Fantine by Margaret Hall
The story begins in 1815 in Digne, as the peasant Jean Valjean, just released from 19 years' imprisonment in the galleys—five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts—is turned away by innkeepers because his yellow passport marks him as a former convict. He sleeps on the street, angry and bitter.
Digne's benevolent Bishop Myriel gives him shelter. At night, Valjean runs off with Myriel's silverware. When the police capture Valjean, Myriel pretends that he has given the silverware to Valjean and presses him to take two silver candlesticks as well, as if he had forgotten to take them. The police accept his explanation and leave. Myriel tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, and that he should use money from the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.
Valjean broods over Myriel's words. When opportunity presents itself, purely out of habit, he steals a 40-sous coin from 12-year-old Petit Gervais and chases the boy away. He quickly repents and searches the city in panic for Gervais. At the same time, his theft is reported to the authorities. Valjean hides as they search for him, because if apprehended he will be returned to the galleys for life as a repeat offender.
Six years pass and Valjean, using the alias Monsieur Madeleine, has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of a town identified only as M____-sur-M__ (i.e., Montreuil-sur-Mer). Walking down the street, he sees a man named Fauchelevent pinned under the wheels of a cart. When no one volunteers to lift the cart, even for pay, he decides to rescue Fauchelevent himself. He crawls underneath the cart, manages to lift it, and frees him. The town's police inspector, Inspector Javert, who was an adjutant guard at the Bagne of Toulon during Valjean's incarceration, becomes suspicious of the mayor after witnessing this remarkable feat of strength. He has known only one other man, a convict named Jean Valjean, who could accomplish it.
Years earlier in Paris, a grisette named Fantine was very much in love with Félix Tholomyès. His friends, Listolier, Fameuil, and Blachevelle were also paired with Fantine's friends Dahlia, Zéphine, and Favourite. The men abandon the women, treating their relationships as youthful amusements. Fantine must draw on her own resources to care for her and Tholomyès' daughter, Cosette. When Fantine arrives at Montfermeil, she leaves Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, a corrupt innkeeper and his selfish, cruel wife.
Fantine is unaware that they are abusing her daughter and using her as forced labor for their inn, and continues to try to meet their growing, extortionate and fictitious demands. She is later fired from her job at Jean Valjean's factory, because of the discovery of her daughter, who was born out of wedlock. Meanwhile, the Thénardiers' monetary demands continue to grow. In desperation, Fantine sells her hair and two front teeth, and she resorts to prostitution to pay the Thénardiers. Fantine is slowly dying from an unspecified disease.
A dandy named Bamatabois harasses Fantine in the street, and she reacts by striking him. Javert arrests Fantine. She begs to be released so that she can provide for her daughter, but Javert sentences her to six months in prison. Valjean (Mayor Madeleine) intervenes and orders Javert to release her. Javert resists but Valjean prevails. Valjean, feeling responsible because his factory turned her away, promises Fantine that he will bring Cosette to her. He takes her to a hospital.
Javert comes to see Valjean again. Javert admits that after being forced to free Fantine, he reported him as Valjean to the French authorities. He tells Valjean he realizes he was wrong, because the authorities have identified someone else as the real Jean Valjean, have him in custody, and plan to try him the next day. Valjean is torn, but decides to reveal himself to save the innocent man, whose real name is Champmathieu. He travels to attend the trial and there reveals his true identity. Valjean returns to M____-sur-M__ to see Fantine, followed by Javert, who confronts him in her hospital room.
After Javert grabs Valjean, Valjean asks for three days to bring Cosette to Fantine, but Javert refuses. Fantine discovers that Cosette is not at the hospital and fretfully asks where she is. Javert orders her to be quiet, and then reveals to her Valjean's real identity. Weakened by the severity of her illness, she falls back in shock and dies. Valjean goes to Fantine, speaks to her in an inaudible whisper, kisses her hand, and then leaves with Javert. Later, Fantine's body is unceremoniously thrown into a public grave.
Volume II – Cosette



 Portrait of "Cosette" by Emile Bayard, from the original edition of Les Misérables (1862)
Valjean escapes, is recaptured, and is sentenced to death. The king commutes his sentence to penal servitude for life. While imprisoned at the military port of Toulon, Valjean, at great personal risk, rescues a sailor caught in the ship's rigging. Spectators call for his release. Valjean fakes his own death by allowing himself to fall into the ocean. Authorities report him dead and his body lost.
Valjean arrives at Montfermeil on Christmas Eve. He finds Cosette fetching water in the woods alone and walks with her to the inn. He orders a meal and observes how the Thénardiers abuse her, while pampering their own daughters Éponine and Azelma, who mistreat Cosette for playing with their doll. Valjean leaves and returns to make Cosette a present of an expensive new doll which, after some hesitation, she happily accepts. Éponine and Azelma are envious. Madame Thénardier is furious with Valjean, while her husband makes light of Valjean's behaviour, caring only that he pay for his food and lodging.
The next morning, Valjean informs the Thénardiers that he wants to take Cosette with him. Madame Thénardier immediately accepts, while Thénardier pretends to love Cosette and be concerned for her welfare, reluctant to give her up. Valjean pays the Thénardiers 1,500 francs, and he and Cosette leave the inn. Thénardier, hoping to swindle more out of Valjean, runs after them, holding the 1,500 francs, and tells Valjean he wants Cosette back. He informs Valjean that he cannot release Cosette without a note from the child's mother. Valjean hands Thénardier Fantine's letter authorizing the bearer to take Cosette. Thénardier then demands that Valjean pay a thousand crowns, but Valjean and Cosette leave. Thénardier regrets that he did not bring his gun and turns back toward home.
Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris. Valjean rents new lodgings at Gorbeau House, where he and Cosette live happily. However, Javert discovers Valjean's lodgings there a few months later. Valjean takes Cosette and they try to escape from Javert. They soon find shelter in the Petit-Picpus convent with the help of Fauchelevent, the man whom Valjean once rescued from being crushed under a cart and who has become the convent's gardener. Valjean also becomes a gardener and Cosette becomes a student at the convent school.
Volume III – Marius
Eight years later, the Friends of the ABC, led by Enjolras, are preparing an act of anti-Orléanist civil unrest on the eve of the Paris uprising on 5–6 June 1832, following the death of General Lamarque, the only French leader who had sympathy towards the working class. Lamarque was a victim of a major cholera epidemic that had ravaged the city, particularly its poor neighborhoods, arousing suspicion that the government had been poisoning wells. The Friends of the ABC are joined by the poor of the Cour des miracles, including the Thénardiers' eldest son Gavroche, who is a street urchin.
One of the students, Marius Pontmercy, has become alienated from his family (especially his grandfather M. Gillenormand) because of his liberal views. After the death of his father Colonel Georges Pontmercy, Marius discovers a note from him instructing his son to provide help to a sergeant named Thénardier who saved Pontmercy's life at Waterloo – in reality Thénardier was looting corpses and only saved Pontmercy's life by accident; he had called himself a sergeant under Napoleon to avoid exposing himself as a robber.
At the Luxembourg Gardens, Marius falls in love with the now grown and beautiful Cosette. The Thénardiers have also moved to Paris and now live in poverty after losing their inn. They live under the surname "Jondrette" at Gorbeau House (coincidentally, the same building Valjean and Cosette briefly lived in after leaving the Thénardiers' inn). Marius lives there as well, next door to the Thénardiers.
Éponine, now ragged and emaciated, visits Marius at his apartment to beg for money. To impress him, she tries to prove her literacy by reading aloud from a book and by writing "The Cops Are Here" on a sheet of paper. Marius pities her and gives her some money. After Éponine leaves, Marius observes the "Jondrettes" in their apartment through a crack in the wall. Éponine comes in and announces that a philanthropist and his daughter are arriving to visit them. In order to look poorer, Thénardier puts out the fire and breaks a chair. He also orders Azelma to punch out a window pane, which she does, resulting in cutting her hand (as Thénardier had hoped).
The philanthropist and his daughter enter—actually Valjean and Cosette. Marius immediately recognizes Cosette. After seeing them, Valjean promises them he will return with rent money for them. After he and Cosette leave, Marius asks Éponine to retrieve her address for him. Éponine, who is in love with Marius herself, reluctantly agrees to do so. The Thénardiers have also recognized Valjean and Cosette, and vow their revenge. Thénardier enlists the aid of the Patron-Minette, a well-known and feared gang of murderers and robbers.
Marius overhears Thénardier's plan and goes to Javert to report the crime. Javert gives Marius two pistols and instructs him to fire one into the air if things get dangerous. Marius returns home and waits for Javert and the police to arrive. Thénardier sends Éponine and Azelma outside to look out for the police. When Valjean returns with rent money, Thénardier, with Patron-Minette, ambushes him and he reveals his real identity to Valjean. Marius recognizes Thénardier as the man who "saved" his father's life at Waterloo and is caught in a dilemma.
He tries to find a way to save Valjean while not betraying Thénardier. Valjean denies knowing Thénardier and tells him that they have never met. Valjean tries to escape through a window but is subdued and tied up. Thénardier orders Valjean to pay him 200,000 francs. He also orders Valjean to write a letter to Cosette to return to the apartment, and they would keep her with them until he delivers the money. After Valjean writes the letter and informs Thénardier of his address, Thénardier sends out Mme. Thénardier to get Cosette. Mme. Thénardier comes back alone, and announces the address is a fake.
It is during this time that Valjean manages to free himself. Thénardier decides to kill Valjean. While he and Patron-Minette are about to do so, Marius remembers the scrap of paper that Éponine wrote on earlier. He throws it into the Thénardiers' apartment through the wall crack. Thénardier reads it and thinks Éponine threw it inside. He, Mme. Thénardier and Patron-Minette try to escape, only to be stopped by Javert.
He arrests all the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette (except Claquesous, who escapes during his transportation to prison; Montparnasse, who stops to run off with Éponine instead of joining in on the robbery; and Gavroche, who was not present and rarely participates in his family's crimes, a notable exception being his part in breaking his father out of prison). Valjean manages to escape the scene before Javert sees him.
Volume IV – The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis



 Éponine prevents the robbery at Valjean's house
After Éponine's release from prison, she finds Marius at "The Field of the Lark" and sadly tells him that she found Cosette's address. She leads him to Valjean's and Cosette's house on Rue Plumet, and Marius watches the house for a few days. He and Cosette then finally meet and declare their love for one another. Thénardier, Patron-Minette and Brujon manage to escape from prison with the aid of Gavroche. One night, during one of Marius's visits with Cosette, the six men attempt to raid Valjean's and Cosette's house. However, Éponine, who has been sitting by the gates of the house, threatens to scream and awaken the whole neighbourhood if the thieves do not leave. Hearing this, they reluctantly retire. Meanwhile, Cosette informs Marius that she and Valjean will be leaving for England in a week's time, which greatly troubles the pair.
The next day, Valjean is sitting in the Champ de Mars. He is feeling troubled about seeing Thénardier in the neighbourhood several times. Unexpectedly, a note lands in his lap, which says "Move Out." He sees a figure running away in the dim light. He goes back to his house, tells Cosette they will be staying at their other house on Rue de l'Homme Arme, and reconfirms to her that they will be moving to England. Marius tries to get permission from M. Gillenormand to marry Cosette. His grandfather seems stern and angry, but has been longing for Marius's return. When tempers flare, he refuses his assent to the marriage, telling Marius to make Cosette his mistress instead. Insulted, Marius leaves.
The following day, the students revolt and erect barricades in the narrow streets of Paris. Gavroche spots Javert and informs Enjolras that Javert is a spy. When Enjolras confronts him about this, he admits his identity and his orders to spy on the students. Enjolras and the other students tie him up to a pole in the Corinth restaurant. Later that evening, Marius goes back to Valjean's and Cosette's house on Rue Plumet, but finds the house no longer occupied. He then hears a voice telling him that his friends are waiting for him at the barricade. Distraught to find Cosette gone, he heeds the voice and goes.
When Marius arrives at the barricade, the "revolution" has already started. When he stoops down to pick up a powder keg, a soldier comes up to shoot Marius. However, a man covers the muzzle of the soldier's gun with his hand. The soldier fires, fatally shooting the man, while missing Marius. Meanwhile, the soldiers are closing in. Marius climbs to the top of the barricade, holding a torch in one hand, a powder keg in the other, and threatens to the soldiers that he will blow up the barricade. After confirming this, the soldiers retreat from the barricade.
Marius decides to go to the smaller barricade, which he finds empty. As he turns back, the man who took the fatal shot for Marius earlier calls Marius by his name. Marius discovers this man is Éponine, dressed in men's clothes. As she lies dying on his knees, she confesses that she was the one who told him to go to the barricade, hoping they would die together. She also confesses to saving his life because she wanted to die before he did.
The author also states to the reader that Éponine anonymously threw the note to Valjean. Éponine then tells Marius that she has a letter for him. She also confesses to have obtained the letter the day before, originally not planning to give it to him, but decides to do so in fear he would be angry at her about it in the afterlife. After Marius takes the letter, Éponine then asks him to kiss her on the forehead when she is dead, which he promises to do. With her last breath, she confesses that she was "a little bit in love" with him, and dies.
Marius fulfills her request and goes into a tavern to read the letter. It is written by Cosette. He learns Cosette's whereabouts and he writes a farewell letter to her. He sends Gavroche to deliver it to her, but Gavroche leaves it with Valjean. Valjean, learning that Cosette's lover is fighting, is at first relieved, but an hour later, he puts on a National Guard uniform, arms himself with a gun and ammunition, and leaves his home.
Volume V – Jean Valjean
Valjean arrives at the barricade and immediately saves a man's life. He is still not certain if he wants to protect Marius or kill him. Marius recognizes Valjean at first sight. Enjolras announces that they are almost out of cartridges. When Gavroche goes outside the barricade to collect more ammunition from the dead National Guardsmen, he is shot by the troops.



 Valjean in the sewers with the wounded Marius (US edition, 1900)
Valjean volunteers to execute Javert himself, and Enjolras grants permission. Valjean takes Javert out of sight, and then shoots into the air while letting him go. Marius mistakenly believes that Valjean has killed Javert. As the barricade falls, Valjean carries off the injured and unconscious Marius. All the other students are killed. Valjean escapes through the sewers, carrying Marius's body. He evades a police patrol, and reaches an exit gate but finds it locked. Thénardier emerges from the darkness. Valjean recognizes him, but his filthy appearance prevents Thénardier from recognizing him. Thinking Valjean a murderer lugging his victim's corpse, Thénardier offers to open the gate for money. As he searches Valjean and Marius's pockets, he surreptitiously tears off a piece of Marius's coat so he can later find out his identity. Thénardier takes the thirty francs he finds, opens the gate, and allows Valjean to leave, expecting Valjean's emergence from the sewer will distract the police who have been pursuing him.
Upon exiting, Valjean encounters Javert and requests time to return Marius to his family before surrendering to him. Javert agrees, assuming that Marius will be dead within minutes. After leaving Marius at his grandfather's house, Valjean asks to be allowed a brief visit to his own home, and Javert agrees. There, Javert tells Valjean he will wait for him in the street, but when Valjean scans the street from the landing window he finds Javert has gone. Javert walks down the street, realizing that he is caught between his strict belief in the law and the mercy Valjean has shown him. He feels he can no longer give Valjean up to the authorities but also cannot ignore his duty to the law. Unable to cope with this dilemma, Javert commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine.
Marius slowly recovers from his injuries. As he and Cosette make wedding preparations, Valjean endows them with a fortune of nearly 600,000 francs. As their wedding party winds through Paris during Mardi Gras festivities, Valjean is spotted by Thénardier, who then orders Azelma to follow him. After the wedding, Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an ex-convict. Marius is horrified, assumes the worst about Valjean's moral character, and contrives to limit Valjean's time with Cosette. Valjean accedes to Marius' judgment and his separation from Cosette. Valjean loses the will to live and retires to his bed.
Thénardier approaches Marius in disguise, but Marius recognizes him. Thénardier attempts to blackmail Marius with what he knows of Valjean, but in doing so, he inadvertently corrects Marius's misconceptions about Valjean and reveals all of the good he has done. He tries to convince Marius that Valjean is actually a murderer, and presents the piece of coat he tore off as evidence. Stunned, Marius recognizes the fabric as part of his own coat and realizes that it was Valjean who rescued him from the barricade. Marius pulls out a fistful of notes and flings it at Thénardier's face. He then confronts Thénardier with his crimes and offers him an immense sum to depart and never return. Thénardier accepts the offer, and he and Azelma travel to America where he becomes a slave trader.
As they rush to Valjean's house, Marius tells Cosette that Valjean saved his life at the barricade. They arrive to find Valjean near death and are reconciled with him. Valjean tells Cosette her mother's story and name. He dies content and is buried beneath a blank slab in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Characters
Major
Jean Valjean (also known as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, and Urbain Fabre) – The protagonist of the novel. Convicted for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's seven starving children and sent to prison for five years, he is paroled from prison nineteen years later (after four unsuccessful escape attempts added twelve years and fighting back during the second escape attempt added two extra years). Rejected by society for being a former convict, he encounters Bishop Myriel, who turns his life around by showing him mercy and encouraging him to become a new man. While sitting and pondering what Bishop Myriel had said, he puts his shoe on a forty-sou piece dropped by a young wanderer. Valjean threatens the boy with his stick when the boy attempts to rouse Valjean from his reverie and recover his money. He tells a passing priest his name, and the name of the boy, and this allows the police to charge him with armed robbery – a sentence that, if he were caught again, would return him to prison for life. He assumes a new identity (Monsieur Madeleine) in order to pursue an honest life. He introduces new manufacturing techniques and eventually builds two factories and becomes one of the richest men in the area. By popular acclaim he is made mayor. He confronts Javert over Fantine's punishment, turns himself in to the police to save another man from prison for life, and rescues Cosette from the Thénardiers. Discovered by Javert in Paris because of his generosity to the poor, he evades capture for the next several years in a convent. He saves Marius from imprisonment and probable death at the barricade, reveals his true identity to Marius and Cosette after their wedding, and is reunited with them just before his death, having kept his promise to the bishop and to Fantine, the image of whom is the last thing he sees before dying.
Javert – A fanatic police inspector in pursuit to recapture Valjean. Born in the prisons to a convict father and a fortune teller mother, he renounces both of them and starts working as a guard in the prison, including one stint as the overseer for the chain gang of which Valjean is part (and here witnesses firsthand Valjean's enormous strength and just what he looks like). Eventually he joins the police force in the small town identified only as M____-sur-M__. He arrests Fantine and butts heads with Valjean/Madeleine, who orders him to release Fantine. Valjean dismisses Javert in front of his squad and Javert, seeking revenge, reports to the Police Inspector that he has discovered Jean Valjean. He is told that he must be incorrect, as a man mistakenly believed to be Jean Valjean was just arrested. He requests of M. Madeline that he be dismissed in disgrace, for he cannot be less harsh on himself than on others. When the real Jean Valjean turns himself in, Javert is promoted to the Paris police force where he arrests Valjean and sends him back to prison. After Valjean escapes again, Javert attempts one more arrest in vain. He then almost recaptures Valjean at Gorbeau house when he arrests the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette. Later, while working undercover behind the barricade, his identity is discovered. Valjean pretends to execute Javert, but releases him. When Javert next encounters Valjean emerging from the sewers, he allows him to make a brief visit home and then walks off instead of arresting him. Javert cannot reconcile his devotion to the law with his recognition that the lawful course is immoral. He takes his own life by jumping into the Seine.
Fantine – A beautiful Parisian grisette abandoned with a small child by her lover Félix Tholomyès. Fantine leaves her daughter Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, innkeepers in the village of Montfermeil. Mme. Thénardier spoils her own daughters and abuses Cosette. Fantine finds work at Monsieur Madeleine's factory. Illiterate, she has others write letters to the Thénardiers on her behalf. A female supervisor discovers that she is an unwed mother and dismisses her. To meet the Thénardiers' repeated demands for money, she sells her hair and two front teeth, and turns to prostitution. She becomes ill. Valjean learns of her plight when Javert arrests her for attacking a man who called her insulting names and threw snow down her back, and sends her to a hospital. As Javert confronts Valjean in her hospital room, because her illness has made her so weak, she dies of shock after Javert reveals that Valjean is a convict and hasn't brought her daughter Cosette to her (after the doctor encouraged that incorrect belief that Jean Valjean's recent absence was because he was bringing her daughter to her).
Cosette (formally Euphrasie, also known as "the Lark", Mademoiselle Lanoire, Ursula) – The illegitimate daughter of Fantine and Tholomyès. From approximately the age of three to the age of eight, she is beaten and forced to work as a drudge for the Thénardiers. After her mother Fantine dies, Valjean ransoms Cosette from the Thénardiers and cares for her as if she were his daughter. Nuns in a Paris convent educate her. She grows up to become very beautiful. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy and marries him near the novel's conclusion.
Marius Pontmercy – A young law student loosely associated with the Friends of the ABC. He shares the political principles of his father and has a tempestuous relationship with his royalist grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand. He falls in love with Cosette and fights on the barricades when he believes Valjean has taken her to London. After he and Cosette marry, he recognizes Thénardier as a swindler and pays him to leave France.
Éponine (the Jondrette girl) – The Thénardiers' elder daughter. As a child, she is pampered and spoiled by her parents, but ends up a street urchin when she reaches adolescence. She participates in her father's crimes and begging schemes to obtain money. She is blindly in love with Marius. At Marius' request, she finds Valjean and Cosette's house for him and sadly leads him there. She also prevents her father, Patron-Minette, and Brujon from robbing the house during one of Marius' visits there to see Cosette. After disguising herself as a boy, she manipulates Marius into going to the barricades, hoping that she and Marius will die there together. Wanting to die before Marius, she reaches out her hand to stop a soldier from shooting at him; she is mortally wounded as the bullet goes through her hand and her back. As she is dying, she confesses all this to Marius, and gives him a letter from Cosette. Her final request to Marius is that once she has passed, he will kiss her on the forehead. He fulfills her request not because of romantic feelings on his part, but out of pity for her hard life.
Monsieur Thénardier and Madame Thénardier (also known as the Jondrettes, M. Fabantou, M. Thénard. Some translations identify her as the Thenardiess) – Husband and wife, parents of five children: two daughters, Éponine and Azelma, and three sons, Gavroche and two unnamed younger sons. As innkeepers, they abuse Cosette as a child and extract payment from Fantine for her support, until Valjean takes Cosette away. They become bankrupt and relocate under the name Jondrette to a house in Paris called the Gorbeau house, living in the room next to Marius. The husband associates with a criminal group called "the Patron-Minette", and conspires to rob Valjean until he is thwarted by Marius. Javert arrests the couple. The wife dies in prison. Her husband attempts to blackmail Marius with his knowledge of Valjean's past, but Marius pays him to leave the country. He becomes a slave trader in the United States.
Enjolras – The leader of Les Amis de l'ABC (Friends of the ABC) in the Paris uprising. Passionately committed to republican principles and the idea of progress. He and Grantaire are executed by the National Guards after the barricade falls.
Gavroche – The unloved middle child and eldest son of the Thénardiers. He lives on his own as a street urchin and sleeps inside an elephant statue outside the Bastille. He briefly takes care of his two younger brothers, unaware they are related to him. He takes part in the barricades and is killed while collecting bullets from dead National Guardsmen.
Bishop Myriel – The Bishop of Digne (full name Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, also called Monseigneur Bienvenu) – A kindly old priest promoted to bishop after a chance encounter with Napoleon. After Valjean steals some silver from him, he saves Valjean from being arrested and inspires Valjean to change his ways.
Grantaire - Grantaire (Also known as "R") was a student revolutionary with little interest in the cause. A drunk, pessimistic, artistic yet sophisticated man, described as "frightfully ugly" and a renowned dancer and boxer. He admires and reveres Enjolras often describing him as "a fine statue!" Grantaire was mesmerised by Gavroche, acting as an older brother to him. Grantaire was treated disrespectfully by Enjolras, causing him to fall into a constant state of drunkenness - eventually leading to Grantaire passing out for the majority of the June Rebellion until he awakens to find Enjolras about to be executed by the National Guard. Grantaire dies alongside him, whilst finally announcing his support for the Republic.
Friends of the ABC
A revolutionary student club. In French, the letters "ABC" are pronounced identically to the French word abeissés, "the abased".
Bahorel – A dandy and an idler from a peasant background, who is known well around the student cafés of Paris.
Combeferre – A medical student who is described as representing the philosophy of the revolution.
Courfeyrac – The centre of the Friends. He is honourable and warm, and is Marius' closest companion.
Enjolras – The leader of the Friends. A resolute and charismatic youth, devoted to progress.
Feuilly – An orphaned fan maker who taught himself to read and write. He is the only member of the Friends who is not a student but a workingman.
Grantaire – An alcohol drinker with little interest in revolution. Despite his pessimism, he eventually declares himself a believer in the Republic, and dies alongside Enjolras.
Jean Prouvaire (also Jehan) – A Romantic with knowledge of Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and an interest in the Middle Ages.
Joly – A student of medicine who has unusual theories about health. He is a hypochondriac and is described as the happiest of the Friends.
Lesgle (also Lègle, Laigle, L'Aigle [The Eagle] or Bossuet) – The oldest member of the group and the son of a man who was granted a dukedom by Louis XVIII after helping him into a carriage. Considered notoriously unlucky, Lesgle started balding aged twenty-five. It is Lesgle who introduces Marius to the Friends.
Minor
Azelma – The younger daughter of the Thénardiers. Like her sister Éponine, she is spoiled as a child, impoverished when older. She abets her father's failed robbery of Valjean. On Marius and Cosette's wedding day, she tails Valjean on her father's orders. She travels to America with her father at the end of the novel.
Bamatabois – An idler who harasses Fantine. Later a juror at Champmathieu's trial.
(Mlle) Baptistine Myriel – Bishop Myriel's sister. She loves and venerates her brother.
Bougon, Madame (called Ma'am Burgon) – Housekeeper of Gorbeau House.
Brevet – An ex-convict from Toulon who knew Valjean there; released one year after Valjean. In 1823, he is serving time in the prison in Arras for an unknown crime. He is the first to claim that Champmathieu is really Valjean. He used to wear knitted, checkered suspenders.
Brujon – A robber and criminal. He participates in crimes with M. Thénardier and the Patron-Minette gang (such as the Gorbeau Robbery and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet). The author describes Brujon as being "a sprightly young fellow, very cunning and very adroit, with a flurried and plaintive appearance."
Champmathieu – A vagabond who is misidentified as Valjean after being caught stealing apples.
Chenildieu – A lifer from Toulon. He and Valjean were chain mates for five years. He once tried to unsuccessfully remove his lifer's brand TFP ("travaux forcés à perpetuité", "forced labour for life") by putting his shoulder on a chafing dish full of embers. He is described as a small, wiry but energetic man.
Cochepaille – Another lifer from Toulon. He used to be a shepherd from the Pyrenees who became a smuggler. He is described as stupid and has a tattoo on his arm, 1 Mars 1815.
Colonel Georges Pontmercy – Marius's father and an officer in Napoleon's army. Wounded at Waterloo, Pontmercy erroneously believes M. Thénardier saved his life. He tells Marius of this great debt. He loves Marius and although M. Gillenormand does not allow him to visit, he continually hid behind a pillar in the church on Sunday so that he could at least look at Marius from a distance. Napoleon made him a baron, but the next regime refused to recognize his barony or his status as a colonel, instead referring to him only as a commandant. The book usually calls him "The colonel".
Fauchelevent – A failed businessman whom Valjean (as M. Madeleine) saves from being crushed under a carriage. Valjean gets him a position as gardener at a Paris convent, where Fauchelevent later provides sanctuary for Valjean and Cosette and allows Valjean to pose as his brother.
Mabeuf – An elderly churchwarden, friend of Colonel Pontmercy, who after the Colonel's death befriends his son Marius and helps Marius realize his father loved him. Mabeuf loves plants and books, but sells his books and prints in order to live. When Mabeuf finds a purse in his yard, he takes it to the police. After selling his last book, he joins the students in the insurrection. He is shot dead raising the flag atop the barricade.
Mademoiselle Gillenormand – Daughter of M. Gillenormand, with whom she lives. Her late half-sister (M. Gillenormand's daughter from another marriage), was Marius' mother.
Magloire, Madame – Domestic servant to Bishop Myriel and his sister.
Magnon – Former servant of M. Gillenormand and friend of the Thénardiers. She had been receiving child support payments from M. Gillenormand for her two illegitimate sons, who she claimed were fathered by him. When her sons died in an epidemic, she had them replaced with the Thénardiers' two youngest sons so that she could protect her income. The Thénardiers get a portion of the payments. She is incorrectly arrested for involvement in the Gorbeau robbery.
Monsieur Gillenormand – Marius' grandfather. A monarchist, he disagrees sharply with Marius on political issues, and they have several arguments. He attempts to keep Marius from being influenced by his father, Colonel Georges Pontmercy. While in perpetual conflict over ideas, he does illustrate his love for his grandson.
Mother Innocente (a.k.a. Marguerite de Blemeur) – The prioress of the Petit-Picpus convent.
Patron-Minette – A quartet of bandits who assist in the Thénardiers' ambush of Valjean at Gorbeau House and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet. The gang consists of Montparnasse, Claquesous, Babet, and Gueulemer. Claquesous, who escaped from the carriage transporting him to prison after the Gorbeau Robbery, joins the revolution under the guise of "Le Cabuc" and is executed by Enjolras for firing on civilians.
Petit Gervais – A travelling Savoyard boy who drops a coin. Valjean, still a man of criminal mind, places his foot on the coin and refuses to return it.
Sister Simplice – A famously truthful nun who cares for Fantine on her sickbed and lies to Javert to protect Valjean.
Félix Tholomyès – Fantine's lover and Cosette's biological father. A rich, self-centered student, he abandons Fantine when their daughter is two years old.
Toussaint – Valjean and Cosette's servant in Paris. She has a slight stutter.
Two little boys – The two unnamed youngest sons of the Thénardiers, whom they send to Magnon to replace her two dead sons. Living on the streets, they encounter Gavroche, who is unaware they are his siblings but treats them like they are his brothers. After Gavroche's death, they retrieve bread tossed by a bourgeois man to geese in a fountain at the Luxembourg Gardens.
The narrator
Hugo does not give the narrator a name and allows the reader to identify the narrator with the novel's author. The narrator occasionally injects himself into the narrative or reports facts outside the time of the narrative to emphasize that he is recounting historical events, not entirely fiction. He introduces his recounting of Waterloo with several paragraphs describing the narrator's recent approach to the battlefield: "Last year (1861),on a beautiful May morning, a traveller, the person who is telling this story, was coming from Nivelles ..."[23] The narrator describes how "[a]n observer, a dreamer, the author of this book" during the 1832 street fighting was caught in crossfire: "All that he had to protect him from the bullets was the swell of the two half columns which separate the shops; he remained in this delicate situation for nearly half an hour." At one point he apologizes for intruding–"The author of this book, who regrets the necessity of mentioning himself"–to ask the reader's understanding when he describes "the Paris of his youth ... as though it still existed." This introduces a meditation on memories of past places that his contemporary readers would recognize as a self-portrait written from exile: "you have left a part of your heart, of your blood, of your soul, in those pavements." He describes another occasion when a bullet shot "pierced a brass shaving-dish suspended ... over a hairdresser's shop. This pierced shaving-dish was still to be seen in 1848, in the Rue du Contrat-Social, at the corner of the pillars of the market." As evidence of police double agents at the barricades, he writes: "The author of this book had in his hands, in 1848, the special report on this subject made to the Prefect of Police in 1832."
Contemporary reception
The appearance of the novel was a highly anticipated event as Victor Hugo was considered one of France's foremost poets in the middle of the nineteenth century. The New York Times announced its forthcoming publication as early as April 1860.[24] Hugo forbade his publishers from summarizing his story and refused to authorize the publication of excerpts in advance of publication. He instructed them to build on his earlier success and suggested this approach: "What Victor H. did for the Gothic world in Notre-Dame of Paris [The Hunchback of Notre Dame], he accomplishes for the modern world in Les Miserables".[25] A massive advertising campaign[26] preceded the release of the first two volumes of Les Misérables in Brussels on 30 or 31 March and in Paris on 3 April 1862.[27] The remaining volumes appeared on 15 May 1862. Critical reactions were wide-ranging and often negative. Some critics found the subject matter immoral, others complained of its excessive sentimentality, and others were disquieted by its apparent sympathy with the revolutionaries. L. Gauthier wrote in Le Monde of 17 August 1862: "One cannot read without an unconquerable disgust all the details Monsieur Hugo gives regarding the successful planning of riots."[28] The Goncourt brothers judged the novel artificial and disappointing.[29] Flaubert found "neither truth nor greatness" in it. He complained that the characters were crude stereotypes who all "speak very well – but all in the same way". He deemed it an "infantile" effort and brought an end to Hugo's career like "the fall of a god".[30] In a newspaper review, Charles Baudelaire praised Hugo's success in focusing public attention on social problems, though he believed that such propaganda was the opposite of art. In private he castigated it as "tasteless and inept" ("immonde et inepte").[31]
The work was a commercial success and has been a popular book ever since it was published.[32][33] While exiled in England shortly after its publication, Hugo telegraphed his English publishers a one-character query: "?". Hurst & Blackett replied: "!".[34] Translated the same year it appeared into several foreign languages, including Italian, Greek, and Portuguese, it proved popular not only in France, but across Europe and abroad.
English translations
Charles E. Wilbour. New York: Carleton Publishing Company, June 1862. The first English translation. The first volume was available for purchase in New York beginning 7 June 1862.[35] Also New York and London: George Routledge and Sons, 1879.
Lascelles Wraxall. London: Hurst and Blackett, October 1862. The first British translation.[35]
Translator identified as "A.F." Richmond, Virginia, 1863. Published by West and Johnston publishers. The Editor's Preface announces its intention of correcting errors in Wilbour's translation. It said that some passages "exclusively intended for the French readers of the book" were being omitted, as well as "[a] few scattered sentences reflecting on slavery" because "the absence of a few antislavery paragraphs will hardly be complained of by Southern readers." Because of paper shortages in wartime, the passages omitted became longer with each successive volume.[35]
Isabel Florence Hapgood. Published 1887, this translation is available at Project Gutenberg.[36]
Norman Denny. Folio Press, 1976. A modern British translation later re-published in paperback by Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-044430-0. The translator explains in an introduction that he has placed two of the novel's longer digressive passages into appendices and made some minor abridgements in the text.
Lee Fahnestock and Norman McAfee. Signet Classics. 3 March 1987. An unabridged edition based on the Wilbour translation with its language modernized. Paperback ISBN 0-451-52526-4
Julie Rose. 2007. Vintage Classics, 3 July 2008. A new translation of the full work, with a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo's life, a chronology, and notes. ISBN 978-0-09-951113-7
Christine Donougher. Penguin Classics, 7 November 2013. A new translation of the full work, with a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo's life, a chronology, and notes. ISBN 978-0141393599
Adaptations
Main article: Adaptations of Les Misérables
Since its original publication, Les Misérables has been the subject of a large number of adaptations in numerous types of media, such as books, films, musicals, plays and games.
Notable examples of these adaptations include:
The 1935 film directed by Richard Boleslawski, starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
The 1937 radio adaptation by Orson Welles.[37]
The 1958 film adaptation directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, with an international cast starring Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, and Bourvil.[38] Called "the most memorable film version", it was filmed in East Germany and was overtly political.[39]
The 1978 television film adaptation, starring Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins.
The 1980 musical, by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.[40]
The 1995 film, by Claude Lelouch , starring Jean-Paul Belmondo [41]
The 1998 film, starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush.[42]
The 2000 TV miniseries, starring Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich.[43]
The 2012 film of the musical, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway.[44]
A 2013 Japanese manga adaptation by Takahiro Arai, to be published in Shogakukan's Monthly Shonen Sunday magazine from September 2013.[45]
Sequels
Laura Kalpakian's Cosette: The Sequel to Les Misérables was published in 1995. It continues the story of Cosette and Marius, but is more a sequel to the musical than to the original novel.
In 2001, two French novels by François Cérésa that continue Hugo's story appeared: Cosette ou le temps des illusions and Marius ou le fugitif. The former has been published in an English translation. Javert appears as a hero who survived his suicide attempt and become religious; Thénardier returns from America; Marius is unjustly imprisoned.[46] The works were the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit brought by Hugo's great-great-grandson.[47][48]
See also

Portal icon Novels portal
Elephant of the Bastille
Fex urbis lex orbis
François Cérésa (in French)
Jean Val Jean, abridged version in English (1935)
References
1.Jump up ^ Novelist Susanne Alleyn has argued that "the phrase “les misérables”, which has a whole range of subtly shaded meanings in French, is much better translated into English as “the dispossessed” or even as “the outsiders” — which can describe every major character in the novel in one way or another — than simply as “the miserable ones” / “the wretched ones.” No, It’s Not Actually the French Revolution: Les Misérables and History.
2.Jump up ^ "BBC News – Bon anniversaire! 25 facts about Les Mis". BBC Online. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
3.Jump up ^ Sinclair, Upton (1915). The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. Charles Rivers Editors. ISBN 978-1-247-96345-7.
4.Jump up ^ Alexander Welsh, "Opening and Closing Les Misérables", in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 155; Vol. 5, Book 1, Chapter 20
5.Jump up ^ "Read the Ten Longest Novels Ever Written". Amazon.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
6.Jump up ^ "Les Miserables – Books by Victor Hugo". Penguin Group (USA). 3 March 1987. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
7.Jump up ^ "Hugo : Les Misérables: Amazon.fr: Victor Hugo, Maurice Allem: Livres". Amazon.fr. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
8.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables – poche – Fnac.com – Victor Hugo – Livre ou ebook". Livre.fnac.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
9.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables – poche – Fnac.com – Victor Hugo – Livre ou ebook". Livre.fnac.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 39-42
11.Jump up ^ A. F. Davidson, Victor Hugo His Life And Work (J.B. Lippincott, 1929), Kindle Location 4026, 4189
12.Jump up ^ Victor Brombert, "Les Misérables: Salvation from Below," in Harold Bloom, ed., Modern Critical Views: Victor Hugo (Chelsea House, 1988), 195
13.Jump up ^ Brombert, "Salvation from Below," 195-7
14.Jump up ^ Alexander Welsh, "Opening and Closing Les Misérables," in Harold Bloom, ed., Modern Critical Views: Victor Hugo (Chelsea House, 1988), 151-2
15.Jump up ^ Morton, James (2004). The First Detective: The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq, Criminal, Spy and Private Eye. NY: Overlook Press. pp. ??.
16.Jump up ^ Edward Behr, The Complete Book of Les Miserables (Arcade, 1993), 29
17.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo, Things Seen, vol. 1 (Glasgow and NY: George Routledge and Sons, 1887), 49–52. The chapter is title "1841. Origin of Fantine". Behr quotes this passage at length in Behr, Complete Book, 32-6.
18.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo, Choses vues: nouvelle série (Paris: Calman Lévy, 1900), 129–30
19.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 29-30
20.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 32
21.Jump up ^ Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. NY: W.W. Norton. pp. 173–4.
22.Jump up ^ Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. NY: W.W. Norton. pp. 273–6.
23.Jump up ^ Victor Brombert, "Les Misérables: Salvation from Below", in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 198–9; Vol. 2, Book 1, Chapter 1
24.Jump up ^ "Personalities.". New York Times. 10 April 1860. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
25.Jump up ^ Behr, Compete Book, 38
26.Jump up ^ La réception des Misérables en 1862 – Max Bach – PMLA, Vol. 77, No. 5 (December 1962)
27.Jump up ^ "les miserables, victor hugo, First Edition, 1862". ABE Books. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
28.Jump up ^ PDF)
29.Jump up ^ dealCOM, webmaster@dealcom.com. "Publications et écrit – CULTURESFRANCE". Adpf.asso.fr. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
30.Jump up ^ Letter of G. Flaubert to Madame Roger des Genettes – July 1862 Archived 30 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
31.Jump up ^ Hyslop, Lois Bee (October 1976). "Baudelaire on Les Misérables". The French Review 41 (1): 23–9.
32.Jump up ^ Réception des Misérables en Grèce by Marguerite Yourcenar
33.Jump up ^ Réception des Misérables au Portugal
34.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo at Encyclopædia Britannica (accessed 29 November 2012)
35.^ Jump up to: a b c Moore, Olin H. (March 1959). "Some Translations of Les Miserables". Modern Language Notes 74 (3): 240–6. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
36.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – Project Gutenberg". Gutenberg.org. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
37.Jump up ^ Radio Programs Scheduled for this Week, The New York Times, 25 July 1937
38.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
39.Jump up ^ Behr, Edward (1989). The Complete Book of Les Misérables. NY: Arcade. pp. 152–3.
40.Jump up ^ The Broadway League. "The official source for Broadway Information". IBDB. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
41.Jump up ^ AlloCine, Les Misérables, retrieved 2015-09-23
42.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
43.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
44.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
45.Jump up ^ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-07-13/cirque-du-freak-arai-launches-manga-adaptation-of-les-miserables-novel
46.Jump up ^ Riding, Alan (29 May 2001). "Victor Hugo Can't Rest in Peace, As a Sequel Makes Trouble". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
47.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables: la suite rejugée en appel". Le nouvel observateur. 30 January 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
48.Jump up ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (1 February 2007). "French Court Says Yes to Misérables Sequels". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables.
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Les Misérables
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Les Misérables

Les Misérables at CliffsNotes.com
Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
French text of Les Misérables, scroll down to see the links to the five volumes
Les Misérables at Project Gutenberg – English translation.
Review by Edwin Percy Whipple The Atlantic Monthly. July 1862.


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Les Misérables by Victor Hugo


Characters
Jean Valjean ·
 Javert ·
 Fantine ·
 Cosette ·
 Marius ·
 Éponine ·
 Enjolras ·
 Gavroche ·
 Thénardiers ·
 Bishop Myriel ·
 Patron-Minette ·
 Friends of the ABC
 

Film adaptations
1909 ·
 1917 ·
 1925 ·
 1934 ·
 1935 ·
 1948 ·
 1952 ·
 1958 ·
 1978 ·
 1982 ·
 1995 ·
 1998 ·
 2012
 

Concerts
1995 ·
 2010
 

Other adaptations
Les Misérables (musical) ·
 Les Misérables (radio) ·
 Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette ·
 Jean Val Jean ·
 List of adaptations
 

Television adaptations
Les Misérables (1974 telenovela) ·
 2000 (TV) ·
 Les Misérables (2014 telenovela)
 

Songs and soundtracks
Songs from Les Misérables ·
 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" ·
 "I Dreamed a Dream" ·
 "On My Own" ·
 "One Day More" ·
 "Suddenly" ·
 Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
 



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Victor Hugo










































































Authority control
WorldCat ·
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Categories: Les Misérables
1862 novels
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Novels by Victor Hugo
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables









Les Misérables (musical)

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This article is about the musical theatre production. For the film adaptation of the musical, see Les Misérables (2012 film). For the original novel, see Les Misérables.

Les Misérables
LesMisLogo.png
Music
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics
Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (French lyrics)
Herbert Kretzmer (English adaptation)

Book
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Alain Boublil
Trevor Nunn and John Caird (adaptation)

Basis
1862 novel by Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
Premiere
September 24, 1980 – Palais des Sports, Paris
Productions
1980 Paris
1985 West End
1987 Broadway
1987 First US Tour
1987 Japan
1988 Second US Tour
1988 Third US Tour
1991 Paris
1991 Netherlands
1992 UK Tour
1992 Madrid
1995 10th Anniversary Concert
2000 Argentina
2002 Mexico
2006 Broadway Revival
2008 Netherlands
2008 Quebec
2009 25th Anniversary UK Tour
2010 25th Anniversary Concert
2010 Spain
2010 Fourth US Tour
2012 Film adaptation
2012 South Korea
2013 Toronto
2013 Spain
2013 Puerto Rico
2014 Broadway Revival
2015 Vancouver
Multiple productions worldwide

Awards
Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Book
Tony Award for Best Score

Les Misérables (pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeʁabl(ə)]), colloquially known in Anglo-Saxon countries as Les Mis or Les Miz (/leɪ ˈmɪz/), is a sung-through musical based on the novel Les Misérables by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer.
Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Reception
3 Emblem
4 Synopsis 4.1 Act I
4.2 Act II
5 Musical numbers
6 Characters 6.1 Casts
7 Productions 7.1 Original French production
7.2 Original West End production
7.3 Original Broadway production
7.4 2006 Broadway revival
7.5 2013 Toronto revival
7.6 2014 Broadway revival
7.7 2014 Australian revival
7.8 2016 Manila production
8 Concert productions 8.1 10th Anniversary Concert
8.2 25th Anniversary Concert
8.3 Other concert performances
9 Touring Productions 9.1 National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production
9.2 25th Anniversary Tour
10 International productions
11 Regional productions 11.1 School edition
12 Film adaptation
13 Cast recordings 13.1 English 13.1.1 Original London Cast recording
13.1.2 Original Broadway Cast recording
13.1.3 Complete Symphonic Recording
13.1.4 10th Anniversary Concert
13.1.5 Manchester Highlights
13.1.6 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast
13.1.7 25th Anniversary Concert
13.2 Other languages
14 Awards and nominations 14.1 Original West End production
14.2 Original Broadway production
14.3 2013 Toronto revival
14.4 2014 Broadway revival
14.5 2014 Australian revival
15 See also
16 References
17 External links

Background[edit]
Originally released as a French-language concept album, the first musical-stage adaptation of Les Misérables was presented at the Palais des Sports, in 1980.[1] However, the first production closed after three months when the booking contract expired.
In 1983, about six months after producer Cameron Mackintosh had opened Cats on Broadway, he received a copy of the French concept album from director Peter Farago. Farago had been impressed by the work and asked Mackintosh to produce an English-language version of the show. Initially reluctant, Mackintosh eventually agreed. Mackintosh, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, assembled a production team to adapt the French musical for a British audience. After two years in development, the English-language version opened in London on 8 October 1985, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre, then the London home of the RSC. The success of the West End musical led to a Broadway production.
Reception[edit]
See also: Long-running musical theatre productions
At the opening of the London production, critical reviews were negative. The Sunday Telegraph's Francis King described the show as "a lurid Victorian melodrama produced with Victorian lavishness" and Michael Ratcliffe in the Observer dubbed the show "a witless and synthetic entertainment", while literary scholars condemned the project for converting classic literature into a musical.[2][3] Public opinion differed: the box office received record orders. The three-month engagement sold out, and reviews improved. The London production, as of October 2014, has run continuously since October 1985: the second longest-running musical in the world after The Fantasticks,[4] the second longest-running West End show after The Mousetrap,[5] It is the longest-running musical in the West End followed by The Phantom of the Opera. In 2010, it played its ten-thousandth performance in London, at Queen's Theatre[6] On 3 October 2010, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary with three productions running in London: the original production at the Queen's Theatre; the 25th Anniversary touring production at its 1985 try-out venue, the Barbican Centre; and the 25th Anniversary concert at London's O2 Arena.[6]
The Broadway production opened 12 March 1987 and ran until 18 May 2003, closing after 6,680 performances. It is the fifth longest-running Broadway show in history and was the second-longest at the time.[7] The show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
Subsequently, numerous tours and international and regional productions have been staged, as well as concert and broadcast productions. Several recordings have also been made. A Broadway revival opened in 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre and closed in 2008, and a second Broadway revival opened in 2014 and is currently running at the Imperial Theatre. The show was placed first in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of Britain's "Number One Essential Musicals" in 2005, receiving more than forty percent of the votes.[8] A film version directed by Tom Hooper was released at the end of 2012 to generally positive reviews as well as numerous awards nominations, winning three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
Emblem[edit]



 The etching by Émile Bayard that served as the model for the musical's emblem.
The musical's emblem is a picture of the waif Cosette sweeping the Thénardiers' inn (which occurs in the musical during "Castle on a Cloud"), usually shown cropped to a head-and-shoulders portrait superimposed on the French flag. The image is based on an etching by Gustave Brion based on the drawing by Émile Bayard. It appeared in several of the novel's earliest French-language editions.
Synopsis[edit]
Act I[edit]
In Bagne prison in Toulon, France, in 1815, the prisoners work at hard labour ("Work Song"). After 19 years in prison (five for stealing bread for his starving sister's son and her family, and the rest for trying to escape), Jean Valjean, "prisoner 24601," is released on parole by the policeman Javert. By law, Valjean must display a yellow ticket-of-leave, which identifies him as an ex-convict ("On Parole"). As a convict, Valjean is shunned wherever he goes and cannot find regular work or lodging, but the Bishop of Digne offers him food and shelter. Desperate and embittered, Valjean steals the Bishop's silver and flees. He is captured by the police, but rather than turn him in, the Bishop lies and tells the police that the silver was a gift, giving Valjean a pair of silver candlesticks in addition. The Bishop tells Valjean that he must use the silver "to become an honest man" and that he has "bought (Valjean's) soul for God" ("Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven"). Ashamed and humbled by the Bishop's kindness, Valjean resolves to redeem his sins ("Valjean's Soliloquy" / "What Have I Done?"). He tears up his yellow ticket, breaking his parole but giving himself a chance to start a new life free from the stigma of his criminal past.
Eight years later, Valjean has assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Fantine is a single mother working in his factory, trying to support her daughter Cosette, who is being raised by an innkeeper and his wife while Fantine labors in the city. Unbeknownst to Valjean, the factory foreman lusts after Fantine, and when she rejects his advances he takes it out on the other workers, who resent her for it. One day a coworker provokes a fight after learning about Fantine's child, and the foreman uses the incident as a pretense to fire Fantine ("At the End of the Day"). Fantine reflects on her broken dreams and about Cosette's father, who abandoned them both ("I Dreamed a Dream"). Desperate for money, she sells her locket and hair, finally becoming a prostitute ("Lovely Ladies"). When she fights back against an abusive customer, Bamatabois, Javert, now a police inspector stationed in Montreuil-sur-Mer, arrives to arrest her. But Valjean, passing by the scene, pities Fantine, and when he realizes she once worked for him and that she blames him for her misfortune, he is guilt-stricken. He orders Javert release her before taking her to a hospital ("Fantine's Arrest").
Soon afterwards, Valjean rescues a man pinned by a runaway cart ("The Runaway Cart"). Javert, who has up until now not recognized Valjean, though he has pursued him as a fugitive all these years, witnesses the incident and becomes suspicious, remembering the incredible strength Valjean displayed in the work camp. But it turns out another man has been arrested, and is about to go to trial for breaking parole. The real Valjean realizes that this case of mistaken identity could free him forever, but he's not willing to see an innocent man go to prison in his place and so confesses his identity to the court ("Who Am I?—The Trial"). At the hospital, a delirious Fantine dreams of Cosette. Valjean promises to find Cosette and protect her ("Come to Me" / "Fantine's Death"). Relieved, Fantine succumbs to her illness and dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean back into custody, but Valjean asks Javert for time to fetch Cosette. Javert refuses, insisting that a criminal like Valjean can never change or do good. They struggle, but Valjean overpowers Javert and escapes ("The Confrontation").
In Montfermeil, the duplicitous innkeepers, the Thénardiers, use Cosette as a servant while extorting money from Fantine by claiming that Cosette is seriously ill, all the while indulging their own daughter, Éponine. Cosette dreams of a life where she is not forced to work and is treated lovingly ("Castle on a Cloud"). The Thénardiers cheat their customers and live a life of criminal depravity ("Master of the House"). Valjean meets Cosette while she's on an errand drawing water and offers the Thénardiers payment to adopt her ("The Bargain"). The Thénardiers feign concern for Cosette and bargain with Valjean, who pays them 1,500 francs in the end. Valjean and Cosette leave for Paris ("The Waltz of Treachery").
Nine years later, in 1832, Paris is in upheaval because of the impending death of General Lamarque, the only man in the government who shows mercy to the poor. Among those mingling in the streets are the student revolutionaries Marius Pontmercy and Enjolras, who contemplate the effect Lamarque's death will have on the poor and desperate in Paris; the Thénardiers, who have since lost their inn and now run a street gang; their daughter Éponine, who is now grown and has fallen in love with Marius (who remains oblivious to her affections); and the streetwise young urchin Gavroche, who knows everything that happens in the slums ("Look Down"). The Thénardiers prepare to con some charitable visitors, who turn out to be Valjean and Cosette, who has grown into a beautiful young woman. While the gang bamboozles her father, Cosette runs into Marius, and the pair fall in love at first sight. Thénardier suddenly recognizes Valjean, but before they can finish the robbery Javert, now an inspector stationed here in Paris, comes to the rescue ("The Robbery"). Valjean and Cosette escape, and only later (when Thénardier tips him off) does Javert suspect who they were. Javert makes a vow to the stars (which represent his belief in a just and ordered universe where suffering is a punishment for sin) that he will find Valjean and recapture him ("Stars"). Meanwhile, Marius persuades Éponine to help him find Cosette ("Éponine's Errand").
At a small café, Enjolras exhorts a group of idealistic students to prepare for revolution. Marius interrupts the serious atmosphere by fantasizing about his new-found love, much to the amusement of his compatriots, particularly the wine-loving Grantaire ("The ABC Café—Red and Black"). When Gavroche brings the news of General Lamarque's death, the students realize that they can use the public's dismay to incite their revolution and that their time has come ("Do You Hear the People Sing?"). At Valjean's house, Cosette thinks about her chance meeting with Marius and later confronts Valjean about the secrets he keeps about his and her own past ("Rue Plumet—In My Life"). Éponine leads Marius to Valjean's house (despite being heartbroken that he has fallen in love with another), and he and Cosette meet again and confess their mutual love ("A Heart Full of Love"). Thénardier and his gang arrive, intending to rob Valjean's house, but Éponine stops them by screaming a warning ("The Attack on Rue Plumet"). The scream alerts Valjean, who believes that the intruders were sent by Javert to ferret out his cover. He tells Cosette that it's time once again for them to go on the run.
On the eve of the 1832 Paris Uprising, Valjean prepares to go into exile; Cosette and Marius part in despair; Éponine mourns her unrequited love for Marius; Enjolras encourages all of Paris to join the revolution as he and the other students prepare for battle; Marius is conflicted whether to follow Cosette or join the uprising; Javert reveals his plans to spy on the students; and the Thénardiers scheme to profit off the coming violence. Marius decides to stand with his friends, and all anticipate what the dawn will bring ("One Day More").[6]
Act II[edit]
As the students build a barricade to serve as their rally point, Javert, disguised as a rebel, volunteers to "spy" on the government troops. Marius discovers that Éponine has disguised herself as a boy to join the rebels and sends her to deliver a farewell letter to Cosette. ("Building the Barricade—Upon These Stones") Valjean intercepts the letter and learns about Marius and Cosette's romance. Éponine walks the streets of Paris alone, imagining that Marius is there with her, but laments that her love for Marius will never be reciprocated ("On My Own").
The French army arrives at the barricade and demands that the students surrender ("At the Barricade—Upon These Stones"). Though Javert tells the students that the government will not attack that night ("Javert's Arrival"), Gavroche exposes him as a spy, and the students detain him ("Little People"). Their plan is to spark a general uprising with their act of defiance, hoping that all the people of Paris will side with them and overwhelm the army. Éponine returns to find Marius but is shot by the soldiers crossing the barricade. As Marius holds her she assures him that she feels no pain and reveals her love for him before dying in his arms ("A Little Fall of Rain"). The students mourn this first loss of life at the barricades and resolve to fight in her name, and they carry her body away while Enjolras attempts to comfort Marius, who is heartbroken over Éponine's death. Valjean arrives at the barricade, crossing the government lines disguised as a soldier ("Night of Anguish"), hoping that he might somehow protect Marius in the coming battle for Cosette's sake. The rebels are suspicious of him at first, but when the army attacks Valjean saves Enjolras by shooting a sniper, and they accept him as one of them. In return, he asks Enjolras to be the one to execute the imprisoned Javert, which Enjolras grants. But as soon as Valjean and Javert are alone, Valjean frees Javert. Javert warns Valjean that he will not give up his pursuit and rejects what he perceives as a bargain for Valjean's freedom. Valjean says there are no conditions to his release, and holds no ill-will toward Javert for doing his duty. ("The First Attack").
The students settle down for the night and reminisce about the past while also expressing anxiety about the battle to come. Enjolras tells the other students to stay awake in case the enemy strikes unexpectedly in the night, but he tells Marius to get some sleep. Grantaire gets angry and asks Marius if he fears to die as Marius wonders if Cosette will remember him if he dies. ("Drink with Me"). As Marius sleeps, Valjean prays to God to protect Marius, even at the cost of his own life ("Bring Him Home"). As dawn approaches, Enjolras realizes that the people of Paris have not risen up with them, but resolves to fight on in spite of the impossible odds ("Dawn of Anguish"). Their resolve is fired even further when the army kill Gavroche, who snuck out to collect ammunition from bodies on the other side of the barricade ("The Second Attack / Death of Gavroche"). The army gives a final warning, but the rebels fight to the last man with Enjolras exhorting "Let others rise to take our place, until the Earth is free!". Everyone at the barricade is killed except Valjean and a gravely wounded Marius, who escape into the sewers ("The Final Battle"). Javert returns to the barricade, searching for Valjean amongst the bodies, and finds the open sewer grating.
Valjean carries Marius through the sewers but collapses in exhaustion. While he is unconscious, Thénardier, who has been looting bodies ("Dog Eats Dog"), comes upon them and takes a ring from the unconscious Marius, but flees when Valjean (whom he again recognizes) regains consciousness. When Valjean carries Marius to the sewer's exit he finds Javert waiting for him. Valjean begs Javert for one hour to bring Marius to a doctor, and Javert reluctantly agrees. Javert finds himself unable to reconcile Valjean's merciful acts with his conception of Valjean as an irredeemable criminal. Refusing to compromise his principles but no longer able to hold them sacred, he commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine ("Soliloquy - Javert's Suicide)".
In the wake of the failed revolution, women mourn the deaths of the students ("Turning") and Marius, wounded but alive, despairs at the sacrifice of so many lives ("Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). As he wonders who saved his own life, Cosette comforts him and they reaffirm their blossoming romance. Valjean realises that Cosette will not need him as a caretaker once she's married and gives them his blessing ("Every Day"). Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an escaped convict and must go away because his presence endangers Cosette ("Valjean's Confession"), making Marius promise never to tell Cosette. A few months later, Marius and Cosette marry ("Wedding Chorale"). The Thénardiers crash the reception in disguise and attempt to blackmail Marius, telling him that Valjean is a murderer and that Thénardier saw him carrying a corpse in the sewers after the barricades fell. When Thénardier shows him the ring as proof, Marius realizes that it was Valjean who saved his life. The newlyweds leave to find Valjean (Marius pausing to give Thénardier a punch in the face). The Thénardiers are not discouraged, instead gloating that their craven practicality has saved their lives time and time again ("Beggars at the Feast").
At a convent, Valjean awaits his death, having nothing left to live for. The spirit of Fantine appears to him and tells him that he has been forgiven and will soon be with God. Cosette and Marius arrive to find Valjean near death. Valjean thanks God for letting him live long enough to see Cosette again and Marius thanks him for saving his life. ("Epilogue - Valjean's Death"). Valjean gives Cosette a letter confessing his troubled past and the truth about her mother. As he dies, the spirits of Fantine and Éponine guide him to Heaven reminding him that "to love another person is to see the face of God." They are joined by the spirits of those who died at the barricades, who sing that in the next world God lays low all tyranny and frees all oppressed people from their shackles ("Finale").
Musical numbers[edit]
Main article: Songs from Les Misérables

Act I


Song
Performer(s)
1 "Prologue: Work Song" Chain Gang, Javert and Valjean
2 "Prologue: On Parole" Valjean, Farmer, Labourer, Innkeeper's Wife, Innkeeper and Bishop of Digne
3 "Prologue: Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven" Constables and Bishop of Digne
4 "Prologue: What Have I Done?" Valjean
5 "At the End of the Day" Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Girls, Fantine and Valjean
6 "I Dreamed a Dream" Fantine
7 "Lovely Ladies" Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores and Pimp
8 "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert and Valjean
9 "'The Runaway Cart" Townspeople, Valjean, Fauchelevant and Javert
10 "Who Am I? / The Trial" Valjean
11 "Fantine's Death: Come to Me" Fantine and Valjean
12 "The Confrontation" Javert and Valjean
13 "Castle on a Cloud" Young Cosette and Madame Thénardier
14 "Master of the House" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Customers
15 "The Well Scene" Valjean and Young Cosette
16 "The Bargain / The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" Thénardier, Valjean, Madame Thénardier and Young Cosette
17 "Look Down" Gavroche, Beggars, Old Woman, Prostitute, Pimp, Enjolras, and Marius
18 "The Robbery" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier, Marius, Éponine and Valjean
19 "Javert's Intervention" Javert and Thénardier
20 "Stars" Javert
21 "Éponine's Errand" Éponine and Marius
22 "ABC Café / Red and Black" Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Combeferre, Feuilly, Courfeyrac, Joly, Gavroche and Students
23 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Enjolras, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Feuilly Students and Townspeople
24 "Rue Plumet – In My Life" Cosette, Valjean, Marius and Éponine
25 "A Heart Full of Love" Marius, Cosette and Éponine
26 "The Attack on the Rue Plumet" Thénardier, Thieves (Montparnasse, Brujon, Babet, Claquesous), Éponine, Marius, Valjean and Cosette
27 “One Day More" Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Company

Act II


Song
Performer(s)
28 "Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Javert, Marius, Éponine and Valjean (the OLC, OBC, and Symphonic recordings also include Prouvaire, Grantaire, and Lesgles)
29 "On My Own" Éponine
30 "At the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Students, and Army Officer
31 "Javert's Arrival" Javert and Enjolras
32 "Little People" Gavroche, Grantaire, Prouvaire, Courfeyrac, Enjolras and Javert
33 "A Little Fall of Rain" (Éponine's Death) Éponine and Marius
34 "Night of Anguish" Enjolras, Marius, Combeferre, Prouvaire, Lesgles, Joly, Valjean, Grantaire, and Students
35 "The First Attack" Enjolras, Valjean, Feuilly, Grantaire, Lesgles, Javert, Students
36 "Drink with Me" Feuilly, Grantaire, Marius, Prouvaire, Joly, Students and Women
37 "Bring Him Home" Valjean
38 "Dawn of Anguish" Enjolras
39 "The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" Enjolras, Feuilly, Marius, Valjean, Gavroche, and Grantaire
40 "The Final Battle" Army Officer, Enjolras, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac
41 "Dog Eats Dog (The Sewers)" Thénardier, Valjean, and Javert
42 "Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide)" Javert
43 "Turning" Women of Paris
44 "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" Marius
45 "Every Day" Cosette, Marius and Valjean
46 "Valjean's Confession" Marius and Valjean
47 "Wedding Chorale" Guests, Thénardier, Marius and Madame Thénardier
48 "Beggars at the Feast" Thénardier and Madame Thénardier
49 "Valjean's Death" Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius and Éponine
50 "Do You Hear The People Sing? (Reprise) / [Finale]" Full Company

Characters[edit]
Characters in order of appearance

Character[9]
Voice[10]
Description

Jean Valjean
dramatic tenor/
original production: dramatic baritone
 Prisoner 24601. After being released from imprisonment for serving nineteen years (five for stealing a loaf of bread and fourteen for multiple escape attempts), he breaks parole and, after receiving mercy from Bishop Myriel, turns his life around to live for God, showing the effects of God's grace that bring a corrupt man into virtuous and selfless living. He changes his identity, becoming the wealthy mayor of a small town. He later adopts Cosette, the only daughter of Fantine. At the end, he eventually dies and the spirit of Fantine thanks him for raising her child.
Inspector Javert
baritone Respects the law above all else and relentlessly pursues Valjean, hoping to bring the escaped convict to justice. He firmly believes in the justice of the law, and has no room for mercy. In the end he commits suicide, broken by the mercy he experiences from Valjean.
The Bishop of Digne
baritone Shelters Valjean after his release from jail and gives him gifts of silver and absolution. His acts of kindness move Valjean to surrender his ways to God, escaping the label of "criminal" and living in a new identity.
The Factory Foreman
baritone or tenor Foreman of Valjean's (Valjean has assumed the name Madeleine) jet bead factory in Montreuil-sur-Mer which employs Fantine and other workers. The Foreman fires Fantine from the factory when she persists in resisting his overt sexual advances and because it is discovered that she is the mother of an illegitimate child (Cosette) living elsewhere.
The Factory Girl
soprano Mistress to the Factory Foreman. She intercepts a letter that the Thénardiers have sent to Fantine which exposes her as the mother of an illegitimate child, and the Factory Girl shows it to the Foreman, goading him into firing her.
Fantine
lyric mezzo-soprano An impoverished factory worker who loses her job and, as a result, turns to prostitution in order to continue paying the Thénardiers to care for her illegitimate daughter, Cosette. As Fantine dies of consumption, she asks Valjean to look after her child. Ultimately she appears as a spirit and escorts the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Old Woman
contralto Affectionately called "The Hair Hag" in many of the original US companies, the Old Woman is the character who talks Fantine into selling her hair before Fantine becomes a prostitute.
Crone
soprano Also called "The Locket Crone," this character is the woman who talks Fantine into selling her precious locket for much less than it is worth.
Bamatabois
tenor An upper-class "fop" who tries to buy Fantine's services. He treats her abusively so she refuses him. When Javert enters the scene, Bamatabois tries to cover the fact that he was soliciting a prostitute by having her arrested for attacking him.
Fauchelevent
baritone or tenor In a role reduced from the novel, he appears only in the Cart Crash scene, where he is trapped under the cart and rescued by Valjean. He is an elderly man who has fallen upon hard times.
Champmathieu
silent A man who is arrested and on trial because he is believed to be Jean Valjean. Valjean, still under the name Madeleine, confesses his true identity at the trial in order to save the man.
Young Cosette
treble The eight-year-old daughter of Fantine. Cosette is in the care of the Thénardiers who are paid by Fantine to take care of her child. Unknown to Fantine, the Thénardiers force Cosette to work, and they use Fantine's money for their own needs.
Madame Thénardier
contralto Thénardier's unscrupulous wife, who abuses Cosette but dotes on her own daughter, Éponine. She is fully complicit in most of her husband's crimes and schemes.
Young Éponine
silent The pampered daughter of the Thénardiers. She grows up with Cosette and is unkind to her.
Thénardier
comic baritone A second-rate thief, Thénardier runs a small inn where he continually bilks his customers. He and his family later travel to Paris, where he sets up as the leader of a gang of street thugs and con men. An eternal survivor, Thénardier is above nothing and below everything.
Gavroche
boy soprano A streetwise urchin who knows everyone and everything that happens in the slums of Paris. He joins up with the revolutionaries, and later dies on the barricade attempting to recover ammunition from fallen soldiers.
Enjolras
baritone or tenor Enjolras is the leader of the student revolutionaries and a friend of Marius. He is Idealistic and charismatic, although his plan is doomed to failure.
Marius Pontmercy
baritone or tenor A student revolutionary, is friends with Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette, and she with him. He is later rescued from the barricades by Valjean, who ultimately gives Marius and Cosette his blessing, allowing them to be married.
Éponine
mezzo-soprano Daughter of the Thénardiers, Éponine, now a ragged street waif and a thief like her father, secretly loves Marius. Although it causes her great anguish, she helps him locate Cosette and later delivers a message he sends her from the barricade. She is killed while returning to the barricades to see Marius. In the end she appears as a spirit alongside Fantine and they guide the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Brujon
baritone or tenor A brutish and cowardly, but dissatisfied, member of Thénardier's Gang. Brujon's role in the musical expands to cover Gueulemer.
Babet
baritone or tenor A foreboding member of Thénardier's Gang.
Claquesous
baritone or tenor A member of Thénardier's Gang Quiet and masked, expert at evading the police, Claquesous might in fact be working for the law.
Montparnasse
baritone or tenor A young member of Thénardier's Gang, Montparnasse is a handsome man who appears to be close to Éponine.
Cosette
soprano Cosette, the daughter of Fantine, has grown-up to become a beautiful young woman of culture and privilege under Valjean's adoptive and loving fatherly care and protection. She falls in love with Marius, and he returns her equally strong and pure romantic feelings. She marries him at the end of the musical.
Friends of the ABC
baritones and tenors Student revolutionaries who lead a revolution and die in the process, the Friends of the ABC become martyrs for the rights of citizens. (See Members listed below)
Combeferre
Baritone or tenor Combeferre is the philosopher of the ABC group. Enjolras' second-in-command. He is described as the guide of the Friends of the ABC.
Feuilly
tenor Feuilly is the only member of the Friends of the ABC who is not a student; he is a workingman. An optimist who stands as a sort of ambassador for the "outside," while the rest of the men stand for France. He loves Poland very much.
Courfeyrac
tenor Friendly and open, Courfeyrac introduces Marius to the ABC society in the novel. He always has many mistresses, and is described as the centre of the Friends of the ABC, always giving off warmth.
Joly
tenor or baritone A medical student and a hypochondriac; best friends with Lesgles.
Grantaire
baritone Grantaire is a member of the Friends of the ABC. Though he admires Enjolras and is one of his truest friends, Grantaire often opposes Enjolras' fierce determination and occasionally acts as a voice of reason. Grantaire is also very close to Gavroche and attempts to act as his protector. Grantaire has a weakness for spirits of the alcoholic kind and is often tipsy throughout the musical, carrying a bottle of wine wherever he goes.
Jean Prouvaire
baritone or tenor Prouvaire, a poet, is the youngest student member of the Friends. Jean Prouvaire has the honor of waving the giant red flag during "One Day More" at the end of Act One.
Lesgles
baritone or tenor Best friends with Joly. A very unlucky man, but also a very happy one.
Army Officer
tenor A voice from offstage, he demands the surrender of the student revolutionaries before the army attacks.
Casts[edit]
Casts

Character
Original French Stage Cast
 (1980)
Original London Cast
 (1985)
Original Broadway Cast
 (1987)
First Broadway Revival
 (2006)
Current London Cast [11]
Second Broadway Revival
 (2014)
Current Broadway Cast[12]
Australian Revival[13]
 (2014)

Jean Valjean
Maurice Barrier Colm Wilkinson Alexander Gemignani Peter Lockyer Ramin Karimloo Alfie Boe Simon Gleeson
Javert
Jean Vallée Roger Allam Terrence Mann Norm Lewis Jeremy Secomb Will Swenson Earl Carpenter Hayden Tee
Fantine
Rose Laurens Patti LuPone Randy Graff Daphne Rubin-Vega Rachelle Ann Go Caissie Levy Montego Glover Patrice Tipoki
Éponine
Marianne Mille Frances Ruffelle Celia Keenan-Bolger Carrie Hope Fletcher Nikki M. James Brennyn Lark Kerrie Anne Greenland
Thénardier
Yvan Dautin Alun Armstrong Leo Burmester Gary Beach Phil Daniels Cliff Saunders Gavin Lee Trevor Ashley
Madame Thénardier
Marie-France Roussel Susan Jane Tanner Jennifer Butt Jenny Galloway Katy Secombe Keala Settle Rachael Izen Lara Mulcahy
Marius
Gilles Buhlmann Michael Ball David Bryant Adam Jacobs Rob Houchen Andy Mientus Chris McCarrell Euan Doidge
Cosette
Fabienne Guyon Rebecca Caine Judy Kuhn Ali Ewoldt Zoe Doano Samantha Hill Alex Finke Emily Langridge
Enjolras
Christian Ratellin David Burt Michael Maguire Aaron Lazar Bradley Jaden Kyle Scatliffe Wallace Smith Chris Durling
Gavroche
Florence Davis
 Cyrille Dupont
 Fabrice Ploquin Ian Tucker
 Oliver Spencer
 Liza Hayden Braden Danner
 RD Robb Brian D'Addario
 Jacob Levine
 Austin Myers Charlie Gallacher
 Austin Taylor
 Toby Ungleson Joshua Colley
 Gaten Matarazzo Marcus D'Angelo
 Athan Sporek Nicholas Cradock
 Emerson Garcia
 Harry Herbert
 Tamatea Kratzmann
Concert Casts

Character
10th Anniversary Concert Cast
 (1995)
25th Anniversary Concert Cast
 (2010)

Jean Valjean
Colm Wilkinson Alfie Boe
Javert
Philip Quast Norm Lewis
Fantine
Ruthie Henshall Lea Salonga
Éponine
Lea Salonga Samantha Barks
Thénardier
Alun Armstrong Matt Lucas
Madame Thénardier
Jenny Galloway
Marius
Michael Ball Nick Jonas
Cosette
Judy Kuhn Katie Hall
Enjolras
Michael Maguire Ramin Karimloo
Gavroche
Adam Searles Robert Madge
Productions[edit]
Original French production[edit]



 The Palais des Sports in Paris where the musical was first performed.
French songwriter Alain Boublil had the idea to adapt Victor Hugo's novel into a musical while at a performance of the musical Oliver! in London:

As soon as the Artful Dodger came onstage, Gavroche came to mind. It was like a blow to the solar plexus. I started seeing all the characters of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables—Valjean, Javert, Gavroche, Cosette, Marius, and Éponine—in my mind's eye, laughing, crying, and singing onstage.[14]
He pitched the idea to French composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, and the two developed a rough synopsis. They worked up an analysis of each character's mental and emotional state, as well as that of an audience. Schönberg then began to write the music, while Boublil began work on the text. According to Boublil, "...I could begin work on the words. This I did—after myself deciding on the subject and title of every song—in collaboration with my friend, poet Jean-Marc Natel."[15] Two years later, a two-hour demo tape with Schönberg accompanying himself on the piano and singing every role was completed. An album of this collaboration was recorded at CTS Studios in Wembley and was released in 1980, selling 260,000 copies.
The concept album includes Maurice Barrier as Jean Valjean, Jacques Mercier as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Yvan Dautin as Thénardier, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Richard Dewitte as Marius, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, Marie-France Dufour as Éponine, Michel Sardou as Enjolras, Fabrice Bernard as Gavroche, Maryse Cédolin as Young Cosette, Claude-Michel Schönberg as Courfeyrac, Salvatore Adamo as Combeferre, Michel Delpech as Feuilly, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, and Mireille as the hair buyer.
That year, in September 1980, a stage version directed by veteran French film director Robert Hossein was produced at the Palais des Sports in Paris. The show was a success, with 100 performances seen by over 500,000 people.[16][17][18]
Most of the cast from the concept album performed in the production.[16][19] The cast included Maurice Barrier as Valjean, Jean Vallée as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Maryse Cédolin and Sylvie Camacho and Priscilla Patron as Young Cosette, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Yvan Dautin as M. Thénardier, Florence Davis and Fabrice Ploquin and Cyrille Dupont as Gavroche, Marianne Mille as Éponine, Gilles Buhlmann as Marius, Christian Ratellin as Enjolras, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, René-Louis Baron as Combeferre, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, Anne Forrez as Mlle. Gillenormand, and Claude Reva as the storyteller.[16][19][20][21]
Original West End production[edit]



Les Misérables at Queen's Theatre in London
The English-language version, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and additional material by James Fenton, was substantially expanded and reworked from a literal translation by Siobhan Bracke of the original Paris version, in particular adding a prologue to tell Jean Valjean's backstory. Kretzmer's work is not a direct "translation" of the French, a term that Kretzmer refused to use. A third of the English lyrics were a "rough" translation, another third were adapted from the French lyrics and the final third consisted of new material. The majority is performed in recitative style; the vocalists use natural speech delivery, not musical metrics.[22]
The first production in English, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, opened on 8 October 1985 (five years after the original production) at the Barbican Arts Centre, London. It was billed in the RSC Barbican Theatre programme as "The Royal Shakespeare Company presentation of the RSC/Cameron Mackintosh production", and played to preview performances beginning on 28 September 1985.
The set was designed by John Napier, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and lighting by David Hersey. Musical supervision and orchestrations were by John Cameron, who had been involved with the show since Boublil and Schönberg hired him to orchestrate the original French concept album. Musical staging was by Kate Flatt with musical direction by Martin Koch.
The original London cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Ken Caswell as the Bishop of Digne, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Zoë Hart, Jayne O'Mahony and Joanne Woodcock as Young Cosette, Danielle Akers, Gillian Brander and Juliette Caton as Young Éponine, Susan Jane Tanner as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Rebecca Caine as Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, with Ian Tucker, Oliver Spencer and Liza Hayden sharing the role of Gavroche.[23][24]
On 4 December 1985, the show transferred to the Palace Theatre, London and moved again on 3 April 2004, to the much more intimate Queen's Theatre, with some revisions of staging and where, as of August 2015,[25] it was still playing. It celebrated its ten-thousandth performance on 5 January 2010.[26] The drummer from the original cast album, Peter Boita, stayed with the show for the first 25 years of its history.[27]
The co-production has generated valuable income for the Royal Shakespeare Company.[28]
Original Broadway production[edit]
The musical opened as a pre-Broadway tryout at the Kennedy Center's Opera House in Washington D.C. on December 27, 1986. It ran for eight weeks through February 14, 1987.[29]
The musical then premiered on Broadway on March 12, 1987 at The Broadway Theatre. Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle reprised their roles from the London production.[30] The $4.5 million production had a more than $4 million advance sale prior to its New York opening.[31]
The show underwent further tightening and an improved sewer lighting and Javert suicide scene effect was incorporated.[32] Boublil explained: "The transfer from London to the United States has prompted further modifications. 'We are taking this opportunity to rethink and perfect, to rewrite some details which probably no one else will see, but which for us are still long nights of work,' Mr. Boublil says. 'There are things that nobody had time to do in London, and here we have a wonderful opportunity to fix a few things. No one will notice, perhaps, but for us, it will make us so happy if we can better this show. We would like this to be the final version.'"[31] Two songs were deleted—the complete version of Gavroche's song "Little People" and the adult Cosette's "I Saw Him Once". A short section at the beginning of "In My Life" replaced "I Saw Him Once". The lyrics in Javert's "Stars" were changed. It now ended with the line, "This I swear by the stars!", while the London production and cast recording ended with the repeated line, "Keeping watch in the night".
The original Broadway cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, Donna Vivino as Young Cosette, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Randy Graff as Fantine, Terrence Mann as Javert, Chrissie McDonald as Young Éponine, and Norman Large as the Bishop of Digne.[30]
Other members of the original Broadway cast included Kevin Marcum, Paul Harman, Anthony Crivello, John Dewar, Joseph Kolinski, Alex Santoriello, Jesse Corti, Susan Goodman, John Norman, Norman Large, Marcus Lovett, Steve Shocket, Cindy Benson, Marcie Shaw, Jane Bodle, Joanna Glushak, Ann Crumb, Kelli James, Gretchen Kingsley-Weihe, Chrissie McDonald. Michael Hinton was the original drummer and credited on the cast album.[30]
The musical ran at the Broadway Theatre through October 10, 1990, when it moved to the Imperial Theatre.[30] It was scheduled to close on March 15, 2003, but the closing was postponed by a surge in public interest.[33] According to an article in The Scotsman, "Sales picked up last October, when Sir Cameron made the announcement that the show would be closing on March 15th...its closure postponed to May 18th because of an unexpected increase in business."[34] After 6,680 performances in sixteen years,[34] when it closed on May 18, 2003,[30] it was the second-longest-running Broadway musical after Cats.[35] It was surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera, in 2006.[36]
This Broadway production of Les Misérables and its advertising in New York City is a reoccurring theme in American Psycho. The reviewer for the Financial Times wrote that Les Misérables is "the book's hilarious main cultural compass-point".[37]
2006 Broadway revival[edit]
Only three years after the original run closed, Les Misérables began a return to Broadway on 9 November 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre for a limited run that was subsequently made open-ended.
Using the set, costumes, performers, and other resources from the recently closed third US national touring production, the production was only slightly altered. Minor changes included colourful projections blended into its existing lighting design, and a proscenium that extended out into the first two boxes on either side of the stage.
Some cuts made to the show's prologue during its original Broadway run were restored, lyrics for Gavroche's death scene (known in the revival as "Ten Little Bullets") cut during the development of the original London production were restored, and much of the show was re-orchestrated by Christopher Jahnke, introducing a snare and timpani-heavy sound played by a 14-member band, a reduction of about 8 musicians from the original production's 22 musician orchestration.[citation needed]
The original 2006 Broadway revival cast included Alexander Gemignani as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Daphne Rubin-Vega as Fantine, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Éponine, Aaron Lazar as Enjolras, Adam Jacobs as Marius, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Gary Beach as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Brian D’Addario and Jacob Levine and Skye Rainforth and Austyn Myers as Gavroche, James Chip Leonard as The Bishop of Digne, Drew Sarich as Grantaire, and Tess Adams and Kylie Liya Goldstein and Carly Rose Sonenclar as Young Cosette/Young Éponine.[38]
Lea Salonga, who previously played the role of Éponine in the 10th Anniversary concert, replaced Rubin-Vega as Fantine beginning on March 2, 2007. Zach Rand replaced Jacob Levine as Gavroche on March 15, 2007. Ann Harada replaced Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier on April 24, 2007. Ben Davis joined playing Javert, and Max von Essen playing Enjolras. Ben Crawford and Mandy Bruno joined the cast that day too, playing Brujon and Éponine respectively. On July 23, 2007, Sarich took over the role of Valjean, following Gemignani's departure. On September 5, 2007, it was announced that John Owen-Jones (who was playing Valjean in London) was to join the Broadway cast. In return, Sarich would join the London cast in Owen-Jones' place. Judy Kuhn, who originated the role of Cosette, returned to the show after twenty years as Fantine, succeeding Salonga.
The revival closed on 6 January 2008.[39]
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
A sit down production played at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Previews began on September 27, 2013 with the opening night on October 9. The production closed on February 2, 2014.[40][41][42][43] Laurence Olivier Award nominee, Ramin Karimloo, starred as Jean Valjean.[44] He was joined by fellow West End star, Earl Carpenter, who reprised the role of Inspector Javert.[45] Other cast members included Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Samantha Hill as Cosette, Melissa O'Neil as Éponine, Cliff Saunders as Monsieur Thenardier, Lisa Horner as Madame Thenardier, and Mark Uhre as Enjolras.[46] The roles of young Cosette and young Éponine were shared by Ella Ballentine, Saara Chaudry and Madison Oldroyd. Gavroche was shared by David Gregory Black and Aiden GlennRead.[47]
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
The show returned to Broadway in March 2014 at the Imperial Theatre with previews beginning March 1, 2014 and had an official opening on March 23, 2014.[48][49] The creative team includes the direction of Laurence Connor and James Powell, the set design by Matt Kinley, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowlands, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Mick Potter and projections by Fifty-Nine Productions. Cameron Mackintosh once again produced the show. On October 22, 2013, it was announced that Ramin Karimloo, Will Swenson, Caissie Levy, and Nikki M. James would be headlining the revival cast as Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Éponine respectively.[50] Andy Mientus and Samantha Hill also star as Marius and Cosette respectively.[51][52] Angeli Negron and McKayla Twiggs share the role of Young Cosette.[53] On August 30, 2015, Karimloo ended his run of the show as was replaced by Alfie Boe.
The 2014 Broadway revival was nominated for 3 Tony Awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Karimloo, and Best Sound Design for Potter.
2014 Australian revival[edit]
In mid 2013, a brand new Australian production was announced, with Simon Gleeson as Valjean, Hayden Tee as Javert, Patrice Tipoki as Fantine, Trevor Ashley and Lara Mulcahy as the Thénardiers, Kerrie Anne Greenland as Éponine, Emily Langridge as Cosette, Euan Doidge as Marius and Chris Durling as Enjolras.[54] The production premiered on the 4th of July at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne.[55]
2016 Manila production[edit]
On September 16, 2015, it was announced that the new production of Les Misérables would launch its Asian tour in Manila in March 2016,[56] with Simon Gleeson as Jean Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, and Rachelle Ann Go as Fantine,[57] at The Theater at Solaire.
Concert productions[edit]
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
On 8 October 1995, the show celebrated its tenth anniversary with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This 10th Anniversary Concert was nearly "complete," missing only a handful of scenes, including "The Death of Gavroche" and the confrontation between Marius and the Thénardiers at the wedding feast. Sir Cameron Mackintosh hand-selected the cast, which became known as the Les Misérables Dream Cast, assembled from around the world, and engaged the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert concluded with seventeen Valjeans from various international productions singing, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" in their native languages. The concert cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Paul Monaghan as the Bishop of Digne, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Michael Ball as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Lea Salonga as Éponine, and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire. The concert was staged by Ken Caswell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert
Gree The 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables was held at The O2 in North Greenwich, South East London, United Kingdom, on Sunday, 3 October 2010 at 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm.
It featured Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Nick Jonas as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Matt Lucas as Thénardier, Mia Jenkins as Young Cosette, Robert Madge as Gavroche and Earl Carpenter as the Bishop of Digne. (Originally, Camilla Kerslake had been selected to perform as Cosette, however she was unable to attend. Katie Hall was selected in her place. Hall had previously acted the role at the Queen's Theatre from 2009 and in the 25th Anniversary Tour production at the Barbican.) Casts of the current London, international tour, original 1985 London, and several school productions took part, comprising an ensemble of three hundred performers and musicians. The concert was directed by Laurence Connor & James Powell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
Other concert performances[edit]
The musical has also been performed in concert at Cardiff Castle and several venues in southern England, produced by Earl Carpenter Concerts. A concert version starring Jeff Leyton was also performed at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. In 1989, a one-night concert performance was performed at SkyDome, Toronto, and the largest concert production attracted an audience of approximately 125,000 as part of the Australia Day celebrations in Sydney's Domain Park. The Scandinavian concert tour, produced by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Noble Art, starred Danish musical icon Stig Rossen in the leading role and commemorated author Victor Hugo's 200th birthday. Venues on the tour included the Stockholm Globe Arena, Oslo Spektrum, the Helsinki Hartwell Areena, and the Gothenburg Scandinavium, with audiences totalling over 150,000 for the complete tour.
In November 2004, to celebrate the centennial of the Entente Cordiale, the Queen invited the cast of Les Misérables in the West End to perform for French President Jacques Chirac at Windsor Castle. It was the first time the cast of a West End musical had performed at a Royal residence. The cast was the same as in the West End, supplemented by several guest singers and a choir of former performers. The part of Jean Valjean was played by Michael Ball – the original 1985 London and 1995 Dream Cast Marius - and the part of Javert was played by Michael McCarthy.
In February 2008, Les Misérables was performed at the Bournemouth International Centre, England with a cast of West End stars accompanied by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In August 2008, a concert version, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, was performed at the Hollywood Bowl. The cast included veteran Les Misérables star J. Mark McVey as Valjean, The Office star Melora Hardin as Fantine, Broadway star and Bowl veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert, Spring Awakening and Glee star Lea Michele as Éponine, Tony-winning Jersey Boys star John Lloyd Young as Marius, West End star Tom Lowe as Enjolras, Michael McCormick as Thénardier, Ruth Williamson as Madame Thénardier, Michele Maika as Cosette, Maddie Levy as Young Cosette, and Sage Ryan as Gavroche.
In September 2008, it was performed at the St John Loveridge Hall in Guernsey with a cast of West End performers—the first time that it had been professionally performed on the Island where Victor Hugo wrote the novel. Former London Valjean Phil Cavill reprised his role alongside Les Misérables veteran Michael McCarthy as Javert. In March 2009, the Guernsey production was remounted at Fort Regent in Jersey; and in July 2009, the musical was performed in concert at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Touring Productions[edit]
National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production[edit]
The show had three national touring companies of the original Broadway production in the US, all of which shared the Broadway producer and manager, creative teams, as well nearly identical sets, costumes, and lighting. While the touring production and the New York production were running simultaneously, the staff, cast members, crew, and musicians of the two productions interchanged often, which contributed to keeping both companies of the show in form. When the New York production closed in 2003, the Third National Tour continued for another three years, and enjoyed the influx of many members from the original and subsequent New York companies.
The First National Tour opened at Boston's Shubert Theatre on 12 December 1987, and continued to play major cities until late 1991. The Second National Tour (called "The Fantine Company") opened at Los Angeles' Shubert Theatre on 1 June 1988. The production played for fourteen months then transferred to San Francisco's Curran Theatre where it enjoyed a similar run. The Third National Tour of Les Misérables (called "The Marius Company") was one of the longest running American touring musical productions. Opening on 28 November 1988, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Florida, and closing on 23 July 2006, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri,[58] the tour ran for seventeen years and 7,061 performances. The tour played in 145 cities in 43 states. The same touring company also frequently performed in Canada, made a 1994 diversion to Singapore, and another diversion in 2002 to be the first Western musical production to visit China, opening in Shanghai's Grand Theatre for a three-week engagement.
All US productions (including Broadway and its revival) were visually identical in scale and design but the third national tour was notable for its portability without sacrificing the Broadway-caliber experience. Thanks to innovative touring techniques borrowed from the pop/rock concert industry, the 4.5 million dollar production was adaptable to smaller and larger venues and traveled complete in all of 8 semi tractor trailers. It was set up and ready to go in less than 24 hours and broken down and packed up in about 16 hours. This allowed it to reach many cities and venues in its acclaimed, original Broadway form.
The final company of the Third National Broadway Tour included Randal Keith as Valjean (Keith also played Valjean in the final company of the original Broadway engagement), Robert Hunt as Javert, Joan Almedilla as Fantine, Daniel Bogart as Marius, Norman Large (from Original Broadway Cast) as Monsieur Thénardier, Jennifer Butt (from Original Broadway Cast) as Madame Thénardier, Melissa Lyons as Éponine, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Victor Wallace as Enjolras, Meg Guzulescu and Rachel Schier alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine, and Austyn Myers and Anthony Skillman alternating as Gavroche.
25th Anniversary Tour[edit]
A tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the show began performances on 12 December 2009, at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Differences from the original production included a new set, new costumes, new direction and alterations to the original orchestrations. The tour also did not use a revolving stage and the scenery was inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Locations have included Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Salford, and Southampton. The tour also played a special engagement in Paris. From September through October, the show returned to the Barbican Centre, London, site of the original 1985 production. The tour cast featured John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Gareth Gates as Marius, Ashley Artus as Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Madame Thénardier, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Rosalind James as Éponine, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, Katie Hall as Cosette (with Eliza Jones as Young Cosette), and David Lawrence as the Bishop of Digne. The tour ended 2 October 2010, at the Barbican.[citation needed]
In the fall of 2010, The tour moved to the US with a new company presented by Broadway Across America to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show opening on Broadway. The tour had its opening on 19 November 2010 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, running until 19 December 2010. This tour originally starred Lawrence Clayton as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Betsy Morgan as Fantine, Jenny Latimer as Cosette, Justin Scott Brown as Marius, Chasten Harmon as Éponine, Michael Kostroff as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, Jeremy Hays as Enjolras, Josh Caggiano and Ethan Paul Khusidman as Gavroche, Maya Jade Frank and Juliana Simone alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine. J. Mark McVey's daughter, Kylie McVey was the understudy for Young Cosette and Young Éponine. Clayton left the tour in April 2011. Ron Sharpe later took over as Valjean until June 2011. J. Mark McVey was then Valjean (McVey previously played the role on Broadway), but McVey and his daughter left the tour on 1 April 2012. Peter Lockyer replaces him as Valjean. Betsy Morgan left the tour on December 2, 2012. She was replaced by Genevieve Leclerc. The tour ran until August 11, 2013, closing at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. The tour's final cast included Peter Lockyer as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Lauren Wiley as Cosette, Devin Ilaw as Marius, Briana Carlson-Goodman as Éponine, Timothy Gulan as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, and Jason Forbach as Enjolras,[59][60] In 2011 it was reported that the tour is one of six US national Broadway tours that are grossing over $1,000,000 per week.[61]
International productions[edit]
The show has been produced in forty-two countries and translated into twenty-one languages: English, French (original and re-translated), German (Austria and Germany), Spanish (four versions: two from Spain, one version each from Argentina and Mexico), Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Swedish (in Sweden and in Finland), Dutch (Netherlands and Belgium), Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan and Korean. Including singles and promos, there have been over seventy official recordings from worldwide productions.[62]
The first full West End / Broadway production in Europe (mainland) was set up in Oslo, Norway at Det Norske Teatret and opened on 17 March 1988.[63] The production was in Norwegian and starred Norwegian singer/actor Øystein Wiik as Jean Valjean, Paul Åge Johannessen as Javert, Øivind Blunck as Thénardier, Kari Gjærum as Fantine, Amund Enger as Enjolras and Guri Schanke as Éponine. The first Oslo production was hugely successful and some 10% of Norway's entire population saw the show in the first 6 months. Øystein Wiik went on to also star as Jean Valjean in the in productions in Vienna and London in 1989–1990.
Interestingly, the stage show, which had changed so significantly since its Parisian conception as a stadium concert in 1980, was only finally translated back into the language of Victor Hugo for its French World Première in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1991. This production, which in fact boasted a cast that presented five shows a week in French and three a week in English, was a great success. It gave the producers a clear indication that Les Misérables was finally ready to go "home", to Paris, later that same year.
Regional productions[edit]


 This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (February 2014)
In September 2008, a mini-tour produced by Atlanta's Theater of the Stars played Eisenhower Hall at the United States Military Academy,[64][not in citation given] in West Point, New York; the Filene Center at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia; Kansas City Starlight Theatre; and the Fox Theater in Atlanta. The show featured a new set of original pictures painted by Victor Hugo himself. Robert Evan played Valjean, returning to the role he played in the mid-nineties on Broadway. Also featured were Nikki Rene Daniels as Fantine and Robert Hunt as Javert, both reprising their roles from the Broadway revival. Fred Hanson directed the production. The creative team included Matt Kinley as Scenic Designer, Ken Billington as Lighting Designer, Peter Fitzgerald and Erich Bechtel as Sound Designers, Zachary Borovay as Projection Designer, and Dan Riddle as Musical Director and Conductor.[65]
In 2008, the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia staged a small venue "black box" version of the play. Signature received Mackintosh's special permission for the production: "One of the great pleasures of being involved with the creation of Les Misérables is seeing this marvelous musical being done in a completely different and original way. Having seen many shows brilliantly reimagined at Signature I have no doubt that Eric and his team will come up with a revolutionary new take on Les Miz unlike anything anyone has seen before. Viva la différence!"[66] The production officially opened on 14 December 2008 (after previews from 2 December), and ran through 22 February 2009 (extended from 25 January 2009).[67][68]
A 2014 production at the Dallas Theater Center modernized the staging in a way rarely attempted in productions of this play, set visually in the modern-day United States rather than 1830s France. The concept was thought to be refreshing as a change from typical production styles and effective as a commentary on modern inequality. Though, much controversy surrounded their unauthorized depart from the authors' libretto and score.[69][70]
In Panama, Les Misérables was staged in 2014 in Spanish at the famed National Theatre of Panama for a short, sold out run, directed by Aaron Zebede.[71]
School edition[edit]
The school edition cuts a considerable amount of material from the original show. It is divided into thirty scenes and, although no "critical" scenes or songs have been removed, it runs 25–30 minutes shorter than the "official" version making the total running time about 2 1⁄2 hours.[72] A few subtle changes of vocal pitch have been made: "What Have I Done?", Valjean's Soliloquy, "Stars" by Javert, "A Little Fall of Rain" by Éponine and Marius, "Turning", and "Castle on a Cloud" lose a verse each. During "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois loses two verses. The song "Fantine's Death/Confrontation" is edited, and the counterpoint duel between Javert and Valjean is lost, as well as a verse by Fantine. "Dog Eats Dog" by Thénardier is heavily truncated. "Beggars at the Feast", is shortened, with Thénardier losing a verse, and the song before it, "Wedding Chorale", is excluded entirely although the rest of the wedding remains in place. Also, the drinker's introduction to "Master of the House" is cut completely.[73]
Film adaptation[edit]
For the most recent film adaptation, see Les Misérables (2012 film).
Although numerous films of the Les Misérables story have been made, no film adaptation of the stage musical was produced for many years. A film adaptation was in development at several times since the late 1980s. Alan Parker was reported to be connected to an adaptation at an early stage.[74] In 1992 Mackintosh announced planning for a film to be directed by Bruce Beresford and co-produced by Tri-Star Pictures,[75] but the project was later abandoned.[76]
The 2010 DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert included an announcement of revised plans for a film adaptation[77] which was later confirmed by Mackintosh. Tom Hooper signed on in March 2011 to direct the Mackintosh-produced film from a screenplay by William Nicholson.[78] In June 2011, Working Title Films and Mackintosh announced that the film would begin principal photography in early 2012 for a tentative December release date. The film was given its general US release on Christmas Day 2012.[79] Principal cast members include Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert,[80] Anne Hathaway as Fantine,[81] Amanda Seyfried as Cosette,[82] Eddie Redmayne as Marius Pontmercy,[83] Samantha Barks as Éponine,[84] and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thénardiers.[85][86] Other notable actors who played roles in the film include Aaron Tveit as Enjolras, Bertie Carvel as Bamatabois, Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop of Digne and Frances Ruffelle as a prostitute.[87]
Cast recordings[edit]
English[edit]
The following recordings of Les Misérables are available in English: the Original London Cast, the Original Broadway Cast, the Complete Symphonic Recording, the 10th Anniversary London Concert, The 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast and The 25th Anniversary London Concert.
Original London Cast recording[edit]
The Original London Cast recording was the first English language album of the musical. Recorded in 1985, when the show premiered, it is closest to the original French concept album. For example, "Stars" appears before "Look Down" and shortly after, the original version of "Little People" plays, which was later incorporated into the revealing of Javert. It also features a song entitled "I Saw Him Once", sung by Cosette, which was later incorporated into the first part of "In My Life". The album has sold 887,000 copies in the US.[88]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Susan Jane Tanner as Mme. Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Ian Tucker as Gavroche, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, and Rebecca Caine as Cosette.
Original Broadway Cast recording[edit]
The Original Broadway Cast recording was produced in 1987. It included several changes to the songs that are still evident in today's performances. As with its predecessor, it is incomplete, and leaves out songs or parts that are more important narratively than musically (e.g., "Fantine's Arrest", "The Runaway Cart", "The Final Battle"). The album has sold 1,596,000 copies in the US.[88]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Terrence Mann as Javert, Randy Graff as Fantine, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, and Donna Vivino as Young Cosette.
Complete Symphonic Recording[edit]
Recorded in 1988 and released in 1989, the Complete Symphonic Recording features the entire score. (The Czech Revival Recording is the only other album, in any language, to feature the entire score; on the other hand, the four 2003 Japanese recordings feature the entire score after the cuts first made on Broadway at the end of 2000.) Cameron Mackintosh's original plan was to use the Australian cast,[89] but the scope was expanded to create an international cast featuring performers from the major performances of the musical. The cast was recorded in three different places.[90]
The album, produced by David Caddick and conducted by Martin Koch, won the Best Musical Cast Show Album Grammy Award in 1991. The cast includes Gary Morris as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Debra Byrne as Fantine, Gay Soper as Mme. Thénardier, Barry James as Thénardier, Kaho Shimada as Éponine, Michael Ball as Marius, Anthony Warlow as Enjolras, and Tracy Shayne as Cosette.
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
The 10th Anniversary recording was of a concert version of Les Misérables, performed at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1995, featuring full orchestra and choir. All the parts were sung live, giving the performance a different mood from other recordings. The score was recorded consecutively without pauses or multiple recordings. The concert's encores are also included. As with the original recordings, however, they differed from the stage versions by excluding some songs (e.g., those vital to plot such as "Fantine's Arrest" and "The Runaway Cart" were kept, while unnecessary or complex songs, such as "At the Barricade", were left out).
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier, Lea Salonga as Éponine, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Judy Kuhn as Cosette and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire.
Manchester Highlights[edit]
A five-track album featuring members of the UK national tour was released in 1992 and includes "I Dreamed a Dream" (Ria Jones); "Stars" (Philip Quast); "On My Own" (Meredith Braun); "Bring Him Home" (Jeff Leyton); and "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" (Mike Sterling). The version of "Stars" is the same as that on the Complete Symphonic Recording.
25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast[edit]
Recorded live at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, this recording was released to commemorate 25 years of Les Misérables in English. This recording featured new arrangements and reinspired orchestrations, and included John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Ashley Artus as M. Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Mme. Thénardier, Gareth Gates as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, and Rosalind James as Éponine.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert


 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)
The 25th Anniversary Concert was recorded live at The O2 (London) on 3 October 2010 and is available on DVD in the UK while the Blu-ray was released worldwide. It was shown in select US theaters via NCM Fathom Events. The release for the DVD and Blu-ray in the United States was 22 February 2011 to promote the film adaptation. A CD single of the 'Valjean Quartet' singing "Bring Him Home" was also recorded and released, with proceeds going to the charity "Tickets For Troops". The cast included Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Nick Jonas as Marius, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Katie Hall as Cosette, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Matt Lucas as Monsieur Thénardier and Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier.
Other languages[edit]
There are also various non-English language cast albums of the musical.


1980 Original French concept album
1987 Original Israeli cast
1988 Original Norway cast
1988 Original Hungarian cast
1988 Original Vienna cast
1990 Original Swedish cast
1991 Original Dutch cast
1991 Paris Revival cast
1992 Original Danish cast
1992 Original Czech cast
1993 Original Spanish cast
1993 Korean revival cast
1994 Japanese "blue" cast
1994 Japanese "red" cast

1996 Original Duisburg cast
1996 Swedish Värmland cast
1998 Original Antwerp cast
2003 Japanese "orange" cast
2003 Japanese "green" cast
2003 Japanese "light blue" cast
2003 Japanese "violet" cast
2003 Czech revival cast
2008 Dutch revival cast
2008 Le Capitole de Québec cast
2010 Polish Revival cast
2010 Spanish 25th anniversary production cast
2011 Czech cast

Awards and nominations[edit]
Original West End production[edit]
Original West End production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1985 Laurence Olivier Award Best New Musical Nominated
Best Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Alun Armstrong Nominated
Best Actress in a Musical Patti LuPone Won
2012 Laurence Olivier Award[91] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
2014 Laurence Olivier Award[92] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
Original Broadway production[edit]
Original Broadway production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1987 Tony Award Best Musical Won
Best Book of a Musical Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Best Original Score Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer Won
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Terrence Mann Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Frances Ruffelle Won
Best Direction of a Musical Trevor Nunn and John Caird Won
Best Scenic Design John Napier Won
Best Costume Design Andreane Neofitou Nominated
Best Lighting Design David Hersey Won
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Won
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Outstanding Orchestrations John Cameron Won
Outstanding Music Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Outstanding Set Design John Napier Won
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
2013 Toronto revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Dora Award[93][94] Outstanding Production Nominated
Outstanding Male Performance Ramin Karimloo Nominated
Mark Uhre Nominated
Aiden Glenn Nominated
Outstanding Female Performance Melissa O'Neil Won
Outstanding Direction Laurence Connor and James Powell Nominated
Outstanding Scenic Design Matt Kinley Nominated
Outstanding Costume Design Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowland Won
Outstanding Lighting Design Paule Constable Nominated
Outstanding Choreography James Dodgson Nominated
Outstanding Ensemble Entire ensemble Nominated
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
2014 Broadway revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Tony Award Best Revival of a Musical Nominated
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Ramin Karimloo Nominated
Best Sound Design of a Musical Mick Potter Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical Nominated
2014 Australian revival[edit]
2014 Australian revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Green Room Awards Production Nominated
Actor in a Leading Role Simon Gleeson Nominated
Hayden Tee Won
Direction James Powell and Laurence Connor Nominated
Musical Direction Geoffrey Castles Nominated
Design (Lighting) Paule Constable Nominated
Design (Sound) Mick Potter Nominated
Design (Set and Costume) Matt Kinley (Set and Image Design) Nominated
2015 Helpmann Awards[95][96] Best Musical Won
Best Male Actor in a Musical Simon Gleeson Won
Hayden Tee Nominated
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical Trevor Ashley Nominated
Chris Durling Nominated
Best Female Actor in a Musical Patrice Tipoki Nominated
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical Kerrie Anne Greenland Won
Best Direction of a Musical Laurence Connor and James Powell Nominated
Best Choreography in a Musical Michael Ashcroft and Geoffrey Garratt Nominated
Best Lighting Design Paule Constable Won
Best Scenic Design Matt Kinley Nominated
Best Sound Design Mick Potter Won
See also[edit]

Portal icon Musical Theatre portal
Lists of musicals
References[edit]
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93.Jump up ^ Alan Henry (June 2, 2014). "Ramin Karimloo Receives Toronto Dora Award Nomination; LES MISERABLES Earns a Total of 11 Nominations". Broadway World.
94.Jump up ^ Dora Awards 2014: A List Of All The Winners! broadwayworld, retrieved 2014-07-18.
95.Jump up ^ Cuthberson, Debbie; Rugendyke, Louise. "Helpmann Awards 2015 nominations: Opera Australia dominates as Les Miserables leads charge for musicals". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
96.Jump up ^ "2015 Nominees". Helpmann Awards. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables (musical).
Official website
Les Misérables at the Internet Broadway Database
An Archive of Performers from the Original Broadway Run of Les Misérables
An Archive of Performers from the London Run of Les Misérables


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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables_(musical)









Les Misérables (musical)

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This article is about the musical theatre production. For the film adaptation of the musical, see Les Misérables (2012 film). For the original novel, see Les Misérables.

Les Misérables
LesMisLogo.png
Music
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics
Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (French lyrics)
Herbert Kretzmer (English adaptation)

Book
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Alain Boublil
Trevor Nunn and John Caird (adaptation)

Basis
1862 novel by Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
Premiere
September 24, 1980 – Palais des Sports, Paris
Productions
1980 Paris
1985 West End
1987 Broadway
1987 First US Tour
1987 Japan
1988 Second US Tour
1988 Third US Tour
1991 Paris
1991 Netherlands
1992 UK Tour
1992 Madrid
1995 10th Anniversary Concert
2000 Argentina
2002 Mexico
2006 Broadway Revival
2008 Netherlands
2008 Quebec
2009 25th Anniversary UK Tour
2010 25th Anniversary Concert
2010 Spain
2010 Fourth US Tour
2012 Film adaptation
2012 South Korea
2013 Toronto
2013 Spain
2013 Puerto Rico
2014 Broadway Revival
2015 Vancouver
Multiple productions worldwide

Awards
Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Book
Tony Award for Best Score

Les Misérables (pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeʁabl(ə)]), colloquially known in Anglo-Saxon countries as Les Mis or Les Miz (/leɪ ˈmɪz/), is a sung-through musical based on the novel Les Misérables by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer.
Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Reception
3 Emblem
4 Synopsis 4.1 Act I
4.2 Act II
5 Musical numbers
6 Characters 6.1 Casts
7 Productions 7.1 Original French production
7.2 Original West End production
7.3 Original Broadway production
7.4 2006 Broadway revival
7.5 2013 Toronto revival
7.6 2014 Broadway revival
7.7 2014 Australian revival
7.8 2016 Manila production
8 Concert productions 8.1 10th Anniversary Concert
8.2 25th Anniversary Concert
8.3 Other concert performances
9 Touring Productions 9.1 National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production
9.2 25th Anniversary Tour
10 International productions
11 Regional productions 11.1 School edition
12 Film adaptation
13 Cast recordings 13.1 English 13.1.1 Original London Cast recording
13.1.2 Original Broadway Cast recording
13.1.3 Complete Symphonic Recording
13.1.4 10th Anniversary Concert
13.1.5 Manchester Highlights
13.1.6 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast
13.1.7 25th Anniversary Concert
13.2 Other languages
14 Awards and nominations 14.1 Original West End production
14.2 Original Broadway production
14.3 2013 Toronto revival
14.4 2014 Broadway revival
14.5 2014 Australian revival
15 See also
16 References
17 External links

Background[edit]
Originally released as a French-language concept album, the first musical-stage adaptation of Les Misérables was presented at the Palais des Sports, in 1980.[1] However, the first production closed after three months when the booking contract expired.
In 1983, about six months after producer Cameron Mackintosh had opened Cats on Broadway, he received a copy of the French concept album from director Peter Farago. Farago had been impressed by the work and asked Mackintosh to produce an English-language version of the show. Initially reluctant, Mackintosh eventually agreed. Mackintosh, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, assembled a production team to adapt the French musical for a British audience. After two years in development, the English-language version opened in London on 8 October 1985, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre, then the London home of the RSC. The success of the West End musical led to a Broadway production.
Reception[edit]
See also: Long-running musical theatre productions
At the opening of the London production, critical reviews were negative. The Sunday Telegraph's Francis King described the show as "a lurid Victorian melodrama produced with Victorian lavishness" and Michael Ratcliffe in the Observer dubbed the show "a witless and synthetic entertainment", while literary scholars condemned the project for converting classic literature into a musical.[2][3] Public opinion differed: the box office received record orders. The three-month engagement sold out, and reviews improved. The London production, as of October 2014, has run continuously since October 1985: the second longest-running musical in the world after The Fantasticks,[4] the second longest-running West End show after The Mousetrap,[5] It is the longest-running musical in the West End followed by The Phantom of the Opera. In 2010, it played its ten-thousandth performance in London, at Queen's Theatre[6] On 3 October 2010, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary with three productions running in London: the original production at the Queen's Theatre; the 25th Anniversary touring production at its 1985 try-out venue, the Barbican Centre; and the 25th Anniversary concert at London's O2 Arena.[6]
The Broadway production opened 12 March 1987 and ran until 18 May 2003, closing after 6,680 performances. It is the fifth longest-running Broadway show in history and was the second-longest at the time.[7] The show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
Subsequently, numerous tours and international and regional productions have been staged, as well as concert and broadcast productions. Several recordings have also been made. A Broadway revival opened in 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre and closed in 2008, and a second Broadway revival opened in 2014 and is currently running at the Imperial Theatre. The show was placed first in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of Britain's "Number One Essential Musicals" in 2005, receiving more than forty percent of the votes.[8] A film version directed by Tom Hooper was released at the end of 2012 to generally positive reviews as well as numerous awards nominations, winning three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
Emblem[edit]



 The etching by Émile Bayard that served as the model for the musical's emblem.
The musical's emblem is a picture of the waif Cosette sweeping the Thénardiers' inn (which occurs in the musical during "Castle on a Cloud"), usually shown cropped to a head-and-shoulders portrait superimposed on the French flag. The image is based on an etching by Gustave Brion based on the drawing by Émile Bayard. It appeared in several of the novel's earliest French-language editions.
Synopsis[edit]
Act I[edit]
In Bagne prison in Toulon, France, in 1815, the prisoners work at hard labour ("Work Song"). After 19 years in prison (five for stealing bread for his starving sister's son and her family, and the rest for trying to escape), Jean Valjean, "prisoner 24601," is released on parole by the policeman Javert. By law, Valjean must display a yellow ticket-of-leave, which identifies him as an ex-convict ("On Parole"). As a convict, Valjean is shunned wherever he goes and cannot find regular work or lodging, but the Bishop of Digne offers him food and shelter. Desperate and embittered, Valjean steals the Bishop's silver and flees. He is captured by the police, but rather than turn him in, the Bishop lies and tells the police that the silver was a gift, giving Valjean a pair of silver candlesticks in addition. The Bishop tells Valjean that he must use the silver "to become an honest man" and that he has "bought (Valjean's) soul for God" ("Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven"). Ashamed and humbled by the Bishop's kindness, Valjean resolves to redeem his sins ("Valjean's Soliloquy" / "What Have I Done?"). He tears up his yellow ticket, breaking his parole but giving himself a chance to start a new life free from the stigma of his criminal past.
Eight years later, Valjean has assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Fantine is a single mother working in his factory, trying to support her daughter Cosette, who is being raised by an innkeeper and his wife while Fantine labors in the city. Unbeknownst to Valjean, the factory foreman lusts after Fantine, and when she rejects his advances he takes it out on the other workers, who resent her for it. One day a coworker provokes a fight after learning about Fantine's child, and the foreman uses the incident as a pretense to fire Fantine ("At the End of the Day"). Fantine reflects on her broken dreams and about Cosette's father, who abandoned them both ("I Dreamed a Dream"). Desperate for money, she sells her locket and hair, finally becoming a prostitute ("Lovely Ladies"). When she fights back against an abusive customer, Bamatabois, Javert, now a police inspector stationed in Montreuil-sur-Mer, arrives to arrest her. But Valjean, passing by the scene, pities Fantine, and when he realizes she once worked for him and that she blames him for her misfortune, he is guilt-stricken. He orders Javert release her before taking her to a hospital ("Fantine's Arrest").
Soon afterwards, Valjean rescues a man pinned by a runaway cart ("The Runaway Cart"). Javert, who has up until now not recognized Valjean, though he has pursued him as a fugitive all these years, witnesses the incident and becomes suspicious, remembering the incredible strength Valjean displayed in the work camp. But it turns out another man has been arrested, and is about to go to trial for breaking parole. The real Valjean realizes that this case of mistaken identity could free him forever, but he's not willing to see an innocent man go to prison in his place and so confesses his identity to the court ("Who Am I?—The Trial"). At the hospital, a delirious Fantine dreams of Cosette. Valjean promises to find Cosette and protect her ("Come to Me" / "Fantine's Death"). Relieved, Fantine succumbs to her illness and dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean back into custody, but Valjean asks Javert for time to fetch Cosette. Javert refuses, insisting that a criminal like Valjean can never change or do good. They struggle, but Valjean overpowers Javert and escapes ("The Confrontation").
In Montfermeil, the duplicitous innkeepers, the Thénardiers, use Cosette as a servant while extorting money from Fantine by claiming that Cosette is seriously ill, all the while indulging their own daughter, Éponine. Cosette dreams of a life where she is not forced to work and is treated lovingly ("Castle on a Cloud"). The Thénardiers cheat their customers and live a life of criminal depravity ("Master of the House"). Valjean meets Cosette while she's on an errand drawing water and offers the Thénardiers payment to adopt her ("The Bargain"). The Thénardiers feign concern for Cosette and bargain with Valjean, who pays them 1,500 francs in the end. Valjean and Cosette leave for Paris ("The Waltz of Treachery").
Nine years later, in 1832, Paris is in upheaval because of the impending death of General Lamarque, the only man in the government who shows mercy to the poor. Among those mingling in the streets are the student revolutionaries Marius Pontmercy and Enjolras, who contemplate the effect Lamarque's death will have on the poor and desperate in Paris; the Thénardiers, who have since lost their inn and now run a street gang; their daughter Éponine, who is now grown and has fallen in love with Marius (who remains oblivious to her affections); and the streetwise young urchin Gavroche, who knows everything that happens in the slums ("Look Down"). The Thénardiers prepare to con some charitable visitors, who turn out to be Valjean and Cosette, who has grown into a beautiful young woman. While the gang bamboozles her father, Cosette runs into Marius, and the pair fall in love at first sight. Thénardier suddenly recognizes Valjean, but before they can finish the robbery Javert, now an inspector stationed here in Paris, comes to the rescue ("The Robbery"). Valjean and Cosette escape, and only later (when Thénardier tips him off) does Javert suspect who they were. Javert makes a vow to the stars (which represent his belief in a just and ordered universe where suffering is a punishment for sin) that he will find Valjean and recapture him ("Stars"). Meanwhile, Marius persuades Éponine to help him find Cosette ("Éponine's Errand").
At a small café, Enjolras exhorts a group of idealistic students to prepare for revolution. Marius interrupts the serious atmosphere by fantasizing about his new-found love, much to the amusement of his compatriots, particularly the wine-loving Grantaire ("The ABC Café—Red and Black"). When Gavroche brings the news of General Lamarque's death, the students realize that they can use the public's dismay to incite their revolution and that their time has come ("Do You Hear the People Sing?"). At Valjean's house, Cosette thinks about her chance meeting with Marius and later confronts Valjean about the secrets he keeps about his and her own past ("Rue Plumet—In My Life"). Éponine leads Marius to Valjean's house (despite being heartbroken that he has fallen in love with another), and he and Cosette meet again and confess their mutual love ("A Heart Full of Love"). Thénardier and his gang arrive, intending to rob Valjean's house, but Éponine stops them by screaming a warning ("The Attack on Rue Plumet"). The scream alerts Valjean, who believes that the intruders were sent by Javert to ferret out his cover. He tells Cosette that it's time once again for them to go on the run.
On the eve of the 1832 Paris Uprising, Valjean prepares to go into exile; Cosette and Marius part in despair; Éponine mourns her unrequited love for Marius; Enjolras encourages all of Paris to join the revolution as he and the other students prepare for battle; Marius is conflicted whether to follow Cosette or join the uprising; Javert reveals his plans to spy on the students; and the Thénardiers scheme to profit off the coming violence. Marius decides to stand with his friends, and all anticipate what the dawn will bring ("One Day More").[6]
Act II[edit]
As the students build a barricade to serve as their rally point, Javert, disguised as a rebel, volunteers to "spy" on the government troops. Marius discovers that Éponine has disguised herself as a boy to join the rebels and sends her to deliver a farewell letter to Cosette. ("Building the Barricade—Upon These Stones") Valjean intercepts the letter and learns about Marius and Cosette's romance. Éponine walks the streets of Paris alone, imagining that Marius is there with her, but laments that her love for Marius will never be reciprocated ("On My Own").
The French army arrives at the barricade and demands that the students surrender ("At the Barricade—Upon These Stones"). Though Javert tells the students that the government will not attack that night ("Javert's Arrival"), Gavroche exposes him as a spy, and the students detain him ("Little People"). Their plan is to spark a general uprising with their act of defiance, hoping that all the people of Paris will side with them and overwhelm the army. Éponine returns to find Marius but is shot by the soldiers crossing the barricade. As Marius holds her she assures him that she feels no pain and reveals her love for him before dying in his arms ("A Little Fall of Rain"). The students mourn this first loss of life at the barricades and resolve to fight in her name, and they carry her body away while Enjolras attempts to comfort Marius, who is heartbroken over Éponine's death. Valjean arrives at the barricade, crossing the government lines disguised as a soldier ("Night of Anguish"), hoping that he might somehow protect Marius in the coming battle for Cosette's sake. The rebels are suspicious of him at first, but when the army attacks Valjean saves Enjolras by shooting a sniper, and they accept him as one of them. In return, he asks Enjolras to be the one to execute the imprisoned Javert, which Enjolras grants. But as soon as Valjean and Javert are alone, Valjean frees Javert. Javert warns Valjean that he will not give up his pursuit and rejects what he perceives as a bargain for Valjean's freedom. Valjean says there are no conditions to his release, and holds no ill-will toward Javert for doing his duty. ("The First Attack").
The students settle down for the night and reminisce about the past while also expressing anxiety about the battle to come. Enjolras tells the other students to stay awake in case the enemy strikes unexpectedly in the night, but he tells Marius to get some sleep. Grantaire gets angry and asks Marius if he fears to die as Marius wonders if Cosette will remember him if he dies. ("Drink with Me"). As Marius sleeps, Valjean prays to God to protect Marius, even at the cost of his own life ("Bring Him Home"). As dawn approaches, Enjolras realizes that the people of Paris have not risen up with them, but resolves to fight on in spite of the impossible odds ("Dawn of Anguish"). Their resolve is fired even further when the army kill Gavroche, who snuck out to collect ammunition from bodies on the other side of the barricade ("The Second Attack / Death of Gavroche"). The army gives a final warning, but the rebels fight to the last man with Enjolras exhorting "Let others rise to take our place, until the Earth is free!". Everyone at the barricade is killed except Valjean and a gravely wounded Marius, who escape into the sewers ("The Final Battle"). Javert returns to the barricade, searching for Valjean amongst the bodies, and finds the open sewer grating.
Valjean carries Marius through the sewers but collapses in exhaustion. While he is unconscious, Thénardier, who has been looting bodies ("Dog Eats Dog"), comes upon them and takes a ring from the unconscious Marius, but flees when Valjean (whom he again recognizes) regains consciousness. When Valjean carries Marius to the sewer's exit he finds Javert waiting for him. Valjean begs Javert for one hour to bring Marius to a doctor, and Javert reluctantly agrees. Javert finds himself unable to reconcile Valjean's merciful acts with his conception of Valjean as an irredeemable criminal. Refusing to compromise his principles but no longer able to hold them sacred, he commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine ("Soliloquy - Javert's Suicide)".
In the wake of the failed revolution, women mourn the deaths of the students ("Turning") and Marius, wounded but alive, despairs at the sacrifice of so many lives ("Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). As he wonders who saved his own life, Cosette comforts him and they reaffirm their blossoming romance. Valjean realises that Cosette will not need him as a caretaker once she's married and gives them his blessing ("Every Day"). Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an escaped convict and must go away because his presence endangers Cosette ("Valjean's Confession"), making Marius promise never to tell Cosette. A few months later, Marius and Cosette marry ("Wedding Chorale"). The Thénardiers crash the reception in disguise and attempt to blackmail Marius, telling him that Valjean is a murderer and that Thénardier saw him carrying a corpse in the sewers after the barricades fell. When Thénardier shows him the ring as proof, Marius realizes that it was Valjean who saved his life. The newlyweds leave to find Valjean (Marius pausing to give Thénardier a punch in the face). The Thénardiers are not discouraged, instead gloating that their craven practicality has saved their lives time and time again ("Beggars at the Feast").
At a convent, Valjean awaits his death, having nothing left to live for. The spirit of Fantine appears to him and tells him that he has been forgiven and will soon be with God. Cosette and Marius arrive to find Valjean near death. Valjean thanks God for letting him live long enough to see Cosette again and Marius thanks him for saving his life. ("Epilogue - Valjean's Death"). Valjean gives Cosette a letter confessing his troubled past and the truth about her mother. As he dies, the spirits of Fantine and Éponine guide him to Heaven reminding him that "to love another person is to see the face of God." They are joined by the spirits of those who died at the barricades, who sing that in the next world God lays low all tyranny and frees all oppressed people from their shackles ("Finale").
Musical numbers[edit]
Main article: Songs from Les Misérables

Act I


Song
Performer(s)
1 "Prologue: Work Song" Chain Gang, Javert and Valjean
2 "Prologue: On Parole" Valjean, Farmer, Labourer, Innkeeper's Wife, Innkeeper and Bishop of Digne
3 "Prologue: Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven" Constables and Bishop of Digne
4 "Prologue: What Have I Done?" Valjean
5 "At the End of the Day" Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Girls, Fantine and Valjean
6 "I Dreamed a Dream" Fantine
7 "Lovely Ladies" Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores and Pimp
8 "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert and Valjean
9 "'The Runaway Cart" Townspeople, Valjean, Fauchelevant and Javert
10 "Who Am I? / The Trial" Valjean
11 "Fantine's Death: Come to Me" Fantine and Valjean
12 "The Confrontation" Javert and Valjean
13 "Castle on a Cloud" Young Cosette and Madame Thénardier
14 "Master of the House" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Customers
15 "The Well Scene" Valjean and Young Cosette
16 "The Bargain / The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" Thénardier, Valjean, Madame Thénardier and Young Cosette
17 "Look Down" Gavroche, Beggars, Old Woman, Prostitute, Pimp, Enjolras, and Marius
18 "The Robbery" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier, Marius, Éponine and Valjean
19 "Javert's Intervention" Javert and Thénardier
20 "Stars" Javert
21 "Éponine's Errand" Éponine and Marius
22 "ABC Café / Red and Black" Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Combeferre, Feuilly, Courfeyrac, Joly, Gavroche and Students
23 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Enjolras, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Feuilly Students and Townspeople
24 "Rue Plumet – In My Life" Cosette, Valjean, Marius and Éponine
25 "A Heart Full of Love" Marius, Cosette and Éponine
26 "The Attack on the Rue Plumet" Thénardier, Thieves (Montparnasse, Brujon, Babet, Claquesous), Éponine, Marius, Valjean and Cosette
27 “One Day More" Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Company

Act II


Song
Performer(s)
28 "Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Javert, Marius, Éponine and Valjean (the OLC, OBC, and Symphonic recordings also include Prouvaire, Grantaire, and Lesgles)
29 "On My Own" Éponine
30 "At the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Students, and Army Officer
31 "Javert's Arrival" Javert and Enjolras
32 "Little People" Gavroche, Grantaire, Prouvaire, Courfeyrac, Enjolras and Javert
33 "A Little Fall of Rain" (Éponine's Death) Éponine and Marius
34 "Night of Anguish" Enjolras, Marius, Combeferre, Prouvaire, Lesgles, Joly, Valjean, Grantaire, and Students
35 "The First Attack" Enjolras, Valjean, Feuilly, Grantaire, Lesgles, Javert, Students
36 "Drink with Me" Feuilly, Grantaire, Marius, Prouvaire, Joly, Students and Women
37 "Bring Him Home" Valjean
38 "Dawn of Anguish" Enjolras
39 "The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" Enjolras, Feuilly, Marius, Valjean, Gavroche, and Grantaire
40 "The Final Battle" Army Officer, Enjolras, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac
41 "Dog Eats Dog (The Sewers)" Thénardier, Valjean, and Javert
42 "Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide)" Javert
43 "Turning" Women of Paris
44 "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" Marius
45 "Every Day" Cosette, Marius and Valjean
46 "Valjean's Confession" Marius and Valjean
47 "Wedding Chorale" Guests, Thénardier, Marius and Madame Thénardier
48 "Beggars at the Feast" Thénardier and Madame Thénardier
49 "Valjean's Death" Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius and Éponine
50 "Do You Hear The People Sing? (Reprise) / [Finale]" Full Company

Characters[edit]
Characters in order of appearance

Character[9]
Voice[10]
Description

Jean Valjean
dramatic tenor/
original production: dramatic baritone
 Prisoner 24601. After being released from imprisonment for serving nineteen years (five for stealing a loaf of bread and fourteen for multiple escape attempts), he breaks parole and, after receiving mercy from Bishop Myriel, turns his life around to live for God, showing the effects of God's grace that bring a corrupt man into virtuous and selfless living. He changes his identity, becoming the wealthy mayor of a small town. He later adopts Cosette, the only daughter of Fantine. At the end, he eventually dies and the spirit of Fantine thanks him for raising her child.
Inspector Javert
baritone Respects the law above all else and relentlessly pursues Valjean, hoping to bring the escaped convict to justice. He firmly believes in the justice of the law, and has no room for mercy. In the end he commits suicide, broken by the mercy he experiences from Valjean.
The Bishop of Digne
baritone Shelters Valjean after his release from jail and gives him gifts of silver and absolution. His acts of kindness move Valjean to surrender his ways to God, escaping the label of "criminal" and living in a new identity.
The Factory Foreman
baritone or tenor Foreman of Valjean's (Valjean has assumed the name Madeleine) jet bead factory in Montreuil-sur-Mer which employs Fantine and other workers. The Foreman fires Fantine from the factory when she persists in resisting his overt sexual advances and because it is discovered that she is the mother of an illegitimate child (Cosette) living elsewhere.
The Factory Girl
soprano Mistress to the Factory Foreman. She intercepts a letter that the Thénardiers have sent to Fantine which exposes her as the mother of an illegitimate child, and the Factory Girl shows it to the Foreman, goading him into firing her.
Fantine
lyric mezzo-soprano An impoverished factory worker who loses her job and, as a result, turns to prostitution in order to continue paying the Thénardiers to care for her illegitimate daughter, Cosette. As Fantine dies of consumption, she asks Valjean to look after her child. Ultimately she appears as a spirit and escorts the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Old Woman
contralto Affectionately called "The Hair Hag" in many of the original US companies, the Old Woman is the character who talks Fantine into selling her hair before Fantine becomes a prostitute.
Crone
soprano Also called "The Locket Crone," this character is the woman who talks Fantine into selling her precious locket for much less than it is worth.
Bamatabois
tenor An upper-class "fop" who tries to buy Fantine's services. He treats her abusively so she refuses him. When Javert enters the scene, Bamatabois tries to cover the fact that he was soliciting a prostitute by having her arrested for attacking him.
Fauchelevent
baritone or tenor In a role reduced from the novel, he appears only in the Cart Crash scene, where he is trapped under the cart and rescued by Valjean. He is an elderly man who has fallen upon hard times.
Champmathieu
silent A man who is arrested and on trial because he is believed to be Jean Valjean. Valjean, still under the name Madeleine, confesses his true identity at the trial in order to save the man.
Young Cosette
treble The eight-year-old daughter of Fantine. Cosette is in the care of the Thénardiers who are paid by Fantine to take care of her child. Unknown to Fantine, the Thénardiers force Cosette to work, and they use Fantine's money for their own needs.
Madame Thénardier
contralto Thénardier's unscrupulous wife, who abuses Cosette but dotes on her own daughter, Éponine. She is fully complicit in most of her husband's crimes and schemes.
Young Éponine
silent The pampered daughter of the Thénardiers. She grows up with Cosette and is unkind to her.
Thénardier
comic baritone A second-rate thief, Thénardier runs a small inn where he continually bilks his customers. He and his family later travel to Paris, where he sets up as the leader of a gang of street thugs and con men. An eternal survivor, Thénardier is above nothing and below everything.
Gavroche
boy soprano A streetwise urchin who knows everyone and everything that happens in the slums of Paris. He joins up with the revolutionaries, and later dies on the barricade attempting to recover ammunition from fallen soldiers.
Enjolras
baritone or tenor Enjolras is the leader of the student revolutionaries and a friend of Marius. He is Idealistic and charismatic, although his plan is doomed to failure.
Marius Pontmercy
baritone or tenor A student revolutionary, is friends with Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette, and she with him. He is later rescued from the barricades by Valjean, who ultimately gives Marius and Cosette his blessing, allowing them to be married.
Éponine
mezzo-soprano Daughter of the Thénardiers, Éponine, now a ragged street waif and a thief like her father, secretly loves Marius. Although it causes her great anguish, she helps him locate Cosette and later delivers a message he sends her from the barricade. She is killed while returning to the barricades to see Marius. In the end she appears as a spirit alongside Fantine and they guide the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Brujon
baritone or tenor A brutish and cowardly, but dissatisfied, member of Thénardier's Gang. Brujon's role in the musical expands to cover Gueulemer.
Babet
baritone or tenor A foreboding member of Thénardier's Gang.
Claquesous
baritone or tenor A member of Thénardier's Gang Quiet and masked, expert at evading the police, Claquesous might in fact be working for the law.
Montparnasse
baritone or tenor A young member of Thénardier's Gang, Montparnasse is a handsome man who appears to be close to Éponine.
Cosette
soprano Cosette, the daughter of Fantine, has grown-up to become a beautiful young woman of culture and privilege under Valjean's adoptive and loving fatherly care and protection. She falls in love with Marius, and he returns her equally strong and pure romantic feelings. She marries him at the end of the musical.
Friends of the ABC
baritones and tenors Student revolutionaries who lead a revolution and die in the process, the Friends of the ABC become martyrs for the rights of citizens. (See Members listed below)
Combeferre
Baritone or tenor Combeferre is the philosopher of the ABC group. Enjolras' second-in-command. He is described as the guide of the Friends of the ABC.
Feuilly
tenor Feuilly is the only member of the Friends of the ABC who is not a student; he is a workingman. An optimist who stands as a sort of ambassador for the "outside," while the rest of the men stand for France. He loves Poland very much.
Courfeyrac
tenor Friendly and open, Courfeyrac introduces Marius to the ABC society in the novel. He always has many mistresses, and is described as the centre of the Friends of the ABC, always giving off warmth.
Joly
tenor or baritone A medical student and a hypochondriac; best friends with Lesgles.
Grantaire
baritone Grantaire is a member of the Friends of the ABC. Though he admires Enjolras and is one of his truest friends, Grantaire often opposes Enjolras' fierce determination and occasionally acts as a voice of reason. Grantaire is also very close to Gavroche and attempts to act as his protector. Grantaire has a weakness for spirits of the alcoholic kind and is often tipsy throughout the musical, carrying a bottle of wine wherever he goes.
Jean Prouvaire
baritone or tenor Prouvaire, a poet, is the youngest student member of the Friends. Jean Prouvaire has the honor of waving the giant red flag during "One Day More" at the end of Act One.
Lesgles
baritone or tenor Best friends with Joly. A very unlucky man, but also a very happy one.
Army Officer
tenor A voice from offstage, he demands the surrender of the student revolutionaries before the army attacks.
Casts[edit]
Casts

Character
Original French Stage Cast
 (1980)
Original London Cast
 (1985)
Original Broadway Cast
 (1987)
First Broadway Revival
 (2006)
Current London Cast [11]
Second Broadway Revival
 (2014)
Current Broadway Cast[12]
Australian Revival[13]
 (2014)

Jean Valjean
Maurice Barrier Colm Wilkinson Alexander Gemignani Peter Lockyer Ramin Karimloo Alfie Boe Simon Gleeson
Javert
Jean Vallée Roger Allam Terrence Mann Norm Lewis Jeremy Secomb Will Swenson Earl Carpenter Hayden Tee
Fantine
Rose Laurens Patti LuPone Randy Graff Daphne Rubin-Vega Rachelle Ann Go Caissie Levy Montego Glover Patrice Tipoki
Éponine
Marianne Mille Frances Ruffelle Celia Keenan-Bolger Carrie Hope Fletcher Nikki M. James Brennyn Lark Kerrie Anne Greenland
Thénardier
Yvan Dautin Alun Armstrong Leo Burmester Gary Beach Phil Daniels Cliff Saunders Gavin Lee Trevor Ashley
Madame Thénardier
Marie-France Roussel Susan Jane Tanner Jennifer Butt Jenny Galloway Katy Secombe Keala Settle Rachael Izen Lara Mulcahy
Marius
Gilles Buhlmann Michael Ball David Bryant Adam Jacobs Rob Houchen Andy Mientus Chris McCarrell Euan Doidge
Cosette
Fabienne Guyon Rebecca Caine Judy Kuhn Ali Ewoldt Zoe Doano Samantha Hill Alex Finke Emily Langridge
Enjolras
Christian Ratellin David Burt Michael Maguire Aaron Lazar Bradley Jaden Kyle Scatliffe Wallace Smith Chris Durling
Gavroche
Florence Davis
 Cyrille Dupont
 Fabrice Ploquin Ian Tucker
 Oliver Spencer
 Liza Hayden Braden Danner
 RD Robb Brian D'Addario
 Jacob Levine
 Austin Myers Charlie Gallacher
 Austin Taylor
 Toby Ungleson Joshua Colley
 Gaten Matarazzo Marcus D'Angelo
 Athan Sporek Nicholas Cradock
 Emerson Garcia
 Harry Herbert
 Tamatea Kratzmann
Concert Casts

Character
10th Anniversary Concert Cast
 (1995)
25th Anniversary Concert Cast
 (2010)

Jean Valjean
Colm Wilkinson Alfie Boe
Javert
Philip Quast Norm Lewis
Fantine
Ruthie Henshall Lea Salonga
Éponine
Lea Salonga Samantha Barks
Thénardier
Alun Armstrong Matt Lucas
Madame Thénardier
Jenny Galloway
Marius
Michael Ball Nick Jonas
Cosette
Judy Kuhn Katie Hall
Enjolras
Michael Maguire Ramin Karimloo
Gavroche
Adam Searles Robert Madge
Productions[edit]
Original French production[edit]



 The Palais des Sports in Paris where the musical was first performed.
French songwriter Alain Boublil had the idea to adapt Victor Hugo's novel into a musical while at a performance of the musical Oliver! in London:

As soon as the Artful Dodger came onstage, Gavroche came to mind. It was like a blow to the solar plexus. I started seeing all the characters of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables—Valjean, Javert, Gavroche, Cosette, Marius, and Éponine—in my mind's eye, laughing, crying, and singing onstage.[14]
He pitched the idea to French composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, and the two developed a rough synopsis. They worked up an analysis of each character's mental and emotional state, as well as that of an audience. Schönberg then began to write the music, while Boublil began work on the text. According to Boublil, "...I could begin work on the words. This I did—after myself deciding on the subject and title of every song—in collaboration with my friend, poet Jean-Marc Natel."[15] Two years later, a two-hour demo tape with Schönberg accompanying himself on the piano and singing every role was completed. An album of this collaboration was recorded at CTS Studios in Wembley and was released in 1980, selling 260,000 copies.
The concept album includes Maurice Barrier as Jean Valjean, Jacques Mercier as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Yvan Dautin as Thénardier, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Richard Dewitte as Marius, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, Marie-France Dufour as Éponine, Michel Sardou as Enjolras, Fabrice Bernard as Gavroche, Maryse Cédolin as Young Cosette, Claude-Michel Schönberg as Courfeyrac, Salvatore Adamo as Combeferre, Michel Delpech as Feuilly, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, and Mireille as the hair buyer.
That year, in September 1980, a stage version directed by veteran French film director Robert Hossein was produced at the Palais des Sports in Paris. The show was a success, with 100 performances seen by over 500,000 people.[16][17][18]
Most of the cast from the concept album performed in the production.[16][19] The cast included Maurice Barrier as Valjean, Jean Vallée as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Maryse Cédolin and Sylvie Camacho and Priscilla Patron as Young Cosette, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Yvan Dautin as M. Thénardier, Florence Davis and Fabrice Ploquin and Cyrille Dupont as Gavroche, Marianne Mille as Éponine, Gilles Buhlmann as Marius, Christian Ratellin as Enjolras, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, René-Louis Baron as Combeferre, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, Anne Forrez as Mlle. Gillenormand, and Claude Reva as the storyteller.[16][19][20][21]
Original West End production[edit]



Les Misérables at Queen's Theatre in London
The English-language version, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and additional material by James Fenton, was substantially expanded and reworked from a literal translation by Siobhan Bracke of the original Paris version, in particular adding a prologue to tell Jean Valjean's backstory. Kretzmer's work is not a direct "translation" of the French, a term that Kretzmer refused to use. A third of the English lyrics were a "rough" translation, another third were adapted from the French lyrics and the final third consisted of new material. The majority is performed in recitative style; the vocalists use natural speech delivery, not musical metrics.[22]
The first production in English, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, opened on 8 October 1985 (five years after the original production) at the Barbican Arts Centre, London. It was billed in the RSC Barbican Theatre programme as "The Royal Shakespeare Company presentation of the RSC/Cameron Mackintosh production", and played to preview performances beginning on 28 September 1985.
The set was designed by John Napier, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and lighting by David Hersey. Musical supervision and orchestrations were by John Cameron, who had been involved with the show since Boublil and Schönberg hired him to orchestrate the original French concept album. Musical staging was by Kate Flatt with musical direction by Martin Koch.
The original London cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Ken Caswell as the Bishop of Digne, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Zoë Hart, Jayne O'Mahony and Joanne Woodcock as Young Cosette, Danielle Akers, Gillian Brander and Juliette Caton as Young Éponine, Susan Jane Tanner as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Rebecca Caine as Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, with Ian Tucker, Oliver Spencer and Liza Hayden sharing the role of Gavroche.[23][24]
On 4 December 1985, the show transferred to the Palace Theatre, London and moved again on 3 April 2004, to the much more intimate Queen's Theatre, with some revisions of staging and where, as of August 2015,[25] it was still playing. It celebrated its ten-thousandth performance on 5 January 2010.[26] The drummer from the original cast album, Peter Boita, stayed with the show for the first 25 years of its history.[27]
The co-production has generated valuable income for the Royal Shakespeare Company.[28]
Original Broadway production[edit]
The musical opened as a pre-Broadway tryout at the Kennedy Center's Opera House in Washington D.C. on December 27, 1986. It ran for eight weeks through February 14, 1987.[29]
The musical then premiered on Broadway on March 12, 1987 at The Broadway Theatre. Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle reprised their roles from the London production.[30] The $4.5 million production had a more than $4 million advance sale prior to its New York opening.[31]
The show underwent further tightening and an improved sewer lighting and Javert suicide scene effect was incorporated.[32] Boublil explained: "The transfer from London to the United States has prompted further modifications. 'We are taking this opportunity to rethink and perfect, to rewrite some details which probably no one else will see, but which for us are still long nights of work,' Mr. Boublil says. 'There are things that nobody had time to do in London, and here we have a wonderful opportunity to fix a few things. No one will notice, perhaps, but for us, it will make us so happy if we can better this show. We would like this to be the final version.'"[31] Two songs were deleted—the complete version of Gavroche's song "Little People" and the adult Cosette's "I Saw Him Once". A short section at the beginning of "In My Life" replaced "I Saw Him Once". The lyrics in Javert's "Stars" were changed. It now ended with the line, "This I swear by the stars!", while the London production and cast recording ended with the repeated line, "Keeping watch in the night".
The original Broadway cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, Donna Vivino as Young Cosette, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Randy Graff as Fantine, Terrence Mann as Javert, Chrissie McDonald as Young Éponine, and Norman Large as the Bishop of Digne.[30]
Other members of the original Broadway cast included Kevin Marcum, Paul Harman, Anthony Crivello, John Dewar, Joseph Kolinski, Alex Santoriello, Jesse Corti, Susan Goodman, John Norman, Norman Large, Marcus Lovett, Steve Shocket, Cindy Benson, Marcie Shaw, Jane Bodle, Joanna Glushak, Ann Crumb, Kelli James, Gretchen Kingsley-Weihe, Chrissie McDonald. Michael Hinton was the original drummer and credited on the cast album.[30]
The musical ran at the Broadway Theatre through October 10, 1990, when it moved to the Imperial Theatre.[30] It was scheduled to close on March 15, 2003, but the closing was postponed by a surge in public interest.[33] According to an article in The Scotsman, "Sales picked up last October, when Sir Cameron made the announcement that the show would be closing on March 15th...its closure postponed to May 18th because of an unexpected increase in business."[34] After 6,680 performances in sixteen years,[34] when it closed on May 18, 2003,[30] it was the second-longest-running Broadway musical after Cats.[35] It was surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera, in 2006.[36]
This Broadway production of Les Misérables and its advertising in New York City is a reoccurring theme in American Psycho. The reviewer for the Financial Times wrote that Les Misérables is "the book's hilarious main cultural compass-point".[37]
2006 Broadway revival[edit]
Only three years after the original run closed, Les Misérables began a return to Broadway on 9 November 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre for a limited run that was subsequently made open-ended.
Using the set, costumes, performers, and other resources from the recently closed third US national touring production, the production was only slightly altered. Minor changes included colourful projections blended into its existing lighting design, and a proscenium that extended out into the first two boxes on either side of the stage.
Some cuts made to the show's prologue during its original Broadway run were restored, lyrics for Gavroche's death scene (known in the revival as "Ten Little Bullets") cut during the development of the original London production were restored, and much of the show was re-orchestrated by Christopher Jahnke, introducing a snare and timpani-heavy sound played by a 14-member band, a reduction of about 8 musicians from the original production's 22 musician orchestration.[citation needed]
The original 2006 Broadway revival cast included Alexander Gemignani as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Daphne Rubin-Vega as Fantine, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Éponine, Aaron Lazar as Enjolras, Adam Jacobs as Marius, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Gary Beach as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Brian D’Addario and Jacob Levine and Skye Rainforth and Austyn Myers as Gavroche, James Chip Leonard as The Bishop of Digne, Drew Sarich as Grantaire, and Tess Adams and Kylie Liya Goldstein and Carly Rose Sonenclar as Young Cosette/Young Éponine.[38]
Lea Salonga, who previously played the role of Éponine in the 10th Anniversary concert, replaced Rubin-Vega as Fantine beginning on March 2, 2007. Zach Rand replaced Jacob Levine as Gavroche on March 15, 2007. Ann Harada replaced Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier on April 24, 2007. Ben Davis joined playing Javert, and Max von Essen playing Enjolras. Ben Crawford and Mandy Bruno joined the cast that day too, playing Brujon and Éponine respectively. On July 23, 2007, Sarich took over the role of Valjean, following Gemignani's departure. On September 5, 2007, it was announced that John Owen-Jones (who was playing Valjean in London) was to join the Broadway cast. In return, Sarich would join the London cast in Owen-Jones' place. Judy Kuhn, who originated the role of Cosette, returned to the show after twenty years as Fantine, succeeding Salonga.
The revival closed on 6 January 2008.[39]
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
A sit down production played at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Previews began on September 27, 2013 with the opening night on October 9. The production closed on February 2, 2014.[40][41][42][43] Laurence Olivier Award nominee, Ramin Karimloo, starred as Jean Valjean.[44] He was joined by fellow West End star, Earl Carpenter, who reprised the role of Inspector Javert.[45] Other cast members included Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Samantha Hill as Cosette, Melissa O'Neil as Éponine, Cliff Saunders as Monsieur Thenardier, Lisa Horner as Madame Thenardier, and Mark Uhre as Enjolras.[46] The roles of young Cosette and young Éponine were shared by Ella Ballentine, Saara Chaudry and Madison Oldroyd. Gavroche was shared by David Gregory Black and Aiden GlennRead.[47]
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
The show returned to Broadway in March 2014 at the Imperial Theatre with previews beginning March 1, 2014 and had an official opening on March 23, 2014.[48][49] The creative team includes the direction of Laurence Connor and James Powell, the set design by Matt Kinley, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowlands, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Mick Potter and projections by Fifty-Nine Productions. Cameron Mackintosh once again produced the show. On October 22, 2013, it was announced that Ramin Karimloo, Will Swenson, Caissie Levy, and Nikki M. James would be headlining the revival cast as Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Éponine respectively.[50] Andy Mientus and Samantha Hill also star as Marius and Cosette respectively.[51][52] Angeli Negron and McKayla Twiggs share the role of Young Cosette.[53] On August 30, 2015, Karimloo ended his run of the show as was replaced by Alfie Boe.
The 2014 Broadway revival was nominated for 3 Tony Awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Karimloo, and Best Sound Design for Potter.
2014 Australian revival[edit]
In mid 2013, a brand new Australian production was announced, with Simon Gleeson as Valjean, Hayden Tee as Javert, Patrice Tipoki as Fantine, Trevor Ashley and Lara Mulcahy as the Thénardiers, Kerrie Anne Greenland as Éponine, Emily Langridge as Cosette, Euan Doidge as Marius and Chris Durling as Enjolras.[54] The production premiered on the 4th of July at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne.[55]
2016 Manila production[edit]
On September 16, 2015, it was announced that the new production of Les Misérables would launch its Asian tour in Manila in March 2016,[56] with Simon Gleeson as Jean Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, and Rachelle Ann Go as Fantine,[57] at The Theater at Solaire.
Concert productions[edit]
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
On 8 October 1995, the show celebrated its tenth anniversary with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This 10th Anniversary Concert was nearly "complete," missing only a handful of scenes, including "The Death of Gavroche" and the confrontation between Marius and the Thénardiers at the wedding feast. Sir Cameron Mackintosh hand-selected the cast, which became known as the Les Misérables Dream Cast, assembled from around the world, and engaged the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert concluded with seventeen Valjeans from various international productions singing, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" in their native languages. The concert cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Paul Monaghan as the Bishop of Digne, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Michael Ball as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Lea Salonga as Éponine, and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire. The concert was staged by Ken Caswell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert
Gree The 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables was held at The O2 in North Greenwich, South East London, United Kingdom, on Sunday, 3 October 2010 at 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm.
It featured Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Nick Jonas as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Matt Lucas as Thénardier, Mia Jenkins as Young Cosette, Robert Madge as Gavroche and Earl Carpenter as the Bishop of Digne. (Originally, Camilla Kerslake had been selected to perform as Cosette, however she was unable to attend. Katie Hall was selected in her place. Hall had previously acted the role at the Queen's Theatre from 2009 and in the 25th Anniversary Tour production at the Barbican.) Casts of the current London, international tour, original 1985 London, and several school productions took part, comprising an ensemble of three hundred performers and musicians. The concert was directed by Laurence Connor & James Powell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
Other concert performances[edit]
The musical has also been performed in concert at Cardiff Castle and several venues in southern England, produced by Earl Carpenter Concerts. A concert version starring Jeff Leyton was also performed at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. In 1989, a one-night concert performance was performed at SkyDome, Toronto, and the largest concert production attracted an audience of approximately 125,000 as part of the Australia Day celebrations in Sydney's Domain Park. The Scandinavian concert tour, produced by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Noble Art, starred Danish musical icon Stig Rossen in the leading role and commemorated author Victor Hugo's 200th birthday. Venues on the tour included the Stockholm Globe Arena, Oslo Spektrum, the Helsinki Hartwell Areena, and the Gothenburg Scandinavium, with audiences totalling over 150,000 for the complete tour.
In November 2004, to celebrate the centennial of the Entente Cordiale, the Queen invited the cast of Les Misérables in the West End to perform for French President Jacques Chirac at Windsor Castle. It was the first time the cast of a West End musical had performed at a Royal residence. The cast was the same as in the West End, supplemented by several guest singers and a choir of former performers. The part of Jean Valjean was played by Michael Ball – the original 1985 London and 1995 Dream Cast Marius - and the part of Javert was played by Michael McCarthy.
In February 2008, Les Misérables was performed at the Bournemouth International Centre, England with a cast of West End stars accompanied by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In August 2008, a concert version, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, was performed at the Hollywood Bowl. The cast included veteran Les Misérables star J. Mark McVey as Valjean, The Office star Melora Hardin as Fantine, Broadway star and Bowl veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert, Spring Awakening and Glee star Lea Michele as Éponine, Tony-winning Jersey Boys star John Lloyd Young as Marius, West End star Tom Lowe as Enjolras, Michael McCormick as Thénardier, Ruth Williamson as Madame Thénardier, Michele Maika as Cosette, Maddie Levy as Young Cosette, and Sage Ryan as Gavroche.
In September 2008, it was performed at the St John Loveridge Hall in Guernsey with a cast of West End performers—the first time that it had been professionally performed on the Island where Victor Hugo wrote the novel. Former London Valjean Phil Cavill reprised his role alongside Les Misérables veteran Michael McCarthy as Javert. In March 2009, the Guernsey production was remounted at Fort Regent in Jersey; and in July 2009, the musical was performed in concert at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Touring Productions[edit]
National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production[edit]
The show had three national touring companies of the original Broadway production in the US, all of which shared the Broadway producer and manager, creative teams, as well nearly identical sets, costumes, and lighting. While the touring production and the New York production were running simultaneously, the staff, cast members, crew, and musicians of the two productions interchanged often, which contributed to keeping both companies of the show in form. When the New York production closed in 2003, the Third National Tour continued for another three years, and enjoyed the influx of many members from the original and subsequent New York companies.
The First National Tour opened at Boston's Shubert Theatre on 12 December 1987, and continued to play major cities until late 1991. The Second National Tour (called "The Fantine Company") opened at Los Angeles' Shubert Theatre on 1 June 1988. The production played for fourteen months then transferred to San Francisco's Curran Theatre where it enjoyed a similar run. The Third National Tour of Les Misérables (called "The Marius Company") was one of the longest running American touring musical productions. Opening on 28 November 1988, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Florida, and closing on 23 July 2006, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri,[58] the tour ran for seventeen years and 7,061 performances. The tour played in 145 cities in 43 states. The same touring company also frequently performed in Canada, made a 1994 diversion to Singapore, and another diversion in 2002 to be the first Western musical production to visit China, opening in Shanghai's Grand Theatre for a three-week engagement.
All US productions (including Broadway and its revival) were visually identical in scale and design but the third national tour was notable for its portability without sacrificing the Broadway-caliber experience. Thanks to innovative touring techniques borrowed from the pop/rock concert industry, the 4.5 million dollar production was adaptable to smaller and larger venues and traveled complete in all of 8 semi tractor trailers. It was set up and ready to go in less than 24 hours and broken down and packed up in about 16 hours. This allowed it to reach many cities and venues in its acclaimed, original Broadway form.
The final company of the Third National Broadway Tour included Randal Keith as Valjean (Keith also played Valjean in the final company of the original Broadway engagement), Robert Hunt as Javert, Joan Almedilla as Fantine, Daniel Bogart as Marius, Norman Large (from Original Broadway Cast) as Monsieur Thénardier, Jennifer Butt (from Original Broadway Cast) as Madame Thénardier, Melissa Lyons as Éponine, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Victor Wallace as Enjolras, Meg Guzulescu and Rachel Schier alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine, and Austyn Myers and Anthony Skillman alternating as Gavroche.
25th Anniversary Tour[edit]
A tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the show began performances on 12 December 2009, at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Differences from the original production included a new set, new costumes, new direction and alterations to the original orchestrations. The tour also did not use a revolving stage and the scenery was inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Locations have included Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Salford, and Southampton. The tour also played a special engagement in Paris. From September through October, the show returned to the Barbican Centre, London, site of the original 1985 production. The tour cast featured John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Gareth Gates as Marius, Ashley Artus as Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Madame Thénardier, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Rosalind James as Éponine, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, Katie Hall as Cosette (with Eliza Jones as Young Cosette), and David Lawrence as the Bishop of Digne. The tour ended 2 October 2010, at the Barbican.[citation needed]
In the fall of 2010, The tour moved to the US with a new company presented by Broadway Across America to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show opening on Broadway. The tour had its opening on 19 November 2010 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, running until 19 December 2010. This tour originally starred Lawrence Clayton as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Betsy Morgan as Fantine, Jenny Latimer as Cosette, Justin Scott Brown as Marius, Chasten Harmon as Éponine, Michael Kostroff as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, Jeremy Hays as Enjolras, Josh Caggiano and Ethan Paul Khusidman as Gavroche, Maya Jade Frank and Juliana Simone alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine. J. Mark McVey's daughter, Kylie McVey was the understudy for Young Cosette and Young Éponine. Clayton left the tour in April 2011. Ron Sharpe later took over as Valjean until June 2011. J. Mark McVey was then Valjean (McVey previously played the role on Broadway), but McVey and his daughter left the tour on 1 April 2012. Peter Lockyer replaces him as Valjean. Betsy Morgan left the tour on December 2, 2012. She was replaced by Genevieve Leclerc. The tour ran until August 11, 2013, closing at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. The tour's final cast included Peter Lockyer as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Lauren Wiley as Cosette, Devin Ilaw as Marius, Briana Carlson-Goodman as Éponine, Timothy Gulan as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, and Jason Forbach as Enjolras,[59][60] In 2011 it was reported that the tour is one of six US national Broadway tours that are grossing over $1,000,000 per week.[61]
International productions[edit]
The show has been produced in forty-two countries and translated into twenty-one languages: English, French (original and re-translated), German (Austria and Germany), Spanish (four versions: two from Spain, one version each from Argentina and Mexico), Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Swedish (in Sweden and in Finland), Dutch (Netherlands and Belgium), Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan and Korean. Including singles and promos, there have been over seventy official recordings from worldwide productions.[62]
The first full West End / Broadway production in Europe (mainland) was set up in Oslo, Norway at Det Norske Teatret and opened on 17 March 1988.[63] The production was in Norwegian and starred Norwegian singer/actor Øystein Wiik as Jean Valjean, Paul Åge Johannessen as Javert, Øivind Blunck as Thénardier, Kari Gjærum as Fantine, Amund Enger as Enjolras and Guri Schanke as Éponine. The first Oslo production was hugely successful and some 10% of Norway's entire population saw the show in the first 6 months. Øystein Wiik went on to also star as Jean Valjean in the in productions in Vienna and London in 1989–1990.
Interestingly, the stage show, which had changed so significantly since its Parisian conception as a stadium concert in 1980, was only finally translated back into the language of Victor Hugo for its French World Première in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1991. This production, which in fact boasted a cast that presented five shows a week in French and three a week in English, was a great success. It gave the producers a clear indication that Les Misérables was finally ready to go "home", to Paris, later that same year.
Regional productions[edit]


 This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (February 2014)
In September 2008, a mini-tour produced by Atlanta's Theater of the Stars played Eisenhower Hall at the United States Military Academy,[64][not in citation given] in West Point, New York; the Filene Center at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia; Kansas City Starlight Theatre; and the Fox Theater in Atlanta. The show featured a new set of original pictures painted by Victor Hugo himself. Robert Evan played Valjean, returning to the role he played in the mid-nineties on Broadway. Also featured were Nikki Rene Daniels as Fantine and Robert Hunt as Javert, both reprising their roles from the Broadway revival. Fred Hanson directed the production. The creative team included Matt Kinley as Scenic Designer, Ken Billington as Lighting Designer, Peter Fitzgerald and Erich Bechtel as Sound Designers, Zachary Borovay as Projection Designer, and Dan Riddle as Musical Director and Conductor.[65]
In 2008, the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia staged a small venue "black box" version of the play. Signature received Mackintosh's special permission for the production: "One of the great pleasures of being involved with the creation of Les Misérables is seeing this marvelous musical being done in a completely different and original way. Having seen many shows brilliantly reimagined at Signature I have no doubt that Eric and his team will come up with a revolutionary new take on Les Miz unlike anything anyone has seen before. Viva la différence!"[66] The production officially opened on 14 December 2008 (after previews from 2 December), and ran through 22 February 2009 (extended from 25 January 2009).[67][68]
A 2014 production at the Dallas Theater Center modernized the staging in a way rarely attempted in productions of this play, set visually in the modern-day United States rather than 1830s France. The concept was thought to be refreshing as a change from typical production styles and effective as a commentary on modern inequality. Though, much controversy surrounded their unauthorized depart from the authors' libretto and score.[69][70]
In Panama, Les Misérables was staged in 2014 in Spanish at the famed National Theatre of Panama for a short, sold out run, directed by Aaron Zebede.[71]
School edition[edit]
The school edition cuts a considerable amount of material from the original show. It is divided into thirty scenes and, although no "critical" scenes or songs have been removed, it runs 25–30 minutes shorter than the "official" version making the total running time about 2 1⁄2 hours.[72] A few subtle changes of vocal pitch have been made: "What Have I Done?", Valjean's Soliloquy, "Stars" by Javert, "A Little Fall of Rain" by Éponine and Marius, "Turning", and "Castle on a Cloud" lose a verse each. During "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois loses two verses. The song "Fantine's Death/Confrontation" is edited, and the counterpoint duel between Javert and Valjean is lost, as well as a verse by Fantine. "Dog Eats Dog" by Thénardier is heavily truncated. "Beggars at the Feast", is shortened, with Thénardier losing a verse, and the song before it, "Wedding Chorale", is excluded entirely although the rest of the wedding remains in place. Also, the drinker's introduction to "Master of the House" is cut completely.[73]
Film adaptation[edit]
For the most recent film adaptation, see Les Misérables (2012 film).
Although numerous films of the Les Misérables story have been made, no film adaptation of the stage musical was produced for many years. A film adaptation was in development at several times since the late 1980s. Alan Parker was reported to be connected to an adaptation at an early stage.[74] In 1992 Mackintosh announced planning for a film to be directed by Bruce Beresford and co-produced by Tri-Star Pictures,[75] but the project was later abandoned.[76]
The 2010 DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert included an announcement of revised plans for a film adaptation[77] which was later confirmed by Mackintosh. Tom Hooper signed on in March 2011 to direct the Mackintosh-produced film from a screenplay by William Nicholson.[78] In June 2011, Working Title Films and Mackintosh announced that the film would begin principal photography in early 2012 for a tentative December release date. The film was given its general US release on Christmas Day 2012.[79] Principal cast members include Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert,[80] Anne Hathaway as Fantine,[81] Amanda Seyfried as Cosette,[82] Eddie Redmayne as Marius Pontmercy,[83] Samantha Barks as Éponine,[84] and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thénardiers.[85][86] Other notable actors who played roles in the film include Aaron Tveit as Enjolras, Bertie Carvel as Bamatabois, Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop of Digne and Frances Ruffelle as a prostitute.[87]
Cast recordings[edit]
English[edit]
The following recordings of Les Misérables are available in English: the Original London Cast, the Original Broadway Cast, the Complete Symphonic Recording, the 10th Anniversary London Concert, The 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast and The 25th Anniversary London Concert.
Original London Cast recording[edit]
The Original London Cast recording was the first English language album of the musical. Recorded in 1985, when the show premiered, it is closest to the original French concept album. For example, "Stars" appears before "Look Down" and shortly after, the original version of "Little People" plays, which was later incorporated into the revealing of Javert. It also features a song entitled "I Saw Him Once", sung by Cosette, which was later incorporated into the first part of "In My Life". The album has sold 887,000 copies in the US.[88]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Susan Jane Tanner as Mme. Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Ian Tucker as Gavroche, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, and Rebecca Caine as Cosette.
Original Broadway Cast recording[edit]
The Original Broadway Cast recording was produced in 1987. It included several changes to the songs that are still evident in today's performances. As with its predecessor, it is incomplete, and leaves out songs or parts that are more important narratively than musically (e.g., "Fantine's Arrest", "The Runaway Cart", "The Final Battle"). The album has sold 1,596,000 copies in the US.[88]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Terrence Mann as Javert, Randy Graff as Fantine, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, and Donna Vivino as Young Cosette.
Complete Symphonic Recording[edit]
Recorded in 1988 and released in 1989, the Complete Symphonic Recording features the entire score. (The Czech Revival Recording is the only other album, in any language, to feature the entire score; on the other hand, the four 2003 Japanese recordings feature the entire score after the cuts first made on Broadway at the end of 2000.) Cameron Mackintosh's original plan was to use the Australian cast,[89] but the scope was expanded to create an international cast featuring performers from the major performances of the musical. The cast was recorded in three different places.[90]
The album, produced by David Caddick and conducted by Martin Koch, won the Best Musical Cast Show Album Grammy Award in 1991. The cast includes Gary Morris as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Debra Byrne as Fantine, Gay Soper as Mme. Thénardier, Barry James as Thénardier, Kaho Shimada as Éponine, Michael Ball as Marius, Anthony Warlow as Enjolras, and Tracy Shayne as Cosette.
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
The 10th Anniversary recording was of a concert version of Les Misérables, performed at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1995, featuring full orchestra and choir. All the parts were sung live, giving the performance a different mood from other recordings. The score was recorded consecutively without pauses or multiple recordings. The concert's encores are also included. As with the original recordings, however, they differed from the stage versions by excluding some songs (e.g., those vital to plot such as "Fantine's Arrest" and "The Runaway Cart" were kept, while unnecessary or complex songs, such as "At the Barricade", were left out).
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier, Lea Salonga as Éponine, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Judy Kuhn as Cosette and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire.
Manchester Highlights[edit]
A five-track album featuring members of the UK national tour was released in 1992 and includes "I Dreamed a Dream" (Ria Jones); "Stars" (Philip Quast); "On My Own" (Meredith Braun); "Bring Him Home" (Jeff Leyton); and "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" (Mike Sterling). The version of "Stars" is the same as that on the Complete Symphonic Recording.
25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast[edit]
Recorded live at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, this recording was released to commemorate 25 years of Les Misérables in English. This recording featured new arrangements and reinspired orchestrations, and included John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Ashley Artus as M. Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Mme. Thénardier, Gareth Gates as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, and Rosalind James as Éponine.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert


 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)
The 25th Anniversary Concert was recorded live at The O2 (London) on 3 October 2010 and is available on DVD in the UK while the Blu-ray was released worldwide. It was shown in select US theaters via NCM Fathom Events. The release for the DVD and Blu-ray in the United States was 22 February 2011 to promote the film adaptation. A CD single of the 'Valjean Quartet' singing "Bring Him Home" was also recorded and released, with proceeds going to the charity "Tickets For Troops". The cast included Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Nick Jonas as Marius, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Katie Hall as Cosette, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Matt Lucas as Monsieur Thénardier and Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier.
Other languages[edit]
There are also various non-English language cast albums of the musical.


1980 Original French concept album
1987 Original Israeli cast
1988 Original Norway cast
1988 Original Hungarian cast
1988 Original Vienna cast
1990 Original Swedish cast
1991 Original Dutch cast
1991 Paris Revival cast
1992 Original Danish cast
1992 Original Czech cast
1993 Original Spanish cast
1993 Korean revival cast
1994 Japanese "blue" cast
1994 Japanese "red" cast

1996 Original Duisburg cast
1996 Swedish Värmland cast
1998 Original Antwerp cast
2003 Japanese "orange" cast
2003 Japanese "green" cast
2003 Japanese "light blue" cast
2003 Japanese "violet" cast
2003 Czech revival cast
2008 Dutch revival cast
2008 Le Capitole de Québec cast
2010 Polish Revival cast
2010 Spanish 25th anniversary production cast
2011 Czech cast

Awards and nominations[edit]
Original West End production[edit]
Original West End production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1985 Laurence Olivier Award Best New Musical Nominated
Best Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Alun Armstrong Nominated
Best Actress in a Musical Patti LuPone Won
2012 Laurence Olivier Award[91] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
2014 Laurence Olivier Award[92] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
Original Broadway production[edit]
Original Broadway production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1987 Tony Award Best Musical Won
Best Book of a Musical Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Best Original Score Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer Won
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Terrence Mann Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Frances Ruffelle Won
Best Direction of a Musical Trevor Nunn and John Caird Won
Best Scenic Design John Napier Won
Best Costume Design Andreane Neofitou Nominated
Best Lighting Design David Hersey Won
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Won
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Outstanding Orchestrations John Cameron Won
Outstanding Music Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Outstanding Set Design John Napier Won
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
2013 Toronto revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Dora Award[93][94] Outstanding Production Nominated
Outstanding Male Performance Ramin Karimloo Nominated
Mark Uhre Nominated
Aiden Glenn Nominated
Outstanding Female Performance Melissa O'Neil Won
Outstanding Direction Laurence Connor and James Powell Nominated
Outstanding Scenic Design Matt Kinley Nominated
Outstanding Costume Design Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowland Won
Outstanding Lighting Design Paule Constable Nominated
Outstanding Choreography James Dodgson Nominated
Outstanding Ensemble Entire ensemble Nominated
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
2014 Broadway revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Tony Award Best Revival of a Musical Nominated
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Ramin Karimloo Nominated
Best Sound Design of a Musical Mick Potter Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical Nominated
2014 Australian revival[edit]
2014 Australian revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Green Room Awards Production Nominated
Actor in a Leading Role Simon Gleeson Nominated
Hayden Tee Won
Direction James Powell and Laurence Connor Nominated
Musical Direction Geoffrey Castles Nominated
Design (Lighting) Paule Constable Nominated
Design (Sound) Mick Potter Nominated
Design (Set and Costume) Matt Kinley (Set and Image Design) Nominated
2015 Helpmann Awards[95][96] Best Musical Won
Best Male Actor in a Musical Simon Gleeson Won
Hayden Tee Nominated
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical Trevor Ashley Nominated
Chris Durling Nominated
Best Female Actor in a Musical Patrice Tipoki Nominated
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical Kerrie Anne Greenland Won
Best Direction of a Musical Laurence Connor and James Powell Nominated
Best Choreography in a Musical Michael Ashcroft and Geoffrey Garratt Nominated
Best Lighting Design Paule Constable Won
Best Scenic Design Matt Kinley Nominated
Best Sound Design Mick Potter Won
See also[edit]

Portal icon Musical Theatre portal
Lists of musicals
References[edit]
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79.Jump up ^ Bamigboye, Baz (16 June 2011). "Miss Daisy hits the West End". The Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 2012-11-04.
80.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (9 September 2011). "Hugh Jackman Is Russell Crowe's Quarry in Les Misérables Film". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
81.Jump up ^ "Cameron Mackintosh Confirms Anne Hathaway for Les MIsérables Film". Broadway World. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
82.Jump up ^ MacKenzie, Carina Adly (3 January 2012). "Taylor Swift, Amanda Seyfried get 'Les Misérables' gigs over Lea Michele". Zap2it. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
83.Jump up ^ Labrecque, Jeff (1 November 2011). "Eddie Redmayne lands 'Les Misérables' role". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
84.Jump up ^ Dunn, Carrie (31 January 2012). "Breaking News: Samantha Barks To Play Eponine In Les Miserables Movie". Broadway World. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
85.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (9 February 2012). "Mistress of the House: Helena Bonham Carter Will Be Madame Thénardier in Les Miz Movie". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
86.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (16 March 2012). "Sacha Baron Cohen, Daniel Evans, Linzi Hateley and More Confirmed for "Les Miz" Film". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
87.Jump up ^ "Miz Film: It's official! Aaron Tveit is confirmed to join the cast...". lesmis.com.[dead link]
88.^ Jump up to: a b Paul Grein (January 9, 2012). "Week Ending Jan. 6, 2013. Albums: Les Miz Takes Broadway To The Top". Yahoo Music (Chart Watch).
89.Jump up ^ "Complete Symphonic Recording". Retrieved 2007-07-07.[unreliable source?]
90.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables [Relativity Complete Symphonic Recording]". Answers.com. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-24.[unreliable source?]
91.Jump up ^ Shenton, Mark (15 April 2012). "Matilda - the Musical Sweeps Olivier Awards; Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller Are Also Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
92.Jump up ^ "OLIVIERS 2014: The Full List Of Winners And Nominees!". Broadway World. 13 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
93.Jump up ^ Alan Henry (June 2, 2014). "Ramin Karimloo Receives Toronto Dora Award Nomination; LES MISERABLES Earns a Total of 11 Nominations". Broadway World.
94.Jump up ^ Dora Awards 2014: A List Of All The Winners! broadwayworld, retrieved 2014-07-18.
95.Jump up ^ Cuthberson, Debbie; Rugendyke, Louise. "Helpmann Awards 2015 nominations: Opera Australia dominates as Les Miserables leads charge for musicals". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
96.Jump up ^ "2015 Nominees". Helpmann Awards. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables (musical).
Official website
Les Misérables at the Internet Broadway Database
An Archive of Performers from the Original Broadway Run of Les Misérables
An Archive of Performers from the London Run of Les Misérables


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Les Misérables (2012 film)

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Les Misérables
The poster shows a young girl, played by Isabelle Allen, in the background of a dark night. Text above reveals the cast listing and text below reveals the film's title.
Theatrical film poster

Directed by
Tom Hooper
Produced by
Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Debra Hayward
Cameron Mackintosh
Screenplay by
William Nicholson
Alain Boublil
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Herbert Kretzmer
Based on
Les Misérables
 by Claude-Michel Schönberg
 Alain Boublil
Les Misérables
 by Victor Hugo
Starring
Hugh Jackman
Russell Crowe
Anne Hathaway
Amanda Seyfried
Eddie Redmayne
Helena Bonham Carter
Sacha Baron Cohen
Music by
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Cinematography
Danny Cohen
Edited by
Melanie Ann Oliver
Chris Dickens

Production
 company

Relativity Media
StudioCanal
Working Title Films
 Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.[1]

Distributed by
Universal Pictures

Release dates

5 December 2012 (London premiere)[2]
11 January 2013 (United Kingdom)


Running time
 158 minutes[3]
Country
United Kingdom[4][5]
Language
English
Budget
$61 million[6][7]
Box office
$441.8 million[7]
Les Misérables is a 2012 British epic romantic musical period drama film produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the 1980 musical of the same name by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg which is in turn based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo. The film is directed by Tom Hooper, scripted by William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, and stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried. The title literally translates to The Miserables or The Miserable Ones.
The film tells the story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who, inspired by a kindly bishop, decides to turn his life around. He eventually becomes mayor of a town in France and owner of a factory in that town. He is always alert to the risk of being captured again by police inspector Javert, who is ruthless in hunting down law-breakers, believing they cannot change for the better. One of Valjean's factory workers, Fantine, blames him for her being cast into a life of prostitution. When she dies, he feels responsible and agrees to take care of her illegitimate daughter, Cosette — though he must first escape Javert. Later, when Cosette is grown, they are swept up in the political turmoil in Paris, which culminates in the Paris Uprising of 1832.
Attempts to adapt a Les Misérables film from the stage musical have taken place since the late 1980s. In June 2011, from a screenplay by Nicholson, production of the film officially began with Hooper and Mackintosh serving as director and producer, and the main characters were cast later that year. Principal photography commenced in March 2012,[8] and took place in various English locations, including Greenwich, London, Chatham, Winchester, Bath and Portsmouth; as well as in Gourdon, France.
Les Misérables premiered in London 5 December 2012, and was released 25 December 2012 in the United States, 26 December 2012, in Australia, and 11 January 2013 in the United Kingdom.[2][7][9]
The film received generally favourable[10] reviews, with many critics praising the cast, and Jackman, Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks being the most often singled out for praise. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Jackman and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for Hathaway. It also won four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), including the Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hathaway). It received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture (the first musical nominated since 2002's winner Chicago) and Best Actor for Jackman, and won three, for Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Supporting Actress for Hathaway.[11]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Musical numbers
4 Production 4.1 Development
4.2 Pre-production
4.3 Filming
4.4 Post-production
5 Distribution 5.1 Marketing
5.2 Release
5.3 Home media
6 Reception 6.1 Box office
6.2 Critical response
6.3 Accolades
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
In 1815, convict Jean Valjean is released on parole by prison guard Javert after serving a nineteen-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread and numerous escape attempts. Valjean is refused employment due to his paroled status. He is offered food and shelter by the Bishop of Digne, but Valjean steals his silver during the night. When he is captured by the constables, the Bishop tells them that the silver was given as a gift, securing Valjean's release. The Bishop urges Valjean to do something worthwhile with his life. Moved by the Bishop's grace, Valjean breaks his parole and vows to start a new life under a new identity.
Eight years later, Valjean has become a factory owner and mayor of Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais, while Javert has been assigned as his new chief of police. In their initial meeting, Javert suspects Valjean's identity after witnessing his strength as he lifts a heavy cart to free a trapped man. Meanwhile, Fantine, one of Valjean's workers, is discovered by the other women working there to send money to her illegitimate daughter, Cosette, who lives with the unscrupulous Thénardiers and their daughter Éponine. Outraged that Fantine has spurned his advances, the foreman dismisses her for promiscuity. In a desperate attempt to support her daughter, Fantine sells her hair and teeth and eventually becomes a prostitute. She is arrested by Javert after attacking an abusive customer, but is saved by Valjean, who has her hospitalized and watches over her.
Later, Valjean learns that a man believed to be him has been arrested after Javert files a report against the real Valjean only to be told he had already been apprehended. Because of this, Javert tries to resign his duties, but Valjean refuses, saying that he only did his job. Finally unable to accept that an innocent man could be condemned in his place, Valjean reveals his identity to the court. He returns to the hospital, where he vows to Fantine that he will watch over her daughter before she dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean into custody, but Valjean pleads for enough time to rescue Cosette, which Javert refuses. After a brief fight and Javert revealing that he was born inside a jail, Valjean jumps into a river to escape. Cosette lives with the Thenardiers dreaming of having a mother. The Thenadiers own an inn where they scam the guests and steal their belongings. He finds Cosette in the woods since the Thenardiers ordered her to draw some water from the well. Valjean pays Fantine's debts, and leaves with Cosette, promising to be like a father to her. Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris.The Thénardiers wonder whether they demanded enough money from Valjean, and how much more money he might have. After Valjean and Cosette escape to a convent, Javert vows to bring the escaped convict to justice.
Nine years later, there is increasing poverty in Paris. Jean Maximilien Lamarque, the only government official sympathetic towards the poor, is nearing death; therefore a large group of young revolutionary students, known as the Friends of the ABC, plan a rebellion against the French monarchy. The students consist of Marius Pontmercy, Enjolras, Gavroche, Grantaire, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Joly, and Jean Prouvaire. Marius lives in a small room near the Thénardiers and has become friendly with their daughter, Éponine, who fell deeply in love with him but was merely considered his best friend.
When Valjean and Cosette are giving alms to the poor, Marius catches a glimpse of Cosette and instantly falls in love. The Thénardiers also see Valjean and believe they now have their chance to extract more money. Valjean and Thénardier argue and Javert arrives to intervene. Valjean and Cosette slip away before Javert can recognize them and Thénardier devises a plot to rob Valjean. Marius pleads with Éponine to find out where Cosette lives so he can see her again.
At the ABC cafe, Enjolras rallies the students when Gavroche brings word that Lamarque has died. Éponine leads Marius to Cosette. Marius and Cosette profess their love, while Éponine laments that her secret love for Marius will go unrequited. As Marius and Cosette conclude their talk, Thénardier's gang arrives to capture Valjean and earn a reward from Javert. Éponine screams to warn Valjean and Cosette, and Valjean decides to flee, unaware of Cosette's desire for Marius. Cosette tries to dissuade him, then asks about their pasts. Valjean declines and she leaves a note for Marius explaining her departure. Éponine finds Cosette's letter to Marius, who becomes dismayed. He sends a farewell to Cosette and decides to join the revolution. Éponine joins too, disguised as a man, just to be near Marius. Enjolras urges the Parisians to full revolt.
The next day, the students interrupt Lamarque's funeral procession to begin their revolt and build barricades throughout Paris. Javert poses as a rebel to spy on them, but is quickly exposed by street child Gavroche and captured. During the ensuing battle, Éponine intervenes in standoff between Marius and a soldier at the cost of her own life. She gives Marius the letter Cosette wrote and professes her love to him before she dies in his arms, leaving Marius devastated and heartbroken at the loss of his best friend as well as the revelation of her feelings.
Meanwhile, Marius asks Gavroche to deliver a letter to Cosette. When Gavroche arrives at Valjean's house, Valjean takes the letter and learns of their love. He abandons his plans to flee the country and instead goes to the barricade to protect Marius. After saving Enjolras from a sniper, he is given custody of the prisoner, Javert, whom he says he will execute. However, when the two are alone, Valjean frees Javert who leaves, confused by this act of mercy from a criminal whom he holds in low regard. The students settle down for the night and reminisce. Enjolras tells the other students to stay awake in case the enemy strikes unexpectedly in the night, but he tells Marius to get some sleep, knowing he is still too devastated over losing Éponine to stay awake.



Elephant of the Bastille on the Les Misérables film set
When the Parisians do not join the revolution as they expected, the students resolve to fight to the death. Everyone is killed except Marius, who is saved when Valjean drags his unconscious body into the sewers before the army arrives. Thénardier discovers Marius and Valjean and steals Marius's ring before moving on to scavenge other bodies. Valjean attacks Thénardier and demands to know the way out. Thénardier shows the way, and Valjean escapes the sewers carrying Marius, but encounters Javert. When Valjean asks Javert to take Marius to a doctor, he refuses and threatens to kill him if he does not surrender. Valjean ignores him and leaves with Marius. Stunned by Valjean's earlier mercy toward him and his own recent mercy towards Valjean, and unable to reconcile the conflict between his civil and moral duties, two things which he always considered the same, Javert drops his pistol into the sewers and jumps to his death in the Seine.
After recovering at his grandfather's home, Marius mourns his friends, and Cosette comforts him. Valjean sees that Cosette and Marius are happy together and believes that his presence can only threaten their happiness. He reveals his past to Marius and tells him he must leave to ensure their safety and happiness. Marius is shocked, and at first attempts to persuade him to stay, but reluctantly accepts Valjean's decision to leave, promising not to tell Cosette that her father is a fugitive.
Marius and Cosette marry, although Cosette is sad that Valjean is not with them. The Thénardiers attempt to crash the reception and tell Marius that they saw his father-in-law (Valjean) carrying a murdered corpse through the sewers. They plan to blackmail him to keep it quiet. As proof, Thénardier shows Marius the ring that he stole from the murder victim in the sewers. Recognizing the ring as his own, Marius realizes it was Valjean who saved his life. The Thénardiers are ejected from the wedding, and Marius and Cosette hurry to find Valjean, who is dying in a local convent. As he perceives Fantine's spirit arriving to take him to heaven, Cosette and Marius rush in to bid him farewell. Valjean hands Cosette a letter of his confession of his past life and joins the spirits of the Bishop, Fantine, Enjolras, Grantaire, Éponine, Gavroche, Courfeyrac, Joly and the other rebels at the holy barricade.
Cast[edit]

Actor

Role
Hugh Jackman     Jean Valjean
Russell Crowe   Javert
Anne Hathaway   Fantine
Amanda Seyfried   Cosette
Eddie Redmayne  Marius Pontmercy
Aaron Tveit   Enjolras
Samantha Barks   Éponine
 Isabelle Allen  Young Cosette
 Daniel Huttlestone   Gavroche
Colm Wilkinson   Bishop Myriel
Helena Bonham Carter   Madame Thénardier
Sacha Baron Cohen   Thénardier
Bertie Carvel  Bamatabois
George Blagden   Grantaire
Killian Donnelly   Combeferre
Fra Fee   Courfeyrac
Alistair Brammer  Jean Prouvaire
Gabriel Vick   Feuilly
Hugh Skinner   Joly
Iwan Lewis   Bahorel
Stuart Neal   Laigle
Hadley Fraser   National Guard Leader
Heather Chasen   Madame Magloire
Georgie Glen   Mademoiselle Baptistine
Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, a Frenchman released from Toulon prison after 19 years of imprisonment for stealing bread and failed attempts at escaping from the prison.[12] Around June 2011, Jackman met with producer Cameron Mackintosh to audition in New York.[13] To prepare for the role, Jackman lost 15 pounds and later regained 30 pounds to mirror his character's success.[13] He avoided drinking coffee, warmed up at least 15 minutes every day, kept Ricola lozenges, drank as much as seven litres of water per day, sat in steam three times a day, took cold baths and used a wet washcloth over his face while flying, citing the musical's original co-director Trevor Nunn for his training.[14] He worked extensively with vocal coach Joan Lader, and managed to extend his vocal range, which he originally categorized a high baritone, up to tenor.[15]
Russell Crowe stars as Javert, a police inspector dedicating his life to imprisoning Valjean once again.[12] Before being cast as Javert, Crowe was initially dissatisfied with the character. On his way to Europe for a friend's wedding, Crowe came to London and met with producer Cameron Mackintosh. On meeting with Tom Hooper, he told the director about his concerns about playing Javert, and after meeting with him, Crowe was "determined to be involved in the project and play Javert. I think it had something to do with Tom's passion for what he was about to undertake, and he clearly understood the problems and he clearly understood the challenge."[16] On visiting Victor Hugo's home in Paris, Crowe said, "[The house's curator] told me about [19th century detective Eugene Francois] Vidocq, a man who had been both a prisoner and a policeman, the man credited with inventing undercover police work when he established the Brigade de Surete."[13]
Anne Hathaway plays Fantine, and Amanda Seyfried plays Cosette.[17][18][19] Fantine is a struggling factory worker and mother of an illegitimate child, Cosette, who is kept by the Thénardiers until Valjean buys her from them. When Hathaway was cast, she stated, "There was resistance because I was between their ideal ages for the parts—maybe not mature enough for Fantine but past the point where I could believably play Cosette."[13] On developing Cosette, Seyfried said, "In the little time that I had to explain Cosette and give the audience a reason [to see her] a symbol of love and strength and light in this tragedy, I needed to be able to convey things you may not have connected with in the show."[20] A vocal coach was enlisted to help her with the songs.[21] Isabelle Allen plays young Cosette, a child.[22] On working with her fellow actors, Allen said, "They gave us lots of tips and mostly [made] sure we were all OK. They were really nice."[23]
Eddie Redmayne plays Marius Pontmercy, a student revolutionary who is friends with the Thenardiers' daughter, Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette.[24][25][26] He found director Hooper's vision "incredibly helpful". On collaborating with Hooper, Redmayne said, "He was incredibly collaborative. Certainly during the rehearsal process, we sat with Tom and the Victor Hugo book adding things."[27] It was Redmayne who suggested to Hooper that his character's song, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", should begin a cappella in order to better express Marius' guilt and pain.
Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play the Thénardiers, a pair of swindling innkeepers.[28][29][30] Hooper previously collaborated with Bonham Carter in The King's Speech, in which she portrayed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[31] Baron Cohen and Bonham Carter previously co-starred in the film adaptation of the musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. When Baron Cohen accepted the role of Thénardier, he had to abandon Django Unchained.[32]
Samantha Barks played Éponine, the Thénardiers' daughter.[33] Having previously played the role at the 25th Anniversary concert and in the West End production, Barks said "there was similarities in playing the role—they're the same character—but Eponine in the novel and Eponine in the musical are two kind of different girls, so to me it was the thrill of merging those two together, to get something that still had that heart and soul that we all connect to in the musical, but also the awkward, self-loathing teenager that we see in the novel, trying to merge those two together." She found Jackman "fascinating to learn from, and I feel like that's the way it should be done".[34]
Aaron Tveit portrayed Enjolras, the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC. Hoping to play Marius, Tveit submitted an audition tape in which he sang "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and "In My Life". He had never performed any role in the musical. He also said of Enjolras that "once I got more and more familiar with the material and when I read the novel, I was like, 'Wow this is a really, really great role,' and I felt very much better suited for it." Tveit said the shooting of the film was "almost as grueling as a marathon".[35]
Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle, two of the original cast members involved in the Broadway and West End productions of the English version (as Jean Valjean and Éponine, respectively), make appearances. Wilkinson plays the Bishop of Digne, while Ruffelle plays a prostitute.[36] West End star Hadley Fraser, who previously played Grantaire in the 25th Anniversary Concert and Javert at West End, also makes a cameo as the Army General. Another West End star, Gina Beck, makes a cameo appearance one of the "Turning Women". Michael Jibson plays the foreman of the factory in which Fantine works and is fired from.[37]
Several actors in the West End production of the musical appear members of the student society, including George Blagden as Grantaire;[38] Killian Donnelly as Combeferre; Fra Fee as Courfeyrac; Alistair Brammer as Jean Prouvaire; Hugh Skinner as Joly;[39] Gabriel Vick as Feuilly;[40] Iwan Lewis as Bahorel; and Stuart Neal as Bossuet. Blagden was cast in January 2012.[41] Other stage actors including Hannah Waddingham, Daniel Evans and Kerry Ellis have small parts in the film along with actors who previously starred in various productions of Les Misérables.[30][42]
Musical numbers[edit]
See also: Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
A highlights soundtrack album was released via Universal Republic 21 December 2012.[43] Republic Records confirmed 25 January 2013, via Twitter that a 2-disc deluxe soundtrack was in production alongside the DVD and Blu-ray; it was released 19 March 2013.[44]
The film contains every song from the original stage musical with the exception of "I Saw Him Once" and "Dog Eats Dog", although many songs have been partially or extensively cut. "The Attack on Rue Plumet" and "Little People" were especially shortened. In addition, the Bishop sings with Fantine during "Valjean's Death" instead of Eponine, as was in the stage musical. The lyrics of some songs were also changed to suit the changes in setting or narrative to the stage musical. In addition to the cuts, a new song, "Suddenly" was added, new music was composed for the battle scenes, and the order of several songs changed from the stage musical. Several major pieces, primarily as "Who Am I?", "Stars", and the two "Soliloquy" pieces are performed in a different key than most recordings.
1."Look Down" – Convicts, Javert, Valjean†§
2."On Parole" – Valjean, Bishop of Digne
3."The Bishop" – Bishop of Digne†§
4."Valjean's Soliloquy" – Valjean†§
5."At the End of the Day" – Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Women, Fantine, Valjean†§
6."The Runaway Cart" – Valjean, Javert
7."The Docks (Lovely Ladies)" – Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores, Pimp, Toothman§
8."I Dreamed a Dream" – Fantine†§
9."Fantine's Arrest" – Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert, Valjean§
10."Who Am I?" – Valjean§
11."Fantine's Death" – Fantine, Valjean§
12."The Confrontation" – Javert, Valjean†§
13."Castle on a Cloud" – Young Cosette, Mme. Thénardier†§
14."Master of the House" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Inn Patrons†§
15."The Well Scene" – Valjean, Young Cosette§
16."The Bargain" – Valjean, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
17."The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" – Thénardier, Valjean, Mme. Thénardier, Young Cosette§
18."Suddenly" – Valjean†§
19."The Convent" – Valjean§
20."Stars" – Javert§
21."Paris/Look Down" – Gavroche, Beggars, Enjolras, Marius, Students§
22."The Robbery" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Éponine, Valjean§
23."Javert's Intervention" – Javert, Thénardier§
24."Éponine's Errand" - Éponine, Marius
25."ABC Café/Red and Black" – Students, Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Gavroche†§
26."In My Life" – Cosette, Valjean, Marius, Éponine§
27."A Heart Full of Love" – Marius, Cosette, Éponine†§
28."The Attack on Rue Plumet" – Thénardier, Thieves, Éponine, Valjean
29."On My Own" – Éponine†§
30."One Day More" – Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Cast of Les Misérables†§
31."Do You Hear the People Sing?" – Enjolras, Marius, Students, Beggars§
32."Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" – Enjolras, Javert, Gavroche, Students§
33."Javert's Arrival" – Javert, Enjolras§
34."Little People" – Gavroche, Students, Enjolras, Javert§
35."A Little Fall of Rain" – Éponine, Marius§
36."Night of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Valjean, Javert, Students
37."Drink With Me" – Grantaire, Marius, Gavroche, Students†§
38."Bring Him Home" – Valjean†§
39."Dawn of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Gavroche, Students§
40."The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" – Gavroche, Enjolras, Students, Army Officer§
41."The Sewers" – Valjean, Javert§
42."Javert's Suicide" – Javert†§
43."Turning" – Parisian women§
44."Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" – Marius†§
45."A Heart Full of Love [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette, Valjean, Gillenormand§
46."Valjean's Confession" – Valjean, Marius§
47."Suddenly [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette§
48."Wedding Chorale" – Chorus, Marius, Thérnardier, Mme. Thérnardier§
49."Beggars at the Feast" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
50."Valjean's Death" – Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius, Bishop of Digne†§
51."Do You Hear the People Sing? [Reprise]" – The Cast of Les Misérables†§
† Included on the highlights edition soundtrack
§ Included on the deluxe edition soundtrack
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In 1988, Alan Parker was considered to direct a film adaptation of the Les Misérables musical. However, in 1991, Bruce Beresford signed on to be the film's director.[45]



 Producer Cameron Mackintosh had an integral role in facilitating the production of the film.
In 1992, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that the film would be co-produced by TriStar Pictures.[46] However, the film was abandoned. In 2005, Mackintosh later confirmed that interest in turning the musical into a film adaptation had resumed during the early months of that year. Mackintosh said that he wanted the film to be directed by "someone who has a vision for the show that will put the show's original team, including [Mackintosh], back to work." He also said that he wanted the film audiences to make it "fresh as the actual show".[47] In 2009, producer Eric Fellner began negotiations with Mackintosh to acquire the film's rights and concluded it near the end of 2011. Fellner, Tim Bevan, and Debra Hayward engaged William Nicholson to write a screenplay for the film.[13] Nicholson wrote the draft within six weeks time.[13]
The DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert confirmed an announcement of the musical's film adaptation.[48]
Pre-production[edit]
In March 2011, director Tom Hooper began negotiations to direct Les Misérables from the screenplay by William Nicholson.[49] Production on the film officially began in June that year, with Cameron Mackintosh and Working Title Films co-producing. Having already approached Hooper prior to production with the desire of playing Jean Valjean, Hugh Jackman began negotiations to star in the film alongside Paul Bettany as Javert.[50][51] Other stars who became attached to the project included Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter.[52]
In September 2011, Jackman was officially cast as Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe was cast as Javert.[53] The following month, Mackintosh confirmed that Fantine would be played by Hathaway. Before Hathaway was cast, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Tammy Blanchard, Kristin Kreuk, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Rebecca Hall had reportedly been considered for the part.[54] For the role, Hathaway allowed her hair to be cut short on camera for a scene in which her character sells her hair, stating that the lengths she goes to for her roles "don't feel like sacrifices. Getting to transform is one of the best parts of [acting]."[55] The role also required her to lose 25 pounds.[13]
In November 2011, Eddie Redmayne joined the cast as Marius Pontmercy.[24] It was reported that the shortlist of actresses for the role of Éponine included Scarlett Johansson (who also auditioned for the role of Fantine), Lea Michele, Tamsin Egerton, Taylor Swift, and Evan Rachel Wood.[56][57]
In January 2012, the press reported that the role of Éponine had officially been offered to Taylor Swift, but Swift later stated that those reports were not entirely accurate.[58][59][60][61] At the end of the month, Mackintosh made a special appearance during the curtain call of the Oliver! UK tour at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, announcing that the tour's Nancy, Samantha Barks, who had played Éponine in the West End production and in the 25th Anniversary concert, would reprise the role in the film.[33] Barks had been auditioning for 15 weeks by that point.[62]
Originally, an unknown was sought for the role of Cosette, with an open casting call in New York City in December 2011.[63] In January 2012, reports surfaced that Amanda Seyfried had been offered the role instead.[64] Eddie Redmayne confirmed both Seyfried's casting and that of Bonham Carter as Madame Thénardier in an interview on 12 January.[17] Hooper confirmed that he would stick to the musical's essentially sung-through form and would thus introduce very little additional dialogue.[26] Hooper confirmed that the film would not be shot in 3D, expressing his opinion that it would not enhance the emotional narrative of the film and would distract audiences from the storytelling.[65]
Following this announcement, reports surfaced in the press that Sacha Baron Cohen had begun talks to join the cast as Thénardier and that Aaron Tveit had been cast as Enjolras.[66][67] Later that month, the press officially confirmed Tveit's casting as Enjolras.[18][19] Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle (the original Valjean and Éponine, respectively, in the West End and Broadway productions) appeared in the film. Wilkinson played the Bishop of Digne, and Ruffelle had a cameo as a prostitute.[36] George Blagden was cast as Grantaire.[38] In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Front Row, Tom Hooper revealed that Claude-Michel Schönberg will be composing one new song and additional music. The director also expanded on the performers singing live on set, which he felt would eliminate the need to recapture "locked" performances and allow more creative freedom. More details of this were confirmed by Eddie Redmayne in an interview. He stated that the cast would sing to piano tracks (via earpiece) and that the orchestra would be added in post-production.[68]
In February 2012, casting auditions involving extras for the film took place at the University of Portsmouth and Chatham Maritime in Chatham.[69] Several days later, Mackintosh officially confirmed that Bonham Carter would play Madame Thénardier.[29] He also announced that the title of the newly created song for the film is "Suddenly" and that it "beautifully explains what happens when Valjean takes Cosette from the inn and looks after her."[70] At the end of the month, The Sun reported that the long-rumoured Baron Cohen had been cast in the role of Monsieur Thénardier.[71]
The cast began rehearsals in January 2012, with principal photography due to begin in March.[72] The press officially confirmed Baron Cohen's casting during the latter month.[30] No table read took place before filming.[21]
Filming[edit]



 Tom Hooper directing the second unit of Les Misérables on location in Winchester in April 2012.


 The film's set at Greenwich Naval College.
With a production budget of $61 million,[6] principal photography of the film began 8 March 2012 in Gourdon. Filming locations in England included Boughton House, Winchester College, Winchester Cathedral Close, Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, Chatham Dockyard,[73] St Mary the Virgin Church, Ewelme, South Oxfordshire[74] and Pinewood Studios.[8][75][76][77] In April 2012, crews constructed a replica of the Elephant of the Bastille in Greenwich.[78][79] In the novel, Gavroche lives in the decaying monument. On-location filming also took place at Gourdon, Alpes-Maritimes in France. Footage of Hathaway singing "I Dreamed a Dream", a song from the musical, was shown at CinemaCon 26 April 2012. Russell Crowe confirmed 5 June 2012, on Twitter that he had finished filming. He was later followed by Samantha Barks, confirming that all of her scenes had too been completed. Jackman stated that all filming had been completed 23 June 2012.[80] Some late filming occurred in Bath, Somerset, in October 2012 where stunt shots for Javert's suicide scene had to be reshot due to an error found with this footage during post-production. Bath was not the original filming location for this scene, but the late footage was captured at Pulteney Weir.[81]
Post-production[edit]
The film's vocals were recorded live on set using live piano accompaniments played through earpieces as a guide, with the orchestral accompaniment recorded in post-production, rather than the traditional method where the film's musical soundtracks are usually pre-recorded and played back on set to which actors lip-sync. Production sound mixer Simon Hayes used 50 DPA 4071 lavalier microphones to record the vocals.[82] Hooper explained his choice:
“ I just felt ultimately, it was a more natural way of doing it. You know, when actors do dialogue, they have freedom in time, they have freedom in pacing. They can stop for a moment, they can speed up. I simply wanted to give the actors the normal freedoms that they would have. If they need a bit for an emotion or a feeling to form in the eyes before they sing, I can take that time. If they cry, they can cry through a song. When you're doing it to playback, to the millisecond you have to copy what you do. You have no freedom in the moment – and acting is the illusion of being free in the moment.[83] ”
Although this unique live recording method has been stated as "a world's first" by the creative team, several film musicals have used this method before, including early talkies, as lip-syncing wasn't perfected, the 1975 20th Century Fox film At Long Last Love, the adaptation of The Magic Flute that same year, and more recently in the 1995 adaptation of The Fantasticks, in the 2001 film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and in the 2007 film Across the Universe with songs by The Beatles.
Producers announced 27 August 2012, that recording sessions for Les Misérables would begin in London 10 October and featured a 70-piece orchestra. They was also announced that composer Claude-Michel Schönberg was composing additional music to underscore the film.[84] Universal Studios executives were granted a viewing of the rough cut of the film 9 September 2012, without the orchestra tracks. They greeted the cut with "extreme excitement".
Distribution[edit]
Marketing[edit]
The film's first teaser trailer debuted online 30 May 2012, and later in theatres with Snow White and the Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy and Argo.[85]
Producers released an extended first look on the film's official Facebook page 20 September 2012. This short introduces and explains Hooper's method of recording vocals live on set, comparing it to the traditional method of pre-recording the vocals in a studio months in advance. Hugh Jackman stated that filming in this way allows him more creative freedom with the material and that he "only has to worry about acting it." Both Hooper and the actors believe that this choice of production method will make the film feel much more emotional, raw, and real. The actors praised Hooper for his method and provide brief interviews throughout the video. Hooper mentions, "I thought it was an amazing opportunity to do something genuinely groundbreaking."[86] Clips of Jackman, Hathaway, Seyfried, Redmayne and Barks singing were received very positively, especially the teaser trailer's presentation of "I Dreamed a Dream" by Hathaway. Producers released a new poster, featuring young Cosette, played by Isabelle Allen, 24 September 2012, on the film's official Facebook page.[87] They released posters featuring Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Cosette 12 October,[88] with additional posters of Thénardiers and Marius released 1 November 2012.
Release[edit]
Les Misérables was originally to be released 7 December 2012 before the studio moved it to 14 December; however, 18 September 2012, they delayed the film's release date to 25 December, so as not to conflict with the opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opened 14 December. Because of this, it opened alongside Django Unchained.[9] Release date for the United Kingdom was 11 January 2013.[89]
Les Misérables was screened for the first time at the Lincoln Center in New York City, 23 November 2012, and received a standing ovation from the crowd.[90][91] This was followed by a screening the next day in Los Angeles, which also received positive reviews.[92]
Les Misérables premiered 5 December 2012, at the Empire, Leicester Square in London.[2] Red carpet footage was screened live online in an event hosted by Michael Ball, the original Marius of the West End. The film was released in select IMAX theatres in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Montreal the same day as its domestic theatrical release, 25 December 2012.[93] Les Misérables was released internationally by IMAX theatres on 10 January 2013.[93]
Home media[edit]
The film was confirmed for home release 13 May 2013 on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD in the United Kingdom; it was released in the United States 22 March 2013. The DVD contains three featurettes: The Stars of Les Misérables, Creating the Perfect Paris, and The Original Masterwork: Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, along with an audio commentary from director Tom Hooper. The Blu-ray has all DVD features including four additional featurettes: Les Misérables Singing Live, Battle at the Barricade, The West End Connection, and Les Misérables On Location.[94]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Les Misérables earned $148,809,770 in North America and $293,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $441,809,770.[7] In North America, Les Misérables opened 25 December 2012 in 2,808 theatres, placing first at the box office with $18.1 million.[95] This amount broke the record for the highest opening day gross for a musical film, previously held by High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and was also the second highest opening day gross for a film released on Christmas Day.[96] It earned $27.3 million in its opening weekend, placing third behind Django Unchained and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.[97]
The film was released in the United Kingdom 11 January 2013 and earned £8.1 ($13.1) million in its opening weekend, making it the largest opening weekend for a musical film, as well as for Working Title.[98]
Critical response[edit]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 70% approval rating with an average rating of 7/10, based on an aggregation of 225 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Impeccably mounted but occasionally bombastic, Les Misérables largely succeeds thanks to bravura performances from its distinguished cast." [99] On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 63 out of 100 based on 41 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[100] The film was generally praised for its acting and ensemble cast, with Jackman and Hathaway being singled out for praise. The live singing, which was heavily promoted in marketing for the film, received a more divided response.
Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film five stars: "Les Misérables is a blockbuster, and the special effects are emotional: explosions of grief; fireballs of romance; million-buck conflagrations of heartbreak. Accordingly, you should see it in its opening week, on a gigantic screen, with a fanatical crowd."[101]
The Guardian‍ '​s Peter Bradshaw concurred: "Even as a non-believer in this kind of "sung-through" musical, I was battered into submission by this mesmeric and sometimes compelling film ...".[102] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave a positive review, saying that the film "is a clutch player that delivers an emotional wallop when it counts. You can walk into the theater as an agnostic, but you may just leave singing with the choir."[103] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, "Besides being a feast for the eyes and ears, Les Misérables overflows with humor, heartbreak, rousing action and ravishing romance. Damn the imperfections, it's perfectly marvelous."[104]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "As the enduring success of this property has shown, there are large, emotionally susceptible segments of the population ready to swallow this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's good."[105]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote: "[Director Tom] Hooper can be very good with actors. But his inability to leave any lily ungilded—to direct a scene without tilting or hurtling or throwing the camera around—is bludgeoning and deadly. By the grand finale, when tout le monde is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat."[106]
Justin Chang of Variety wrote that the film "will more than satisfy the show's legions of fans." Chang praised the performances of Jackman, Hathaway, Barks, Tveit and Seyfried (i.e., every leading cast member except Crowe and Redmayne) but said that the film's editing "seems reluctant to slow down and let the viewer simply take in the performances."[107]
Callum Marsh of Slant Magazine gave the film 1 star, and wrote: "Flaws—and there are a great many that would have never made the cut were this a perfectible studio recording—are conveniently swept under the rug of candid expression ... the worst quality of Les Misérables's live singing is simply that it puts too much pressure on a handful of performers who frankly cannot sing.... Fisheye lenses and poorly framed close-ups abound in Les Misérables, nearly every frame a revelation of one man's bad taste ... One would be hard-pressed to describe this, despite the wealth of beauty on display, as anything but an ugly film, shot and cut ineptly. Everything in the film, songs included, is cranked to 11, the melodrama of it all soaring. So it's odd that this kind of showboating maximalism should be ultimately reduced to a few fisheye'd faces, mugging for their close-up, as the people sing off-key and broken."[108] The Chicago Tribune critic Michael Philips gave the film only one and a half stars, writing: "The camera bobs and weaves like a drunk, frantically. So you have hammering close-ups, combined with woozy insecurity each time more than two people are in the frame. ...too little in this frenzied mess of a film registers because Hooper is trying to make everything register at the same nutty pitch."[109]
Some specific performances were reviewed very positively. Anne Hathaway's performance of ballad "I Dreamed a Dream" was met with praise, with many comparing its showstopper-like quality to Jennifer Hudson's performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.[110] Christopher Orr of The Atlantic wrote that "Hathaway gives it everything she has, beginning in quiet sorrow before building to a woebegone climax: she gasps, she weeps, she coughs. If you are blown away by the scene—as many will be; it will almost certainly earn Hathaway her first Oscar—this may be the film for you."[111] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post writes that "The centerpiece of a movie composed entirely of centerpieces belongs to Anne Hathaway, who as the tragic heroine Fantine sings another of the memorable numbers".[112] Joy Tipping of The Dallas Morning News described Hathaway's performance as "angelic".[113]
Claudia Puig of USA Today describes her as "superb as the tragic Fantine".[114] Travers felt that "A dynamite Hathaway shatters every heart when she sings how 'life has killed the dream I dreamed.' Her volcanic performance has Oscar written all over it."[104] Lou Lumenick, critic for the New York Post, wrote that the film is "worth seeing for Hathaway alone".[115] She was widely considered to be the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,[116] ultimately winning it.
Eddie Redmayne also received considerable praise for his performance with Bloomberg News saying that "Eddie Redmayne—most recently seen as the eager young production assistant in My Week with Marilyn—delivers by far the most moving and memorable performance in the film as the young firebrand Marius, who, along with his fellow students, is caught up in France's political upheavals in the 19th century."[117]
Samantha Barks earned praise for her portrayal of Éponine, with Digital Journal saying: "Samantha Barks plays Éponine with such grace, sweetness, and sadness that it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role",[118] while Claudia Puig of USA Today calls her "heartbreakingly soulful",[114] Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times describes her performance as "star-making",[119] and Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com says she "just about steals the film".[120]
Crowe's performance was less well received and even Crowe agreed that the film suffered from poor vocal performances. Emma Gosnell, writing for The Daily Telegraph, stated that she walked out of the showing due to the poor singing, specifically citing Crowe and Jackman as the cause. Playback singer Marni Nixon said "[Crowe] was nothing. It wasn’t that he was choosing to sing like that, he just couldn't do anything else" and that Jackman acted well but "could have done with a nobler voice". She also criticized Bonham Carter as being incomprehensible, but praised the rest of the female cast.[121] American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert tweeted several disparaging messages, including "why not cast actors who could actually sound good?" and "the singing was so distracting at times it pulled me out", to which Crowe replied via twitter "I don't disagree with Adam,sure it could have been sweetened,Hooper wanted it raw and real,that's how it is".[122] Nixon rebutted this: “We’re talking about a musical. Is that real? People don’t go around singing 'La la la la’ to each other all day!”[121]
In 2013, the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including the Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hugh Jackman,[123] and went on to win in three categories: Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound Mixing.
Accolades[edit]


List of awards and nominations

Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
Ref

Academy Award 24 February 2013 Best Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [123]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" (music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil) Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell Won
Best Sound Mixing Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, and Simon Hayes Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
American Film Institute 11 January 2013 Movies of the Year Won [124]
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award 28 January 2013 Best International Film Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [125]
Best International Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
British Academy Film Award 10 February 2013 Best Film Nominated [126]
Best British Film Nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hair Lisa Westcott Won
Best Sound Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, and John Warhurst Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 10 January 2013 Best Film Nominated [127]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens and Melanie Oliver Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup Lisa Westcott Won
Chicago Film Critics Association 17 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated [128]
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Most Promising Performer Samantha Barks Nominated
Directors Guild of America Award 2 February 2013 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Tom Hooper Nominated 
Dorian Awards 17 January 2013 Film of the Year  Nominated [129][130]
Film Performance of the Year - Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Film Performance of the Year - Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Visually Striking Film of the Year  Nominated
Golden Globe Award 13 January 2013 Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Won [131]
Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Hugh Jackman Won
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Grammy Awards 26 January 2014 Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media Cameron Mackintosh, Lee McCutcheon and Stephan Metcalfe Nominated [132]
Hollywood Film Festival 23 October 2012 Best Trailer Erin Wyatt Won [133]
Producer of the Year Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Won
Spotlight Award Samantha Barks Won
Houston Film Critics Society 5 January 2013 Best Picture Nominated 
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
5th Annual Lancashire Film Critics Awards 30 March 2013 Best Film  Won [134]
Best Director Tom Hooper Won
London Film Critics Circle 20 January 2013 British Film of the Year Nominated 
Actor of the Year Hugh Jackman Nominated
Supporting Actress of the Year Anne Hathaway Won
Young British Performer of the Year Samantha Barks Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association 9 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
MTV Movie Awards 14 April 2013 Best Female Performance Anne Hathaway Nominated [135]
Best Breakthrough Performance Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Musical Moment Anne Hathaway Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle Award 3 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
New York Film Critics Online 3 December 2012 Movies of the Year Won 
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Producers Guild of America Award 26 January 2013 Best Theatrical Motion Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [136]
Satellite Award 16 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [137]
Best Cast – Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor – Motion Picture Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Samantha Barks Nominated
Best Art Direction and Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens and Melanie Oliver Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
Best Sound John Warhurst, Lee Walpole, and Simon Hayes Won
Saturn Awards 26 June 2013 Best Action / Adventure Nominated [138]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated
Best Costume Paco Delgado Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award 27 January 2013 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated [139]
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association 10 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [140]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Samantha Barks Nominated
Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Young Artist Award 5 May 2013 Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated [141]
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress Ten and Under Isabelle Allen Won

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External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Les Misérables (2012 film)
Official website
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Les Misérables at Metacritic
Les Misérables: information about the film and novel.


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Les Misérables (2012 film)

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Les Misérables
The poster shows a young girl, played by Isabelle Allen, in the background of a dark night. Text above reveals the cast listing and text below reveals the film's title.
Theatrical film poster

Directed by
Tom Hooper
Produced by
Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Debra Hayward
Cameron Mackintosh
Screenplay by
William Nicholson
Alain Boublil
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Herbert Kretzmer
Based on
Les Misérables
 by Claude-Michel Schönberg
 Alain Boublil
Les Misérables
 by Victor Hugo
Starring
Hugh Jackman
Russell Crowe
Anne Hathaway
Amanda Seyfried
Eddie Redmayne
Helena Bonham Carter
Sacha Baron Cohen
Music by
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Cinematography
Danny Cohen
Edited by
Melanie Ann Oliver
Chris Dickens

Production
 company

Relativity Media
StudioCanal
Working Title Films
 Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.[1]

Distributed by
Universal Pictures

Release dates

5 December 2012 (London premiere)[2]
11 January 2013 (United Kingdom)


Running time
 158 minutes[3]
Country
United Kingdom[4][5]
Language
English
Budget
$61 million[6][7]
Box office
$441.8 million[7]
Les Misérables is a 2012 British epic romantic musical period drama film produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the 1980 musical of the same name by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg which is in turn based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo. The film is directed by Tom Hooper, scripted by William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, and stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried. The title literally translates to The Miserables or The Miserable Ones.
The film tells the story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who, inspired by a kindly bishop, decides to turn his life around. He eventually becomes mayor of a town in France and owner of a factory in that town. He is always alert to the risk of being captured again by police inspector Javert, who is ruthless in hunting down law-breakers, believing they cannot change for the better. One of Valjean's factory workers, Fantine, blames him for her being cast into a life of prostitution. When she dies, he feels responsible and agrees to take care of her illegitimate daughter, Cosette — though he must first escape Javert. Later, when Cosette is grown, they are swept up in the political turmoil in Paris, which culminates in the Paris Uprising of 1832.
Attempts to adapt a Les Misérables film from the stage musical have taken place since the late 1980s. In June 2011, from a screenplay by Nicholson, production of the film officially began with Hooper and Mackintosh serving as director and producer, and the main characters were cast later that year. Principal photography commenced in March 2012,[8] and took place in various English locations, including Greenwich, London, Chatham, Winchester, Bath and Portsmouth; as well as in Gourdon, France.
Les Misérables premiered in London 5 December 2012, and was released 25 December 2012 in the United States, 26 December 2012, in Australia, and 11 January 2013 in the United Kingdom.[2][7][9]
The film received generally favourable[10] reviews, with many critics praising the cast, and Jackman, Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks being the most often singled out for praise. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Jackman and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for Hathaway. It also won four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), including the Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hathaway). It received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture (the first musical nominated since 2002's winner Chicago) and Best Actor for Jackman, and won three, for Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Supporting Actress for Hathaway.[11]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Musical numbers
4 Production 4.1 Development
4.2 Pre-production
4.3 Filming
4.4 Post-production
5 Distribution 5.1 Marketing
5.2 Release
5.3 Home media
6 Reception 6.1 Box office
6.2 Critical response
6.3 Accolades
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
In 1815, convict Jean Valjean is released on parole by prison guard Javert after serving a nineteen-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread and numerous escape attempts. Valjean is refused employment due to his paroled status. He is offered food and shelter by the Bishop of Digne, but Valjean steals his silver during the night. When he is captured by the constables, the Bishop tells them that the silver was given as a gift, securing Valjean's release. The Bishop urges Valjean to do something worthwhile with his life. Moved by the Bishop's grace, Valjean breaks his parole and vows to start a new life under a new identity.
Eight years later, Valjean has become a factory owner and mayor of Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais, while Javert has been assigned as his new chief of police. In their initial meeting, Javert suspects Valjean's identity after witnessing his strength as he lifts a heavy cart to free a trapped man. Meanwhile, Fantine, one of Valjean's workers, is discovered by the other women working there to send money to her illegitimate daughter, Cosette, who lives with the unscrupulous Thénardiers and their daughter Éponine. Outraged that Fantine has spurned his advances, the foreman dismisses her for promiscuity. In a desperate attempt to support her daughter, Fantine sells her hair and teeth and eventually becomes a prostitute. She is arrested by Javert after attacking an abusive customer, but is saved by Valjean, who has her hospitalized and watches over her.
Later, Valjean learns that a man believed to be him has been arrested after Javert files a report against the real Valjean only to be told he had already been apprehended. Because of this, Javert tries to resign his duties, but Valjean refuses, saying that he only did his job. Finally unable to accept that an innocent man could be condemned in his place, Valjean reveals his identity to the court. He returns to the hospital, where he vows to Fantine that he will watch over her daughter before she dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean into custody, but Valjean pleads for enough time to rescue Cosette, which Javert refuses. After a brief fight and Javert revealing that he was born inside a jail, Valjean jumps into a river to escape. Cosette lives with the Thenardiers dreaming of having a mother. The Thenadiers own an inn where they scam the guests and steal their belongings. He finds Cosette in the woods since the Thenardiers ordered her to draw some water from the well. Valjean pays Fantine's debts, and leaves with Cosette, promising to be like a father to her. Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris.The Thénardiers wonder whether they demanded enough money from Valjean, and how much more money he might have. After Valjean and Cosette escape to a convent, Javert vows to bring the escaped convict to justice.
Nine years later, there is increasing poverty in Paris. Jean Maximilien Lamarque, the only government official sympathetic towards the poor, is nearing death; therefore a large group of young revolutionary students, known as the Friends of the ABC, plan a rebellion against the French monarchy. The students consist of Marius Pontmercy, Enjolras, Gavroche, Grantaire, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Joly, and Jean Prouvaire. Marius lives in a small room near the Thénardiers and has become friendly with their daughter, Éponine, who fell deeply in love with him but was merely considered his best friend.
When Valjean and Cosette are giving alms to the poor, Marius catches a glimpse of Cosette and instantly falls in love. The Thénardiers also see Valjean and believe they now have their chance to extract more money. Valjean and Thénardier argue and Javert arrives to intervene. Valjean and Cosette slip away before Javert can recognize them and Thénardier devises a plot to rob Valjean. Marius pleads with Éponine to find out where Cosette lives so he can see her again.
At the ABC cafe, Enjolras rallies the students when Gavroche brings word that Lamarque has died. Éponine leads Marius to Cosette. Marius and Cosette profess their love, while Éponine laments that her secret love for Marius will go unrequited. As Marius and Cosette conclude their talk, Thénardier's gang arrives to capture Valjean and earn a reward from Javert. Éponine screams to warn Valjean and Cosette, and Valjean decides to flee, unaware of Cosette's desire for Marius. Cosette tries to dissuade him, then asks about their pasts. Valjean declines and she leaves a note for Marius explaining her departure. Éponine finds Cosette's letter to Marius, who becomes dismayed. He sends a farewell to Cosette and decides to join the revolution. Éponine joins too, disguised as a man, just to be near Marius. Enjolras urges the Parisians to full revolt.
The next day, the students interrupt Lamarque's funeral procession to begin their revolt and build barricades throughout Paris. Javert poses as a rebel to spy on them, but is quickly exposed by street child Gavroche and captured. During the ensuing battle, Éponine intervenes in standoff between Marius and a soldier at the cost of her own life. She gives Marius the letter Cosette wrote and professes her love to him before she dies in his arms, leaving Marius devastated and heartbroken at the loss of his best friend as well as the revelation of her feelings.
Meanwhile, Marius asks Gavroche to deliver a letter to Cosette. When Gavroche arrives at Valjean's house, Valjean takes the letter and learns of their love. He abandons his plans to flee the country and instead goes to the barricade to protect Marius. After saving Enjolras from a sniper, he is given custody of the prisoner, Javert, whom he says he will execute. However, when the two are alone, Valjean frees Javert who leaves, confused by this act of mercy from a criminal whom he holds in low regard. The students settle down for the night and reminisce. Enjolras tells the other students to stay awake in case the enemy strikes unexpectedly in the night, but he tells Marius to get some sleep, knowing he is still too devastated over losing Éponine to stay awake.



Elephant of the Bastille on the Les Misérables film set
When the Parisians do not join the revolution as they expected, the students resolve to fight to the death. Everyone is killed except Marius, who is saved when Valjean drags his unconscious body into the sewers before the army arrives. Thénardier discovers Marius and Valjean and steals Marius's ring before moving on to scavenge other bodies. Valjean attacks Thénardier and demands to know the way out. Thénardier shows the way, and Valjean escapes the sewers carrying Marius, but encounters Javert. When Valjean asks Javert to take Marius to a doctor, he refuses and threatens to kill him if he does not surrender. Valjean ignores him and leaves with Marius. Stunned by Valjean's earlier mercy toward him and his own recent mercy towards Valjean, and unable to reconcile the conflict between his civil and moral duties, two things which he always considered the same, Javert drops his pistol into the sewers and jumps to his death in the Seine.
After recovering at his grandfather's home, Marius mourns his friends, and Cosette comforts him. Valjean sees that Cosette and Marius are happy together and believes that his presence can only threaten their happiness. He reveals his past to Marius and tells him he must leave to ensure their safety and happiness. Marius is shocked, and at first attempts to persuade him to stay, but reluctantly accepts Valjean's decision to leave, promising not to tell Cosette that her father is a fugitive.
Marius and Cosette marry, although Cosette is sad that Valjean is not with them. The Thénardiers attempt to crash the reception and tell Marius that they saw his father-in-law (Valjean) carrying a murdered corpse through the sewers. They plan to blackmail him to keep it quiet. As proof, Thénardier shows Marius the ring that he stole from the murder victim in the sewers. Recognizing the ring as his own, Marius realizes it was Valjean who saved his life. The Thénardiers are ejected from the wedding, and Marius and Cosette hurry to find Valjean, who is dying in a local convent. As he perceives Fantine's spirit arriving to take him to heaven, Cosette and Marius rush in to bid him farewell. Valjean hands Cosette a letter of his confession of his past life and joins the spirits of the Bishop, Fantine, Enjolras, Grantaire, Éponine, Gavroche, Courfeyrac, Joly and the other rebels at the holy barricade.
Cast[edit]

Actor

Role
Hugh Jackman     Jean Valjean
Russell Crowe   Javert
Anne Hathaway   Fantine
Amanda Seyfried   Cosette
Eddie Redmayne  Marius Pontmercy
Aaron Tveit   Enjolras
Samantha Barks   Éponine
 Isabelle Allen  Young Cosette
 Daniel Huttlestone   Gavroche
Colm Wilkinson   Bishop Myriel
Helena Bonham Carter   Madame Thénardier
Sacha Baron Cohen   Thénardier
Bertie Carvel  Bamatabois
George Blagden   Grantaire
Killian Donnelly   Combeferre
Fra Fee   Courfeyrac
Alistair Brammer  Jean Prouvaire
Gabriel Vick   Feuilly
Hugh Skinner   Joly
Iwan Lewis   Bahorel
Stuart Neal   Laigle
Hadley Fraser   National Guard Leader
Heather Chasen   Madame Magloire
Georgie Glen   Mademoiselle Baptistine
Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, a Frenchman released from Toulon prison after 19 years of imprisonment for stealing bread and failed attempts at escaping from the prison.[12] Around June 2011, Jackman met with producer Cameron Mackintosh to audition in New York.[13] To prepare for the role, Jackman lost 15 pounds and later regained 30 pounds to mirror his character's success.[13] He avoided drinking coffee, warmed up at least 15 minutes every day, kept Ricola lozenges, drank as much as seven litres of water per day, sat in steam three times a day, took cold baths and used a wet washcloth over his face while flying, citing the musical's original co-director Trevor Nunn for his training.[14] He worked extensively with vocal coach Joan Lader, and managed to extend his vocal range, which he originally categorized a high baritone, up to tenor.[15]
Russell Crowe stars as Javert, a police inspector dedicating his life to imprisoning Valjean once again.[12] Before being cast as Javert, Crowe was initially dissatisfied with the character. On his way to Europe for a friend's wedding, Crowe came to London and met with producer Cameron Mackintosh. On meeting with Tom Hooper, he told the director about his concerns about playing Javert, and after meeting with him, Crowe was "determined to be involved in the project and play Javert. I think it had something to do with Tom's passion for what he was about to undertake, and he clearly understood the problems and he clearly understood the challenge."[16] On visiting Victor Hugo's home in Paris, Crowe said, "[The house's curator] told me about [19th century detective Eugene Francois] Vidocq, a man who had been both a prisoner and a policeman, the man credited with inventing undercover police work when he established the Brigade de Surete."[13]
Anne Hathaway plays Fantine, and Amanda Seyfried plays Cosette.[17][18][19] Fantine is a struggling factory worker and mother of an illegitimate child, Cosette, who is kept by the Thénardiers until Valjean buys her from them. When Hathaway was cast, she stated, "There was resistance because I was between their ideal ages for the parts—maybe not mature enough for Fantine but past the point where I could believably play Cosette."[13] On developing Cosette, Seyfried said, "In the little time that I had to explain Cosette and give the audience a reason [to see her] a symbol of love and strength and light in this tragedy, I needed to be able to convey things you may not have connected with in the show."[20] A vocal coach was enlisted to help her with the songs.[21] Isabelle Allen plays young Cosette, a child.[22] On working with her fellow actors, Allen said, "They gave us lots of tips and mostly [made] sure we were all OK. They were really nice."[23]
Eddie Redmayne plays Marius Pontmercy, a student revolutionary who is friends with the Thenardiers' daughter, Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette.[24][25][26] He found director Hooper's vision "incredibly helpful". On collaborating with Hooper, Redmayne said, "He was incredibly collaborative. Certainly during the rehearsal process, we sat with Tom and the Victor Hugo book adding things."[27] It was Redmayne who suggested to Hooper that his character's song, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", should begin a cappella in order to better express Marius' guilt and pain.
Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play the Thénardiers, a pair of swindling innkeepers.[28][29][30] Hooper previously collaborated with Bonham Carter in The King's Speech, in which she portrayed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[31] Baron Cohen and Bonham Carter previously co-starred in the film adaptation of the musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. When Baron Cohen accepted the role of Thénardier, he had to abandon Django Unchained.[32]
Samantha Barks played Éponine, the Thénardiers' daughter.[33] Having previously played the role at the 25th Anniversary concert and in the West End production, Barks said "there was similarities in playing the role—they're the same character—but Eponine in the novel and Eponine in the musical are two kind of different girls, so to me it was the thrill of merging those two together, to get something that still had that heart and soul that we all connect to in the musical, but also the awkward, self-loathing teenager that we see in the novel, trying to merge those two together." She found Jackman "fascinating to learn from, and I feel like that's the way it should be done".[34]
Aaron Tveit portrayed Enjolras, the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC. Hoping to play Marius, Tveit submitted an audition tape in which he sang "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and "In My Life". He had never performed any role in the musical. He also said of Enjolras that "once I got more and more familiar with the material and when I read the novel, I was like, 'Wow this is a really, really great role,' and I felt very much better suited for it." Tveit said the shooting of the film was "almost as grueling as a marathon".[35]
Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle, two of the original cast members involved in the Broadway and West End productions of the English version (as Jean Valjean and Éponine, respectively), make appearances. Wilkinson plays the Bishop of Digne, while Ruffelle plays a prostitute.[36] West End star Hadley Fraser, who previously played Grantaire in the 25th Anniversary Concert and Javert at West End, also makes a cameo as the Army General. Another West End star, Gina Beck, makes a cameo appearance one of the "Turning Women". Michael Jibson plays the foreman of the factory in which Fantine works and is fired from.[37]
Several actors in the West End production of the musical appear members of the student society, including George Blagden as Grantaire;[38] Killian Donnelly as Combeferre; Fra Fee as Courfeyrac; Alistair Brammer as Jean Prouvaire; Hugh Skinner as Joly;[39] Gabriel Vick as Feuilly;[40] Iwan Lewis as Bahorel; and Stuart Neal as Bossuet. Blagden was cast in January 2012.[41] Other stage actors including Hannah Waddingham, Daniel Evans and Kerry Ellis have small parts in the film along with actors who previously starred in various productions of Les Misérables.[30][42]
Musical numbers[edit]
See also: Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
A highlights soundtrack album was released via Universal Republic 21 December 2012.[43] Republic Records confirmed 25 January 2013, via Twitter that a 2-disc deluxe soundtrack was in production alongside the DVD and Blu-ray; it was released 19 March 2013.[44]
The film contains every song from the original stage musical with the exception of "I Saw Him Once" and "Dog Eats Dog", although many songs have been partially or extensively cut. "The Attack on Rue Plumet" and "Little People" were especially shortened. In addition, the Bishop sings with Fantine during "Valjean's Death" instead of Eponine, as was in the stage musical. The lyrics of some songs were also changed to suit the changes in setting or narrative to the stage musical. In addition to the cuts, a new song, "Suddenly" was added, new music was composed for the battle scenes, and the order of several songs changed from the stage musical. Several major pieces, primarily as "Who Am I?", "Stars", and the two "Soliloquy" pieces are performed in a different key than most recordings.
1."Look Down" – Convicts, Javert, Valjean†§
2."On Parole" – Valjean, Bishop of Digne
3."The Bishop" – Bishop of Digne†§
4."Valjean's Soliloquy" – Valjean†§
5."At the End of the Day" – Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Women, Fantine, Valjean†§
6."The Runaway Cart" – Valjean, Javert
7."The Docks (Lovely Ladies)" – Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores, Pimp, Toothman§
8."I Dreamed a Dream" – Fantine†§
9."Fantine's Arrest" – Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert, Valjean§
10."Who Am I?" – Valjean§
11."Fantine's Death" – Fantine, Valjean§
12."The Confrontation" – Javert, Valjean†§
13."Castle on a Cloud" – Young Cosette, Mme. Thénardier†§
14."Master of the House" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Inn Patrons†§
15."The Well Scene" – Valjean, Young Cosette§
16."The Bargain" – Valjean, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
17."The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" – Thénardier, Valjean, Mme. Thénardier, Young Cosette§
18."Suddenly" – Valjean†§
19."The Convent" – Valjean§
20."Stars" – Javert§
21."Paris/Look Down" – Gavroche, Beggars, Enjolras, Marius, Students§
22."The Robbery" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Éponine, Valjean§
23."Javert's Intervention" – Javert, Thénardier§
24."Éponine's Errand" - Éponine, Marius
25."ABC Café/Red and Black" – Students, Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Gavroche†§
26."In My Life" – Cosette, Valjean, Marius, Éponine§
27."A Heart Full of Love" – Marius, Cosette, Éponine†§
28."The Attack on Rue Plumet" – Thénardier, Thieves, Éponine, Valjean
29."On My Own" – Éponine†§
30."One Day More" – Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Cast of Les Misérables†§
31."Do You Hear the People Sing?" – Enjolras, Marius, Students, Beggars§
32."Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" – Enjolras, Javert, Gavroche, Students§
33."Javert's Arrival" – Javert, Enjolras§
34."Little People" – Gavroche, Students, Enjolras, Javert§
35."A Little Fall of Rain" – Éponine, Marius§
36."Night of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Valjean, Javert, Students
37."Drink With Me" – Grantaire, Marius, Gavroche, Students†§
38."Bring Him Home" – Valjean†§
39."Dawn of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Gavroche, Students§
40."The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" – Gavroche, Enjolras, Students, Army Officer§
41."The Sewers" – Valjean, Javert§
42."Javert's Suicide" – Javert†§
43."Turning" – Parisian women§
44."Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" – Marius†§
45."A Heart Full of Love [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette, Valjean, Gillenormand§
46."Valjean's Confession" – Valjean, Marius§
47."Suddenly [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette§
48."Wedding Chorale" – Chorus, Marius, Thérnardier, Mme. Thérnardier§
49."Beggars at the Feast" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
50."Valjean's Death" – Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius, Bishop of Digne†§
51."Do You Hear the People Sing? [Reprise]" – The Cast of Les Misérables†§
† Included on the highlights edition soundtrack
§ Included on the deluxe edition soundtrack
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In 1988, Alan Parker was considered to direct a film adaptation of the Les Misérables musical. However, in 1991, Bruce Beresford signed on to be the film's director.[45]



 Producer Cameron Mackintosh had an integral role in facilitating the production of the film.
In 1992, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that the film would be co-produced by TriStar Pictures.[46] However, the film was abandoned. In 2005, Mackintosh later confirmed that interest in turning the musical into a film adaptation had resumed during the early months of that year. Mackintosh said that he wanted the film to be directed by "someone who has a vision for the show that will put the show's original team, including [Mackintosh], back to work." He also said that he wanted the film audiences to make it "fresh as the actual show".[47] In 2009, producer Eric Fellner began negotiations with Mackintosh to acquire the film's rights and concluded it near the end of 2011. Fellner, Tim Bevan, and Debra Hayward engaged William Nicholson to write a screenplay for the film.[13] Nicholson wrote the draft within six weeks time.[13]
The DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert confirmed an announcement of the musical's film adaptation.[48]
Pre-production[edit]
In March 2011, director Tom Hooper began negotiations to direct Les Misérables from the screenplay by William Nicholson.[49] Production on the film officially began in June that year, with Cameron Mackintosh and Working Title Films co-producing. Having already approached Hooper prior to production with the desire of playing Jean Valjean, Hugh Jackman began negotiations to star in the film alongside Paul Bettany as Javert.[50][51] Other stars who became attached to the project included Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter.[52]
In September 2011, Jackman was officially cast as Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe was cast as Javert.[53] The following month, Mackintosh confirmed that Fantine would be played by Hathaway. Before Hathaway was cast, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Tammy Blanchard, Kristin Kreuk, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Rebecca Hall had reportedly been considered for the part.[54] For the role, Hathaway allowed her hair to be cut short on camera for a scene in which her character sells her hair, stating that the lengths she goes to for her roles "don't feel like sacrifices. Getting to transform is one of the best parts of [acting]."[55] The role also required her to lose 25 pounds.[13]
In November 2011, Eddie Redmayne joined the cast as Marius Pontmercy.[24] It was reported that the shortlist of actresses for the role of Éponine included Scarlett Johansson (who also auditioned for the role of Fantine), Lea Michele, Tamsin Egerton, Taylor Swift, and Evan Rachel Wood.[56][57]
In January 2012, the press reported that the role of Éponine had officially been offered to Taylor Swift, but Swift later stated that those reports were not entirely accurate.[58][59][60][61] At the end of the month, Mackintosh made a special appearance during the curtain call of the Oliver! UK tour at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, announcing that the tour's Nancy, Samantha Barks, who had played Éponine in the West End production and in the 25th Anniversary concert, would reprise the role in the film.[33] Barks had been auditioning for 15 weeks by that point.[62]
Originally, an unknown was sought for the role of Cosette, with an open casting call in New York City in December 2011.[63] In January 2012, reports surfaced that Amanda Seyfried had been offered the role instead.[64] Eddie Redmayne confirmed both Seyfried's casting and that of Bonham Carter as Madame Thénardier in an interview on 12 January.[17] Hooper confirmed that he would stick to the musical's essentially sung-through form and would thus introduce very little additional dialogue.[26] Hooper confirmed that the film would not be shot in 3D, expressing his opinion that it would not enhance the emotional narrative of the film and would distract audiences from the storytelling.[65]
Following this announcement, reports surfaced in the press that Sacha Baron Cohen had begun talks to join the cast as Thénardier and that Aaron Tveit had been cast as Enjolras.[66][67] Later that month, the press officially confirmed Tveit's casting as Enjolras.[18][19] Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle (the original Valjean and Éponine, respectively, in the West End and Broadway productions) appeared in the film. Wilkinson played the Bishop of Digne, and Ruffelle had a cameo as a prostitute.[36] George Blagden was cast as Grantaire.[38] In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Front Row, Tom Hooper revealed that Claude-Michel Schönberg will be composing one new song and additional music. The director also expanded on the performers singing live on set, which he felt would eliminate the need to recapture "locked" performances and allow more creative freedom. More details of this were confirmed by Eddie Redmayne in an interview. He stated that the cast would sing to piano tracks (via earpiece) and that the orchestra would be added in post-production.[68]
In February 2012, casting auditions involving extras for the film took place at the University of Portsmouth and Chatham Maritime in Chatham.[69] Several days later, Mackintosh officially confirmed that Bonham Carter would play Madame Thénardier.[29] He also announced that the title of the newly created song for the film is "Suddenly" and that it "beautifully explains what happens when Valjean takes Cosette from the inn and looks after her."[70] At the end of the month, The Sun reported that the long-rumoured Baron Cohen had been cast in the role of Monsieur Thénardier.[71]
The cast began rehearsals in January 2012, with principal photography due to begin in March.[72] The press officially confirmed Baron Cohen's casting during the latter month.[30] No table read took place before filming.[21]
Filming[edit]



 Tom Hooper directing the second unit of Les Misérables on location in Winchester in April 2012.


 The film's set at Greenwich Naval College.
With a production budget of $61 million,[6] principal photography of the film began 8 March 2012 in Gourdon. Filming locations in England included Boughton House, Winchester College, Winchester Cathedral Close, Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, Chatham Dockyard,[73] St Mary the Virgin Church, Ewelme, South Oxfordshire[74] and Pinewood Studios.[8][75][76][77] In April 2012, crews constructed a replica of the Elephant of the Bastille in Greenwich.[78][79] In the novel, Gavroche lives in the decaying monument. On-location filming also took place at Gourdon, Alpes-Maritimes in France. Footage of Hathaway singing "I Dreamed a Dream", a song from the musical, was shown at CinemaCon 26 April 2012. Russell Crowe confirmed 5 June 2012, on Twitter that he had finished filming. He was later followed by Samantha Barks, confirming that all of her scenes had too been completed. Jackman stated that all filming had been completed 23 June 2012.[80] Some late filming occurred in Bath, Somerset, in October 2012 where stunt shots for Javert's suicide scene had to be reshot due to an error found with this footage during post-production. Bath was not the original filming location for this scene, but the late footage was captured at Pulteney Weir.[81]
Post-production[edit]
The film's vocals were recorded live on set using live piano accompaniments played through earpieces as a guide, with the orchestral accompaniment recorded in post-production, rather than the traditional method where the film's musical soundtracks are usually pre-recorded and played back on set to which actors lip-sync. Production sound mixer Simon Hayes used 50 DPA 4071 lavalier microphones to record the vocals.[82] Hooper explained his choice:
“ I just felt ultimately, it was a more natural way of doing it. You know, when actors do dialogue, they have freedom in time, they have freedom in pacing. They can stop for a moment, they can speed up. I simply wanted to give the actors the normal freedoms that they would have. If they need a bit for an emotion or a feeling to form in the eyes before they sing, I can take that time. If they cry, they can cry through a song. When you're doing it to playback, to the millisecond you have to copy what you do. You have no freedom in the moment – and acting is the illusion of being free in the moment.[83] ”
Although this unique live recording method has been stated as "a world's first" by the creative team, several film musicals have used this method before, including early talkies, as lip-syncing wasn't perfected, the 1975 20th Century Fox film At Long Last Love, the adaptation of The Magic Flute that same year, and more recently in the 1995 adaptation of The Fantasticks, in the 2001 film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and in the 2007 film Across the Universe with songs by The Beatles.
Producers announced 27 August 2012, that recording sessions for Les Misérables would begin in London 10 October and featured a 70-piece orchestra. They was also announced that composer Claude-Michel Schönberg was composing additional music to underscore the film.[84] Universal Studios executives were granted a viewing of the rough cut of the film 9 September 2012, without the orchestra tracks. They greeted the cut with "extreme excitement".
Distribution[edit]
Marketing[edit]
The film's first teaser trailer debuted online 30 May 2012, and later in theatres with Snow White and the Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy and Argo.[85]
Producers released an extended first look on the film's official Facebook page 20 September 2012. This short introduces and explains Hooper's method of recording vocals live on set, comparing it to the traditional method of pre-recording the vocals in a studio months in advance. Hugh Jackman stated that filming in this way allows him more creative freedom with the material and that he "only has to worry about acting it." Both Hooper and the actors believe that this choice of production method will make the film feel much more emotional, raw, and real. The actors praised Hooper for his method and provide brief interviews throughout the video. Hooper mentions, "I thought it was an amazing opportunity to do something genuinely groundbreaking."[86] Clips of Jackman, Hathaway, Seyfried, Redmayne and Barks singing were received very positively, especially the teaser trailer's presentation of "I Dreamed a Dream" by Hathaway. Producers released a new poster, featuring young Cosette, played by Isabelle Allen, 24 September 2012, on the film's official Facebook page.[87] They released posters featuring Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Cosette 12 October,[88] with additional posters of Thénardiers and Marius released 1 November 2012.
Release[edit]
Les Misérables was originally to be released 7 December 2012 before the studio moved it to 14 December; however, 18 September 2012, they delayed the film's release date to 25 December, so as not to conflict with the opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opened 14 December. Because of this, it opened alongside Django Unchained.[9] Release date for the United Kingdom was 11 January 2013.[89]
Les Misérables was screened for the first time at the Lincoln Center in New York City, 23 November 2012, and received a standing ovation from the crowd.[90][91] This was followed by a screening the next day in Los Angeles, which also received positive reviews.[92]
Les Misérables premiered 5 December 2012, at the Empire, Leicester Square in London.[2] Red carpet footage was screened live online in an event hosted by Michael Ball, the original Marius of the West End. The film was released in select IMAX theatres in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Montreal the same day as its domestic theatrical release, 25 December 2012.[93] Les Misérables was released internationally by IMAX theatres on 10 January 2013.[93]
Home media[edit]
The film was confirmed for home release 13 May 2013 on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD in the United Kingdom; it was released in the United States 22 March 2013. The DVD contains three featurettes: The Stars of Les Misérables, Creating the Perfect Paris, and The Original Masterwork: Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, along with an audio commentary from director Tom Hooper. The Blu-ray has all DVD features including four additional featurettes: Les Misérables Singing Live, Battle at the Barricade, The West End Connection, and Les Misérables On Location.[94]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Les Misérables earned $148,809,770 in North America and $293,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $441,809,770.[7] In North America, Les Misérables opened 25 December 2012 in 2,808 theatres, placing first at the box office with $18.1 million.[95] This amount broke the record for the highest opening day gross for a musical film, previously held by High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and was also the second highest opening day gross for a film released on Christmas Day.[96] It earned $27.3 million in its opening weekend, placing third behind Django Unchained and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.[97]
The film was released in the United Kingdom 11 January 2013 and earned £8.1 ($13.1) million in its opening weekend, making it the largest opening weekend for a musical film, as well as for Working Title.[98]
Critical response[edit]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 70% approval rating with an average rating of 7/10, based on an aggregation of 225 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Impeccably mounted but occasionally bombastic, Les Misérables largely succeeds thanks to bravura performances from its distinguished cast." [99] On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 63 out of 100 based on 41 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[100] The film was generally praised for its acting and ensemble cast, with Jackman and Hathaway being singled out for praise. The live singing, which was heavily promoted in marketing for the film, received a more divided response.
Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film five stars: "Les Misérables is a blockbuster, and the special effects are emotional: explosions of grief; fireballs of romance; million-buck conflagrations of heartbreak. Accordingly, you should see it in its opening week, on a gigantic screen, with a fanatical crowd."[101]
The Guardian‍ '​s Peter Bradshaw concurred: "Even as a non-believer in this kind of "sung-through" musical, I was battered into submission by this mesmeric and sometimes compelling film ...".[102] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave a positive review, saying that the film "is a clutch player that delivers an emotional wallop when it counts. You can walk into the theater as an agnostic, but you may just leave singing with the choir."[103] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, "Besides being a feast for the eyes and ears, Les Misérables overflows with humor, heartbreak, rousing action and ravishing romance. Damn the imperfections, it's perfectly marvelous."[104]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "As the enduring success of this property has shown, there are large, emotionally susceptible segments of the population ready to swallow this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's good."[105]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote: "[Director Tom] Hooper can be very good with actors. But his inability to leave any lily ungilded—to direct a scene without tilting or hurtling or throwing the camera around—is bludgeoning and deadly. By the grand finale, when tout le monde is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat."[106]
Justin Chang of Variety wrote that the film "will more than satisfy the show's legions of fans." Chang praised the performances of Jackman, Hathaway, Barks, Tveit and Seyfried (i.e., every leading cast member except Crowe and Redmayne) but said that the film's editing "seems reluctant to slow down and let the viewer simply take in the performances."[107]
Callum Marsh of Slant Magazine gave the film 1 star, and wrote: "Flaws—and there are a great many that would have never made the cut were this a perfectible studio recording—are conveniently swept under the rug of candid expression ... the worst quality of Les Misérables's live singing is simply that it puts too much pressure on a handful of performers who frankly cannot sing.... Fisheye lenses and poorly framed close-ups abound in Les Misérables, nearly every frame a revelation of one man's bad taste ... One would be hard-pressed to describe this, despite the wealth of beauty on display, as anything but an ugly film, shot and cut ineptly. Everything in the film, songs included, is cranked to 11, the melodrama of it all soaring. So it's odd that this kind of showboating maximalism should be ultimately reduced to a few fisheye'd faces, mugging for their close-up, as the people sing off-key and broken."[108] The Chicago Tribune critic Michael Philips gave the film only one and a half stars, writing: "The camera bobs and weaves like a drunk, frantically. So you have hammering close-ups, combined with woozy insecurity each time more than two people are in the frame. ...too little in this frenzied mess of a film registers because Hooper is trying to make everything register at the same nutty pitch."[109]
Some specific performances were reviewed very positively. Anne Hathaway's performance of ballad "I Dreamed a Dream" was met with praise, with many comparing its showstopper-like quality to Jennifer Hudson's performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.[110] Christopher Orr of The Atlantic wrote that "Hathaway gives it everything she has, beginning in quiet sorrow before building to a woebegone climax: she gasps, she weeps, she coughs. If you are blown away by the scene—as many will be; it will almost certainly earn Hathaway her first Oscar—this may be the film for you."[111] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post writes that "The centerpiece of a movie composed entirely of centerpieces belongs to Anne Hathaway, who as the tragic heroine Fantine sings another of the memorable numbers".[112] Joy Tipping of The Dallas Morning News described Hathaway's performance as "angelic".[113]
Claudia Puig of USA Today describes her as "superb as the tragic Fantine".[114] Travers felt that "A dynamite Hathaway shatters every heart when she sings how 'life has killed the dream I dreamed.' Her volcanic performance has Oscar written all over it."[104] Lou Lumenick, critic for the New York Post, wrote that the film is "worth seeing for Hathaway alone".[115] She was widely considered to be the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,[116] ultimately winning it.
Eddie Redmayne also received considerable praise for his performance with Bloomberg News saying that "Eddie Redmayne—most recently seen as the eager young production assistant in My Week with Marilyn—delivers by far the most moving and memorable performance in the film as the young firebrand Marius, who, along with his fellow students, is caught up in France's political upheavals in the 19th century."[117]
Samantha Barks earned praise for her portrayal of Éponine, with Digital Journal saying: "Samantha Barks plays Éponine with such grace, sweetness, and sadness that it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role",[118] while Claudia Puig of USA Today calls her "heartbreakingly soulful",[114] Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times describes her performance as "star-making",[119] and Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com says she "just about steals the film".[120]
Crowe's performance was less well received and even Crowe agreed that the film suffered from poor vocal performances. Emma Gosnell, writing for The Daily Telegraph, stated that she walked out of the showing due to the poor singing, specifically citing Crowe and Jackman as the cause. Playback singer Marni Nixon said "[Crowe] was nothing. It wasn’t that he was choosing to sing like that, he just couldn't do anything else" and that Jackman acted well but "could have done with a nobler voice". She also criticized Bonham Carter as being incomprehensible, but praised the rest of the female cast.[121] American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert tweeted several disparaging messages, including "why not cast actors who could actually sound good?" and "the singing was so distracting at times it pulled me out", to which Crowe replied via twitter "I don't disagree with Adam,sure it could have been sweetened,Hooper wanted it raw and real,that's how it is".[122] Nixon rebutted this: “We’re talking about a musical. Is that real? People don’t go around singing 'La la la la’ to each other all day!”[121]
In 2013, the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including the Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hugh Jackman,[123] and went on to win in three categories: Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound Mixing.
Accolades[edit]


List of awards and nominations

Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
Ref

Academy Award 24 February 2013 Best Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [123]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" (music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil) Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell Won
Best Sound Mixing Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, and Simon Hayes Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
American Film Institute 11 January 2013 Movies of the Year Won [124]
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award 28 January 2013 Best International Film Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [125]
Best International Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
British Academy Film Award 10 February 2013 Best Film Nominated [126]
Best British Film Nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hair Lisa Westcott Won
Best Sound Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, and John Warhurst Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 10 January 2013 Best Film Nominated [127]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens and Melanie Oliver Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup Lisa Westcott Won
Chicago Film Critics Association 17 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated [128]
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Most Promising Performer Samantha Barks Nominated
Directors Guild of America Award 2 February 2013 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Tom Hooper Nominated 
Dorian Awards 17 January 2013 Film of the Year  Nominated [129][130]
Film Performance of the Year - Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Film Performance of the Year - Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Visually Striking Film of the Year  Nominated
Golden Globe Award 13 January 2013 Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Won [131]
Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Hugh Jackman Won
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Grammy Awards 26 January 2014 Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media Cameron Mackintosh, Lee McCutcheon and Stephan Metcalfe Nominated [132]
Hollywood Film Festival 23 October 2012 Best Trailer Erin Wyatt Won [133]
Producer of the Year Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Won
Spotlight Award Samantha Barks Won
Houston Film Critics Society 5 January 2013 Best Picture Nominated 
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
5th Annual Lancashire Film Critics Awards 30 March 2013 Best Film  Won [134]
Best Director Tom Hooper Won
London Film Critics Circle 20 January 2013 British Film of the Year Nominated 
Actor of the Year Hugh Jackman Nominated
Supporting Actress of the Year Anne Hathaway Won
Young British Performer of the Year Samantha Barks Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association 9 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
MTV Movie Awards 14 April 2013 Best Female Performance Anne Hathaway Nominated [135]
Best Breakthrough Performance Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Musical Moment Anne Hathaway Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle Award 3 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
New York Film Critics Online 3 December 2012 Movies of the Year Won 
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Producers Guild of America Award 26 January 2013 Best Theatrical Motion Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [136]
Satellite Award 16 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [137]
Best Cast – Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor – Motion Picture Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Samantha Barks Nominated
Best Art Direction and Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens and Melanie Oliver Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
Best Sound John Warhurst, Lee Walpole, and Simon Hayes Won
Saturn Awards 26 June 2013 Best Action / Adventure Nominated [138]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated
Best Costume Paco Delgado Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award 27 January 2013 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated [139]
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association 10 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [140]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Samantha Barks Nominated
Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Young Artist Award 5 May 2013 Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated [141]
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress Ten and Under Isabelle Allen Won

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123.^ Jump up to: a b "2013 Oscar Nominees". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
124.Jump up ^ Breznican, Anthony (10 December 2012). "'The Dark Knight Rises' ranks on American Film Institute's best-movies list". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
125.Jump up ^ Garry, Maddox (9 January 2013). "Jackman, Kidman up for AACTA awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
126.Jump up ^ "'Lincoln leads Bafta shortlist with ten nominations". BBC News. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
127.Jump up ^ "'Lincoln' Leads the 18th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards Nominations with a Record 13 Noms". Broadcast Film Critics Association. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
128.Jump up ^ "2012 Chicago Film Critics Awards". Chicago Film Critics Association. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
129.Jump up ^ Kilday, Gregg (9 January 2013). "Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Announce Dorian Award Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
130.Jump up ^ "Gay Critics Name Hathaway, "Argo"…And "Liz & Dick" Winners Of 2013 Dorian Awards". Queerty. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
131.Jump up ^ Anisiobi, J J (13 December 2012). "British stars lead the way as Helen Mirren, Benedict Cumberbatch and Adele are nominated for Golden Globe Awards". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 13 December 2012.
132.Jump up ^ "56th Annual Grammy Awards Nominees". The Recording Academy. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
133.Jump up ^ "Hollywood Film Awards to Honor LES MIS' Samantha Barks". Broadway World. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
134.Jump up ^ "5th Annual Lancashire Film Critics Awards - Awards Daily". Awards Daily. 30 March 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
135.Jump up ^ Warner, Denise (14 April 2013). "2013 MTV Movie Awards winners list". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
136.Jump up ^ "PGA Motion Picture Nominees Announced". Producers Guild of America. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
137.Jump up ^ "Satellite Awards 2012". International Press Academy. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
138.Jump up ^ "39th Annual Saturn Awards" (PDF). Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Archived from the original on 20 February 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
139.Jump up ^ "The 2012 Screen Actors Guild Awards". DH. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
140.Jump up ^ "The 2012 WAFCA Awards". DC Film Critics. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
141.Jump up ^ "34th Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
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Les Misérables

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This article is about the novel. For the musical theatre adaptation, see Les Misérables (musical). For other uses, see Les Misérables (disambiguation).
Les Misérables
Jean Valjean.JPG
Jean Valjean as Monsieur Madeleine. Illustration by Gustave Brion

Author
Victor Hugo
Illustrator
Emile Bayard
Country
France
Language
French
Genre
Epic novel, historical fiction
Publisher
A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.

Publication date
 1862
Les Misérables (pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/ or /leɪ ˈmɪzəˌrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeʁabl(ə)]) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including The Miserable, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims and The Dispossessed.[1] Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.[2]
Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for the stage, television, and film, including a musical and a film adaptation of that musical.
The appearance of the novel was highly anticipated and advertised. Critical reactions were diverse, but most of them were negative. Commercially, the work was a great success globally.


Contents  [hide]
1 Novel form 1.1 Digressions
2 Hugo's sources
3 Plot 3.1 Volume I – Fantine
3.2 Volume II – Cosette
3.3 Volume III – Marius
3.4 Volume IV – The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis
3.5 Volume V – Jean Valjean
4 Characters 4.1 Major
4.2 Friends of the ABC
4.3 Minor
4.4 The narrator
5 Contemporary reception
6 English translations
7 Adaptations 7.1 Sequels
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Novel form
Upton Sinclair described the novel as "one of the half-dozen greatest novels of the world," and remarked that Hugo set forth the purpose of Les Misérables in the Preface:[3]

So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.
Towards the end of the novel, Hugo explains the work's overarching structure:[4]

The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details ... a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end.
The novel contains various subplots, but the main thread is the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean, who becomes a force for good in the world but cannot escape his criminal past. The novel is divided into five volumes, each volume divided into several books, and subdivided into chapters, for a total of 48 books and 365 chapters. Each chapter is relatively short, commonly no longer than a few pages.
The novel as a whole is one of the longest ever written,[5] with approximately 1,500 pages in unabridged English-language editions,[6] and 1,900 pages in French.[7][8][9] Hugo explained his ambitions for the novel to his Italian publisher:[10]

I don't know whether it will be read by everyone, but it is meant for everyone. It addresses England as well as Spain, Italy as well as France, Germany as well as Ireland, the republics that harbour slaves as well as empires that have serfs. Social problems go beyond frontiers. Humankind's wounds, those huge sores that litter the world, do not stop at the blue and red lines drawn on maps. Wherever men go in ignorance or despair, wherever women sell themselves for bread, wherever children lack a book to learn from or a warm hearth, Les Miserables knocks at the door and says: "open up, I am here for you".
Digressions
More than a quarter of the novel—by one count 955 of 2,783 pages—is devoted to essays that argue a moral point or display Hugo's encyclopedic knowledge, but do not advance the plot, nor even a subplot, a method Hugo used in such other works as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Toilers of the Sea. One biographer noted that "the digressions of genius are easily pardoned".[11] The topics Hugo addresses include cloistered religious orders, the construction of the Paris sewers, argot, and the street urchins of Paris. The one about convents he titles "Parenthesis" to alert the reader to its irrelevance to the story line.[12] He devotes another 19 chapters to Waterloo, the battlefield Hugo visited in 1861 and where he finished writing the novel. It opens volume 2 with such a change of subject as to seem the beginning of an entirely different work. One critic has called this "the spiritual gateway" to the novel, as its chance encounter of Thénardier and Colonel Pontmercy foreshadows so many of the novel's encounters "blending chance and necessity", a "confrontation of heroism and villainy".[13]
Even when not turning to other subjects outside his narrative, Hugo sometimes interrupts the straightforward recitation of events, his voice and control of the story line unconstrained by time and sequence. The novel opens with a statement about the bishop of Digne in 1815 and immediately shifts: "Although these details in no way essentially concern that which we have to tell..." Only after 14 chapters does Hugo pick up the opening thread again, "In the early days of the month of October, 1815...", to introduce Jean Valjean.[14]
Hugo's sources



 Eugene Vidocq, whose career provided a model for the character of Jean Valjean
Valjean's character is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq. Vidocq, an ex-convict, became the head of an undercover police unit and later founded France's first private detective agency. He was also a businessman and was widely noted for his social engagement and philanthropy. Vidocq helped Hugo with his research for Claude Gueux and Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man).[citation needed] In 1828, Vidocq, already pardoned, saved one of the workers in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders as Valjean does.[15] Hugo's description of Valjean rescuing a sailor on the Orion drew almost word for word on a friend's letter describing such an incident.[citation needed] Hugo used Bienvenu de Miollis (1753–1843), the Bishop of Digne during the time in which Valjean encounters Myriel, as the model for Myriel.[16]
In 1841, Hugo saved a prostitute from arrest for assault. He used a short part of his dialogue with the police when recounting Valjean's rescue of Fantine in the novel.[17] On 22 February 1846, when he had begun work on the novel, Hugo witnessed the arrest of a bread thief while a Duchess and her child watched the scene pitilessly from their coach.[18][19] He spent several vacations in Montreuil-sur-Mer, which became the model for the town he calls M____-sur-M__.[20] During the 1832 revolt, Hugo walked the streets of Paris, saw the barricades blocking his way at points, and had to take shelter from gunfire.[21] He participated more directly in the 1848 Paris insurrection, helping to smash barricades and suppress both the popular revolt and its monarchist allies.[22]
Plot
Volume I – Fantine



Fantine by Margaret Hall
The story begins in 1815 in Digne, as the peasant Jean Valjean, just released from 19 years' imprisonment in the galleys—five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts—is turned away by innkeepers because his yellow passport marks him as a former convict. He sleeps on the street, angry and bitter.
Digne's benevolent Bishop Myriel gives him shelter. At night, Valjean runs off with Myriel's silverware. When the police capture Valjean, Myriel pretends that he has given the silverware to Valjean and presses him to take two silver candlesticks as well, as if he had forgotten to take them. The police accept his explanation and leave. Myriel tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, and that he should use money from the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.
Valjean broods over Myriel's words. When opportunity presents itself, purely out of habit, he steals a 40-sous coin from 12-year-old Petit Gervais and chases the boy away. He quickly repents and searches the city in panic for Gervais. At the same time, his theft is reported to the authorities. Valjean hides as they search for him, because if apprehended he will be returned to the galleys for life as a repeat offender.
Six years pass and Valjean, using the alias Monsieur Madeleine, has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of a town identified only as M____-sur-M__ (i.e., Montreuil-sur-Mer). Walking down the street, he sees a man named Fauchelevent pinned under the wheels of a cart. When no one volunteers to lift the cart, even for pay, he decides to rescue Fauchelevent himself. He crawls underneath the cart, manages to lift it, and frees him. The town's police inspector, Inspector Javert, who was an adjutant guard at the Bagne of Toulon during Valjean's incarceration, becomes suspicious of the mayor after witnessing this remarkable feat of strength. He has known only one other man, a convict named Jean Valjean, who could accomplish it.
Years earlier in Paris, a grisette named Fantine was very much in love with Félix Tholomyès. His friends, Listolier, Fameuil, and Blachevelle were also paired with Fantine's friends Dahlia, Zéphine, and Favourite. The men abandon the women, treating their relationships as youthful amusements. Fantine must draw on her own resources to care for her and Tholomyès' daughter, Cosette. When Fantine arrives at Montfermeil, she leaves Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, a corrupt innkeeper and his selfish, cruel wife.
Fantine is unaware that they are abusing her daughter and using her as forced labor for their inn, and continues to try to meet their growing, extortionate and fictitious demands. She is later fired from her job at Jean Valjean's factory, because of the discovery of her daughter, who was born out of wedlock. Meanwhile, the Thénardiers' monetary demands continue to grow. In desperation, Fantine sells her hair and two front teeth, and she resorts to prostitution to pay the Thénardiers. Fantine is slowly dying from an unspecified disease.
A dandy named Bamatabois harasses Fantine in the street, and she reacts by striking him. Javert arrests Fantine. She begs to be released so that she can provide for her daughter, but Javert sentences her to six months in prison. Valjean (Mayor Madeleine) intervenes and orders Javert to release her. Javert resists but Valjean prevails. Valjean, feeling responsible because his factory turned her away, promises Fantine that he will bring Cosette to her. He takes her to a hospital.
Javert comes to see Valjean again. Javert admits that after being forced to free Fantine, he reported him as Valjean to the French authorities. He tells Valjean he realizes he was wrong, because the authorities have identified someone else as the real Jean Valjean, have him in custody, and plan to try him the next day. Valjean is torn, but decides to reveal himself to save the innocent man, whose real name is Champmathieu. He travels to attend the trial and there reveals his true identity. Valjean returns to M____-sur-M__ to see Fantine, followed by Javert, who confronts him in her hospital room.
After Javert grabs Valjean, Valjean asks for three days to bring Cosette to Fantine, but Javert refuses. Fantine discovers that Cosette is not at the hospital and fretfully asks where she is. Javert orders her to be quiet, and then reveals to her Valjean's real identity. Weakened by the severity of her illness, she falls back in shock and dies. Valjean goes to Fantine, speaks to her in an inaudible whisper, kisses her hand, and then leaves with Javert. Later, Fantine's body is unceremoniously thrown into a public grave.
Volume II – Cosette



 Portrait of "Cosette" by Emile Bayard, from the original edition of Les Misérables (1862)
Valjean escapes, is recaptured, and is sentenced to death. The king commutes his sentence to penal servitude for life. While imprisoned at the military port of Toulon, Valjean, at great personal risk, rescues a sailor caught in the ship's rigging. Spectators call for his release. Valjean fakes his own death by allowing himself to fall into the ocean. Authorities report him dead and his body lost.
Valjean arrives at Montfermeil on Christmas Eve. He finds Cosette fetching water in the woods alone and walks with her to the inn. He orders a meal and observes how the Thénardiers abuse her, while pampering their own daughters Éponine and Azelma, who mistreat Cosette for playing with their doll. Valjean leaves and returns to make Cosette a present of an expensive new doll which, after some hesitation, she happily accepts. Éponine and Azelma are envious. Madame Thénardier is furious with Valjean, while her husband makes light of Valjean's behaviour, caring only that he pay for his food and lodging.
The next morning, Valjean informs the Thénardiers that he wants to take Cosette with him. Madame Thénardier immediately accepts, while Thénardier pretends to love Cosette and be concerned for her welfare, reluctant to give her up. Valjean pays the Thénardiers 1,500 francs, and he and Cosette leave the inn. Thénardier, hoping to swindle more out of Valjean, runs after them, holding the 1,500 francs, and tells Valjean he wants Cosette back. He informs Valjean that he cannot release Cosette without a note from the child's mother. Valjean hands Thénardier Fantine's letter authorizing the bearer to take Cosette. Thénardier then demands that Valjean pay a thousand crowns, but Valjean and Cosette leave. Thénardier regrets that he did not bring his gun and turns back toward home.
Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris. Valjean rents new lodgings at Gorbeau House, where he and Cosette live happily. However, Javert discovers Valjean's lodgings there a few months later. Valjean takes Cosette and they try to escape from Javert. They soon find shelter in the Petit-Picpus convent with the help of Fauchelevent, the man whom Valjean once rescued from being crushed under a cart and who has become the convent's gardener. Valjean also becomes a gardener and Cosette becomes a student at the convent school.
Volume III – Marius
Eight years later, the Friends of the ABC, led by Enjolras, are preparing an act of anti-Orléanist civil unrest on the eve of the Paris uprising on 5–6 June 1832, following the death of General Lamarque, the only French leader who had sympathy towards the working class. Lamarque was a victim of a major cholera epidemic that had ravaged the city, particularly its poor neighborhoods, arousing suspicion that the government had been poisoning wells. The Friends of the ABC are joined by the poor of the Cour des miracles, including the Thénardiers' eldest son Gavroche, who is a street urchin.
One of the students, Marius Pontmercy, has become alienated from his family (especially his grandfather M. Gillenormand) because of his liberal views. After the death of his father Colonel Georges Pontmercy, Marius discovers a note from him instructing his son to provide help to a sergeant named Thénardier who saved Pontmercy's life at Waterloo – in reality Thénardier was looting corpses and only saved Pontmercy's life by accident; he had called himself a sergeant under Napoleon to avoid exposing himself as a robber.
At the Luxembourg Gardens, Marius falls in love with the now grown and beautiful Cosette. The Thénardiers have also moved to Paris and now live in poverty after losing their inn. They live under the surname "Jondrette" at Gorbeau House (coincidentally, the same building Valjean and Cosette briefly lived in after leaving the Thénardiers' inn). Marius lives there as well, next door to the Thénardiers.
Éponine, now ragged and emaciated, visits Marius at his apartment to beg for money. To impress him, she tries to prove her literacy by reading aloud from a book and by writing "The Cops Are Here" on a sheet of paper. Marius pities her and gives her some money. After Éponine leaves, Marius observes the "Jondrettes" in their apartment through a crack in the wall. Éponine comes in and announces that a philanthropist and his daughter are arriving to visit them. In order to look poorer, Thénardier puts out the fire and breaks a chair. He also orders Azelma to punch out a window pane, which she does, resulting in cutting her hand (as Thénardier had hoped).
The philanthropist and his daughter enter—actually Valjean and Cosette. Marius immediately recognizes Cosette. After seeing them, Valjean promises them he will return with rent money for them. After he and Cosette leave, Marius asks Éponine to retrieve her address for him. Éponine, who is in love with Marius herself, reluctantly agrees to do so. The Thénardiers have also recognized Valjean and Cosette, and vow their revenge. Thénardier enlists the aid of the Patron-Minette, a well-known and feared gang of murderers and robbers.
Marius overhears Thénardier's plan and goes to Javert to report the crime. Javert gives Marius two pistols and instructs him to fire one into the air if things get dangerous. Marius returns home and waits for Javert and the police to arrive. Thénardier sends Éponine and Azelma outside to look out for the police. When Valjean returns with rent money, Thénardier, with Patron-Minette, ambushes him and he reveals his real identity to Valjean. Marius recognizes Thénardier as the man who "saved" his father's life at Waterloo and is caught in a dilemma.
He tries to find a way to save Valjean while not betraying Thénardier. Valjean denies knowing Thénardier and tells him that they have never met. Valjean tries to escape through a window but is subdued and tied up. Thénardier orders Valjean to pay him 200,000 francs. He also orders Valjean to write a letter to Cosette to return to the apartment, and they would keep her with them until he delivers the money. After Valjean writes the letter and informs Thénardier of his address, Thénardier sends out Mme. Thénardier to get Cosette. Mme. Thénardier comes back alone, and announces the address is a fake.
It is during this time that Valjean manages to free himself. Thénardier decides to kill Valjean. While he and Patron-Minette are about to do so, Marius remembers the scrap of paper that Éponine wrote on earlier. He throws it into the Thénardiers' apartment through the wall crack. Thénardier reads it and thinks Éponine threw it inside. He, Mme. Thénardier and Patron-Minette try to escape, only to be stopped by Javert.
He arrests all the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette (except Claquesous, who escapes during his transportation to prison; Montparnasse, who stops to run off with Éponine instead of joining in on the robbery; and Gavroche, who was not present and rarely participates in his family's crimes, a notable exception being his part in breaking his father out of prison). Valjean manages to escape the scene before Javert sees him.
Volume IV – The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis



 Éponine prevents the robbery at Valjean's house
After Éponine's release from prison, she finds Marius at "The Field of the Lark" and sadly tells him that she found Cosette's address. She leads him to Valjean's and Cosette's house on Rue Plumet, and Marius watches the house for a few days. He and Cosette then finally meet and declare their love for one another. Thénardier, Patron-Minette and Brujon manage to escape from prison with the aid of Gavroche. One night, during one of Marius's visits with Cosette, the six men attempt to raid Valjean's and Cosette's house. However, Éponine, who has been sitting by the gates of the house, threatens to scream and awaken the whole neighbourhood if the thieves do not leave. Hearing this, they reluctantly retire. Meanwhile, Cosette informs Marius that she and Valjean will be leaving for England in a week's time, which greatly troubles the pair.
The next day, Valjean is sitting in the Champ de Mars. He is feeling troubled about seeing Thénardier in the neighbourhood several times. Unexpectedly, a note lands in his lap, which says "Move Out." He sees a figure running away in the dim light. He goes back to his house, tells Cosette they will be staying at their other house on Rue de l'Homme Arme, and reconfirms to her that they will be moving to England. Marius tries to get permission from M. Gillenormand to marry Cosette. His grandfather seems stern and angry, but has been longing for Marius's return. When tempers flare, he refuses his assent to the marriage, telling Marius to make Cosette his mistress instead. Insulted, Marius leaves.
The following day, the students revolt and erect barricades in the narrow streets of Paris. Gavroche spots Javert and informs Enjolras that Javert is a spy. When Enjolras confronts him about this, he admits his identity and his orders to spy on the students. Enjolras and the other students tie him up to a pole in the Corinth restaurant. Later that evening, Marius goes back to Valjean's and Cosette's house on Rue Plumet, but finds the house no longer occupied. He then hears a voice telling him that his friends are waiting for him at the barricade. Distraught to find Cosette gone, he heeds the voice and goes.
When Marius arrives at the barricade, the "revolution" has already started. When he stoops down to pick up a powder keg, a soldier comes up to shoot Marius. However, a man covers the muzzle of the soldier's gun with his hand. The soldier fires, fatally shooting the man, while missing Marius. Meanwhile, the soldiers are closing in. Marius climbs to the top of the barricade, holding a torch in one hand, a powder keg in the other, and threatens to the soldiers that he will blow up the barricade. After confirming this, the soldiers retreat from the barricade.
Marius decides to go to the smaller barricade, which he finds empty. As he turns back, the man who took the fatal shot for Marius earlier calls Marius by his name. Marius discovers this man is Éponine, dressed in men's clothes. As she lies dying on his knees, she confesses that she was the one who told him to go to the barricade, hoping they would die together. She also confesses to saving his life because she wanted to die before he did.
The author also states to the reader that Éponine anonymously threw the note to Valjean. Éponine then tells Marius that she has a letter for him. She also confesses to have obtained the letter the day before, originally not planning to give it to him, but decides to do so in fear he would be angry at her about it in the afterlife. After Marius takes the letter, Éponine then asks him to kiss her on the forehead when she is dead, which he promises to do. With her last breath, she confesses that she was "a little bit in love" with him, and dies.
Marius fulfills her request and goes into a tavern to read the letter. It is written by Cosette. He learns Cosette's whereabouts and he writes a farewell letter to her. He sends Gavroche to deliver it to her, but Gavroche leaves it with Valjean. Valjean, learning that Cosette's lover is fighting, is at first relieved, but an hour later, he puts on a National Guard uniform, arms himself with a gun and ammunition, and leaves his home.
Volume V – Jean Valjean
Valjean arrives at the barricade and immediately saves a man's life. He is still not certain if he wants to protect Marius or kill him. Marius recognizes Valjean at first sight. Enjolras announces that they are almost out of cartridges. When Gavroche goes outside the barricade to collect more ammunition from the dead National Guardsmen, he is shot by the troops.



 Valjean in the sewers with the wounded Marius (US edition, 1900)
Valjean volunteers to execute Javert himself, and Enjolras grants permission. Valjean takes Javert out of sight, and then shoots into the air while letting him go. Marius mistakenly believes that Valjean has killed Javert. As the barricade falls, Valjean carries off the injured and unconscious Marius. All the other students are killed. Valjean escapes through the sewers, carrying Marius's body. He evades a police patrol, and reaches an exit gate but finds it locked. Thénardier emerges from the darkness. Valjean recognizes him, but his filthy appearance prevents Thénardier from recognizing him. Thinking Valjean a murderer lugging his victim's corpse, Thénardier offers to open the gate for money. As he searches Valjean and Marius's pockets, he surreptitiously tears off a piece of Marius's coat so he can later find out his identity. Thénardier takes the thirty francs he finds, opens the gate, and allows Valjean to leave, expecting Valjean's emergence from the sewer will distract the police who have been pursuing him.
Upon exiting, Valjean encounters Javert and requests time to return Marius to his family before surrendering to him. Javert agrees, assuming that Marius will be dead within minutes. After leaving Marius at his grandfather's house, Valjean asks to be allowed a brief visit to his own home, and Javert agrees. There, Javert tells Valjean he will wait for him in the street, but when Valjean scans the street from the landing window he finds Javert has gone. Javert walks down the street, realizing that he is caught between his strict belief in the law and the mercy Valjean has shown him. He feels he can no longer give Valjean up to the authorities but also cannot ignore his duty to the law. Unable to cope with this dilemma, Javert commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine.
Marius slowly recovers from his injuries. As he and Cosette make wedding preparations, Valjean endows them with a fortune of nearly 600,000 francs. As their wedding party winds through Paris during Mardi Gras festivities, Valjean is spotted by Thénardier, who then orders Azelma to follow him. After the wedding, Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an ex-convict. Marius is horrified, assumes the worst about Valjean's moral character, and contrives to limit Valjean's time with Cosette. Valjean accedes to Marius' judgment and his separation from Cosette. Valjean loses the will to live and retires to his bed.
Thénardier approaches Marius in disguise, but Marius recognizes him. Thénardier attempts to blackmail Marius with what he knows of Valjean, but in doing so, he inadvertently corrects Marius's misconceptions about Valjean and reveals all of the good he has done. He tries to convince Marius that Valjean is actually a murderer, and presents the piece of coat he tore off as evidence. Stunned, Marius recognizes the fabric as part of his own coat and realizes that it was Valjean who rescued him from the barricade. Marius pulls out a fistful of notes and flings it at Thénardier's face. He then confronts Thénardier with his crimes and offers him an immense sum to depart and never return. Thénardier accepts the offer, and he and Azelma travel to America where he becomes a slave trader.
As they rush to Valjean's house, Marius tells Cosette that Valjean saved his life at the barricade. They arrive to find Valjean near death and are reconciled with him. Valjean tells Cosette her mother's story and name. He dies content and is buried beneath a blank slab in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Characters
Major
Jean Valjean (also known as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, and Urbain Fabre) – The protagonist of the novel. Convicted for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's seven starving children and sent to prison for five years, he is paroled from prison nineteen years later (after four unsuccessful escape attempts added twelve years and fighting back during the second escape attempt added two extra years). Rejected by society for being a former convict, he encounters Bishop Myriel, who turns his life around by showing him mercy and encouraging him to become a new man. While sitting and pondering what Bishop Myriel had said, he puts his shoe on a forty-sou piece dropped by a young wanderer. Valjean threatens the boy with his stick when the boy attempts to rouse Valjean from his reverie and recover his money. He tells a passing priest his name, and the name of the boy, and this allows the police to charge him with armed robbery – a sentence that, if he were caught again, would return him to prison for life. He assumes a new identity (Monsieur Madeleine) in order to pursue an honest life. He introduces new manufacturing techniques and eventually builds two factories and becomes one of the richest men in the area. By popular acclaim he is made mayor. He confronts Javert over Fantine's punishment, turns himself in to the police to save another man from prison for life, and rescues Cosette from the Thénardiers. Discovered by Javert in Paris because of his generosity to the poor, he evades capture for the next several years in a convent. He saves Marius from imprisonment and probable death at the barricade, reveals his true identity to Marius and Cosette after their wedding, and is reunited with them just before his death, having kept his promise to the bishop and to Fantine, the image of whom is the last thing he sees before dying.
Javert – A fanatic police inspector in pursuit to recapture Valjean. Born in the prisons to a convict father and a fortune teller mother, he renounces both of them and starts working as a guard in the prison, including one stint as the overseer for the chain gang of which Valjean is part (and here witnesses firsthand Valjean's enormous strength and just what he looks like). Eventually he joins the police force in the small town identified only as M____-sur-M__. He arrests Fantine and butts heads with Valjean/Madeleine, who orders him to release Fantine. Valjean dismisses Javert in front of his squad and Javert, seeking revenge, reports to the Police Inspector that he has discovered Jean Valjean. He is told that he must be incorrect, as a man mistakenly believed to be Jean Valjean was just arrested. He requests of M. Madeline that he be dismissed in disgrace, for he cannot be less harsh on himself than on others. When the real Jean Valjean turns himself in, Javert is promoted to the Paris police force where he arrests Valjean and sends him back to prison. After Valjean escapes again, Javert attempts one more arrest in vain. He then almost recaptures Valjean at Gorbeau house when he arrests the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette. Later, while working undercover behind the barricade, his identity is discovered. Valjean pretends to execute Javert, but releases him. When Javert next encounters Valjean emerging from the sewers, he allows him to make a brief visit home and then walks off instead of arresting him. Javert cannot reconcile his devotion to the law with his recognition that the lawful course is immoral. He takes his own life by jumping into the Seine.
Fantine – A beautiful Parisian grisette abandoned with a small child by her lover Félix Tholomyès. Fantine leaves her daughter Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, innkeepers in the village of Montfermeil. Mme. Thénardier spoils her own daughters and abuses Cosette. Fantine finds work at Monsieur Madeleine's factory. Illiterate, she has others write letters to the Thénardiers on her behalf. A female supervisor discovers that she is an unwed mother and dismisses her. To meet the Thénardiers' repeated demands for money, she sells her hair and two front teeth, and turns to prostitution. She becomes ill. Valjean learns of her plight when Javert arrests her for attacking a man who called her insulting names and threw snow down her back, and sends her to a hospital. As Javert confronts Valjean in her hospital room, because her illness has made her so weak, she dies of shock after Javert reveals that Valjean is a convict and hasn't brought her daughter Cosette to her (after the doctor encouraged that incorrect belief that Jean Valjean's recent absence was because he was bringing her daughter to her).
Cosette (formally Euphrasie, also known as "the Lark", Mademoiselle Lanoire, Ursula) – The illegitimate daughter of Fantine and Tholomyès. From approximately the age of three to the age of eight, she is beaten and forced to work as a drudge for the Thénardiers. After her mother Fantine dies, Valjean ransoms Cosette from the Thénardiers and cares for her as if she were his daughter. Nuns in a Paris convent educate her. She grows up to become very beautiful. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy and marries him near the novel's conclusion.
Marius Pontmercy – A young law student loosely associated with the Friends of the ABC. He shares the political principles of his father and has a tempestuous relationship with his royalist grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand. He falls in love with Cosette and fights on the barricades when he believes Valjean has taken her to London. After he and Cosette marry, he recognizes Thénardier as a swindler and pays him to leave France.
Éponine (the Jondrette girl) – The Thénardiers' elder daughter. As a child, she is pampered and spoiled by her parents, but ends up a street urchin when she reaches adolescence. She participates in her father's crimes and begging schemes to obtain money. She is blindly in love with Marius. At Marius' request, she finds Valjean and Cosette's house for him and sadly leads him there. She also prevents her father, Patron-Minette, and Brujon from robbing the house during one of Marius' visits there to see Cosette. After disguising herself as a boy, she manipulates Marius into going to the barricades, hoping that she and Marius will die there together. Wanting to die before Marius, she reaches out her hand to stop a soldier from shooting at him; she is mortally wounded as the bullet goes through her hand and her back. As she is dying, she confesses all this to Marius, and gives him a letter from Cosette. Her final request to Marius is that once she has passed, he will kiss her on the forehead. He fulfills her request not because of romantic feelings on his part, but out of pity for her hard life.
Monsieur Thénardier and Madame Thénardier (also known as the Jondrettes, M. Fabantou, M. Thénard. Some translations identify her as the Thenardiess) – Husband and wife, parents of five children: two daughters, Éponine and Azelma, and three sons, Gavroche and two unnamed younger sons. As innkeepers, they abuse Cosette as a child and extract payment from Fantine for her support, until Valjean takes Cosette away. They become bankrupt and relocate under the name Jondrette to a house in Paris called the Gorbeau house, living in the room next to Marius. The husband associates with a criminal group called "the Patron-Minette", and conspires to rob Valjean until he is thwarted by Marius. Javert arrests the couple. The wife dies in prison. Her husband attempts to blackmail Marius with his knowledge of Valjean's past, but Marius pays him to leave the country. He becomes a slave trader in the United States.
Enjolras – The leader of Les Amis de l'ABC (Friends of the ABC) in the Paris uprising. Passionately committed to republican principles and the idea of progress. He and Grantaire are executed by the National Guards after the barricade falls.
Gavroche – The unloved middle child and eldest son of the Thénardiers. He lives on his own as a street urchin and sleeps inside an elephant statue outside the Bastille. He briefly takes care of his two younger brothers, unaware they are related to him. He takes part in the barricades and is killed while collecting bullets from dead National Guardsmen.
Bishop Myriel – The Bishop of Digne (full name Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, also called Monseigneur Bienvenu) – A kindly old priest promoted to bishop after a chance encounter with Napoleon. After Valjean steals some silver from him, he saves Valjean from being arrested and inspires Valjean to change his ways.
Grantaire - Grantaire (Also known as "R") was a student revolutionary with little interest in the cause. A drunk, pessimistic, artistic yet sophisticated man, described as "frightfully ugly" and a renowned dancer and boxer. He admires and reveres Enjolras often describing him as "a fine statue!" Grantaire was mesmerised by Gavroche, acting as an older brother to him. Grantaire was treated disrespectfully by Enjolras, causing him to fall into a constant state of drunkenness - eventually leading to Grantaire passing out for the majority of the June Rebellion until he awakens to find Enjolras about to be executed by the National Guard. Grantaire dies alongside him, whilst finally announcing his support for the Republic.
Friends of the ABC
A revolutionary student club. In French, the letters "ABC" are pronounced identically to the French word abeissés, "the abased".
Bahorel – A dandy and an idler from a peasant background, who is known well around the student cafés of Paris.
Combeferre – A medical student who is described as representing the philosophy of the revolution.
Courfeyrac – The centre of the Friends. He is honourable and warm, and is Marius' closest companion.
Enjolras – The leader of the Friends. A resolute and charismatic youth, devoted to progress.
Feuilly – An orphaned fan maker who taught himself to read and write. He is the only member of the Friends who is not a student but a workingman.
Grantaire – An alcohol drinker with little interest in revolution. Despite his pessimism, he eventually declares himself a believer in the Republic, and dies alongside Enjolras.
Jean Prouvaire (also Jehan) – A Romantic with knowledge of Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and an interest in the Middle Ages.
Joly – A student of medicine who has unusual theories about health. He is a hypochondriac and is described as the happiest of the Friends.
Lesgle (also Lègle, Laigle, L'Aigle [The Eagle] or Bossuet) – The oldest member of the group and the son of a man who was granted a dukedom by Louis XVIII after helping him into a carriage. Considered notoriously unlucky, Lesgle started balding aged twenty-five. It is Lesgle who introduces Marius to the Friends.
Minor
Azelma – The younger daughter of the Thénardiers. Like her sister Éponine, she is spoiled as a child, impoverished when older. She abets her father's failed robbery of Valjean. On Marius and Cosette's wedding day, she tails Valjean on her father's orders. She travels to America with her father at the end of the novel.
Bamatabois – An idler who harasses Fantine. Later a juror at Champmathieu's trial.
(Mlle) Baptistine Myriel – Bishop Myriel's sister. She loves and venerates her brother.
Bougon, Madame (called Ma'am Burgon) – Housekeeper of Gorbeau House.
Brevet – An ex-convict from Toulon who knew Valjean there; released one year after Valjean. In 1823, he is serving time in the prison in Arras for an unknown crime. He is the first to claim that Champmathieu is really Valjean. He used to wear knitted, checkered suspenders.
Brujon – A robber and criminal. He participates in crimes with M. Thénardier and the Patron-Minette gang (such as the Gorbeau Robbery and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet). The author describes Brujon as being "a sprightly young fellow, very cunning and very adroit, with a flurried and plaintive appearance."
Champmathieu – A vagabond who is misidentified as Valjean after being caught stealing apples.
Chenildieu – A lifer from Toulon. He and Valjean were chain mates for five years. He once tried to unsuccessfully remove his lifer's brand TFP ("travaux forcés à perpetuité", "forced labour for life") by putting his shoulder on a chafing dish full of embers. He is described as a small, wiry but energetic man.
Cochepaille – Another lifer from Toulon. He used to be a shepherd from the Pyrenees who became a smuggler. He is described as stupid and has a tattoo on his arm, 1 Mars 1815.
Colonel Georges Pontmercy – Marius's father and an officer in Napoleon's army. Wounded at Waterloo, Pontmercy erroneously believes M. Thénardier saved his life. He tells Marius of this great debt. He loves Marius and although M. Gillenormand does not allow him to visit, he continually hid behind a pillar in the church on Sunday so that he could at least look at Marius from a distance. Napoleon made him a baron, but the next regime refused to recognize his barony or his status as a colonel, instead referring to him only as a commandant. The book usually calls him "The colonel".
Fauchelevent – A failed businessman whom Valjean (as M. Madeleine) saves from being crushed under a carriage. Valjean gets him a position as gardener at a Paris convent, where Fauchelevent later provides sanctuary for Valjean and Cosette and allows Valjean to pose as his brother.
Mabeuf – An elderly churchwarden, friend of Colonel Pontmercy, who after the Colonel's death befriends his son Marius and helps Marius realize his father loved him. Mabeuf loves plants and books, but sells his books and prints in order to live. When Mabeuf finds a purse in his yard, he takes it to the police. After selling his last book, he joins the students in the insurrection. He is shot dead raising the flag atop the barricade.
Mademoiselle Gillenormand – Daughter of M. Gillenormand, with whom she lives. Her late half-sister (M. Gillenormand's daughter from another marriage), was Marius' mother.
Magloire, Madame – Domestic servant to Bishop Myriel and his sister.
Magnon – Former servant of M. Gillenormand and friend of the Thénardiers. She had been receiving child support payments from M. Gillenormand for her two illegitimate sons, who she claimed were fathered by him. When her sons died in an epidemic, she had them replaced with the Thénardiers' two youngest sons so that she could protect her income. The Thénardiers get a portion of the payments. She is incorrectly arrested for involvement in the Gorbeau robbery.
Monsieur Gillenormand – Marius' grandfather. A monarchist, he disagrees sharply with Marius on political issues, and they have several arguments. He attempts to keep Marius from being influenced by his father, Colonel Georges Pontmercy. While in perpetual conflict over ideas, he does illustrate his love for his grandson.
Mother Innocente (a.k.a. Marguerite de Blemeur) – The prioress of the Petit-Picpus convent.
Patron-Minette – A quartet of bandits who assist in the Thénardiers' ambush of Valjean at Gorbeau House and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet. The gang consists of Montparnasse, Claquesous, Babet, and Gueulemer. Claquesous, who escaped from the carriage transporting him to prison after the Gorbeau Robbery, joins the revolution under the guise of "Le Cabuc" and is executed by Enjolras for firing on civilians.
Petit Gervais – A travelling Savoyard boy who drops a coin. Valjean, still a man of criminal mind, places his foot on the coin and refuses to return it.
Sister Simplice – A famously truthful nun who cares for Fantine on her sickbed and lies to Javert to protect Valjean.
Félix Tholomyès – Fantine's lover and Cosette's biological father. A rich, self-centered student, he abandons Fantine when their daughter is two years old.
Toussaint – Valjean and Cosette's servant in Paris. She has a slight stutter.
Two little boys – The two unnamed youngest sons of the Thénardiers, whom they send to Magnon to replace her two dead sons. Living on the streets, they encounter Gavroche, who is unaware they are his siblings but treats them like they are his brothers. After Gavroche's death, they retrieve bread tossed by a bourgeois man to geese in a fountain at the Luxembourg Gardens.
The narrator
Hugo does not give the narrator a name and allows the reader to identify the narrator with the novel's author. The narrator occasionally injects himself into the narrative or reports facts outside the time of the narrative to emphasize that he is recounting historical events, not entirely fiction. He introduces his recounting of Waterloo with several paragraphs describing the narrator's recent approach to the battlefield: "Last year (1861),on a beautiful May morning, a traveller, the person who is telling this story, was coming from Nivelles ..."[23] The narrator describes how "[a]n observer, a dreamer, the author of this book" during the 1832 street fighting was caught in crossfire: "All that he had to protect him from the bullets was the swell of the two half columns which separate the shops; he remained in this delicate situation for nearly half an hour." At one point he apologizes for intruding–"The author of this book, who regrets the necessity of mentioning himself"–to ask the reader's understanding when he describes "the Paris of his youth ... as though it still existed." This introduces a meditation on memories of past places that his contemporary readers would recognize as a self-portrait written from exile: "you have left a part of your heart, of your blood, of your soul, in those pavements." He describes another occasion when a bullet shot "pierced a brass shaving-dish suspended ... over a hairdresser's shop. This pierced shaving-dish was still to be seen in 1848, in the Rue du Contrat-Social, at the corner of the pillars of the market." As evidence of police double agents at the barricades, he writes: "The author of this book had in his hands, in 1848, the special report on this subject made to the Prefect of Police in 1832."
Contemporary reception
The appearance of the novel was a highly anticipated event as Victor Hugo was considered one of France's foremost poets in the middle of the nineteenth century. The New York Times announced its forthcoming publication as early as April 1860.[24] Hugo forbade his publishers from summarizing his story and refused to authorize the publication of excerpts in advance of publication. He instructed them to build on his earlier success and suggested this approach: "What Victor H. did for the Gothic world in Notre-Dame of Paris [The Hunchback of Notre Dame], he accomplishes for the modern world in Les Miserables".[25] A massive advertising campaign[26] preceded the release of the first two volumes of Les Misérables in Brussels on 30 or 31 March and in Paris on 3 April 1862.[27] The remaining volumes appeared on 15 May 1862. Critical reactions were wide-ranging and often negative. Some critics found the subject matter immoral, others complained of its excessive sentimentality, and others were disquieted by its apparent sympathy with the revolutionaries. L. Gauthier wrote in Le Monde of 17 August 1862: "One cannot read without an unconquerable disgust all the details Monsieur Hugo gives regarding the successful planning of riots."[28] The Goncourt brothers judged the novel artificial and disappointing.[29] Flaubert found "neither truth nor greatness" in it. He complained that the characters were crude stereotypes who all "speak very well – but all in the same way". He deemed it an "infantile" effort and brought an end to Hugo's career like "the fall of a god".[30] In a newspaper review, Charles Baudelaire praised Hugo's success in focusing public attention on social problems, though he believed that such propaganda was the opposite of art. In private he castigated it as "tasteless and inept" ("immonde et inepte").[31]
The work was a commercial success and has been a popular book ever since it was published.[32][33] While exiled in England shortly after its publication, Hugo telegraphed his English publishers a one-character query: "?". Hurst & Blackett replied: "!".[34] Translated the same year it appeared into several foreign languages, including Italian, Greek, and Portuguese, it proved popular not only in France, but across Europe and abroad.
English translations
Charles E. Wilbour. New York: Carleton Publishing Company, June 1862. The first English translation. The first volume was available for purchase in New York beginning 7 June 1862.[35] Also New York and London: George Routledge and Sons, 1879.
Lascelles Wraxall. London: Hurst and Blackett, October 1862. The first British translation.[35]
Translator identified as "A.F." Richmond, Virginia, 1863. Published by West and Johnston publishers. The Editor's Preface announces its intention of correcting errors in Wilbour's translation. It said that some passages "exclusively intended for the French readers of the book" were being omitted, as well as "[a] few scattered sentences reflecting on slavery" because "the absence of a few antislavery paragraphs will hardly be complained of by Southern readers." Because of paper shortages in wartime, the passages omitted became longer with each successive volume.[35]
Isabel Florence Hapgood. Published 1887, this translation is available at Project Gutenberg.[36]
Norman Denny. Folio Press, 1976. A modern British translation later re-published in paperback by Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-044430-0. The translator explains in an introduction that he has placed two of the novel's longer digressive passages into appendices and made some minor abridgements in the text.
Lee Fahnestock and Norman McAfee. Signet Classics. 3 March 1987. An unabridged edition based on the Wilbour translation with its language modernized. Paperback ISBN 0-451-52526-4
Julie Rose. 2007. Vintage Classics, 3 July 2008. A new translation of the full work, with a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo's life, a chronology, and notes. ISBN 978-0-09-951113-7
Christine Donougher. Penguin Classics, 7 November 2013. A new translation of the full work, with a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo's life, a chronology, and notes. ISBN 978-0141393599
Adaptations
Main article: Adaptations of Les Misérables
Since its original publication, Les Misérables has been the subject of a large number of adaptations in numerous types of media, such as books, films, musicals, plays and games.
Notable examples of these adaptations include:
The 1935 film directed by Richard Boleslawski, starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
The 1937 radio adaptation by Orson Welles.[37]
The 1958 film adaptation directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, with an international cast starring Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, and Bourvil.[38] Called "the most memorable film version", it was filmed in East Germany and was overtly political.[39]
The 1978 television film adaptation, starring Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins.
The 1980 musical, by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.[40]
The 1995 film, by Claude Lelouch , starring Jean-Paul Belmondo [41]
The 1998 film, starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush.[42]
The 2000 TV miniseries, starring Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich.[43]
The 2012 film of the musical, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway.[44]
A 2013 Japanese manga adaptation by Takahiro Arai, to be published in Shogakukan's Monthly Shonen Sunday magazine from September 2013.[45]
Sequels
Laura Kalpakian's Cosette: The Sequel to Les Misérables was published in 1995. It continues the story of Cosette and Marius, but is more a sequel to the musical than to the original novel.
In 2001, two French novels by François Cérésa that continue Hugo's story appeared: Cosette ou le temps des illusions and Marius ou le fugitif. The former has been published in an English translation. Javert appears as a hero who survived his suicide attempt and become religious; Thénardier returns from America; Marius is unjustly imprisoned.[46] The works were the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit brought by Hugo's great-great-grandson.[47][48]
See also

Portal icon Novels portal
Elephant of the Bastille
Fex urbis lex orbis
François Cérésa (in French)
Jean Val Jean, abridged version in English (1935)
References
1.Jump up ^ Novelist Susanne Alleyn has argued that "the phrase “les misérables”, which has a whole range of subtly shaded meanings in French, is much better translated into English as “the dispossessed” or even as “the outsiders” — which can describe every major character in the novel in one way or another — than simply as “the miserable ones” / “the wretched ones.” No, It’s Not Actually the French Revolution: Les Misérables and History.
2.Jump up ^ "BBC News – Bon anniversaire! 25 facts about Les Mis". BBC Online. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
3.Jump up ^ Sinclair, Upton (1915). The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. Charles Rivers Editors. ISBN 978-1-247-96345-7.
4.Jump up ^ Alexander Welsh, "Opening and Closing Les Misérables", in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 155; Vol. 5, Book 1, Chapter 20
5.Jump up ^ "Read the Ten Longest Novels Ever Written". Amazon.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
6.Jump up ^ "Les Miserables – Books by Victor Hugo". Penguin Group (USA). 3 March 1987. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
7.Jump up ^ "Hugo : Les Misérables: Amazon.fr: Victor Hugo, Maurice Allem: Livres". Amazon.fr. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
8.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables – poche – Fnac.com – Victor Hugo – Livre ou ebook". Livre.fnac.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
9.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables – poche – Fnac.com – Victor Hugo – Livre ou ebook". Livre.fnac.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 39-42
11.Jump up ^ A. F. Davidson, Victor Hugo His Life And Work (J.B. Lippincott, 1929), Kindle Location 4026, 4189
12.Jump up ^ Victor Brombert, "Les Misérables: Salvation from Below," in Harold Bloom, ed., Modern Critical Views: Victor Hugo (Chelsea House, 1988), 195
13.Jump up ^ Brombert, "Salvation from Below," 195-7
14.Jump up ^ Alexander Welsh, "Opening and Closing Les Misérables," in Harold Bloom, ed., Modern Critical Views: Victor Hugo (Chelsea House, 1988), 151-2
15.Jump up ^ Morton, James (2004). The First Detective: The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq, Criminal, Spy and Private Eye. NY: Overlook Press. pp. ??.
16.Jump up ^ Edward Behr, The Complete Book of Les Miserables (Arcade, 1993), 29
17.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo, Things Seen, vol. 1 (Glasgow and NY: George Routledge and Sons, 1887), 49–52. The chapter is title "1841. Origin of Fantine". Behr quotes this passage at length in Behr, Complete Book, 32-6.
18.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo, Choses vues: nouvelle série (Paris: Calman Lévy, 1900), 129–30
19.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 29-30
20.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 32
21.Jump up ^ Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. NY: W.W. Norton. pp. 173–4.
22.Jump up ^ Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. NY: W.W. Norton. pp. 273–6.
23.Jump up ^ Victor Brombert, "Les Misérables: Salvation from Below", in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 198–9; Vol. 2, Book 1, Chapter 1
24.Jump up ^ "Personalities.". New York Times. 10 April 1860. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
25.Jump up ^ Behr, Compete Book, 38
26.Jump up ^ La réception des Misérables en 1862 – Max Bach – PMLA, Vol. 77, No. 5 (December 1962)
27.Jump up ^ "les miserables, victor hugo, First Edition, 1862". ABE Books. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
28.Jump up ^ PDF)
29.Jump up ^ dealCOM, webmaster@dealcom.com. "Publications et écrit – CULTURESFRANCE". Adpf.asso.fr. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
30.Jump up ^ Letter of G. Flaubert to Madame Roger des Genettes – July 1862 Archived 30 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
31.Jump up ^ Hyslop, Lois Bee (October 1976). "Baudelaire on Les Misérables". The French Review 41 (1): 23–9.
32.Jump up ^ Réception des Misérables en Grèce by Marguerite Yourcenar
33.Jump up ^ Réception des Misérables au Portugal
34.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo at Encyclopædia Britannica (accessed 29 November 2012)
35.^ Jump up to: a b c Moore, Olin H. (March 1959). "Some Translations of Les Miserables". Modern Language Notes 74 (3): 240–6. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
36.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – Project Gutenberg". Gutenberg.org. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
37.Jump up ^ Radio Programs Scheduled for this Week, The New York Times, 25 July 1937
38.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
39.Jump up ^ Behr, Edward (1989). The Complete Book of Les Misérables. NY: Arcade. pp. 152–3.
40.Jump up ^ The Broadway League. "The official source for Broadway Information". IBDB. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
41.Jump up ^ AlloCine, Les Misérables, retrieved 2015-09-23
42.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
43.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
44.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
45.Jump up ^ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-07-13/cirque-du-freak-arai-launches-manga-adaptation-of-les-miserables-novel
46.Jump up ^ Riding, Alan (29 May 2001). "Victor Hugo Can't Rest in Peace, As a Sequel Makes Trouble". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
47.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables: la suite rejugée en appel". Le nouvel observateur. 30 January 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
48.Jump up ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (1 February 2007). "French Court Says Yes to Misérables Sequels". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables.
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Les Misérables
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Les Misérables

Les Misérables at CliffsNotes.com
Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
French text of Les Misérables, scroll down to see the links to the five volumes
Les Misérables at Project Gutenberg – English translation.
Review by Edwin Percy Whipple The Atlantic Monthly. July 1862.


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Les Misérables by Victor Hugo


Characters
Jean Valjean ·
 Javert ·
 Fantine ·
 Cosette ·
 Marius ·
 Éponine ·
 Enjolras ·
 Gavroche ·
 Thénardiers ·
 Bishop Myriel ·
 Patron-Minette ·
 Friends of the ABC
 

Film adaptations
1909 ·
 1917 ·
 1925 ·
 1934 ·
 1935 ·
 1948 ·
 1952 ·
 1958 ·
 1978 ·
 1982 ·
 1995 ·
 1998 ·
 2012
 

Concerts
1995 ·
 2010
 

Other adaptations
Les Misérables (musical) ·
 Les Misérables (radio) ·
 Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette ·
 Jean Val Jean ·
 List of adaptations
 

Television adaptations
Les Misérables (1974 telenovela) ·
 2000 (TV) ·
 Les Misérables (2014 telenovela)
 

Songs and soundtracks
Songs from Les Misérables ·
 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" ·
 "I Dreamed a Dream" ·
 "On My Own" ·
 "One Day More" ·
 "Suddenly" ·
 Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
 



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Categories: Les Misérables
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Les Misérables

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This article is about the novel. For the musical theatre adaptation, see Les Misérables (musical). For other uses, see Les Misérables (disambiguation).
Les Misérables
Jean Valjean.JPG
Jean Valjean as Monsieur Madeleine. Illustration by Gustave Brion

Author
Victor Hugo
Illustrator
Emile Bayard
Country
France
Language
French
Genre
Epic novel, historical fiction
Publisher
A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie.

Publication date
 1862
Les Misérables (pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/ or /leɪ ˈmɪzəˌrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeʁabl(ə)]) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including The Miserable, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims and The Dispossessed.[1] Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.[2]
Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for the stage, television, and film, including a musical and a film adaptation of that musical.
The appearance of the novel was highly anticipated and advertised. Critical reactions were diverse, but most of them were negative. Commercially, the work was a great success globally.


Contents  [hide]
1 Novel form 1.1 Digressions
2 Hugo's sources
3 Plot 3.1 Volume I – Fantine
3.2 Volume II – Cosette
3.3 Volume III – Marius
3.4 Volume IV – The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis
3.5 Volume V – Jean Valjean
4 Characters 4.1 Major
4.2 Friends of the ABC
4.3 Minor
4.4 The narrator
5 Contemporary reception
6 English translations
7 Adaptations 7.1 Sequels
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Novel form
Upton Sinclair described the novel as "one of the half-dozen greatest novels of the world," and remarked that Hugo set forth the purpose of Les Misérables in the Preface:[3]

So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.
Towards the end of the novel, Hugo explains the work's overarching structure:[4]

The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details ... a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end.
The novel contains various subplots, but the main thread is the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean, who becomes a force for good in the world but cannot escape his criminal past. The novel is divided into five volumes, each volume divided into several books, and subdivided into chapters, for a total of 48 books and 365 chapters. Each chapter is relatively short, commonly no longer than a few pages.
The novel as a whole is one of the longest ever written,[5] with approximately 1,500 pages in unabridged English-language editions,[6] and 1,900 pages in French.[7][8][9] Hugo explained his ambitions for the novel to his Italian publisher:[10]

I don't know whether it will be read by everyone, but it is meant for everyone. It addresses England as well as Spain, Italy as well as France, Germany as well as Ireland, the republics that harbour slaves as well as empires that have serfs. Social problems go beyond frontiers. Humankind's wounds, those huge sores that litter the world, do not stop at the blue and red lines drawn on maps. Wherever men go in ignorance or despair, wherever women sell themselves for bread, wherever children lack a book to learn from or a warm hearth, Les Miserables knocks at the door and says: "open up, I am here for you".
Digressions
More than a quarter of the novel—by one count 955 of 2,783 pages—is devoted to essays that argue a moral point or display Hugo's encyclopedic knowledge, but do not advance the plot, nor even a subplot, a method Hugo used in such other works as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Toilers of the Sea. One biographer noted that "the digressions of genius are easily pardoned".[11] The topics Hugo addresses include cloistered religious orders, the construction of the Paris sewers, argot, and the street urchins of Paris. The one about convents he titles "Parenthesis" to alert the reader to its irrelevance to the story line.[12] He devotes another 19 chapters to Waterloo, the battlefield Hugo visited in 1861 and where he finished writing the novel. It opens volume 2 with such a change of subject as to seem the beginning of an entirely different work. One critic has called this "the spiritual gateway" to the novel, as its chance encounter of Thénardier and Colonel Pontmercy foreshadows so many of the novel's encounters "blending chance and necessity", a "confrontation of heroism and villainy".[13]
Even when not turning to other subjects outside his narrative, Hugo sometimes interrupts the straightforward recitation of events, his voice and control of the story line unconstrained by time and sequence. The novel opens with a statement about the bishop of Digne in 1815 and immediately shifts: "Although these details in no way essentially concern that which we have to tell..." Only after 14 chapters does Hugo pick up the opening thread again, "In the early days of the month of October, 1815...", to introduce Jean Valjean.[14]
Hugo's sources



 Eugene Vidocq, whose career provided a model for the character of Jean Valjean
Valjean's character is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq. Vidocq, an ex-convict, became the head of an undercover police unit and later founded France's first private detective agency. He was also a businessman and was widely noted for his social engagement and philanthropy. Vidocq helped Hugo with his research for Claude Gueux and Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man).[citation needed] In 1828, Vidocq, already pardoned, saved one of the workers in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders as Valjean does.[15] Hugo's description of Valjean rescuing a sailor on the Orion drew almost word for word on a friend's letter describing such an incident.[citation needed] Hugo used Bienvenu de Miollis (1753–1843), the Bishop of Digne during the time in which Valjean encounters Myriel, as the model for Myriel.[16]
In 1841, Hugo saved a prostitute from arrest for assault. He used a short part of his dialogue with the police when recounting Valjean's rescue of Fantine in the novel.[17] On 22 February 1846, when he had begun work on the novel, Hugo witnessed the arrest of a bread thief while a Duchess and her child watched the scene pitilessly from their coach.[18][19] He spent several vacations in Montreuil-sur-Mer, which became the model for the town he calls M____-sur-M__.[20] During the 1832 revolt, Hugo walked the streets of Paris, saw the barricades blocking his way at points, and had to take shelter from gunfire.[21] He participated more directly in the 1848 Paris insurrection, helping to smash barricades and suppress both the popular revolt and its monarchist allies.[22]
Plot
Volume I – Fantine



Fantine by Margaret Hall
The story begins in 1815 in Digne, as the peasant Jean Valjean, just released from 19 years' imprisonment in the galleys—five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts—is turned away by innkeepers because his yellow passport marks him as a former convict. He sleeps on the street, angry and bitter.
Digne's benevolent Bishop Myriel gives him shelter. At night, Valjean runs off with Myriel's silverware. When the police capture Valjean, Myriel pretends that he has given the silverware to Valjean and presses him to take two silver candlesticks as well, as if he had forgotten to take them. The police accept his explanation and leave. Myriel tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, and that he should use money from the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.
Valjean broods over Myriel's words. When opportunity presents itself, purely out of habit, he steals a 40-sous coin from 12-year-old Petit Gervais and chases the boy away. He quickly repents and searches the city in panic for Gervais. At the same time, his theft is reported to the authorities. Valjean hides as they search for him, because if apprehended he will be returned to the galleys for life as a repeat offender.
Six years pass and Valjean, using the alias Monsieur Madeleine, has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of a town identified only as M____-sur-M__ (i.e., Montreuil-sur-Mer). Walking down the street, he sees a man named Fauchelevent pinned under the wheels of a cart. When no one volunteers to lift the cart, even for pay, he decides to rescue Fauchelevent himself. He crawls underneath the cart, manages to lift it, and frees him. The town's police inspector, Inspector Javert, who was an adjutant guard at the Bagne of Toulon during Valjean's incarceration, becomes suspicious of the mayor after witnessing this remarkable feat of strength. He has known only one other man, a convict named Jean Valjean, who could accomplish it.
Years earlier in Paris, a grisette named Fantine was very much in love with Félix Tholomyès. His friends, Listolier, Fameuil, and Blachevelle were also paired with Fantine's friends Dahlia, Zéphine, and Favourite. The men abandon the women, treating their relationships as youthful amusements. Fantine must draw on her own resources to care for her and Tholomyès' daughter, Cosette. When Fantine arrives at Montfermeil, she leaves Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, a corrupt innkeeper and his selfish, cruel wife.
Fantine is unaware that they are abusing her daughter and using her as forced labor for their inn, and continues to try to meet their growing, extortionate and fictitious demands. She is later fired from her job at Jean Valjean's factory, because of the discovery of her daughter, who was born out of wedlock. Meanwhile, the Thénardiers' monetary demands continue to grow. In desperation, Fantine sells her hair and two front teeth, and she resorts to prostitution to pay the Thénardiers. Fantine is slowly dying from an unspecified disease.
A dandy named Bamatabois harasses Fantine in the street, and she reacts by striking him. Javert arrests Fantine. She begs to be released so that she can provide for her daughter, but Javert sentences her to six months in prison. Valjean (Mayor Madeleine) intervenes and orders Javert to release her. Javert resists but Valjean prevails. Valjean, feeling responsible because his factory turned her away, promises Fantine that he will bring Cosette to her. He takes her to a hospital.
Javert comes to see Valjean again. Javert admits that after being forced to free Fantine, he reported him as Valjean to the French authorities. He tells Valjean he realizes he was wrong, because the authorities have identified someone else as the real Jean Valjean, have him in custody, and plan to try him the next day. Valjean is torn, but decides to reveal himself to save the innocent man, whose real name is Champmathieu. He travels to attend the trial and there reveals his true identity. Valjean returns to M____-sur-M__ to see Fantine, followed by Javert, who confronts him in her hospital room.
After Javert grabs Valjean, Valjean asks for three days to bring Cosette to Fantine, but Javert refuses. Fantine discovers that Cosette is not at the hospital and fretfully asks where she is. Javert orders her to be quiet, and then reveals to her Valjean's real identity. Weakened by the severity of her illness, she falls back in shock and dies. Valjean goes to Fantine, speaks to her in an inaudible whisper, kisses her hand, and then leaves with Javert. Later, Fantine's body is unceremoniously thrown into a public grave.
Volume II – Cosette



 Portrait of "Cosette" by Emile Bayard, from the original edition of Les Misérables (1862)
Valjean escapes, is recaptured, and is sentenced to death. The king commutes his sentence to penal servitude for life. While imprisoned at the military port of Toulon, Valjean, at great personal risk, rescues a sailor caught in the ship's rigging. Spectators call for his release. Valjean fakes his own death by allowing himself to fall into the ocean. Authorities report him dead and his body lost.
Valjean arrives at Montfermeil on Christmas Eve. He finds Cosette fetching water in the woods alone and walks with her to the inn. He orders a meal and observes how the Thénardiers abuse her, while pampering their own daughters Éponine and Azelma, who mistreat Cosette for playing with their doll. Valjean leaves and returns to make Cosette a present of an expensive new doll which, after some hesitation, she happily accepts. Éponine and Azelma are envious. Madame Thénardier is furious with Valjean, while her husband makes light of Valjean's behaviour, caring only that he pay for his food and lodging.
The next morning, Valjean informs the Thénardiers that he wants to take Cosette with him. Madame Thénardier immediately accepts, while Thénardier pretends to love Cosette and be concerned for her welfare, reluctant to give her up. Valjean pays the Thénardiers 1,500 francs, and he and Cosette leave the inn. Thénardier, hoping to swindle more out of Valjean, runs after them, holding the 1,500 francs, and tells Valjean he wants Cosette back. He informs Valjean that he cannot release Cosette without a note from the child's mother. Valjean hands Thénardier Fantine's letter authorizing the bearer to take Cosette. Thénardier then demands that Valjean pay a thousand crowns, but Valjean and Cosette leave. Thénardier regrets that he did not bring his gun and turns back toward home.
Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris. Valjean rents new lodgings at Gorbeau House, where he and Cosette live happily. However, Javert discovers Valjean's lodgings there a few months later. Valjean takes Cosette and they try to escape from Javert. They soon find shelter in the Petit-Picpus convent with the help of Fauchelevent, the man whom Valjean once rescued from being crushed under a cart and who has become the convent's gardener. Valjean also becomes a gardener and Cosette becomes a student at the convent school.
Volume III – Marius
Eight years later, the Friends of the ABC, led by Enjolras, are preparing an act of anti-Orléanist civil unrest on the eve of the Paris uprising on 5–6 June 1832, following the death of General Lamarque, the only French leader who had sympathy towards the working class. Lamarque was a victim of a major cholera epidemic that had ravaged the city, particularly its poor neighborhoods, arousing suspicion that the government had been poisoning wells. The Friends of the ABC are joined by the poor of the Cour des miracles, including the Thénardiers' eldest son Gavroche, who is a street urchin.
One of the students, Marius Pontmercy, has become alienated from his family (especially his grandfather M. Gillenormand) because of his liberal views. After the death of his father Colonel Georges Pontmercy, Marius discovers a note from him instructing his son to provide help to a sergeant named Thénardier who saved Pontmercy's life at Waterloo – in reality Thénardier was looting corpses and only saved Pontmercy's life by accident; he had called himself a sergeant under Napoleon to avoid exposing himself as a robber.
At the Luxembourg Gardens, Marius falls in love with the now grown and beautiful Cosette. The Thénardiers have also moved to Paris and now live in poverty after losing their inn. They live under the surname "Jondrette" at Gorbeau House (coincidentally, the same building Valjean and Cosette briefly lived in after leaving the Thénardiers' inn). Marius lives there as well, next door to the Thénardiers.
Éponine, now ragged and emaciated, visits Marius at his apartment to beg for money. To impress him, she tries to prove her literacy by reading aloud from a book and by writing "The Cops Are Here" on a sheet of paper. Marius pities her and gives her some money. After Éponine leaves, Marius observes the "Jondrettes" in their apartment through a crack in the wall. Éponine comes in and announces that a philanthropist and his daughter are arriving to visit them. In order to look poorer, Thénardier puts out the fire and breaks a chair. He also orders Azelma to punch out a window pane, which she does, resulting in cutting her hand (as Thénardier had hoped).
The philanthropist and his daughter enter—actually Valjean and Cosette. Marius immediately recognizes Cosette. After seeing them, Valjean promises them he will return with rent money for them. After he and Cosette leave, Marius asks Éponine to retrieve her address for him. Éponine, who is in love with Marius herself, reluctantly agrees to do so. The Thénardiers have also recognized Valjean and Cosette, and vow their revenge. Thénardier enlists the aid of the Patron-Minette, a well-known and feared gang of murderers and robbers.
Marius overhears Thénardier's plan and goes to Javert to report the crime. Javert gives Marius two pistols and instructs him to fire one into the air if things get dangerous. Marius returns home and waits for Javert and the police to arrive. Thénardier sends Éponine and Azelma outside to look out for the police. When Valjean returns with rent money, Thénardier, with Patron-Minette, ambushes him and he reveals his real identity to Valjean. Marius recognizes Thénardier as the man who "saved" his father's life at Waterloo and is caught in a dilemma.
He tries to find a way to save Valjean while not betraying Thénardier. Valjean denies knowing Thénardier and tells him that they have never met. Valjean tries to escape through a window but is subdued and tied up. Thénardier orders Valjean to pay him 200,000 francs. He also orders Valjean to write a letter to Cosette to return to the apartment, and they would keep her with them until he delivers the money. After Valjean writes the letter and informs Thénardier of his address, Thénardier sends out Mme. Thénardier to get Cosette. Mme. Thénardier comes back alone, and announces the address is a fake.
It is during this time that Valjean manages to free himself. Thénardier decides to kill Valjean. While he and Patron-Minette are about to do so, Marius remembers the scrap of paper that Éponine wrote on earlier. He throws it into the Thénardiers' apartment through the wall crack. Thénardier reads it and thinks Éponine threw it inside. He, Mme. Thénardier and Patron-Minette try to escape, only to be stopped by Javert.
He arrests all the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette (except Claquesous, who escapes during his transportation to prison; Montparnasse, who stops to run off with Éponine instead of joining in on the robbery; and Gavroche, who was not present and rarely participates in his family's crimes, a notable exception being his part in breaking his father out of prison). Valjean manages to escape the scene before Javert sees him.
Volume IV – The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis



 Éponine prevents the robbery at Valjean's house
After Éponine's release from prison, she finds Marius at "The Field of the Lark" and sadly tells him that she found Cosette's address. She leads him to Valjean's and Cosette's house on Rue Plumet, and Marius watches the house for a few days. He and Cosette then finally meet and declare their love for one another. Thénardier, Patron-Minette and Brujon manage to escape from prison with the aid of Gavroche. One night, during one of Marius's visits with Cosette, the six men attempt to raid Valjean's and Cosette's house. However, Éponine, who has been sitting by the gates of the house, threatens to scream and awaken the whole neighbourhood if the thieves do not leave. Hearing this, they reluctantly retire. Meanwhile, Cosette informs Marius that she and Valjean will be leaving for England in a week's time, which greatly troubles the pair.
The next day, Valjean is sitting in the Champ de Mars. He is feeling troubled about seeing Thénardier in the neighbourhood several times. Unexpectedly, a note lands in his lap, which says "Move Out." He sees a figure running away in the dim light. He goes back to his house, tells Cosette they will be staying at their other house on Rue de l'Homme Arme, and reconfirms to her that they will be moving to England. Marius tries to get permission from M. Gillenormand to marry Cosette. His grandfather seems stern and angry, but has been longing for Marius's return. When tempers flare, he refuses his assent to the marriage, telling Marius to make Cosette his mistress instead. Insulted, Marius leaves.
The following day, the students revolt and erect barricades in the narrow streets of Paris. Gavroche spots Javert and informs Enjolras that Javert is a spy. When Enjolras confronts him about this, he admits his identity and his orders to spy on the students. Enjolras and the other students tie him up to a pole in the Corinth restaurant. Later that evening, Marius goes back to Valjean's and Cosette's house on Rue Plumet, but finds the house no longer occupied. He then hears a voice telling him that his friends are waiting for him at the barricade. Distraught to find Cosette gone, he heeds the voice and goes.
When Marius arrives at the barricade, the "revolution" has already started. When he stoops down to pick up a powder keg, a soldier comes up to shoot Marius. However, a man covers the muzzle of the soldier's gun with his hand. The soldier fires, fatally shooting the man, while missing Marius. Meanwhile, the soldiers are closing in. Marius climbs to the top of the barricade, holding a torch in one hand, a powder keg in the other, and threatens to the soldiers that he will blow up the barricade. After confirming this, the soldiers retreat from the barricade.
Marius decides to go to the smaller barricade, which he finds empty. As he turns back, the man who took the fatal shot for Marius earlier calls Marius by his name. Marius discovers this man is Éponine, dressed in men's clothes. As she lies dying on his knees, she confesses that she was the one who told him to go to the barricade, hoping they would die together. She also confesses to saving his life because she wanted to die before he did.
The author also states to the reader that Éponine anonymously threw the note to Valjean. Éponine then tells Marius that she has a letter for him. She also confesses to have obtained the letter the day before, originally not planning to give it to him, but decides to do so in fear he would be angry at her about it in the afterlife. After Marius takes the letter, Éponine then asks him to kiss her on the forehead when she is dead, which he promises to do. With her last breath, she confesses that she was "a little bit in love" with him, and dies.
Marius fulfills her request and goes into a tavern to read the letter. It is written by Cosette. He learns Cosette's whereabouts and he writes a farewell letter to her. He sends Gavroche to deliver it to her, but Gavroche leaves it with Valjean. Valjean, learning that Cosette's lover is fighting, is at first relieved, but an hour later, he puts on a National Guard uniform, arms himself with a gun and ammunition, and leaves his home.
Volume V – Jean Valjean
Valjean arrives at the barricade and immediately saves a man's life. He is still not certain if he wants to protect Marius or kill him. Marius recognizes Valjean at first sight. Enjolras announces that they are almost out of cartridges. When Gavroche goes outside the barricade to collect more ammunition from the dead National Guardsmen, he is shot by the troops.



 Valjean in the sewers with the wounded Marius (US edition, 1900)
Valjean volunteers to execute Javert himself, and Enjolras grants permission. Valjean takes Javert out of sight, and then shoots into the air while letting him go. Marius mistakenly believes that Valjean has killed Javert. As the barricade falls, Valjean carries off the injured and unconscious Marius. All the other students are killed. Valjean escapes through the sewers, carrying Marius's body. He evades a police patrol, and reaches an exit gate but finds it locked. Thénardier emerges from the darkness. Valjean recognizes him, but his filthy appearance prevents Thénardier from recognizing him. Thinking Valjean a murderer lugging his victim's corpse, Thénardier offers to open the gate for money. As he searches Valjean and Marius's pockets, he surreptitiously tears off a piece of Marius's coat so he can later find out his identity. Thénardier takes the thirty francs he finds, opens the gate, and allows Valjean to leave, expecting Valjean's emergence from the sewer will distract the police who have been pursuing him.
Upon exiting, Valjean encounters Javert and requests time to return Marius to his family before surrendering to him. Javert agrees, assuming that Marius will be dead within minutes. After leaving Marius at his grandfather's house, Valjean asks to be allowed a brief visit to his own home, and Javert agrees. There, Javert tells Valjean he will wait for him in the street, but when Valjean scans the street from the landing window he finds Javert has gone. Javert walks down the street, realizing that he is caught between his strict belief in the law and the mercy Valjean has shown him. He feels he can no longer give Valjean up to the authorities but also cannot ignore his duty to the law. Unable to cope with this dilemma, Javert commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine.
Marius slowly recovers from his injuries. As he and Cosette make wedding preparations, Valjean endows them with a fortune of nearly 600,000 francs. As their wedding party winds through Paris during Mardi Gras festivities, Valjean is spotted by Thénardier, who then orders Azelma to follow him. After the wedding, Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an ex-convict. Marius is horrified, assumes the worst about Valjean's moral character, and contrives to limit Valjean's time with Cosette. Valjean accedes to Marius' judgment and his separation from Cosette. Valjean loses the will to live and retires to his bed.
Thénardier approaches Marius in disguise, but Marius recognizes him. Thénardier attempts to blackmail Marius with what he knows of Valjean, but in doing so, he inadvertently corrects Marius's misconceptions about Valjean and reveals all of the good he has done. He tries to convince Marius that Valjean is actually a murderer, and presents the piece of coat he tore off as evidence. Stunned, Marius recognizes the fabric as part of his own coat and realizes that it was Valjean who rescued him from the barricade. Marius pulls out a fistful of notes and flings it at Thénardier's face. He then confronts Thénardier with his crimes and offers him an immense sum to depart and never return. Thénardier accepts the offer, and he and Azelma travel to America where he becomes a slave trader.
As they rush to Valjean's house, Marius tells Cosette that Valjean saved his life at the barricade. They arrive to find Valjean near death and are reconciled with him. Valjean tells Cosette her mother's story and name. He dies content and is buried beneath a blank slab in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Characters
Major
Jean Valjean (also known as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, and Urbain Fabre) – The protagonist of the novel. Convicted for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's seven starving children and sent to prison for five years, he is paroled from prison nineteen years later (after four unsuccessful escape attempts added twelve years and fighting back during the second escape attempt added two extra years). Rejected by society for being a former convict, he encounters Bishop Myriel, who turns his life around by showing him mercy and encouraging him to become a new man. While sitting and pondering what Bishop Myriel had said, he puts his shoe on a forty-sou piece dropped by a young wanderer. Valjean threatens the boy with his stick when the boy attempts to rouse Valjean from his reverie and recover his money. He tells a passing priest his name, and the name of the boy, and this allows the police to charge him with armed robbery – a sentence that, if he were caught again, would return him to prison for life. He assumes a new identity (Monsieur Madeleine) in order to pursue an honest life. He introduces new manufacturing techniques and eventually builds two factories and becomes one of the richest men in the area. By popular acclaim he is made mayor. He confronts Javert over Fantine's punishment, turns himself in to the police to save another man from prison for life, and rescues Cosette from the Thénardiers. Discovered by Javert in Paris because of his generosity to the poor, he evades capture for the next several years in a convent. He saves Marius from imprisonment and probable death at the barricade, reveals his true identity to Marius and Cosette after their wedding, and is reunited with them just before his death, having kept his promise to the bishop and to Fantine, the image of whom is the last thing he sees before dying.
Javert – A fanatic police inspector in pursuit to recapture Valjean. Born in the prisons to a convict father and a fortune teller mother, he renounces both of them and starts working as a guard in the prison, including one stint as the overseer for the chain gang of which Valjean is part (and here witnesses firsthand Valjean's enormous strength and just what he looks like). Eventually he joins the police force in the small town identified only as M____-sur-M__. He arrests Fantine and butts heads with Valjean/Madeleine, who orders him to release Fantine. Valjean dismisses Javert in front of his squad and Javert, seeking revenge, reports to the Police Inspector that he has discovered Jean Valjean. He is told that he must be incorrect, as a man mistakenly believed to be Jean Valjean was just arrested. He requests of M. Madeline that he be dismissed in disgrace, for he cannot be less harsh on himself than on others. When the real Jean Valjean turns himself in, Javert is promoted to the Paris police force where he arrests Valjean and sends him back to prison. After Valjean escapes again, Javert attempts one more arrest in vain. He then almost recaptures Valjean at Gorbeau house when he arrests the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette. Later, while working undercover behind the barricade, his identity is discovered. Valjean pretends to execute Javert, but releases him. When Javert next encounters Valjean emerging from the sewers, he allows him to make a brief visit home and then walks off instead of arresting him. Javert cannot reconcile his devotion to the law with his recognition that the lawful course is immoral. He takes his own life by jumping into the Seine.
Fantine – A beautiful Parisian grisette abandoned with a small child by her lover Félix Tholomyès. Fantine leaves her daughter Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, innkeepers in the village of Montfermeil. Mme. Thénardier spoils her own daughters and abuses Cosette. Fantine finds work at Monsieur Madeleine's factory. Illiterate, she has others write letters to the Thénardiers on her behalf. A female supervisor discovers that she is an unwed mother and dismisses her. To meet the Thénardiers' repeated demands for money, she sells her hair and two front teeth, and turns to prostitution. She becomes ill. Valjean learns of her plight when Javert arrests her for attacking a man who called her insulting names and threw snow down her back, and sends her to a hospital. As Javert confronts Valjean in her hospital room, because her illness has made her so weak, she dies of shock after Javert reveals that Valjean is a convict and hasn't brought her daughter Cosette to her (after the doctor encouraged that incorrect belief that Jean Valjean's recent absence was because he was bringing her daughter to her).
Cosette (formally Euphrasie, also known as "the Lark", Mademoiselle Lanoire, Ursula) – The illegitimate daughter of Fantine and Tholomyès. From approximately the age of three to the age of eight, she is beaten and forced to work as a drudge for the Thénardiers. After her mother Fantine dies, Valjean ransoms Cosette from the Thénardiers and cares for her as if she were his daughter. Nuns in a Paris convent educate her. She grows up to become very beautiful. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy and marries him near the novel's conclusion.
Marius Pontmercy – A young law student loosely associated with the Friends of the ABC. He shares the political principles of his father and has a tempestuous relationship with his royalist grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand. He falls in love with Cosette and fights on the barricades when he believes Valjean has taken her to London. After he and Cosette marry, he recognizes Thénardier as a swindler and pays him to leave France.
Éponine (the Jondrette girl) – The Thénardiers' elder daughter. As a child, she is pampered and spoiled by her parents, but ends up a street urchin when she reaches adolescence. She participates in her father's crimes and begging schemes to obtain money. She is blindly in love with Marius. At Marius' request, she finds Valjean and Cosette's house for him and sadly leads him there. She also prevents her father, Patron-Minette, and Brujon from robbing the house during one of Marius' visits there to see Cosette. After disguising herself as a boy, she manipulates Marius into going to the barricades, hoping that she and Marius will die there together. Wanting to die before Marius, she reaches out her hand to stop a soldier from shooting at him; she is mortally wounded as the bullet goes through her hand and her back. As she is dying, she confesses all this to Marius, and gives him a letter from Cosette. Her final request to Marius is that once she has passed, he will kiss her on the forehead. He fulfills her request not because of romantic feelings on his part, but out of pity for her hard life.
Monsieur Thénardier and Madame Thénardier (also known as the Jondrettes, M. Fabantou, M. Thénard. Some translations identify her as the Thenardiess) – Husband and wife, parents of five children: two daughters, Éponine and Azelma, and three sons, Gavroche and two unnamed younger sons. As innkeepers, they abuse Cosette as a child and extract payment from Fantine for her support, until Valjean takes Cosette away. They become bankrupt and relocate under the name Jondrette to a house in Paris called the Gorbeau house, living in the room next to Marius. The husband associates with a criminal group called "the Patron-Minette", and conspires to rob Valjean until he is thwarted by Marius. Javert arrests the couple. The wife dies in prison. Her husband attempts to blackmail Marius with his knowledge of Valjean's past, but Marius pays him to leave the country. He becomes a slave trader in the United States.
Enjolras – The leader of Les Amis de l'ABC (Friends of the ABC) in the Paris uprising. Passionately committed to republican principles and the idea of progress. He and Grantaire are executed by the National Guards after the barricade falls.
Gavroche – The unloved middle child and eldest son of the Thénardiers. He lives on his own as a street urchin and sleeps inside an elephant statue outside the Bastille. He briefly takes care of his two younger brothers, unaware they are related to him. He takes part in the barricades and is killed while collecting bullets from dead National Guardsmen.
Bishop Myriel – The Bishop of Digne (full name Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, also called Monseigneur Bienvenu) – A kindly old priest promoted to bishop after a chance encounter with Napoleon. After Valjean steals some silver from him, he saves Valjean from being arrested and inspires Valjean to change his ways.
Grantaire - Grantaire (Also known as "R") was a student revolutionary with little interest in the cause. A drunk, pessimistic, artistic yet sophisticated man, described as "frightfully ugly" and a renowned dancer and boxer. He admires and reveres Enjolras often describing him as "a fine statue!" Grantaire was mesmerised by Gavroche, acting as an older brother to him. Grantaire was treated disrespectfully by Enjolras, causing him to fall into a constant state of drunkenness - eventually leading to Grantaire passing out for the majority of the June Rebellion until he awakens to find Enjolras about to be executed by the National Guard. Grantaire dies alongside him, whilst finally announcing his support for the Republic.
Friends of the ABC
A revolutionary student club. In French, the letters "ABC" are pronounced identically to the French word abeissés, "the abased".
Bahorel – A dandy and an idler from a peasant background, who is known well around the student cafés of Paris.
Combeferre – A medical student who is described as representing the philosophy of the revolution.
Courfeyrac – The centre of the Friends. He is honourable and warm, and is Marius' closest companion.
Enjolras – The leader of the Friends. A resolute and charismatic youth, devoted to progress.
Feuilly – An orphaned fan maker who taught himself to read and write. He is the only member of the Friends who is not a student but a workingman.
Grantaire – An alcohol drinker with little interest in revolution. Despite his pessimism, he eventually declares himself a believer in the Republic, and dies alongside Enjolras.
Jean Prouvaire (also Jehan) – A Romantic with knowledge of Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and an interest in the Middle Ages.
Joly – A student of medicine who has unusual theories about health. He is a hypochondriac and is described as the happiest of the Friends.
Lesgle (also Lègle, Laigle, L'Aigle [The Eagle] or Bossuet) – The oldest member of the group and the son of a man who was granted a dukedom by Louis XVIII after helping him into a carriage. Considered notoriously unlucky, Lesgle started balding aged twenty-five. It is Lesgle who introduces Marius to the Friends.
Minor
Azelma – The younger daughter of the Thénardiers. Like her sister Éponine, she is spoiled as a child, impoverished when older. She abets her father's failed robbery of Valjean. On Marius and Cosette's wedding day, she tails Valjean on her father's orders. She travels to America with her father at the end of the novel.
Bamatabois – An idler who harasses Fantine. Later a juror at Champmathieu's trial.
(Mlle) Baptistine Myriel – Bishop Myriel's sister. She loves and venerates her brother.
Bougon, Madame (called Ma'am Burgon) – Housekeeper of Gorbeau House.
Brevet – An ex-convict from Toulon who knew Valjean there; released one year after Valjean. In 1823, he is serving time in the prison in Arras for an unknown crime. He is the first to claim that Champmathieu is really Valjean. He used to wear knitted, checkered suspenders.
Brujon – A robber and criminal. He participates in crimes with M. Thénardier and the Patron-Minette gang (such as the Gorbeau Robbery and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet). The author describes Brujon as being "a sprightly young fellow, very cunning and very adroit, with a flurried and plaintive appearance."
Champmathieu – A vagabond who is misidentified as Valjean after being caught stealing apples.
Chenildieu – A lifer from Toulon. He and Valjean were chain mates for five years. He once tried to unsuccessfully remove his lifer's brand TFP ("travaux forcés à perpetuité", "forced labour for life") by putting his shoulder on a chafing dish full of embers. He is described as a small, wiry but energetic man.
Cochepaille – Another lifer from Toulon. He used to be a shepherd from the Pyrenees who became a smuggler. He is described as stupid and has a tattoo on his arm, 1 Mars 1815.
Colonel Georges Pontmercy – Marius's father and an officer in Napoleon's army. Wounded at Waterloo, Pontmercy erroneously believes M. Thénardier saved his life. He tells Marius of this great debt. He loves Marius and although M. Gillenormand does not allow him to visit, he continually hid behind a pillar in the church on Sunday so that he could at least look at Marius from a distance. Napoleon made him a baron, but the next regime refused to recognize his barony or his status as a colonel, instead referring to him only as a commandant. The book usually calls him "The colonel".
Fauchelevent – A failed businessman whom Valjean (as M. Madeleine) saves from being crushed under a carriage. Valjean gets him a position as gardener at a Paris convent, where Fauchelevent later provides sanctuary for Valjean and Cosette and allows Valjean to pose as his brother.
Mabeuf – An elderly churchwarden, friend of Colonel Pontmercy, who after the Colonel's death befriends his son Marius and helps Marius realize his father loved him. Mabeuf loves plants and books, but sells his books and prints in order to live. When Mabeuf finds a purse in his yard, he takes it to the police. After selling his last book, he joins the students in the insurrection. He is shot dead raising the flag atop the barricade.
Mademoiselle Gillenormand – Daughter of M. Gillenormand, with whom she lives. Her late half-sister (M. Gillenormand's daughter from another marriage), was Marius' mother.
Magloire, Madame – Domestic servant to Bishop Myriel and his sister.
Magnon – Former servant of M. Gillenormand and friend of the Thénardiers. She had been receiving child support payments from M. Gillenormand for her two illegitimate sons, who she claimed were fathered by him. When her sons died in an epidemic, she had them replaced with the Thénardiers' two youngest sons so that she could protect her income. The Thénardiers get a portion of the payments. She is incorrectly arrested for involvement in the Gorbeau robbery.
Monsieur Gillenormand – Marius' grandfather. A monarchist, he disagrees sharply with Marius on political issues, and they have several arguments. He attempts to keep Marius from being influenced by his father, Colonel Georges Pontmercy. While in perpetual conflict over ideas, he does illustrate his love for his grandson.
Mother Innocente (a.k.a. Marguerite de Blemeur) – The prioress of the Petit-Picpus convent.
Patron-Minette – A quartet of bandits who assist in the Thénardiers' ambush of Valjean at Gorbeau House and the attempted robbery at the Rue Plumet. The gang consists of Montparnasse, Claquesous, Babet, and Gueulemer. Claquesous, who escaped from the carriage transporting him to prison after the Gorbeau Robbery, joins the revolution under the guise of "Le Cabuc" and is executed by Enjolras for firing on civilians.
Petit Gervais – A travelling Savoyard boy who drops a coin. Valjean, still a man of criminal mind, places his foot on the coin and refuses to return it.
Sister Simplice – A famously truthful nun who cares for Fantine on her sickbed and lies to Javert to protect Valjean.
Félix Tholomyès – Fantine's lover and Cosette's biological father. A rich, self-centered student, he abandons Fantine when their daughter is two years old.
Toussaint – Valjean and Cosette's servant in Paris. She has a slight stutter.
Two little boys – The two unnamed youngest sons of the Thénardiers, whom they send to Magnon to replace her two dead sons. Living on the streets, they encounter Gavroche, who is unaware they are his siblings but treats them like they are his brothers. After Gavroche's death, they retrieve bread tossed by a bourgeois man to geese in a fountain at the Luxembourg Gardens.
The narrator
Hugo does not give the narrator a name and allows the reader to identify the narrator with the novel's author. The narrator occasionally injects himself into the narrative or reports facts outside the time of the narrative to emphasize that he is recounting historical events, not entirely fiction. He introduces his recounting of Waterloo with several paragraphs describing the narrator's recent approach to the battlefield: "Last year (1861),on a beautiful May morning, a traveller, the person who is telling this story, was coming from Nivelles ..."[23] The narrator describes how "[a]n observer, a dreamer, the author of this book" during the 1832 street fighting was caught in crossfire: "All that he had to protect him from the bullets was the swell of the two half columns which separate the shops; he remained in this delicate situation for nearly half an hour." At one point he apologizes for intruding–"The author of this book, who regrets the necessity of mentioning himself"–to ask the reader's understanding when he describes "the Paris of his youth ... as though it still existed." This introduces a meditation on memories of past places that his contemporary readers would recognize as a self-portrait written from exile: "you have left a part of your heart, of your blood, of your soul, in those pavements." He describes another occasion when a bullet shot "pierced a brass shaving-dish suspended ... over a hairdresser's shop. This pierced shaving-dish was still to be seen in 1848, in the Rue du Contrat-Social, at the corner of the pillars of the market." As evidence of police double agents at the barricades, he writes: "The author of this book had in his hands, in 1848, the special report on this subject made to the Prefect of Police in 1832."
Contemporary reception
The appearance of the novel was a highly anticipated event as Victor Hugo was considered one of France's foremost poets in the middle of the nineteenth century. The New York Times announced its forthcoming publication as early as April 1860.[24] Hugo forbade his publishers from summarizing his story and refused to authorize the publication of excerpts in advance of publication. He instructed them to build on his earlier success and suggested this approach: "What Victor H. did for the Gothic world in Notre-Dame of Paris [The Hunchback of Notre Dame], he accomplishes for the modern world in Les Miserables".[25] A massive advertising campaign[26] preceded the release of the first two volumes of Les Misérables in Brussels on 30 or 31 March and in Paris on 3 April 1862.[27] The remaining volumes appeared on 15 May 1862. Critical reactions were wide-ranging and often negative. Some critics found the subject matter immoral, others complained of its excessive sentimentality, and others were disquieted by its apparent sympathy with the revolutionaries. L. Gauthier wrote in Le Monde of 17 August 1862: "One cannot read without an unconquerable disgust all the details Monsieur Hugo gives regarding the successful planning of riots."[28] The Goncourt brothers judged the novel artificial and disappointing.[29] Flaubert found "neither truth nor greatness" in it. He complained that the characters were crude stereotypes who all "speak very well – but all in the same way". He deemed it an "infantile" effort and brought an end to Hugo's career like "the fall of a god".[30] In a newspaper review, Charles Baudelaire praised Hugo's success in focusing public attention on social problems, though he believed that such propaganda was the opposite of art. In private he castigated it as "tasteless and inept" ("immonde et inepte").[31]
The work was a commercial success and has been a popular book ever since it was published.[32][33] While exiled in England shortly after its publication, Hugo telegraphed his English publishers a one-character query: "?". Hurst & Blackett replied: "!".[34] Translated the same year it appeared into several foreign languages, including Italian, Greek, and Portuguese, it proved popular not only in France, but across Europe and abroad.
English translations
Charles E. Wilbour. New York: Carleton Publishing Company, June 1862. The first English translation. The first volume was available for purchase in New York beginning 7 June 1862.[35] Also New York and London: George Routledge and Sons, 1879.
Lascelles Wraxall. London: Hurst and Blackett, October 1862. The first British translation.[35]
Translator identified as "A.F." Richmond, Virginia, 1863. Published by West and Johnston publishers. The Editor's Preface announces its intention of correcting errors in Wilbour's translation. It said that some passages "exclusively intended for the French readers of the book" were being omitted, as well as "[a] few scattered sentences reflecting on slavery" because "the absence of a few antislavery paragraphs will hardly be complained of by Southern readers." Because of paper shortages in wartime, the passages omitted became longer with each successive volume.[35]
Isabel Florence Hapgood. Published 1887, this translation is available at Project Gutenberg.[36]
Norman Denny. Folio Press, 1976. A modern British translation later re-published in paperback by Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-044430-0. The translator explains in an introduction that he has placed two of the novel's longer digressive passages into appendices and made some minor abridgements in the text.
Lee Fahnestock and Norman McAfee. Signet Classics. 3 March 1987. An unabridged edition based on the Wilbour translation with its language modernized. Paperback ISBN 0-451-52526-4
Julie Rose. 2007. Vintage Classics, 3 July 2008. A new translation of the full work, with a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo's life, a chronology, and notes. ISBN 978-0-09-951113-7
Christine Donougher. Penguin Classics, 7 November 2013. A new translation of the full work, with a detailed biographical sketch of Victor Hugo's life, a chronology, and notes. ISBN 978-0141393599
Adaptations
Main article: Adaptations of Les Misérables
Since its original publication, Les Misérables has been the subject of a large number of adaptations in numerous types of media, such as books, films, musicals, plays and games.
Notable examples of these adaptations include:
The 1935 film directed by Richard Boleslawski, starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
The 1937 radio adaptation by Orson Welles.[37]
The 1958 film adaptation directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, with an international cast starring Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, and Bourvil.[38] Called "the most memorable film version", it was filmed in East Germany and was overtly political.[39]
The 1978 television film adaptation, starring Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins.
The 1980 musical, by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.[40]
The 1995 film, by Claude Lelouch , starring Jean-Paul Belmondo [41]
The 1998 film, starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush.[42]
The 2000 TV miniseries, starring Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich.[43]
The 2012 film of the musical, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway.[44]
A 2013 Japanese manga adaptation by Takahiro Arai, to be published in Shogakukan's Monthly Shonen Sunday magazine from September 2013.[45]
Sequels
Laura Kalpakian's Cosette: The Sequel to Les Misérables was published in 1995. It continues the story of Cosette and Marius, but is more a sequel to the musical than to the original novel.
In 2001, two French novels by François Cérésa that continue Hugo's story appeared: Cosette ou le temps des illusions and Marius ou le fugitif. The former has been published in an English translation. Javert appears as a hero who survived his suicide attempt and become religious; Thénardier returns from America; Marius is unjustly imprisoned.[46] The works were the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit brought by Hugo's great-great-grandson.[47][48]
See also

Portal icon Novels portal
Elephant of the Bastille
Fex urbis lex orbis
François Cérésa (in French)
Jean Val Jean, abridged version in English (1935)
References
1.Jump up ^ Novelist Susanne Alleyn has argued that "the phrase “les misérables”, which has a whole range of subtly shaded meanings in French, is much better translated into English as “the dispossessed” or even as “the outsiders” — which can describe every major character in the novel in one way or another — than simply as “the miserable ones” / “the wretched ones.” No, It’s Not Actually the French Revolution: Les Misérables and History.
2.Jump up ^ "BBC News – Bon anniversaire! 25 facts about Les Mis". BBC Online. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
3.Jump up ^ Sinclair, Upton (1915). The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. Charles Rivers Editors. ISBN 978-1-247-96345-7.
4.Jump up ^ Alexander Welsh, "Opening and Closing Les Misérables", in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 155; Vol. 5, Book 1, Chapter 20
5.Jump up ^ "Read the Ten Longest Novels Ever Written". Amazon.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
6.Jump up ^ "Les Miserables – Books by Victor Hugo". Penguin Group (USA). 3 March 1987. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
7.Jump up ^ "Hugo : Les Misérables: Amazon.fr: Victor Hugo, Maurice Allem: Livres". Amazon.fr. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
8.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables – poche – Fnac.com – Victor Hugo – Livre ou ebook". Livre.fnac.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
9.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables – poche – Fnac.com – Victor Hugo – Livre ou ebook". Livre.fnac.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 39-42
11.Jump up ^ A. F. Davidson, Victor Hugo His Life And Work (J.B. Lippincott, 1929), Kindle Location 4026, 4189
12.Jump up ^ Victor Brombert, "Les Misérables: Salvation from Below," in Harold Bloom, ed., Modern Critical Views: Victor Hugo (Chelsea House, 1988), 195
13.Jump up ^ Brombert, "Salvation from Below," 195-7
14.Jump up ^ Alexander Welsh, "Opening and Closing Les Misérables," in Harold Bloom, ed., Modern Critical Views: Victor Hugo (Chelsea House, 1988), 151-2
15.Jump up ^ Morton, James (2004). The First Detective: The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq, Criminal, Spy and Private Eye. NY: Overlook Press. pp. ??.
16.Jump up ^ Edward Behr, The Complete Book of Les Miserables (Arcade, 1993), 29
17.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo, Things Seen, vol. 1 (Glasgow and NY: George Routledge and Sons, 1887), 49–52. The chapter is title "1841. Origin of Fantine". Behr quotes this passage at length in Behr, Complete Book, 32-6.
18.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo, Choses vues: nouvelle série (Paris: Calman Lévy, 1900), 129–30
19.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 29-30
20.Jump up ^ Behr, Complete Book, 32
21.Jump up ^ Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. NY: W.W. Norton. pp. 173–4.
22.Jump up ^ Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. NY: W.W. Norton. pp. 273–6.
23.Jump up ^ Victor Brombert, "Les Misérables: Salvation from Below", in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 198–9; Vol. 2, Book 1, Chapter 1
24.Jump up ^ "Personalities.". New York Times. 10 April 1860. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
25.Jump up ^ Behr, Compete Book, 38
26.Jump up ^ La réception des Misérables en 1862 – Max Bach – PMLA, Vol. 77, No. 5 (December 1962)
27.Jump up ^ "les miserables, victor hugo, First Edition, 1862". ABE Books. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
28.Jump up ^ PDF)
29.Jump up ^ dealCOM, webmaster@dealcom.com. "Publications et écrit – CULTURESFRANCE". Adpf.asso.fr. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
30.Jump up ^ Letter of G. Flaubert to Madame Roger des Genettes – July 1862 Archived 30 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
31.Jump up ^ Hyslop, Lois Bee (October 1976). "Baudelaire on Les Misérables". The French Review 41 (1): 23–9.
32.Jump up ^ Réception des Misérables en Grèce by Marguerite Yourcenar
33.Jump up ^ Réception des Misérables au Portugal
34.Jump up ^ Victor Hugo at Encyclopædia Britannica (accessed 29 November 2012)
35.^ Jump up to: a b c Moore, Olin H. (March 1959). "Some Translations of Les Miserables". Modern Language Notes 74 (3): 240–6. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
36.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – Project Gutenberg". Gutenberg.org. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
37.Jump up ^ Radio Programs Scheduled for this Week, The New York Times, 25 July 1937
38.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
39.Jump up ^ Behr, Edward (1989). The Complete Book of Les Misérables. NY: Arcade. pp. 152–3.
40.Jump up ^ The Broadway League. "The official source for Broadway Information". IBDB. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
41.Jump up ^ AlloCine, Les Misérables, retrieved 2015-09-23
42.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
43.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
44.Jump up ^ Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
45.Jump up ^ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-07-13/cirque-du-freak-arai-launches-manga-adaptation-of-les-miserables-novel
46.Jump up ^ Riding, Alan (29 May 2001). "Victor Hugo Can't Rest in Peace, As a Sequel Makes Trouble". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
47.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables: la suite rejugée en appel". Le nouvel observateur. 30 January 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
48.Jump up ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (1 February 2007). "French Court Says Yes to Misérables Sequels". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables.
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Les Misérables
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Les Misérables

Les Misérables at CliffsNotes.com
Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
French text of Les Misérables, scroll down to see the links to the five volumes
Les Misérables at Project Gutenberg – English translation.
Review by Edwin Percy Whipple The Atlantic Monthly. July 1862.


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Les Misérables by Victor Hugo


Characters
Jean Valjean ·
 Javert ·
 Fantine ·
 Cosette ·
 Marius ·
 Éponine ·
 Enjolras ·
 Gavroche ·
 Thénardiers ·
 Bishop Myriel ·
 Patron-Minette ·
 Friends of the ABC
 

Film adaptations
1909 ·
 1917 ·
 1925 ·
 1934 ·
 1935 ·
 1948 ·
 1952 ·
 1958 ·
 1978 ·
 1982 ·
 1995 ·
 1998 ·
 2012
 

Concerts
1995 ·
 2010
 

Other adaptations
Les Misérables (musical) ·
 Les Misérables (radio) ·
 Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette ·
 Jean Val Jean ·
 List of adaptations
 

Television adaptations
Les Misérables (1974 telenovela) ·
 2000 (TV) ·
 Les Misérables (2014 telenovela)
 

Songs and soundtracks
Songs from Les Misérables ·
 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" ·
 "I Dreamed a Dream" ·
 "On My Own" ·
 "One Day More" ·
 "Suddenly" ·
 Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
 



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Victor Hugo










































































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 VIAF: 182463101 ·
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Categories: Les Misérables
1862 novels
Novels set in 19th-century France
French novels adapted into films
Novels by Victor Hugo
French historical novels
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Les Misérables (musical)

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This article is about the musical theatre production. For the film adaptation of the musical, see Les Misérables (2012 film). For the original novel, see Les Misérables.

Les Misérables
LesMisLogo.png
Music
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics
Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (French lyrics)
Herbert Kretzmer (English adaptation)

Book
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Alain Boublil
Trevor Nunn and John Caird (adaptation)

Basis
1862 novel by Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
Premiere
September 24, 1980 – Palais des Sports, Paris
Productions
1980 Paris
1985 West End
1987 Broadway
1987 First US Tour
1987 Japan
1988 Second US Tour
1988 Third US Tour
1991 Paris
1991 Netherlands
1992 UK Tour
1992 Madrid
1995 10th Anniversary Concert
2000 Argentina
2002 Mexico
2006 Broadway Revival
2008 Netherlands
2008 Quebec
2009 25th Anniversary UK Tour
2010 25th Anniversary Concert
2010 Spain
2010 Fourth US Tour
2012 Film adaptation
2012 South Korea
2013 Toronto
2013 Spain
2013 Puerto Rico
2014 Broadway Revival
2015 Vancouver
Multiple productions worldwide

Awards
Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Book
Tony Award for Best Score

Les Misérables (pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeʁabl(ə)]), colloquially known in Anglo-Saxon countries as Les Mis or Les Miz (/leɪ ˈmɪz/), is a sung-through musical based on the novel Les Misérables by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer.
Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Reception
3 Emblem
4 Synopsis 4.1 Act I
4.2 Act II
5 Musical numbers
6 Characters 6.1 Casts
7 Productions 7.1 Original French production
7.2 Original West End production
7.3 Original Broadway production
7.4 2006 Broadway revival
7.5 2013 Toronto revival
7.6 2014 Broadway revival
7.7 2014 Australian revival
7.8 2016 Manila production
8 Concert productions 8.1 10th Anniversary Concert
8.2 25th Anniversary Concert
8.3 Other concert performances
9 Touring Productions 9.1 National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production
9.2 25th Anniversary Tour
10 International productions
11 Regional productions 11.1 School edition
12 Film adaptation
13 Cast recordings 13.1 English 13.1.1 Original London Cast recording
13.1.2 Original Broadway Cast recording
13.1.3 Complete Symphonic Recording
13.1.4 10th Anniversary Concert
13.1.5 Manchester Highlights
13.1.6 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast
13.1.7 25th Anniversary Concert
13.2 Other languages
14 Awards and nominations 14.1 Original West End production
14.2 Original Broadway production
14.3 2013 Toronto revival
14.4 2014 Broadway revival
14.5 2014 Australian revival
15 See also
16 References
17 External links

Background[edit]
Originally released as a French-language concept album, the first musical-stage adaptation of Les Misérables was presented at the Palais des Sports, in 1980.[1] However, the first production closed after three months when the booking contract expired.
In 1983, about six months after producer Cameron Mackintosh had opened Cats on Broadway, he received a copy of the French concept album from director Peter Farago. Farago had been impressed by the work and asked Mackintosh to produce an English-language version of the show. Initially reluctant, Mackintosh eventually agreed. Mackintosh, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, assembled a production team to adapt the French musical for a British audience. After two years in development, the English-language version opened in London on 8 October 1985, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre, then the London home of the RSC. The success of the West End musical led to a Broadway production.
Reception[edit]
See also: Long-running musical theatre productions
At the opening of the London production, critical reviews were negative. The Sunday Telegraph's Francis King described the show as "a lurid Victorian melodrama produced with Victorian lavishness" and Michael Ratcliffe in the Observer dubbed the show "a witless and synthetic entertainment", while literary scholars condemned the project for converting classic literature into a musical.[2][3] Public opinion differed: the box office received record orders. The three-month engagement sold out, and reviews improved. The London production, as of October 2014, has run continuously since October 1985: the second longest-running musical in the world after The Fantasticks,[4] the second longest-running West End show after The Mousetrap,[5] It is the longest-running musical in the West End followed by The Phantom of the Opera. In 2010, it played its ten-thousandth performance in London, at Queen's Theatre[6] On 3 October 2010, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary with three productions running in London: the original production at the Queen's Theatre; the 25th Anniversary touring production at its 1985 try-out venue, the Barbican Centre; and the 25th Anniversary concert at London's O2 Arena.[6]
The Broadway production opened 12 March 1987 and ran until 18 May 2003, closing after 6,680 performances. It is the fifth longest-running Broadway show in history and was the second-longest at the time.[7] The show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
Subsequently, numerous tours and international and regional productions have been staged, as well as concert and broadcast productions. Several recordings have also been made. A Broadway revival opened in 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre and closed in 2008, and a second Broadway revival opened in 2014 and is currently running at the Imperial Theatre. The show was placed first in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of Britain's "Number One Essential Musicals" in 2005, receiving more than forty percent of the votes.[8] A film version directed by Tom Hooper was released at the end of 2012 to generally positive reviews as well as numerous awards nominations, winning three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
Emblem[edit]



 The etching by Émile Bayard that served as the model for the musical's emblem.
The musical's emblem is a picture of the waif Cosette sweeping the Thénardiers' inn (which occurs in the musical during "Castle on a Cloud"), usually shown cropped to a head-and-shoulders portrait superimposed on the French flag. The image is based on an etching by Gustave Brion based on the drawing by Émile Bayard. It appeared in several of the novel's earliest French-language editions.
Synopsis[edit]
Act I[edit]
In Bagne prison in Toulon, France, in 1815, the prisoners work at hard labour ("Work Song"). After 19 years in prison (five for stealing bread for his starving sister's son and her family, and the rest for trying to escape), Jean Valjean, "prisoner 24601," is released on parole by the policeman Javert. By law, Valjean must display a yellow ticket-of-leave, which identifies him as an ex-convict ("On Parole"). As a convict, Valjean is shunned wherever he goes and cannot find regular work or lodging, but the Bishop of Digne offers him food and shelter. Desperate and embittered, Valjean steals the Bishop's silver and flees. He is captured by the police, but rather than turn him in, the Bishop lies and tells the police that the silver was a gift, giving Valjean a pair of silver candlesticks in addition. The Bishop tells Valjean that he must use the silver "to become an honest man" and that he has "bought (Valjean's) soul for God" ("Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven"). Ashamed and humbled by the Bishop's kindness, Valjean resolves to redeem his sins ("Valjean's Soliloquy" / "What Have I Done?"). He tears up his yellow ticket, breaking his parole but giving himself a chance to start a new life free from the stigma of his criminal past.
Eight years later, Valjean has assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Fantine is a single mother working in his factory, trying to support her daughter Cosette, who is being raised by an innkeeper and his wife while Fantine labors in the city. Unbeknownst to Valjean, the factory foreman lusts after Fantine, and when she rejects his advances he takes it out on the other workers, who resent her for it. One day a coworker provokes a fight after learning about Fantine's child, and the foreman uses the incident as a pretense to fire Fantine ("At the End of the Day"). Fantine reflects on her broken dreams and about Cosette's father, who abandoned them both ("I Dreamed a Dream"). Desperate for money, she sells her locket and hair, finally becoming a prostitute ("Lovely Ladies"). When she fights back against an abusive customer, Bamatabois, Javert, now a police inspector stationed in Montreuil-sur-Mer, arrives to arrest her. But Valjean, passing by the scene, pities Fantine, and when he realizes she once worked for him and that she blames him for her misfortune, he is guilt-stricken. He orders Javert release her before taking her to a hospital ("Fantine's Arrest").
Soon afterwards, Valjean rescues a man pinned by a runaway cart ("The Runaway Cart"). Javert, who has up until now not recognized Valjean, though he has pursued him as a fugitive all these years, witnesses the incident and becomes suspicious, remembering the incredible strength Valjean displayed in the work camp. But it turns out another man has been arrested, and is about to go to trial for breaking parole. The real Valjean realizes that this case of mistaken identity could free him forever, but he's not willing to see an innocent man go to prison in his place and so confesses his identity to the court ("Who Am I?—The Trial"). At the hospital, a delirious Fantine dreams of Cosette. Valjean promises to find Cosette and protect her ("Come to Me" / "Fantine's Death"). Relieved, Fantine succumbs to her illness and dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean back into custody, but Valjean asks Javert for time to fetch Cosette. Javert refuses, insisting that a criminal like Valjean can never change or do good. They struggle, but Valjean overpowers Javert and escapes ("The Confrontation").
In Montfermeil, the duplicitous innkeepers, the Thénardiers, use Cosette as a servant while extorting money from Fantine by claiming that Cosette is seriously ill, all the while indulging their own daughter, Éponine. Cosette dreams of a life where she is not forced to work and is treated lovingly ("Castle on a Cloud"). The Thénardiers cheat their customers and live a life of criminal depravity ("Master of the House"). Valjean meets Cosette while she's on an errand drawing water and offers the Thénardiers payment to adopt her ("The Bargain"). The Thénardiers feign concern for Cosette and bargain with Valjean, who pays them 1,500 francs in the end. Valjean and Cosette leave for Paris ("The Waltz of Treachery").
Nine years later, in 1832, Paris is in upheaval because of the impending death of General Lamarque, the only man in the government who shows mercy to the poor. Among those mingling in the streets are the student revolutionaries Marius Pontmercy and Enjolras, who contemplate the effect Lamarque's death will have on the poor and desperate in Paris; the Thénardiers, who have since lost their inn and now run a street gang; their daughter Éponine, who is now grown and has fallen in love with Marius (who remains oblivious to her affections); and the streetwise young urchin Gavroche, who knows everything that happens in the slums ("Look Down"). The Thénardiers prepare to con some charitable visitors, who turn out to be Valjean and Cosette, who has grown into a beautiful young woman. While the gang bamboozles her father, Cosette runs into Marius, and the pair fall in love at first sight. Thénardier suddenly recognizes Valjean, but before they can finish the robbery Javert, now an inspector stationed here in Paris, comes to the rescue ("The Robbery"). Valjean and Cosette escape, and only later (when Thénardier tips him off) does Javert suspect who they were. Javert makes a vow to the stars (which represent his belief in a just and ordered universe where suffering is a punishment for sin) that he will find Valjean and recapture him ("Stars"). Meanwhile, Marius persuades Éponine to help him find Cosette ("Éponine's Errand").
At a small café, Enjolras exhorts a group of idealistic students to prepare for revolution. Marius interrupts the serious atmosphere by fantasizing about his new-found love, much to the amusement of his compatriots, particularly the wine-loving Grantaire ("The ABC Café—Red and Black"). When Gavroche brings the news of General Lamarque's death, the students realize that they can use the public's dismay to incite their revolution and that their time has come ("Do You Hear the People Sing?"). At Valjean's house, Cosette thinks about her chance meeting with Marius and later confronts Valjean about the secrets he keeps about his and her own past ("Rue Plumet—In My Life"). Éponine leads Marius to Valjean's house (despite being heartbroken that he has fallen in love with another), and he and Cosette meet again and confess their mutual love ("A Heart Full of Love"). Thénardier and his gang arrive, intending to rob Valjean's house, but Éponine stops them by screaming a warning ("The Attack on Rue Plumet"). The scream alerts Valjean, who believes that the intruders were sent by Javert to ferret out his cover. He tells Cosette that it's time once again for them to go on the run.
On the eve of the 1832 Paris Uprising, Valjean prepares to go into exile; Cosette and Marius part in despair; Éponine mourns her unrequited love for Marius; Enjolras encourages all of Paris to join the revolution as he and the other students prepare for battle; Marius is conflicted whether to follow Cosette or join the uprising; Javert reveals his plans to spy on the students; and the Thénardiers scheme to profit off the coming violence. Marius decides to stand with his friends, and all anticipate what the dawn will bring ("One Day More").[6]
Act II[edit]
As the students build a barricade to serve as their rally point, Javert, disguised as a rebel, volunteers to "spy" on the government troops. Marius discovers that Éponine has disguised herself as a boy to join the rebels and sends her to deliver a farewell letter to Cosette. ("Building the Barricade—Upon These Stones") Valjean intercepts the letter and learns about Marius and Cosette's romance. Éponine walks the streets of Paris alone, imagining that Marius is there with her, but laments that her love for Marius will never be reciprocated ("On My Own").
The French army arrives at the barricade and demands that the students surrender ("At the Barricade—Upon These Stones"). Though Javert tells the students that the government will not attack that night ("Javert's Arrival"), Gavroche exposes him as a spy, and the students detain him ("Little People"). Their plan is to spark a general uprising with their act of defiance, hoping that all the people of Paris will side with them and overwhelm the army. Éponine returns to find Marius but is shot by the soldiers crossing the barricade. As Marius holds her she assures him that she feels no pain and reveals her love for him before dying in his arms ("A Little Fall of Rain"). The students mourn this first loss of life at the barricades and resolve to fight in her name, and they carry her body away while Enjolras attempts to comfort Marius, who is heartbroken over Éponine's death. Valjean arrives at the barricade, crossing the government lines disguised as a soldier ("Night of Anguish"), hoping that he might somehow protect Marius in the coming battle for Cosette's sake. The rebels are suspicious of him at first, but when the army attacks Valjean saves Enjolras by shooting a sniper, and they accept him as one of them. In return, he asks Enjolras to be the one to execute the imprisoned Javert, which Enjolras grants. But as soon as Valjean and Javert are alone, Valjean frees Javert. Javert warns Valjean that he will not give up his pursuit and rejects what he perceives as a bargain for Valjean's freedom. Valjean says there are no conditions to his release, and holds no ill-will toward Javert for doing his duty. ("The First Attack").
The students settle down for the night and reminisce about the past while also expressing anxiety about the battle to come. Enjolras tells the other students to stay awake in case the enemy strikes unexpectedly in the night, but he tells Marius to get some sleep. Grantaire gets angry and asks Marius if he fears to die as Marius wonders if Cosette will remember him if he dies. ("Drink with Me"). As Marius sleeps, Valjean prays to God to protect Marius, even at the cost of his own life ("Bring Him Home"). As dawn approaches, Enjolras realizes that the people of Paris have not risen up with them, but resolves to fight on in spite of the impossible odds ("Dawn of Anguish"). Their resolve is fired even further when the army kill Gavroche, who snuck out to collect ammunition from bodies on the other side of the barricade ("The Second Attack / Death of Gavroche"). The army gives a final warning, but the rebels fight to the last man with Enjolras exhorting "Let others rise to take our place, until the Earth is free!". Everyone at the barricade is killed except Valjean and a gravely wounded Marius, who escape into the sewers ("The Final Battle"). Javert returns to the barricade, searching for Valjean amongst the bodies, and finds the open sewer grating.
Valjean carries Marius through the sewers but collapses in exhaustion. While he is unconscious, Thénardier, who has been looting bodies ("Dog Eats Dog"), comes upon them and takes a ring from the unconscious Marius, but flees when Valjean (whom he again recognizes) regains consciousness. When Valjean carries Marius to the sewer's exit he finds Javert waiting for him. Valjean begs Javert for one hour to bring Marius to a doctor, and Javert reluctantly agrees. Javert finds himself unable to reconcile Valjean's merciful acts with his conception of Valjean as an irredeemable criminal. Refusing to compromise his principles but no longer able to hold them sacred, he commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine ("Soliloquy - Javert's Suicide)".
In the wake of the failed revolution, women mourn the deaths of the students ("Turning") and Marius, wounded but alive, despairs at the sacrifice of so many lives ("Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). As he wonders who saved his own life, Cosette comforts him and they reaffirm their blossoming romance. Valjean realises that Cosette will not need him as a caretaker once she's married and gives them his blessing ("Every Day"). Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an escaped convict and must go away because his presence endangers Cosette ("Valjean's Confession"), making Marius promise never to tell Cosette. A few months later, Marius and Cosette marry ("Wedding Chorale"). The Thénardiers crash the reception in disguise and attempt to blackmail Marius, telling him that Valjean is a murderer and that Thénardier saw him carrying a corpse in the sewers after the barricades fell. When Thénardier shows him the ring as proof, Marius realizes that it was Valjean who saved his life. The newlyweds leave to find Valjean (Marius pausing to give Thénardier a punch in the face). The Thénardiers are not discouraged, instead gloating that their craven practicality has saved their lives time and time again ("Beggars at the Feast").
At a convent, Valjean awaits his death, having nothing left to live for. The spirit of Fantine appears to him and tells him that he has been forgiven and will soon be with God. Cosette and Marius arrive to find Valjean near death. Valjean thanks God for letting him live long enough to see Cosette again and Marius thanks him for saving his life. ("Epilogue - Valjean's Death"). Valjean gives Cosette a letter confessing his troubled past and the truth about her mother. As he dies, the spirits of Fantine and Éponine guide him to Heaven reminding him that "to love another person is to see the face of God." They are joined by the spirits of those who died at the barricades, who sing that in the next world God lays low all tyranny and frees all oppressed people from their shackles ("Finale").
Musical numbers[edit]
Main article: Songs from Les Misérables

Act I


Song
Performer(s)
1 "Prologue: Work Song" Chain Gang, Javert and Valjean
2 "Prologue: On Parole" Valjean, Farmer, Labourer, Innkeeper's Wife, Innkeeper and Bishop of Digne
3 "Prologue: Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven" Constables and Bishop of Digne
4 "Prologue: What Have I Done?" Valjean
5 "At the End of the Day" Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Girls, Fantine and Valjean
6 "I Dreamed a Dream" Fantine
7 "Lovely Ladies" Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores and Pimp
8 "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert and Valjean
9 "'The Runaway Cart" Townspeople, Valjean, Fauchelevant and Javert
10 "Who Am I? / The Trial" Valjean
11 "Fantine's Death: Come to Me" Fantine and Valjean
12 "The Confrontation" Javert and Valjean
13 "Castle on a Cloud" Young Cosette and Madame Thénardier
14 "Master of the House" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Customers
15 "The Well Scene" Valjean and Young Cosette
16 "The Bargain / The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" Thénardier, Valjean, Madame Thénardier and Young Cosette
17 "Look Down" Gavroche, Beggars, Old Woman, Prostitute, Pimp, Enjolras, and Marius
18 "The Robbery" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier, Marius, Éponine and Valjean
19 "Javert's Intervention" Javert and Thénardier
20 "Stars" Javert
21 "Éponine's Errand" Éponine and Marius
22 "ABC Café / Red and Black" Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Combeferre, Feuilly, Courfeyrac, Joly, Gavroche and Students
23 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Enjolras, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Feuilly Students and Townspeople
24 "Rue Plumet – In My Life" Cosette, Valjean, Marius and Éponine
25 "A Heart Full of Love" Marius, Cosette and Éponine
26 "The Attack on the Rue Plumet" Thénardier, Thieves (Montparnasse, Brujon, Babet, Claquesous), Éponine, Marius, Valjean and Cosette
27 “One Day More" Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Company

Act II


Song
Performer(s)
28 "Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Javert, Marius, Éponine and Valjean (the OLC, OBC, and Symphonic recordings also include Prouvaire, Grantaire, and Lesgles)
29 "On My Own" Éponine
30 "At the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Students, and Army Officer
31 "Javert's Arrival" Javert and Enjolras
32 "Little People" Gavroche, Grantaire, Prouvaire, Courfeyrac, Enjolras and Javert
33 "A Little Fall of Rain" (Éponine's Death) Éponine and Marius
34 "Night of Anguish" Enjolras, Marius, Combeferre, Prouvaire, Lesgles, Joly, Valjean, Grantaire, and Students
35 "The First Attack" Enjolras, Valjean, Feuilly, Grantaire, Lesgles, Javert, Students
36 "Drink with Me" Feuilly, Grantaire, Marius, Prouvaire, Joly, Students and Women
37 "Bring Him Home" Valjean
38 "Dawn of Anguish" Enjolras
39 "The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" Enjolras, Feuilly, Marius, Valjean, Gavroche, and Grantaire
40 "The Final Battle" Army Officer, Enjolras, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac
41 "Dog Eats Dog (The Sewers)" Thénardier, Valjean, and Javert
42 "Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide)" Javert
43 "Turning" Women of Paris
44 "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" Marius
45 "Every Day" Cosette, Marius and Valjean
46 "Valjean's Confession" Marius and Valjean
47 "Wedding Chorale" Guests, Thénardier, Marius and Madame Thénardier
48 "Beggars at the Feast" Thénardier and Madame Thénardier
49 "Valjean's Death" Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius and Éponine
50 "Do You Hear The People Sing? (Reprise) / [Finale]" Full Company

Characters[edit]
Characters in order of appearance

Character[9]
Voice[10]
Description

Jean Valjean
dramatic tenor/
original production: dramatic baritone
 Prisoner 24601. After being released from imprisonment for serving nineteen years (five for stealing a loaf of bread and fourteen for multiple escape attempts), he breaks parole and, after receiving mercy from Bishop Myriel, turns his life around to live for God, showing the effects of God's grace that bring a corrupt man into virtuous and selfless living. He changes his identity, becoming the wealthy mayor of a small town. He later adopts Cosette, the only daughter of Fantine. At the end, he eventually dies and the spirit of Fantine thanks him for raising her child.
Inspector Javert
baritone Respects the law above all else and relentlessly pursues Valjean, hoping to bring the escaped convict to justice. He firmly believes in the justice of the law, and has no room for mercy. In the end he commits suicide, broken by the mercy he experiences from Valjean.
The Bishop of Digne
baritone Shelters Valjean after his release from jail and gives him gifts of silver and absolution. His acts of kindness move Valjean to surrender his ways to God, escaping the label of "criminal" and living in a new identity.
The Factory Foreman
baritone or tenor Foreman of Valjean's (Valjean has assumed the name Madeleine) jet bead factory in Montreuil-sur-Mer which employs Fantine and other workers. The Foreman fires Fantine from the factory when she persists in resisting his overt sexual advances and because it is discovered that she is the mother of an illegitimate child (Cosette) living elsewhere.
The Factory Girl
soprano Mistress to the Factory Foreman. She intercepts a letter that the Thénardiers have sent to Fantine which exposes her as the mother of an illegitimate child, and the Factory Girl shows it to the Foreman, goading him into firing her.
Fantine
lyric mezzo-soprano An impoverished factory worker who loses her job and, as a result, turns to prostitution in order to continue paying the Thénardiers to care for her illegitimate daughter, Cosette. As Fantine dies of consumption, she asks Valjean to look after her child. Ultimately she appears as a spirit and escorts the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Old Woman
contralto Affectionately called "The Hair Hag" in many of the original US companies, the Old Woman is the character who talks Fantine into selling her hair before Fantine becomes a prostitute.
Crone
soprano Also called "The Locket Crone," this character is the woman who talks Fantine into selling her precious locket for much less than it is worth.
Bamatabois
tenor An upper-class "fop" who tries to buy Fantine's services. He treats her abusively so she refuses him. When Javert enters the scene, Bamatabois tries to cover the fact that he was soliciting a prostitute by having her arrested for attacking him.
Fauchelevent
baritone or tenor In a role reduced from the novel, he appears only in the Cart Crash scene, where he is trapped under the cart and rescued by Valjean. He is an elderly man who has fallen upon hard times.
Champmathieu
silent A man who is arrested and on trial because he is believed to be Jean Valjean. Valjean, still under the name Madeleine, confesses his true identity at the trial in order to save the man.
Young Cosette
treble The eight-year-old daughter of Fantine. Cosette is in the care of the Thénardiers who are paid by Fantine to take care of her child. Unknown to Fantine, the Thénardiers force Cosette to work, and they use Fantine's money for their own needs.
Madame Thénardier
contralto Thénardier's unscrupulous wife, who abuses Cosette but dotes on her own daughter, Éponine. She is fully complicit in most of her husband's crimes and schemes.
Young Éponine
silent The pampered daughter of the Thénardiers. She grows up with Cosette and is unkind to her.
Thénardier
comic baritone A second-rate thief, Thénardier runs a small inn where he continually bilks his customers. He and his family later travel to Paris, where he sets up as the leader of a gang of street thugs and con men. An eternal survivor, Thénardier is above nothing and below everything.
Gavroche
boy soprano A streetwise urchin who knows everyone and everything that happens in the slums of Paris. He joins up with the revolutionaries, and later dies on the barricade attempting to recover ammunition from fallen soldiers.
Enjolras
baritone or tenor Enjolras is the leader of the student revolutionaries and a friend of Marius. He is Idealistic and charismatic, although his plan is doomed to failure.
Marius Pontmercy
baritone or tenor A student revolutionary, is friends with Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette, and she with him. He is later rescued from the barricades by Valjean, who ultimately gives Marius and Cosette his blessing, allowing them to be married.
Éponine
mezzo-soprano Daughter of the Thénardiers, Éponine, now a ragged street waif and a thief like her father, secretly loves Marius. Although it causes her great anguish, she helps him locate Cosette and later delivers a message he sends her from the barricade. She is killed while returning to the barricades to see Marius. In the end she appears as a spirit alongside Fantine and they guide the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Brujon
baritone or tenor A brutish and cowardly, but dissatisfied, member of Thénardier's Gang. Brujon's role in the musical expands to cover Gueulemer.
Babet
baritone or tenor A foreboding member of Thénardier's Gang.
Claquesous
baritone or tenor A member of Thénardier's Gang Quiet and masked, expert at evading the police, Claquesous might in fact be working for the law.
Montparnasse
baritone or tenor A young member of Thénardier's Gang, Montparnasse is a handsome man who appears to be close to Éponine.
Cosette
soprano Cosette, the daughter of Fantine, has grown-up to become a beautiful young woman of culture and privilege under Valjean's adoptive and loving fatherly care and protection. She falls in love with Marius, and he returns her equally strong and pure romantic feelings. She marries him at the end of the musical.
Friends of the ABC
baritones and tenors Student revolutionaries who lead a revolution and die in the process, the Friends of the ABC become martyrs for the rights of citizens. (See Members listed below)
Combeferre
Baritone or tenor Combeferre is the philosopher of the ABC group. Enjolras' second-in-command. He is described as the guide of the Friends of the ABC.
Feuilly
tenor Feuilly is the only member of the Friends of the ABC who is not a student; he is a workingman. An optimist who stands as a sort of ambassador for the "outside," while the rest of the men stand for France. He loves Poland very much.
Courfeyrac
tenor Friendly and open, Courfeyrac introduces Marius to the ABC society in the novel. He always has many mistresses, and is described as the centre of the Friends of the ABC, always giving off warmth.
Joly
tenor or baritone A medical student and a hypochondriac; best friends with Lesgles.
Grantaire
baritone Grantaire is a member of the Friends of the ABC. Though he admires Enjolras and is one of his truest friends, Grantaire often opposes Enjolras' fierce determination and occasionally acts as a voice of reason. Grantaire is also very close to Gavroche and attempts to act as his protector. Grantaire has a weakness for spirits of the alcoholic kind and is often tipsy throughout the musical, carrying a bottle of wine wherever he goes.
Jean Prouvaire
baritone or tenor Prouvaire, a poet, is the youngest student member of the Friends. Jean Prouvaire has the honor of waving the giant red flag during "One Day More" at the end of Act One.
Lesgles
baritone or tenor Best friends with Joly. A very unlucky man, but also a very happy one.
Army Officer
tenor A voice from offstage, he demands the surrender of the student revolutionaries before the army attacks.
Casts[edit]
Casts

Character
Original French Stage Cast
 (1980)
Original London Cast
 (1985)
Original Broadway Cast
 (1987)
First Broadway Revival
 (2006)
Current London Cast [11]
Second Broadway Revival
 (2014)
Current Broadway Cast[12]
Australian Revival[13]
 (2014)

Jean Valjean
Maurice Barrier Colm Wilkinson Alexander Gemignani Peter Lockyer Ramin Karimloo Alfie Boe Simon Gleeson
Javert
Jean Vallée Roger Allam Terrence Mann Norm Lewis Jeremy Secomb Will Swenson Earl Carpenter Hayden Tee
Fantine
Rose Laurens Patti LuPone Randy Graff Daphne Rubin-Vega Rachelle Ann Go Caissie Levy Montego Glover Patrice Tipoki
Éponine
Marianne Mille Frances Ruffelle Celia Keenan-Bolger Carrie Hope Fletcher Nikki M. James Brennyn Lark Kerrie Anne Greenland
Thénardier
Yvan Dautin Alun Armstrong Leo Burmester Gary Beach Phil Daniels Cliff Saunders Gavin Lee Trevor Ashley
Madame Thénardier
Marie-France Roussel Susan Jane Tanner Jennifer Butt Jenny Galloway Katy Secombe Keala Settle Rachael Izen Lara Mulcahy
Marius
Gilles Buhlmann Michael Ball David Bryant Adam Jacobs Rob Houchen Andy Mientus Chris McCarrell Euan Doidge
Cosette
Fabienne Guyon Rebecca Caine Judy Kuhn Ali Ewoldt Zoe Doano Samantha Hill Alex Finke Emily Langridge
Enjolras
Christian Ratellin David Burt Michael Maguire Aaron Lazar Bradley Jaden Kyle Scatliffe Wallace Smith Chris Durling
Gavroche
Florence Davis
 Cyrille Dupont
 Fabrice Ploquin Ian Tucker
 Oliver Spencer
 Liza Hayden Braden Danner
 RD Robb Brian D'Addario
 Jacob Levine
 Austin Myers Charlie Gallacher
 Austin Taylor
 Toby Ungleson Joshua Colley
 Gaten Matarazzo Marcus D'Angelo
 Athan Sporek Nicholas Cradock
 Emerson Garcia
 Harry Herbert
 Tamatea Kratzmann
Concert Casts

Character
10th Anniversary Concert Cast
 (1995)
25th Anniversary Concert Cast
 (2010)

Jean Valjean
Colm Wilkinson Alfie Boe
Javert
Philip Quast Norm Lewis
Fantine
Ruthie Henshall Lea Salonga
Éponine
Lea Salonga Samantha Barks
Thénardier
Alun Armstrong Matt Lucas
Madame Thénardier
Jenny Galloway
Marius
Michael Ball Nick Jonas
Cosette
Judy Kuhn Katie Hall
Enjolras
Michael Maguire Ramin Karimloo
Gavroche
Adam Searles Robert Madge
Productions[edit]
Original French production[edit]



 The Palais des Sports in Paris where the musical was first performed.
French songwriter Alain Boublil had the idea to adapt Victor Hugo's novel into a musical while at a performance of the musical Oliver! in London:

As soon as the Artful Dodger came onstage, Gavroche came to mind. It was like a blow to the solar plexus. I started seeing all the characters of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables—Valjean, Javert, Gavroche, Cosette, Marius, and Éponine—in my mind's eye, laughing, crying, and singing onstage.[14]
He pitched the idea to French composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, and the two developed a rough synopsis. They worked up an analysis of each character's mental and emotional state, as well as that of an audience. Schönberg then began to write the music, while Boublil began work on the text. According to Boublil, "...I could begin work on the words. This I did—after myself deciding on the subject and title of every song—in collaboration with my friend, poet Jean-Marc Natel."[15] Two years later, a two-hour demo tape with Schönberg accompanying himself on the piano and singing every role was completed. An album of this collaboration was recorded at CTS Studios in Wembley and was released in 1980, selling 260,000 copies.
The concept album includes Maurice Barrier as Jean Valjean, Jacques Mercier as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Yvan Dautin as Thénardier, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Richard Dewitte as Marius, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, Marie-France Dufour as Éponine, Michel Sardou as Enjolras, Fabrice Bernard as Gavroche, Maryse Cédolin as Young Cosette, Claude-Michel Schönberg as Courfeyrac, Salvatore Adamo as Combeferre, Michel Delpech as Feuilly, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, and Mireille as the hair buyer.
That year, in September 1980, a stage version directed by veteran French film director Robert Hossein was produced at the Palais des Sports in Paris. The show was a success, with 100 performances seen by over 500,000 people.[16][17][18]
Most of the cast from the concept album performed in the production.[16][19] The cast included Maurice Barrier as Valjean, Jean Vallée as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Maryse Cédolin and Sylvie Camacho and Priscilla Patron as Young Cosette, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Yvan Dautin as M. Thénardier, Florence Davis and Fabrice Ploquin and Cyrille Dupont as Gavroche, Marianne Mille as Éponine, Gilles Buhlmann as Marius, Christian Ratellin as Enjolras, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, René-Louis Baron as Combeferre, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, Anne Forrez as Mlle. Gillenormand, and Claude Reva as the storyteller.[16][19][20][21]
Original West End production[edit]



Les Misérables at Queen's Theatre in London
The English-language version, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and additional material by James Fenton, was substantially expanded and reworked from a literal translation by Siobhan Bracke of the original Paris version, in particular adding a prologue to tell Jean Valjean's backstory. Kretzmer's work is not a direct "translation" of the French, a term that Kretzmer refused to use. A third of the English lyrics were a "rough" translation, another third were adapted from the French lyrics and the final third consisted of new material. The majority is performed in recitative style; the vocalists use natural speech delivery, not musical metrics.[22]
The first production in English, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, opened on 8 October 1985 (five years after the original production) at the Barbican Arts Centre, London. It was billed in the RSC Barbican Theatre programme as "The Royal Shakespeare Company presentation of the RSC/Cameron Mackintosh production", and played to preview performances beginning on 28 September 1985.
The set was designed by John Napier, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and lighting by David Hersey. Musical supervision and orchestrations were by John Cameron, who had been involved with the show since Boublil and Schönberg hired him to orchestrate the original French concept album. Musical staging was by Kate Flatt with musical direction by Martin Koch.
The original London cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Ken Caswell as the Bishop of Digne, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Zoë Hart, Jayne O'Mahony and Joanne Woodcock as Young Cosette, Danielle Akers, Gillian Brander and Juliette Caton as Young Éponine, Susan Jane Tanner as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Rebecca Caine as Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, with Ian Tucker, Oliver Spencer and Liza Hayden sharing the role of Gavroche.[23][24]
On 4 December 1985, the show transferred to the Palace Theatre, London and moved again on 3 April 2004, to the much more intimate Queen's Theatre, with some revisions of staging and where, as of August 2015,[25] it was still playing. It celebrated its ten-thousandth performance on 5 January 2010.[26] The drummer from the original cast album, Peter Boita, stayed with the show for the first 25 years of its history.[27]
The co-production has generated valuable income for the Royal Shakespeare Company.[28]
Original Broadway production[edit]
The musical opened as a pre-Broadway tryout at the Kennedy Center's Opera House in Washington D.C. on December 27, 1986. It ran for eight weeks through February 14, 1987.[29]
The musical then premiered on Broadway on March 12, 1987 at The Broadway Theatre. Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle reprised their roles from the London production.[30] The $4.5 million production had a more than $4 million advance sale prior to its New York opening.[31]
The show underwent further tightening and an improved sewer lighting and Javert suicide scene effect was incorporated.[32] Boublil explained: "The transfer from London to the United States has prompted further modifications. 'We are taking this opportunity to rethink and perfect, to rewrite some details which probably no one else will see, but which for us are still long nights of work,' Mr. Boublil says. 'There are things that nobody had time to do in London, and here we have a wonderful opportunity to fix a few things. No one will notice, perhaps, but for us, it will make us so happy if we can better this show. We would like this to be the final version.'"[31] Two songs were deleted—the complete version of Gavroche's song "Little People" and the adult Cosette's "I Saw Him Once". A short section at the beginning of "In My Life" replaced "I Saw Him Once". The lyrics in Javert's "Stars" were changed. It now ended with the line, "This I swear by the stars!", while the London production and cast recording ended with the repeated line, "Keeping watch in the night".
The original Broadway cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, Donna Vivino as Young Cosette, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Randy Graff as Fantine, Terrence Mann as Javert, Chrissie McDonald as Young Éponine, and Norman Large as the Bishop of Digne.[30]
Other members of the original Broadway cast included Kevin Marcum, Paul Harman, Anthony Crivello, John Dewar, Joseph Kolinski, Alex Santoriello, Jesse Corti, Susan Goodman, John Norman, Norman Large, Marcus Lovett, Steve Shocket, Cindy Benson, Marcie Shaw, Jane Bodle, Joanna Glushak, Ann Crumb, Kelli James, Gretchen Kingsley-Weihe, Chrissie McDonald. Michael Hinton was the original drummer and credited on the cast album.[30]
The musical ran at the Broadway Theatre through October 10, 1990, when it moved to the Imperial Theatre.[30] It was scheduled to close on March 15, 2003, but the closing was postponed by a surge in public interest.[33] According to an article in The Scotsman, "Sales picked up last October, when Sir Cameron made the announcement that the show would be closing on March 15th...its closure postponed to May 18th because of an unexpected increase in business."[34] After 6,680 performances in sixteen years,[34] when it closed on May 18, 2003,[30] it was the second-longest-running Broadway musical after Cats.[35] It was surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera, in 2006.[36]
This Broadway production of Les Misérables and its advertising in New York City is a reoccurring theme in American Psycho. The reviewer for the Financial Times wrote that Les Misérables is "the book's hilarious main cultural compass-point".[37]
2006 Broadway revival[edit]
Only three years after the original run closed, Les Misérables began a return to Broadway on 9 November 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre for a limited run that was subsequently made open-ended.
Using the set, costumes, performers, and other resources from the recently closed third US national touring production, the production was only slightly altered. Minor changes included colourful projections blended into its existing lighting design, and a proscenium that extended out into the first two boxes on either side of the stage.
Some cuts made to the show's prologue during its original Broadway run were restored, lyrics for Gavroche's death scene (known in the revival as "Ten Little Bullets") cut during the development of the original London production were restored, and much of the show was re-orchestrated by Christopher Jahnke, introducing a snare and timpani-heavy sound played by a 14-member band, a reduction of about 8 musicians from the original production's 22 musician orchestration.[citation needed]
The original 2006 Broadway revival cast included Alexander Gemignani as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Daphne Rubin-Vega as Fantine, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Éponine, Aaron Lazar as Enjolras, Adam Jacobs as Marius, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Gary Beach as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Brian D’Addario and Jacob Levine and Skye Rainforth and Austyn Myers as Gavroche, James Chip Leonard as The Bishop of Digne, Drew Sarich as Grantaire, and Tess Adams and Kylie Liya Goldstein and Carly Rose Sonenclar as Young Cosette/Young Éponine.[38]
Lea Salonga, who previously played the role of Éponine in the 10th Anniversary concert, replaced Rubin-Vega as Fantine beginning on March 2, 2007. Zach Rand replaced Jacob Levine as Gavroche on March 15, 2007. Ann Harada replaced Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier on April 24, 2007. Ben Davis joined playing Javert, and Max von Essen playing Enjolras. Ben Crawford and Mandy Bruno joined the cast that day too, playing Brujon and Éponine respectively. On July 23, 2007, Sarich took over the role of Valjean, following Gemignani's departure. On September 5, 2007, it was announced that John Owen-Jones (who was playing Valjean in London) was to join the Broadway cast. In return, Sarich would join the London cast in Owen-Jones' place. Judy Kuhn, who originated the role of Cosette, returned to the show after twenty years as Fantine, succeeding Salonga.
The revival closed on 6 January 2008.[39]
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
A sit down production played at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Previews began on September 27, 2013 with the opening night on October 9. The production closed on February 2, 2014.[40][41][42][43] Laurence Olivier Award nominee, Ramin Karimloo, starred as Jean Valjean.[44] He was joined by fellow West End star, Earl Carpenter, who reprised the role of Inspector Javert.[45] Other cast members included Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Samantha Hill as Cosette, Melissa O'Neil as Éponine, Cliff Saunders as Monsieur Thenardier, Lisa Horner as Madame Thenardier, and Mark Uhre as Enjolras.[46] The roles of young Cosette and young Éponine were shared by Ella Ballentine, Saara Chaudry and Madison Oldroyd. Gavroche was shared by David Gregory Black and Aiden GlennRead.[47]
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
The show returned to Broadway in March 2014 at the Imperial Theatre with previews beginning March 1, 2014 and had an official opening on March 23, 2014.[48][49] The creative team includes the direction of Laurence Connor and James Powell, the set design by Matt Kinley, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowlands, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Mick Potter and projections by Fifty-Nine Productions. Cameron Mackintosh once again produced the show. On October 22, 2013, it was announced that Ramin Karimloo, Will Swenson, Caissie Levy, and Nikki M. James would be headlining the revival cast as Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Éponine respectively.[50] Andy Mientus and Samantha Hill also star as Marius and Cosette respectively.[51][52] Angeli Negron and McKayla Twiggs share the role of Young Cosette.[53] On August 30, 2015, Karimloo ended his run of the show as was replaced by Alfie Boe.
The 2014 Broadway revival was nominated for 3 Tony Awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Karimloo, and Best Sound Design for Potter.
2014 Australian revival[edit]
In mid 2013, a brand new Australian production was announced, with Simon Gleeson as Valjean, Hayden Tee as Javert, Patrice Tipoki as Fantine, Trevor Ashley and Lara Mulcahy as the Thénardiers, Kerrie Anne Greenland as Éponine, Emily Langridge as Cosette, Euan Doidge as Marius and Chris Durling as Enjolras.[54] The production premiered on the 4th of July at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne.[55]
2016 Manila production[edit]
On September 16, 2015, it was announced that the new production of Les Misérables would launch its Asian tour in Manila in March 2016,[56] with Simon Gleeson as Jean Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, and Rachelle Ann Go as Fantine,[57] at The Theater at Solaire.
Concert productions[edit]
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
On 8 October 1995, the show celebrated its tenth anniversary with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This 10th Anniversary Concert was nearly "complete," missing only a handful of scenes, including "The Death of Gavroche" and the confrontation between Marius and the Thénardiers at the wedding feast. Sir Cameron Mackintosh hand-selected the cast, which became known as the Les Misérables Dream Cast, assembled from around the world, and engaged the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert concluded with seventeen Valjeans from various international productions singing, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" in their native languages. The concert cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Paul Monaghan as the Bishop of Digne, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Michael Ball as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Lea Salonga as Éponine, and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire. The concert was staged by Ken Caswell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert
Gree The 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables was held at The O2 in North Greenwich, South East London, United Kingdom, on Sunday, 3 October 2010 at 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm.
It featured Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Nick Jonas as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Matt Lucas as Thénardier, Mia Jenkins as Young Cosette, Robert Madge as Gavroche and Earl Carpenter as the Bishop of Digne. (Originally, Camilla Kerslake had been selected to perform as Cosette, however she was unable to attend. Katie Hall was selected in her place. Hall had previously acted the role at the Queen's Theatre from 2009 and in the 25th Anniversary Tour production at the Barbican.) Casts of the current London, international tour, original 1985 London, and several school productions took part, comprising an ensemble of three hundred performers and musicians. The concert was directed by Laurence Connor & James Powell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
Other concert performances[edit]
The musical has also been performed in concert at Cardiff Castle and several venues in southern England, produced by Earl Carpenter Concerts. A concert version starring Jeff Leyton was also performed at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. In 1989, a one-night concert performance was performed at SkyDome, Toronto, and the largest concert production attracted an audience of approximately 125,000 as part of the Australia Day celebrations in Sydney's Domain Park. The Scandinavian concert tour, produced by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Noble Art, starred Danish musical icon Stig Rossen in the leading role and commemorated author Victor Hugo's 200th birthday. Venues on the tour included the Stockholm Globe Arena, Oslo Spektrum, the Helsinki Hartwell Areena, and the Gothenburg Scandinavium, with audiences totalling over 150,000 for the complete tour.
In November 2004, to celebrate the centennial of the Entente Cordiale, the Queen invited the cast of Les Misérables in the West End to perform for French President Jacques Chirac at Windsor Castle. It was the first time the cast of a West End musical had performed at a Royal residence. The cast was the same as in the West End, supplemented by several guest singers and a choir of former performers. The part of Jean Valjean was played by Michael Ball – the original 1985 London and 1995 Dream Cast Marius - and the part of Javert was played by Michael McCarthy.
In February 2008, Les Misérables was performed at the Bournemouth International Centre, England with a cast of West End stars accompanied by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In August 2008, a concert version, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, was performed at the Hollywood Bowl. The cast included veteran Les Misérables star J. Mark McVey as Valjean, The Office star Melora Hardin as Fantine, Broadway star and Bowl veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert, Spring Awakening and Glee star Lea Michele as Éponine, Tony-winning Jersey Boys star John Lloyd Young as Marius, West End star Tom Lowe as Enjolras, Michael McCormick as Thénardier, Ruth Williamson as Madame Thénardier, Michele Maika as Cosette, Maddie Levy as Young Cosette, and Sage Ryan as Gavroche.
In September 2008, it was performed at the St John Loveridge Hall in Guernsey with a cast of West End performers—the first time that it had been professionally performed on the Island where Victor Hugo wrote the novel. Former London Valjean Phil Cavill reprised his role alongside Les Misérables veteran Michael McCarthy as Javert. In March 2009, the Guernsey production was remounted at Fort Regent in Jersey; and in July 2009, the musical was performed in concert at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Touring Productions[edit]
National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production[edit]
The show had three national touring companies of the original Broadway production in the US, all of which shared the Broadway producer and manager, creative teams, as well nearly identical sets, costumes, and lighting. While the touring production and the New York production were running simultaneously, the staff, cast members, crew, and musicians of the two productions interchanged often, which contributed to keeping both companies of the show in form. When the New York production closed in 2003, the Third National Tour continued for another three years, and enjoyed the influx of many members from the original and subsequent New York companies.
The First National Tour opened at Boston's Shubert Theatre on 12 December 1987, and continued to play major cities until late 1991. The Second National Tour (called "The Fantine Company") opened at Los Angeles' Shubert Theatre on 1 June 1988. The production played for fourteen months then transferred to San Francisco's Curran Theatre where it enjoyed a similar run. The Third National Tour of Les Misérables (called "The Marius Company") was one of the longest running American touring musical productions. Opening on 28 November 1988, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Florida, and closing on 23 July 2006, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri,[58] the tour ran for seventeen years and 7,061 performances. The tour played in 145 cities in 43 states. The same touring company also frequently performed in Canada, made a 1994 diversion to Singapore, and another diversion in 2002 to be the first Western musical production to visit China, opening in Shanghai's Grand Theatre for a three-week engagement.
All US productions (including Broadway and its revival) were visually identical in scale and design but the third national tour was notable for its portability without sacrificing the Broadway-caliber experience. Thanks to innovative touring techniques borrowed from the pop/rock concert industry, the 4.5 million dollar production was adaptable to smaller and larger venues and traveled complete in all of 8 semi tractor trailers. It was set up and ready to go in less than 24 hours and broken down and packed up in about 16 hours. This allowed it to reach many cities and venues in its acclaimed, original Broadway form.
The final company of the Third National Broadway Tour included Randal Keith as Valjean (Keith also played Valjean in the final company of the original Broadway engagement), Robert Hunt as Javert, Joan Almedilla as Fantine, Daniel Bogart as Marius, Norman Large (from Original Broadway Cast) as Monsieur Thénardier, Jennifer Butt (from Original Broadway Cast) as Madame Thénardier, Melissa Lyons as Éponine, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Victor Wallace as Enjolras, Meg Guzulescu and Rachel Schier alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine, and Austyn Myers and Anthony Skillman alternating as Gavroche.
25th Anniversary Tour[edit]
A tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the show began performances on 12 December 2009, at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Differences from the original production included a new set, new costumes, new direction and alterations to the original orchestrations. The tour also did not use a revolving stage and the scenery was inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Locations have included Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Salford, and Southampton. The tour also played a special engagement in Paris. From September through October, the show returned to the Barbican Centre, London, site of the original 1985 production. The tour cast featured John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Gareth Gates as Marius, Ashley Artus as Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Madame Thénardier, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Rosalind James as Éponine, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, Katie Hall as Cosette (with Eliza Jones as Young Cosette), and David Lawrence as the Bishop of Digne. The tour ended 2 October 2010, at the Barbican.[citation needed]
In the fall of 2010, The tour moved to the US with a new company presented by Broadway Across America to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show opening on Broadway. The tour had its opening on 19 November 2010 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, running until 19 December 2010. This tour originally starred Lawrence Clayton as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Betsy Morgan as Fantine, Jenny Latimer as Cosette, Justin Scott Brown as Marius, Chasten Harmon as Éponine, Michael Kostroff as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, Jeremy Hays as Enjolras, Josh Caggiano and Ethan Paul Khusidman as Gavroche, Maya Jade Frank and Juliana Simone alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine. J. Mark McVey's daughter, Kylie McVey was the understudy for Young Cosette and Young Éponine. Clayton left the tour in April 2011. Ron Sharpe later took over as Valjean until June 2011. J. Mark McVey was then Valjean (McVey previously played the role on Broadway), but McVey and his daughter left the tour on 1 April 2012. Peter Lockyer replaces him as Valjean. Betsy Morgan left the tour on December 2, 2012. She was replaced by Genevieve Leclerc. The tour ran until August 11, 2013, closing at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. The tour's final cast included Peter Lockyer as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Lauren Wiley as Cosette, Devin Ilaw as Marius, Briana Carlson-Goodman as Éponine, Timothy Gulan as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, and Jason Forbach as Enjolras,[59][60] In 2011 it was reported that the tour is one of six US national Broadway tours that are grossing over $1,000,000 per week.[61]
International productions[edit]
The show has been produced in forty-two countries and translated into twenty-one languages: English, French (original and re-translated), German (Austria and Germany), Spanish (four versions: two from Spain, one version each from Argentina and Mexico), Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Swedish (in Sweden and in Finland), Dutch (Netherlands and Belgium), Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan and Korean. Including singles and promos, there have been over seventy official recordings from worldwide productions.[62]
The first full West End / Broadway production in Europe (mainland) was set up in Oslo, Norway at Det Norske Teatret and opened on 17 March 1988.[63] The production was in Norwegian and starred Norwegian singer/actor Øystein Wiik as Jean Valjean, Paul Åge Johannessen as Javert, Øivind Blunck as Thénardier, Kari Gjærum as Fantine, Amund Enger as Enjolras and Guri Schanke as Éponine. The first Oslo production was hugely successful and some 10% of Norway's entire population saw the show in the first 6 months. Øystein Wiik went on to also star as Jean Valjean in the in productions in Vienna and London in 1989–1990.
Interestingly, the stage show, which had changed so significantly since its Parisian conception as a stadium concert in 1980, was only finally translated back into the language of Victor Hugo for its French World Première in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1991. This production, which in fact boasted a cast that presented five shows a week in French and three a week in English, was a great success. It gave the producers a clear indication that Les Misérables was finally ready to go "home", to Paris, later that same year.
Regional productions[edit]


 This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (February 2014)
In September 2008, a mini-tour produced by Atlanta's Theater of the Stars played Eisenhower Hall at the United States Military Academy,[64][not in citation given] in West Point, New York; the Filene Center at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia; Kansas City Starlight Theatre; and the Fox Theater in Atlanta. The show featured a new set of original pictures painted by Victor Hugo himself. Robert Evan played Valjean, returning to the role he played in the mid-nineties on Broadway. Also featured were Nikki Rene Daniels as Fantine and Robert Hunt as Javert, both reprising their roles from the Broadway revival. Fred Hanson directed the production. The creative team included Matt Kinley as Scenic Designer, Ken Billington as Lighting Designer, Peter Fitzgerald and Erich Bechtel as Sound Designers, Zachary Borovay as Projection Designer, and Dan Riddle as Musical Director and Conductor.[65]
In 2008, the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia staged a small venue "black box" version of the play. Signature received Mackintosh's special permission for the production: "One of the great pleasures of being involved with the creation of Les Misérables is seeing this marvelous musical being done in a completely different and original way. Having seen many shows brilliantly reimagined at Signature I have no doubt that Eric and his team will come up with a revolutionary new take on Les Miz unlike anything anyone has seen before. Viva la différence!"[66] The production officially opened on 14 December 2008 (after previews from 2 December), and ran through 22 February 2009 (extended from 25 January 2009).[67][68]
A 2014 production at the Dallas Theater Center modernized the staging in a way rarely attempted in productions of this play, set visually in the modern-day United States rather than 1830s France. The concept was thought to be refreshing as a change from typical production styles and effective as a commentary on modern inequality. Though, much controversy surrounded their unauthorized depart from the authors' libretto and score.[69][70]
In Panama, Les Misérables was staged in 2014 in Spanish at the famed National Theatre of Panama for a short, sold out run, directed by Aaron Zebede.[71]
School edition[edit]
The school edition cuts a considerable amount of material from the original show. It is divided into thirty scenes and, although no "critical" scenes or songs have been removed, it runs 25–30 minutes shorter than the "official" version making the total running time about 2 1⁄2 hours.[72] A few subtle changes of vocal pitch have been made: "What Have I Done?", Valjean's Soliloquy, "Stars" by Javert, "A Little Fall of Rain" by Éponine and Marius, "Turning", and "Castle on a Cloud" lose a verse each. During "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois loses two verses. The song "Fantine's Death/Confrontation" is edited, and the counterpoint duel between Javert and Valjean is lost, as well as a verse by Fantine. "Dog Eats Dog" by Thénardier is heavily truncated. "Beggars at the Feast", is shortened, with Thénardier losing a verse, and the song before it, "Wedding Chorale", is excluded entirely although the rest of the wedding remains in place. Also, the drinker's introduction to "Master of the House" is cut completely.[73]
Film adaptation[edit]
For the most recent film adaptation, see Les Misérables (2012 film).
Although numerous films of the Les Misérables story have been made, no film adaptation of the stage musical was produced for many years. A film adaptation was in development at several times since the late 1980s. Alan Parker was reported to be connected to an adaptation at an early stage.[74] In 1992 Mackintosh announced planning for a film to be directed by Bruce Beresford and co-produced by Tri-Star Pictures,[75] but the project was later abandoned.[76]
The 2010 DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert included an announcement of revised plans for a film adaptation[77] which was later confirmed by Mackintosh. Tom Hooper signed on in March 2011 to direct the Mackintosh-produced film from a screenplay by William Nicholson.[78] In June 2011, Working Title Films and Mackintosh announced that the film would begin principal photography in early 2012 for a tentative December release date. The film was given its general US release on Christmas Day 2012.[79] Principal cast members include Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert,[80] Anne Hathaway as Fantine,[81] Amanda Seyfried as Cosette,[82] Eddie Redmayne as Marius Pontmercy,[83] Samantha Barks as Éponine,[84] and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thénardiers.[85][86] Other notable actors who played roles in the film include Aaron Tveit as Enjolras, Bertie Carvel as Bamatabois, Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop of Digne and Frances Ruffelle as a prostitute.[87]
Cast recordings[edit]
English[edit]
The following recordings of Les Misérables are available in English: the Original London Cast, the Original Broadway Cast, the Complete Symphonic Recording, the 10th Anniversary London Concert, The 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast and The 25th Anniversary London Concert.
Original London Cast recording[edit]
The Original London Cast recording was the first English language album of the musical. Recorded in 1985, when the show premiered, it is closest to the original French concept album. For example, "Stars" appears before "Look Down" and shortly after, the original version of "Little People" plays, which was later incorporated into the revealing of Javert. It also features a song entitled "I Saw Him Once", sung by Cosette, which was later incorporated into the first part of "In My Life". The album has sold 887,000 copies in the US.[88]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Susan Jane Tanner as Mme. Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Ian Tucker as Gavroche, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, and Rebecca Caine as Cosette.
Original Broadway Cast recording[edit]
The Original Broadway Cast recording was produced in 1987. It included several changes to the songs that are still evident in today's performances. As with its predecessor, it is incomplete, and leaves out songs or parts that are more important narratively than musically (e.g., "Fantine's Arrest", "The Runaway Cart", "The Final Battle"). The album has sold 1,596,000 copies in the US.[88]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Terrence Mann as Javert, Randy Graff as Fantine, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, and Donna Vivino as Young Cosette.
Complete Symphonic Recording[edit]
Recorded in 1988 and released in 1989, the Complete Symphonic Recording features the entire score. (The Czech Revival Recording is the only other album, in any language, to feature the entire score; on the other hand, the four 2003 Japanese recordings feature the entire score after the cuts first made on Broadway at the end of 2000.) Cameron Mackintosh's original plan was to use the Australian cast,[89] but the scope was expanded to create an international cast featuring performers from the major performances of the musical. The cast was recorded in three different places.[90]
The album, produced by David Caddick and conducted by Martin Koch, won the Best Musical Cast Show Album Grammy Award in 1991. The cast includes Gary Morris as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Debra Byrne as Fantine, Gay Soper as Mme. Thénardier, Barry James as Thénardier, Kaho Shimada as Éponine, Michael Ball as Marius, Anthony Warlow as Enjolras, and Tracy Shayne as Cosette.
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
The 10th Anniversary recording was of a concert version of Les Misérables, performed at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1995, featuring full orchestra and choir. All the parts were sung live, giving the performance a different mood from other recordings. The score was recorded consecutively without pauses or multiple recordings. The concert's encores are also included. As with the original recordings, however, they differed from the stage versions by excluding some songs (e.g., those vital to plot such as "Fantine's Arrest" and "The Runaway Cart" were kept, while unnecessary or complex songs, such as "At the Barricade", were left out).
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier, Lea Salonga as Éponine, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Judy Kuhn as Cosette and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire.
Manchester Highlights[edit]
A five-track album featuring members of the UK national tour was released in 1992 and includes "I Dreamed a Dream" (Ria Jones); "Stars" (Philip Quast); "On My Own" (Meredith Braun); "Bring Him Home" (Jeff Leyton); and "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" (Mike Sterling). The version of "Stars" is the same as that on the Complete Symphonic Recording.
25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast[edit]
Recorded live at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, this recording was released to commemorate 25 years of Les Misérables in English. This recording featured new arrangements and reinspired orchestrations, and included John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Ashley Artus as M. Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Mme. Thénardier, Gareth Gates as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, and Rosalind James as Éponine.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert


 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)
The 25th Anniversary Concert was recorded live at The O2 (London) on 3 October 2010 and is available on DVD in the UK while the Blu-ray was released worldwide. It was shown in select US theaters via NCM Fathom Events. The release for the DVD and Blu-ray in the United States was 22 February 2011 to promote the film adaptation. A CD single of the 'Valjean Quartet' singing "Bring Him Home" was also recorded and released, with proceeds going to the charity "Tickets For Troops". The cast included Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Nick Jonas as Marius, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Katie Hall as Cosette, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Matt Lucas as Monsieur Thénardier and Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier.
Other languages[edit]
There are also various non-English language cast albums of the musical.


1980 Original French concept album
1987 Original Israeli cast
1988 Original Norway cast
1988 Original Hungarian cast
1988 Original Vienna cast
1990 Original Swedish cast
1991 Original Dutch cast
1991 Paris Revival cast
1992 Original Danish cast
1992 Original Czech cast
1993 Original Spanish cast
1993 Korean revival cast
1994 Japanese "blue" cast
1994 Japanese "red" cast

1996 Original Duisburg cast
1996 Swedish Värmland cast
1998 Original Antwerp cast
2003 Japanese "orange" cast
2003 Japanese "green" cast
2003 Japanese "light blue" cast
2003 Japanese "violet" cast
2003 Czech revival cast
2008 Dutch revival cast
2008 Le Capitole de Québec cast
2010 Polish Revival cast
2010 Spanish 25th anniversary production cast
2011 Czech cast

Awards and nominations[edit]
Original West End production[edit]
Original West End production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1985 Laurence Olivier Award Best New Musical Nominated
Best Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Alun Armstrong Nominated
Best Actress in a Musical Patti LuPone Won
2012 Laurence Olivier Award[91] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
2014 Laurence Olivier Award[92] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
Original Broadway production[edit]
Original Broadway production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1987 Tony Award Best Musical Won
Best Book of a Musical Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Best Original Score Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer Won
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Terrence Mann Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Frances Ruffelle Won
Best Direction of a Musical Trevor Nunn and John Caird Won
Best Scenic Design John Napier Won
Best Costume Design Andreane Neofitou Nominated
Best Lighting Design David Hersey Won
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Won
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Outstanding Orchestrations John Cameron Won
Outstanding Music Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Outstanding Set Design John Napier Won
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
2013 Toronto revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Dora Award[93][94] Outstanding Production Nominated
Outstanding Male Performance Ramin Karimloo Nominated
Mark Uhre Nominated
Aiden Glenn Nominated
Outstanding Female Performance Melissa O'Neil Won
Outstanding Direction Laurence Connor and James Powell Nominated
Outstanding Scenic Design Matt Kinley Nominated
Outstanding Costume Design Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowland Won
Outstanding Lighting Design Paule Constable Nominated
Outstanding Choreography James Dodgson Nominated
Outstanding Ensemble Entire ensemble Nominated
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
2014 Broadway revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Tony Award Best Revival of a Musical Nominated
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Ramin Karimloo Nominated
Best Sound Design of a Musical Mick Potter Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical Nominated
2014 Australian revival[edit]
2014 Australian revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Green Room Awards Production Nominated
Actor in a Leading Role Simon Gleeson Nominated
Hayden Tee Won
Direction James Powell and Laurence Connor Nominated
Musical Direction Geoffrey Castles Nominated
Design (Lighting) Paule Constable Nominated
Design (Sound) Mick Potter Nominated
Design (Set and Costume) Matt Kinley (Set and Image Design) Nominated
2015 Helpmann Awards[95][96] Best Musical Won
Best Male Actor in a Musical Simon Gleeson Won
Hayden Tee Nominated
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical Trevor Ashley Nominated
Chris Durling Nominated
Best Female Actor in a Musical Patrice Tipoki Nominated
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical Kerrie Anne Greenland Won
Best Direction of a Musical Laurence Connor and James Powell Nominated
Best Choreography in a Musical Michael Ashcroft and Geoffrey Garratt Nominated
Best Lighting Design Paule Constable Won
Best Scenic Design Matt Kinley Nominated
Best Sound Design Mick Potter Won
See also[edit]

Portal icon Musical Theatre portal
Lists of musicals
References[edit]
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68.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (18 December 2008). "Intimate Les Miz Gets Good Reviews in DC and Extends". Playbill. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
69.Jump up ^ Lowry, Mark (July 10, 2014). "Theater review: ‘Les Miserables’". DFW.com.
70.Jump up ^ Churnin, Nancy (July 6, 2014). "In Dallas and Hong Kong: "Do you hear the people sing?"". Dallas Morning News.
71.Jump up ^ http://www.prensa.com/impreso/vivir/aplausos-puesta/396753 La Prensa, Panamá, September 23, 2014
72.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables School Edition". Music Theatre International. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
73.Jump up ^ "Music Theatre International: Licensing Musical Theater Theatrical Performance Rights and Materials to Schools, Community and Professional Theatres since 1952". mtishows.com. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
74.Jump up ^ Schaefer, Stephen (18 October 1991). "Musical Chairs". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
75.Jump up ^ "Cameron Mackintosh's Production of Les Misérables Celebrates Its 2,000th Performance on Thursday, March 5 and Its Fifth Anniversary" (Press release). lesmis.com. 12 February 1992. Archived from the original on 2006-10-23. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
76.Jump up ^ "Les Miserables Hits Hollywood". contactmusic.com. 2 October 2005. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
77.Jump up ^ Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary (Blu-Ray). London, England: Universal Pictures. 29 November 2010. "Coming Soon – Universal Pictures proudly announce the musical motion picture of Les Misérables: A Working Title-Cameron Mackintosh Film"
78.Jump up ^ "Hooper to direct 'Les Miserables'". The Times Of India.[dead link]
79.Jump up ^ Bamigboye, Baz (16 June 2011). "Miss Daisy hits the West End". The Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 2012-11-04.
80.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (9 September 2011). "Hugh Jackman Is Russell Crowe's Quarry in Les Misérables Film". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
81.Jump up ^ "Cameron Mackintosh Confirms Anne Hathaway for Les MIsérables Film". Broadway World. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
82.Jump up ^ MacKenzie, Carina Adly (3 January 2012). "Taylor Swift, Amanda Seyfried get 'Les Misérables' gigs over Lea Michele". Zap2it. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
83.Jump up ^ Labrecque, Jeff (1 November 2011). "Eddie Redmayne lands 'Les Misérables' role". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
84.Jump up ^ Dunn, Carrie (31 January 2012). "Breaking News: Samantha Barks To Play Eponine In Les Miserables Movie". Broadway World. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
85.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (9 February 2012). "Mistress of the House: Helena Bonham Carter Will Be Madame Thénardier in Les Miz Movie". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
86.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (16 March 2012). "Sacha Baron Cohen, Daniel Evans, Linzi Hateley and More Confirmed for "Les Miz" Film". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
87.Jump up ^ "Miz Film: It's official! Aaron Tveit is confirmed to join the cast...". lesmis.com.[dead link]
88.^ Jump up to: a b Paul Grein (January 9, 2012). "Week Ending Jan. 6, 2013. Albums: Les Miz Takes Broadway To The Top". Yahoo Music (Chart Watch).
89.Jump up ^ "Complete Symphonic Recording". Retrieved 2007-07-07.[unreliable source?]
90.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables [Relativity Complete Symphonic Recording]". Answers.com. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-24.[unreliable source?]
91.Jump up ^ Shenton, Mark (15 April 2012). "Matilda - the Musical Sweeps Olivier Awards; Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller Are Also Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
92.Jump up ^ "OLIVIERS 2014: The Full List Of Winners And Nominees!". Broadway World. 13 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
93.Jump up ^ Alan Henry (June 2, 2014). "Ramin Karimloo Receives Toronto Dora Award Nomination; LES MISERABLES Earns a Total of 11 Nominations". Broadway World.
94.Jump up ^ Dora Awards 2014: A List Of All The Winners! broadwayworld, retrieved 2014-07-18.
95.Jump up ^ Cuthberson, Debbie; Rugendyke, Louise. "Helpmann Awards 2015 nominations: Opera Australia dominates as Les Miserables leads charge for musicals". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
96.Jump up ^ "2015 Nominees". Helpmann Awards. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables (musical).
Official website
Les Misérables at the Internet Broadway Database
An Archive of Performers from the Original Broadway Run of Les Misérables
An Archive of Performers from the London Run of Les Misérables


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Les Misérables (musical)

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This article is about the musical theatre production. For the film adaptation of the musical, see Les Misérables (2012 film). For the original novel, see Les Misérables.

Les Misérables
LesMisLogo.png
Music
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics
Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (French lyrics)
Herbert Kretzmer (English adaptation)

Book
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Alain Boublil
Trevor Nunn and John Caird (adaptation)

Basis
1862 novel by Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
Premiere
September 24, 1980 – Palais des Sports, Paris
Productions
1980 Paris
1985 West End
1987 Broadway
1987 First US Tour
1987 Japan
1988 Second US Tour
1988 Third US Tour
1991 Paris
1991 Netherlands
1992 UK Tour
1992 Madrid
1995 10th Anniversary Concert
2000 Argentina
2002 Mexico
2006 Broadway Revival
2008 Netherlands
2008 Quebec
2009 25th Anniversary UK Tour
2010 25th Anniversary Concert
2010 Spain
2010 Fourth US Tour
2012 Film adaptation
2012 South Korea
2013 Toronto
2013 Spain
2013 Puerto Rico
2014 Broadway Revival
2015 Vancouver
Multiple productions worldwide

Awards
Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Book
Tony Award for Best Score

Les Misérables (pronounced /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeʁabl(ə)]), colloquially known in Anglo-Saxon countries as Les Mis or Les Miz (/leɪ ˈmɪz/), is a sung-through musical based on the novel Les Misérables by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer.
Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Reception
3 Emblem
4 Synopsis 4.1 Act I
4.2 Act II
5 Musical numbers
6 Characters 6.1 Casts
7 Productions 7.1 Original French production
7.2 Original West End production
7.3 Original Broadway production
7.4 2006 Broadway revival
7.5 2013 Toronto revival
7.6 2014 Broadway revival
7.7 2014 Australian revival
7.8 2016 Manila production
8 Concert productions 8.1 10th Anniversary Concert
8.2 25th Anniversary Concert
8.3 Other concert performances
9 Touring Productions 9.1 National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production
9.2 25th Anniversary Tour
10 International productions
11 Regional productions 11.1 School edition
12 Film adaptation
13 Cast recordings 13.1 English 13.1.1 Original London Cast recording
13.1.2 Original Broadway Cast recording
13.1.3 Complete Symphonic Recording
13.1.4 10th Anniversary Concert
13.1.5 Manchester Highlights
13.1.6 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast
13.1.7 25th Anniversary Concert
13.2 Other languages
14 Awards and nominations 14.1 Original West End production
14.2 Original Broadway production
14.3 2013 Toronto revival
14.4 2014 Broadway revival
14.5 2014 Australian revival
15 See also
16 References
17 External links

Background[edit]
Originally released as a French-language concept album, the first musical-stage adaptation of Les Misérables was presented at the Palais des Sports, in 1980.[1] However, the first production closed after three months when the booking contract expired.
In 1983, about six months after producer Cameron Mackintosh had opened Cats on Broadway, he received a copy of the French concept album from director Peter Farago. Farago had been impressed by the work and asked Mackintosh to produce an English-language version of the show. Initially reluctant, Mackintosh eventually agreed. Mackintosh, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, assembled a production team to adapt the French musical for a British audience. After two years in development, the English-language version opened in London on 8 October 1985, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre, then the London home of the RSC. The success of the West End musical led to a Broadway production.
Reception[edit]
See also: Long-running musical theatre productions
At the opening of the London production, critical reviews were negative. The Sunday Telegraph's Francis King described the show as "a lurid Victorian melodrama produced with Victorian lavishness" and Michael Ratcliffe in the Observer dubbed the show "a witless and synthetic entertainment", while literary scholars condemned the project for converting classic literature into a musical.[2][3] Public opinion differed: the box office received record orders. The three-month engagement sold out, and reviews improved. The London production, as of October 2014, has run continuously since October 1985: the second longest-running musical in the world after The Fantasticks,[4] the second longest-running West End show after The Mousetrap,[5] It is the longest-running musical in the West End followed by The Phantom of the Opera. In 2010, it played its ten-thousandth performance in London, at Queen's Theatre[6] On 3 October 2010, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary with three productions running in London: the original production at the Queen's Theatre; the 25th Anniversary touring production at its 1985 try-out venue, the Barbican Centre; and the 25th Anniversary concert at London's O2 Arena.[6]
The Broadway production opened 12 March 1987 and ran until 18 May 2003, closing after 6,680 performances. It is the fifth longest-running Broadway show in history and was the second-longest at the time.[7] The show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
Subsequently, numerous tours and international and regional productions have been staged, as well as concert and broadcast productions. Several recordings have also been made. A Broadway revival opened in 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre and closed in 2008, and a second Broadway revival opened in 2014 and is currently running at the Imperial Theatre. The show was placed first in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of Britain's "Number One Essential Musicals" in 2005, receiving more than forty percent of the votes.[8] A film version directed by Tom Hooper was released at the end of 2012 to generally positive reviews as well as numerous awards nominations, winning three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
Emblem[edit]



 The etching by Émile Bayard that served as the model for the musical's emblem.
The musical's emblem is a picture of the waif Cosette sweeping the Thénardiers' inn (which occurs in the musical during "Castle on a Cloud"), usually shown cropped to a head-and-shoulders portrait superimposed on the French flag. The image is based on an etching by Gustave Brion based on the drawing by Émile Bayard. It appeared in several of the novel's earliest French-language editions.
Synopsis[edit]
Act I[edit]
In Bagne prison in Toulon, France, in 1815, the prisoners work at hard labour ("Work Song"). After 19 years in prison (five for stealing bread for his starving sister's son and her family, and the rest for trying to escape), Jean Valjean, "prisoner 24601," is released on parole by the policeman Javert. By law, Valjean must display a yellow ticket-of-leave, which identifies him as an ex-convict ("On Parole"). As a convict, Valjean is shunned wherever he goes and cannot find regular work or lodging, but the Bishop of Digne offers him food and shelter. Desperate and embittered, Valjean steals the Bishop's silver and flees. He is captured by the police, but rather than turn him in, the Bishop lies and tells the police that the silver was a gift, giving Valjean a pair of silver candlesticks in addition. The Bishop tells Valjean that he must use the silver "to become an honest man" and that he has "bought (Valjean's) soul for God" ("Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven"). Ashamed and humbled by the Bishop's kindness, Valjean resolves to redeem his sins ("Valjean's Soliloquy" / "What Have I Done?"). He tears up his yellow ticket, breaking his parole but giving himself a chance to start a new life free from the stigma of his criminal past.
Eight years later, Valjean has assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Fantine is a single mother working in his factory, trying to support her daughter Cosette, who is being raised by an innkeeper and his wife while Fantine labors in the city. Unbeknownst to Valjean, the factory foreman lusts after Fantine, and when she rejects his advances he takes it out on the other workers, who resent her for it. One day a coworker provokes a fight after learning about Fantine's child, and the foreman uses the incident as a pretense to fire Fantine ("At the End of the Day"). Fantine reflects on her broken dreams and about Cosette's father, who abandoned them both ("I Dreamed a Dream"). Desperate for money, she sells her locket and hair, finally becoming a prostitute ("Lovely Ladies"). When she fights back against an abusive customer, Bamatabois, Javert, now a police inspector stationed in Montreuil-sur-Mer, arrives to arrest her. But Valjean, passing by the scene, pities Fantine, and when he realizes she once worked for him and that she blames him for her misfortune, he is guilt-stricken. He orders Javert release her before taking her to a hospital ("Fantine's Arrest").
Soon afterwards, Valjean rescues a man pinned by a runaway cart ("The Runaway Cart"). Javert, who has up until now not recognized Valjean, though he has pursued him as a fugitive all these years, witnesses the incident and becomes suspicious, remembering the incredible strength Valjean displayed in the work camp. But it turns out another man has been arrested, and is about to go to trial for breaking parole. The real Valjean realizes that this case of mistaken identity could free him forever, but he's not willing to see an innocent man go to prison in his place and so confesses his identity to the court ("Who Am I?—The Trial"). At the hospital, a delirious Fantine dreams of Cosette. Valjean promises to find Cosette and protect her ("Come to Me" / "Fantine's Death"). Relieved, Fantine succumbs to her illness and dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean back into custody, but Valjean asks Javert for time to fetch Cosette. Javert refuses, insisting that a criminal like Valjean can never change or do good. They struggle, but Valjean overpowers Javert and escapes ("The Confrontation").
In Montfermeil, the duplicitous innkeepers, the Thénardiers, use Cosette as a servant while extorting money from Fantine by claiming that Cosette is seriously ill, all the while indulging their own daughter, Éponine. Cosette dreams of a life where she is not forced to work and is treated lovingly ("Castle on a Cloud"). The Thénardiers cheat their customers and live a life of criminal depravity ("Master of the House"). Valjean meets Cosette while she's on an errand drawing water and offers the Thénardiers payment to adopt her ("The Bargain"). The Thénardiers feign concern for Cosette and bargain with Valjean, who pays them 1,500 francs in the end. Valjean and Cosette leave for Paris ("The Waltz of Treachery").
Nine years later, in 1832, Paris is in upheaval because of the impending death of General Lamarque, the only man in the government who shows mercy to the poor. Among those mingling in the streets are the student revolutionaries Marius Pontmercy and Enjolras, who contemplate the effect Lamarque's death will have on the poor and desperate in Paris; the Thénardiers, who have since lost their inn and now run a street gang; their daughter Éponine, who is now grown and has fallen in love with Marius (who remains oblivious to her affections); and the streetwise young urchin Gavroche, who knows everything that happens in the slums ("Look Down"). The Thénardiers prepare to con some charitable visitors, who turn out to be Valjean and Cosette, who has grown into a beautiful young woman. While the gang bamboozles her father, Cosette runs into Marius, and the pair fall in love at first sight. Thénardier suddenly recognizes Valjean, but before they can finish the robbery Javert, now an inspector stationed here in Paris, comes to the rescue ("The Robbery"). Valjean and Cosette escape, and only later (when Thénardier tips him off) does Javert suspect who they were. Javert makes a vow to the stars (which represent his belief in a just and ordered universe where suffering is a punishment for sin) that he will find Valjean and recapture him ("Stars"). Meanwhile, Marius persuades Éponine to help him find Cosette ("Éponine's Errand").
At a small café, Enjolras exhorts a group of idealistic students to prepare for revolution. Marius interrupts the serious atmosphere by fantasizing about his new-found love, much to the amusement of his compatriots, particularly the wine-loving Grantaire ("The ABC Café—Red and Black"). When Gavroche brings the news of General Lamarque's death, the students realize that they can use the public's dismay to incite their revolution and that their time has come ("Do You Hear the People Sing?"). At Valjean's house, Cosette thinks about her chance meeting with Marius and later confronts Valjean about the secrets he keeps about his and her own past ("Rue Plumet—In My Life"). Éponine leads Marius to Valjean's house (despite being heartbroken that he has fallen in love with another), and he and Cosette meet again and confess their mutual love ("A Heart Full of Love"). Thénardier and his gang arrive, intending to rob Valjean's house, but Éponine stops them by screaming a warning ("The Attack on Rue Plumet"). The scream alerts Valjean, who believes that the intruders were sent by Javert to ferret out his cover. He tells Cosette that it's time once again for them to go on the run.
On the eve of the 1832 Paris Uprising, Valjean prepares to go into exile; Cosette and Marius part in despair; Éponine mourns her unrequited love for Marius; Enjolras encourages all of Paris to join the revolution as he and the other students prepare for battle; Marius is conflicted whether to follow Cosette or join the uprising; Javert reveals his plans to spy on the students; and the Thénardiers scheme to profit off the coming violence. Marius decides to stand with his friends, and all anticipate what the dawn will bring ("One Day More").[6]
Act II[edit]
As the students build a barricade to serve as their rally point, Javert, disguised as a rebel, volunteers to "spy" on the government troops. Marius discovers that Éponine has disguised herself as a boy to join the rebels and sends her to deliver a farewell letter to Cosette. ("Building the Barricade—Upon These Stones") Valjean intercepts the letter and learns about Marius and Cosette's romance. Éponine walks the streets of Paris alone, imagining that Marius is there with her, but laments that her love for Marius will never be reciprocated ("On My Own").
The French army arrives at the barricade and demands that the students surrender ("At the Barricade—Upon These Stones"). Though Javert tells the students that the government will not attack that night ("Javert's Arrival"), Gavroche exposes him as a spy, and the students detain him ("Little People"). Their plan is to spark a general uprising with their act of defiance, hoping that all the people of Paris will side with them and overwhelm the army. Éponine returns to find Marius but is shot by the soldiers crossing the barricade. As Marius holds her she assures him that she feels no pain and reveals her love for him before dying in his arms ("A Little Fall of Rain"). The students mourn this first loss of life at the barricades and resolve to fight in her name, and they carry her body away while Enjolras attempts to comfort Marius, who is heartbroken over Éponine's death. Valjean arrives at the barricade, crossing the government lines disguised as a soldier ("Night of Anguish"), hoping that he might somehow protect Marius in the coming battle for Cosette's sake. The rebels are suspicious of him at first, but when the army attacks Valjean saves Enjolras by shooting a sniper, and they accept him as one of them. In return, he asks Enjolras to be the one to execute the imprisoned Javert, which Enjolras grants. But as soon as Valjean and Javert are alone, Valjean frees Javert. Javert warns Valjean that he will not give up his pursuit and rejects what he perceives as a bargain for Valjean's freedom. Valjean says there are no conditions to his release, and holds no ill-will toward Javert for doing his duty. ("The First Attack").
The students settle down for the night and reminisce about the past while also expressing anxiety about the battle to come. Enjolras tells the other students to stay awake in case the enemy strikes unexpectedly in the night, but he tells Marius to get some sleep. Grantaire gets angry and asks Marius if he fears to die as Marius wonders if Cosette will remember him if he dies. ("Drink with Me"). As Marius sleeps, Valjean prays to God to protect Marius, even at the cost of his own life ("Bring Him Home"). As dawn approaches, Enjolras realizes that the people of Paris have not risen up with them, but resolves to fight on in spite of the impossible odds ("Dawn of Anguish"). Their resolve is fired even further when the army kill Gavroche, who snuck out to collect ammunition from bodies on the other side of the barricade ("The Second Attack / Death of Gavroche"). The army gives a final warning, but the rebels fight to the last man with Enjolras exhorting "Let others rise to take our place, until the Earth is free!". Everyone at the barricade is killed except Valjean and a gravely wounded Marius, who escape into the sewers ("The Final Battle"). Javert returns to the barricade, searching for Valjean amongst the bodies, and finds the open sewer grating.
Valjean carries Marius through the sewers but collapses in exhaustion. While he is unconscious, Thénardier, who has been looting bodies ("Dog Eats Dog"), comes upon them and takes a ring from the unconscious Marius, but flees when Valjean (whom he again recognizes) regains consciousness. When Valjean carries Marius to the sewer's exit he finds Javert waiting for him. Valjean begs Javert for one hour to bring Marius to a doctor, and Javert reluctantly agrees. Javert finds himself unable to reconcile Valjean's merciful acts with his conception of Valjean as an irredeemable criminal. Refusing to compromise his principles but no longer able to hold them sacred, he commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine ("Soliloquy - Javert's Suicide)".
In the wake of the failed revolution, women mourn the deaths of the students ("Turning") and Marius, wounded but alive, despairs at the sacrifice of so many lives ("Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). As he wonders who saved his own life, Cosette comforts him and they reaffirm their blossoming romance. Valjean realises that Cosette will not need him as a caretaker once she's married and gives them his blessing ("Every Day"). Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an escaped convict and must go away because his presence endangers Cosette ("Valjean's Confession"), making Marius promise never to tell Cosette. A few months later, Marius and Cosette marry ("Wedding Chorale"). The Thénardiers crash the reception in disguise and attempt to blackmail Marius, telling him that Valjean is a murderer and that Thénardier saw him carrying a corpse in the sewers after the barricades fell. When Thénardier shows him the ring as proof, Marius realizes that it was Valjean who saved his life. The newlyweds leave to find Valjean (Marius pausing to give Thénardier a punch in the face). The Thénardiers are not discouraged, instead gloating that their craven practicality has saved their lives time and time again ("Beggars at the Feast").
At a convent, Valjean awaits his death, having nothing left to live for. The spirit of Fantine appears to him and tells him that he has been forgiven and will soon be with God. Cosette and Marius arrive to find Valjean near death. Valjean thanks God for letting him live long enough to see Cosette again and Marius thanks him for saving his life. ("Epilogue - Valjean's Death"). Valjean gives Cosette a letter confessing his troubled past and the truth about her mother. As he dies, the spirits of Fantine and Éponine guide him to Heaven reminding him that "to love another person is to see the face of God." They are joined by the spirits of those who died at the barricades, who sing that in the next world God lays low all tyranny and frees all oppressed people from their shackles ("Finale").
Musical numbers[edit]
Main article: Songs from Les Misérables

Act I


Song
Performer(s)
1 "Prologue: Work Song" Chain Gang, Javert and Valjean
2 "Prologue: On Parole" Valjean, Farmer, Labourer, Innkeeper's Wife, Innkeeper and Bishop of Digne
3 "Prologue: Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven" Constables and Bishop of Digne
4 "Prologue: What Have I Done?" Valjean
5 "At the End of the Day" Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Girls, Fantine and Valjean
6 "I Dreamed a Dream" Fantine
7 "Lovely Ladies" Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores and Pimp
8 "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert and Valjean
9 "'The Runaway Cart" Townspeople, Valjean, Fauchelevant and Javert
10 "Who Am I? / The Trial" Valjean
11 "Fantine's Death: Come to Me" Fantine and Valjean
12 "The Confrontation" Javert and Valjean
13 "Castle on a Cloud" Young Cosette and Madame Thénardier
14 "Master of the House" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Customers
15 "The Well Scene" Valjean and Young Cosette
16 "The Bargain / The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" Thénardier, Valjean, Madame Thénardier and Young Cosette
17 "Look Down" Gavroche, Beggars, Old Woman, Prostitute, Pimp, Enjolras, and Marius
18 "The Robbery" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier, Marius, Éponine and Valjean
19 "Javert's Intervention" Javert and Thénardier
20 "Stars" Javert
21 "Éponine's Errand" Éponine and Marius
22 "ABC Café / Red and Black" Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Combeferre, Feuilly, Courfeyrac, Joly, Gavroche and Students
23 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Enjolras, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Feuilly Students and Townspeople
24 "Rue Plumet – In My Life" Cosette, Valjean, Marius and Éponine
25 "A Heart Full of Love" Marius, Cosette and Éponine
26 "The Attack on the Rue Plumet" Thénardier, Thieves (Montparnasse, Brujon, Babet, Claquesous), Éponine, Marius, Valjean and Cosette
27 “One Day More" Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Company

Act II


Song
Performer(s)
28 "Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Javert, Marius, Éponine and Valjean (the OLC, OBC, and Symphonic recordings also include Prouvaire, Grantaire, and Lesgles)
29 "On My Own" Éponine
30 "At the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Students, and Army Officer
31 "Javert's Arrival" Javert and Enjolras
32 "Little People" Gavroche, Grantaire, Prouvaire, Courfeyrac, Enjolras and Javert
33 "A Little Fall of Rain" (Éponine's Death) Éponine and Marius
34 "Night of Anguish" Enjolras, Marius, Combeferre, Prouvaire, Lesgles, Joly, Valjean, Grantaire, and Students
35 "The First Attack" Enjolras, Valjean, Feuilly, Grantaire, Lesgles, Javert, Students
36 "Drink with Me" Feuilly, Grantaire, Marius, Prouvaire, Joly, Students and Women
37 "Bring Him Home" Valjean
38 "Dawn of Anguish" Enjolras
39 "The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" Enjolras, Feuilly, Marius, Valjean, Gavroche, and Grantaire
40 "The Final Battle" Army Officer, Enjolras, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac
41 "Dog Eats Dog (The Sewers)" Thénardier, Valjean, and Javert
42 "Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide)" Javert
43 "Turning" Women of Paris
44 "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" Marius
45 "Every Day" Cosette, Marius and Valjean
46 "Valjean's Confession" Marius and Valjean
47 "Wedding Chorale" Guests, Thénardier, Marius and Madame Thénardier
48 "Beggars at the Feast" Thénardier and Madame Thénardier
49 "Valjean's Death" Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius and Éponine
50 "Do You Hear The People Sing? (Reprise) / [Finale]" Full Company

Characters[edit]
Characters in order of appearance

Character[9]
Voice[10]
Description

Jean Valjean
dramatic tenor/
original production: dramatic baritone
 Prisoner 24601. After being released from imprisonment for serving nineteen years (five for stealing a loaf of bread and fourteen for multiple escape attempts), he breaks parole and, after receiving mercy from Bishop Myriel, turns his life around to live for God, showing the effects of God's grace that bring a corrupt man into virtuous and selfless living. He changes his identity, becoming the wealthy mayor of a small town. He later adopts Cosette, the only daughter of Fantine. At the end, he eventually dies and the spirit of Fantine thanks him for raising her child.
Inspector Javert
baritone Respects the law above all else and relentlessly pursues Valjean, hoping to bring the escaped convict to justice. He firmly believes in the justice of the law, and has no room for mercy. In the end he commits suicide, broken by the mercy he experiences from Valjean.
The Bishop of Digne
baritone Shelters Valjean after his release from jail and gives him gifts of silver and absolution. His acts of kindness move Valjean to surrender his ways to God, escaping the label of "criminal" and living in a new identity.
The Factory Foreman
baritone or tenor Foreman of Valjean's (Valjean has assumed the name Madeleine) jet bead factory in Montreuil-sur-Mer which employs Fantine and other workers. The Foreman fires Fantine from the factory when she persists in resisting his overt sexual advances and because it is discovered that she is the mother of an illegitimate child (Cosette) living elsewhere.
The Factory Girl
soprano Mistress to the Factory Foreman. She intercepts a letter that the Thénardiers have sent to Fantine which exposes her as the mother of an illegitimate child, and the Factory Girl shows it to the Foreman, goading him into firing her.
Fantine
lyric mezzo-soprano An impoverished factory worker who loses her job and, as a result, turns to prostitution in order to continue paying the Thénardiers to care for her illegitimate daughter, Cosette. As Fantine dies of consumption, she asks Valjean to look after her child. Ultimately she appears as a spirit and escorts the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Old Woman
contralto Affectionately called "The Hair Hag" in many of the original US companies, the Old Woman is the character who talks Fantine into selling her hair before Fantine becomes a prostitute.
Crone
soprano Also called "The Locket Crone," this character is the woman who talks Fantine into selling her precious locket for much less than it is worth.
Bamatabois
tenor An upper-class "fop" who tries to buy Fantine's services. He treats her abusively so she refuses him. When Javert enters the scene, Bamatabois tries to cover the fact that he was soliciting a prostitute by having her arrested for attacking him.
Fauchelevent
baritone or tenor In a role reduced from the novel, he appears only in the Cart Crash scene, where he is trapped under the cart and rescued by Valjean. He is an elderly man who has fallen upon hard times.
Champmathieu
silent A man who is arrested and on trial because he is believed to be Jean Valjean. Valjean, still under the name Madeleine, confesses his true identity at the trial in order to save the man.
Young Cosette
treble The eight-year-old daughter of Fantine. Cosette is in the care of the Thénardiers who are paid by Fantine to take care of her child. Unknown to Fantine, the Thénardiers force Cosette to work, and they use Fantine's money for their own needs.
Madame Thénardier
contralto Thénardier's unscrupulous wife, who abuses Cosette but dotes on her own daughter, Éponine. She is fully complicit in most of her husband's crimes and schemes.
Young Éponine
silent The pampered daughter of the Thénardiers. She grows up with Cosette and is unkind to her.
Thénardier
comic baritone A second-rate thief, Thénardier runs a small inn where he continually bilks his customers. He and his family later travel to Paris, where he sets up as the leader of a gang of street thugs and con men. An eternal survivor, Thénardier is above nothing and below everything.
Gavroche
boy soprano A streetwise urchin who knows everyone and everything that happens in the slums of Paris. He joins up with the revolutionaries, and later dies on the barricade attempting to recover ammunition from fallen soldiers.
Enjolras
baritone or tenor Enjolras is the leader of the student revolutionaries and a friend of Marius. He is Idealistic and charismatic, although his plan is doomed to failure.
Marius Pontmercy
baritone or tenor A student revolutionary, is friends with Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette, and she with him. He is later rescued from the barricades by Valjean, who ultimately gives Marius and Cosette his blessing, allowing them to be married.
Éponine
mezzo-soprano Daughter of the Thénardiers, Éponine, now a ragged street waif and a thief like her father, secretly loves Marius. Although it causes her great anguish, she helps him locate Cosette and later delivers a message he sends her from the barricade. She is killed while returning to the barricades to see Marius. In the end she appears as a spirit alongside Fantine and they guide the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Brujon
baritone or tenor A brutish and cowardly, but dissatisfied, member of Thénardier's Gang. Brujon's role in the musical expands to cover Gueulemer.
Babet
baritone or tenor A foreboding member of Thénardier's Gang.
Claquesous
baritone or tenor A member of Thénardier's Gang Quiet and masked, expert at evading the police, Claquesous might in fact be working for the law.
Montparnasse
baritone or tenor A young member of Thénardier's Gang, Montparnasse is a handsome man who appears to be close to Éponine.
Cosette
soprano Cosette, the daughter of Fantine, has grown-up to become a beautiful young woman of culture and privilege under Valjean's adoptive and loving fatherly care and protection. She falls in love with Marius, and he returns her equally strong and pure romantic feelings. She marries him at the end of the musical.
Friends of the ABC
baritones and tenors Student revolutionaries who lead a revolution and die in the process, the Friends of the ABC become martyrs for the rights of citizens. (See Members listed below)
Combeferre
Baritone or tenor Combeferre is the philosopher of the ABC group. Enjolras' second-in-command. He is described as the guide of the Friends of the ABC.
Feuilly
tenor Feuilly is the only member of the Friends of the ABC who is not a student; he is a workingman. An optimist who stands as a sort of ambassador for the "outside," while the rest of the men stand for France. He loves Poland very much.
Courfeyrac
tenor Friendly and open, Courfeyrac introduces Marius to the ABC society in the novel. He always has many mistresses, and is described as the centre of the Friends of the ABC, always giving off warmth.
Joly
tenor or baritone A medical student and a hypochondriac; best friends with Lesgles.
Grantaire
baritone Grantaire is a member of the Friends of the ABC. Though he admires Enjolras and is one of his truest friends, Grantaire often opposes Enjolras' fierce determination and occasionally acts as a voice of reason. Grantaire is also very close to Gavroche and attempts to act as his protector. Grantaire has a weakness for spirits of the alcoholic kind and is often tipsy throughout the musical, carrying a bottle of wine wherever he goes.
Jean Prouvaire
baritone or tenor Prouvaire, a poet, is the youngest student member of the Friends. Jean Prouvaire has the honor of waving the giant red flag during "One Day More" at the end of Act One.
Lesgles
baritone or tenor Best friends with Joly. A very unlucky man, but also a very happy one.
Army Officer
tenor A voice from offstage, he demands the surrender of the student revolutionaries before the army attacks.
Casts[edit]
Casts

Character
Original French Stage Cast
 (1980)
Original London Cast
 (1985)
Original Broadway Cast
 (1987)
First Broadway Revival
 (2006)
Current London Cast [11]
Second Broadway Revival
 (2014)
Current Broadway Cast[12]
Australian Revival[13]
 (2014)

Jean Valjean
Maurice Barrier Colm Wilkinson Alexander Gemignani Peter Lockyer Ramin Karimloo Alfie Boe Simon Gleeson
Javert
Jean Vallée Roger Allam Terrence Mann Norm Lewis Jeremy Secomb Will Swenson Earl Carpenter Hayden Tee
Fantine
Rose Laurens Patti LuPone Randy Graff Daphne Rubin-Vega Rachelle Ann Go Caissie Levy Montego Glover Patrice Tipoki
Éponine
Marianne Mille Frances Ruffelle Celia Keenan-Bolger Carrie Hope Fletcher Nikki M. James Brennyn Lark Kerrie Anne Greenland
Thénardier
Yvan Dautin Alun Armstrong Leo Burmester Gary Beach Phil Daniels Cliff Saunders Gavin Lee Trevor Ashley
Madame Thénardier
Marie-France Roussel Susan Jane Tanner Jennifer Butt Jenny Galloway Katy Secombe Keala Settle Rachael Izen Lara Mulcahy
Marius
Gilles Buhlmann Michael Ball David Bryant Adam Jacobs Rob Houchen Andy Mientus Chris McCarrell Euan Doidge
Cosette
Fabienne Guyon Rebecca Caine Judy Kuhn Ali Ewoldt Zoe Doano Samantha Hill Alex Finke Emily Langridge
Enjolras
Christian Ratellin David Burt Michael Maguire Aaron Lazar Bradley Jaden Kyle Scatliffe Wallace Smith Chris Durling
Gavroche
Florence Davis
 Cyrille Dupont
 Fabrice Ploquin Ian Tucker
 Oliver Spencer
 Liza Hayden Braden Danner
 RD Robb Brian D'Addario
 Jacob Levine
 Austin Myers Charlie Gallacher
 Austin Taylor
 Toby Ungleson Joshua Colley
 Gaten Matarazzo Marcus D'Angelo
 Athan Sporek Nicholas Cradock
 Emerson Garcia
 Harry Herbert
 Tamatea Kratzmann
Concert Casts

Character
10th Anniversary Concert Cast
 (1995)
25th Anniversary Concert Cast
 (2010)

Jean Valjean
Colm Wilkinson Alfie Boe
Javert
Philip Quast Norm Lewis
Fantine
Ruthie Henshall Lea Salonga
Éponine
Lea Salonga Samantha Barks
Thénardier
Alun Armstrong Matt Lucas
Madame Thénardier
Jenny Galloway
Marius
Michael Ball Nick Jonas
Cosette
Judy Kuhn Katie Hall
Enjolras
Michael Maguire Ramin Karimloo
Gavroche
Adam Searles Robert Madge
Productions[edit]
Original French production[edit]



 The Palais des Sports in Paris where the musical was first performed.
French songwriter Alain Boublil had the idea to adapt Victor Hugo's novel into a musical while at a performance of the musical Oliver! in London:

As soon as the Artful Dodger came onstage, Gavroche came to mind. It was like a blow to the solar plexus. I started seeing all the characters of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables—Valjean, Javert, Gavroche, Cosette, Marius, and Éponine—in my mind's eye, laughing, crying, and singing onstage.[14]
He pitched the idea to French composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, and the two developed a rough synopsis. They worked up an analysis of each character's mental and emotional state, as well as that of an audience. Schönberg then began to write the music, while Boublil began work on the text. According to Boublil, "...I could begin work on the words. This I did—after myself deciding on the subject and title of every song—in collaboration with my friend, poet Jean-Marc Natel."[15] Two years later, a two-hour demo tape with Schönberg accompanying himself on the piano and singing every role was completed. An album of this collaboration was recorded at CTS Studios in Wembley and was released in 1980, selling 260,000 copies.
The concept album includes Maurice Barrier as Jean Valjean, Jacques Mercier as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Yvan Dautin as Thénardier, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Richard Dewitte as Marius, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, Marie-France Dufour as Éponine, Michel Sardou as Enjolras, Fabrice Bernard as Gavroche, Maryse Cédolin as Young Cosette, Claude-Michel Schönberg as Courfeyrac, Salvatore Adamo as Combeferre, Michel Delpech as Feuilly, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, and Mireille as the hair buyer.
That year, in September 1980, a stage version directed by veteran French film director Robert Hossein was produced at the Palais des Sports in Paris. The show was a success, with 100 performances seen by over 500,000 people.[16][17][18]
Most of the cast from the concept album performed in the production.[16][19] The cast included Maurice Barrier as Valjean, Jean Vallée as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Maryse Cédolin and Sylvie Camacho and Priscilla Patron as Young Cosette, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Yvan Dautin as M. Thénardier, Florence Davis and Fabrice Ploquin and Cyrille Dupont as Gavroche, Marianne Mille as Éponine, Gilles Buhlmann as Marius, Christian Ratellin as Enjolras, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, René-Louis Baron as Combeferre, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, Anne Forrez as Mlle. Gillenormand, and Claude Reva as the storyteller.[16][19][20][21]
Original West End production[edit]



Les Misérables at Queen's Theatre in London
The English-language version, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and additional material by James Fenton, was substantially expanded and reworked from a literal translation by Siobhan Bracke of the original Paris version, in particular adding a prologue to tell Jean Valjean's backstory. Kretzmer's work is not a direct "translation" of the French, a term that Kretzmer refused to use. A third of the English lyrics were a "rough" translation, another third were adapted from the French lyrics and the final third consisted of new material. The majority is performed in recitative style; the vocalists use natural speech delivery, not musical metrics.[22]
The first production in English, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, opened on 8 October 1985 (five years after the original production) at the Barbican Arts Centre, London. It was billed in the RSC Barbican Theatre programme as "The Royal Shakespeare Company presentation of the RSC/Cameron Mackintosh production", and played to preview performances beginning on 28 September 1985.
The set was designed by John Napier, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and lighting by David Hersey. Musical supervision and orchestrations were by John Cameron, who had been involved with the show since Boublil and Schönberg hired him to orchestrate the original French concept album. Musical staging was by Kate Flatt with musical direction by Martin Koch.
The original London cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Ken Caswell as the Bishop of Digne, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Zoë Hart, Jayne O'Mahony and Joanne Woodcock as Young Cosette, Danielle Akers, Gillian Brander and Juliette Caton as Young Éponine, Susan Jane Tanner as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Rebecca Caine as Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, with Ian Tucker, Oliver Spencer and Liza Hayden sharing the role of Gavroche.[23][24]
On 4 December 1985, the show transferred to the Palace Theatre, London and moved again on 3 April 2004, to the much more intimate Queen's Theatre, with some revisions of staging and where, as of August 2015,[25] it was still playing. It celebrated its ten-thousandth performance on 5 January 2010.[26] The drummer from the original cast album, Peter Boita, stayed with the show for the first 25 years of its history.[27]
The co-production has generated valuable income for the Royal Shakespeare Company.[28]
Original Broadway production[edit]
The musical opened as a pre-Broadway tryout at the Kennedy Center's Opera House in Washington D.C. on December 27, 1986. It ran for eight weeks through February 14, 1987.[29]
The musical then premiered on Broadway on March 12, 1987 at The Broadway Theatre. Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle reprised their roles from the London production.[30] The $4.5 million production had a more than $4 million advance sale prior to its New York opening.[31]
The show underwent further tightening and an improved sewer lighting and Javert suicide scene effect was incorporated.[32] Boublil explained: "The transfer from London to the United States has prompted further modifications. 'We are taking this opportunity to rethink and perfect, to rewrite some details which probably no one else will see, but which for us are still long nights of work,' Mr. Boublil says. 'There are things that nobody had time to do in London, and here we have a wonderful opportunity to fix a few things. No one will notice, perhaps, but for us, it will make us so happy if we can better this show. We would like this to be the final version.'"[31] Two songs were deleted—the complete version of Gavroche's song "Little People" and the adult Cosette's "I Saw Him Once". A short section at the beginning of "In My Life" replaced "I Saw Him Once". The lyrics in Javert's "Stars" were changed. It now ended with the line, "This I swear by the stars!", while the London production and cast recording ended with the repeated line, "Keeping watch in the night".
The original Broadway cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, Donna Vivino as Young Cosette, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Randy Graff as Fantine, Terrence Mann as Javert, Chrissie McDonald as Young Éponine, and Norman Large as the Bishop of Digne.[30]
Other members of the original Broadway cast included Kevin Marcum, Paul Harman, Anthony Crivello, John Dewar, Joseph Kolinski, Alex Santoriello, Jesse Corti, Susan Goodman, John Norman, Norman Large, Marcus Lovett, Steve Shocket, Cindy Benson, Marcie Shaw, Jane Bodle, Joanna Glushak, Ann Crumb, Kelli James, Gretchen Kingsley-Weihe, Chrissie McDonald. Michael Hinton was the original drummer and credited on the cast album.[30]
The musical ran at the Broadway Theatre through October 10, 1990, when it moved to the Imperial Theatre.[30] It was scheduled to close on March 15, 2003, but the closing was postponed by a surge in public interest.[33] According to an article in The Scotsman, "Sales picked up last October, when Sir Cameron made the announcement that the show would be closing on March 15th...its closure postponed to May 18th because of an unexpected increase in business."[34] After 6,680 performances in sixteen years,[34] when it closed on May 18, 2003,[30] it was the second-longest-running Broadway musical after Cats.[35] It was surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera, in 2006.[36]
This Broadway production of Les Misérables and its advertising in New York City is a reoccurring theme in American Psycho. The reviewer for the Financial Times wrote that Les Misérables is "the book's hilarious main cultural compass-point".[37]
2006 Broadway revival[edit]
Only three years after the original run closed, Les Misérables began a return to Broadway on 9 November 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre for a limited run that was subsequently made open-ended.
Using the set, costumes, performers, and other resources from the recently closed third US national touring production, the production was only slightly altered. Minor changes included colourful projections blended into its existing lighting design, and a proscenium that extended out into the first two boxes on either side of the stage.
Some cuts made to the show's prologue during its original Broadway run were restored, lyrics for Gavroche's death scene (known in the revival as "Ten Little Bullets") cut during the development of the original London production were restored, and much of the show was re-orchestrated by Christopher Jahnke, introducing a snare and timpani-heavy sound played by a 14-member band, a reduction of about 8 musicians from the original production's 22 musician orchestration.[citation needed]
The original 2006 Broadway revival cast included Alexander Gemignani as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Daphne Rubin-Vega as Fantine, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Éponine, Aaron Lazar as Enjolras, Adam Jacobs as Marius, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Gary Beach as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Brian D’Addario and Jacob Levine and Skye Rainforth and Austyn Myers as Gavroche, James Chip Leonard as The Bishop of Digne, Drew Sarich as Grantaire, and Tess Adams and Kylie Liya Goldstein and Carly Rose Sonenclar as Young Cosette/Young Éponine.[38]
Lea Salonga, who previously played the role of Éponine in the 10th Anniversary concert, replaced Rubin-Vega as Fantine beginning on March 2, 2007. Zach Rand replaced Jacob Levine as Gavroche on March 15, 2007. Ann Harada replaced Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier on April 24, 2007. Ben Davis joined playing Javert, and Max von Essen playing Enjolras. Ben Crawford and Mandy Bruno joined the cast that day too, playing Brujon and Éponine respectively. On July 23, 2007, Sarich took over the role of Valjean, following Gemignani's departure. On September 5, 2007, it was announced that John Owen-Jones (who was playing Valjean in London) was to join the Broadway cast. In return, Sarich would join the London cast in Owen-Jones' place. Judy Kuhn, who originated the role of Cosette, returned to the show after twenty years as Fantine, succeeding Salonga.
The revival closed on 6 January 2008.[39]
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
A sit down production played at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Previews began on September 27, 2013 with the opening night on October 9. The production closed on February 2, 2014.[40][41][42][43] Laurence Olivier Award nominee, Ramin Karimloo, starred as Jean Valjean.[44] He was joined by fellow West End star, Earl Carpenter, who reprised the role of Inspector Javert.[45] Other cast members included Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Samantha Hill as Cosette, Melissa O'Neil as Éponine, Cliff Saunders as Monsieur Thenardier, Lisa Horner as Madame Thenardier, and Mark Uhre as Enjolras.[46] The roles of young Cosette and young Éponine were shared by Ella Ballentine, Saara Chaudry and Madison Oldroyd. Gavroche was shared by David Gregory Black and Aiden GlennRead.[47]
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
The show returned to Broadway in March 2014 at the Imperial Theatre with previews beginning March 1, 2014 and had an official opening on March 23, 2014.[48][49] The creative team includes the direction of Laurence Connor and James Powell, the set design by Matt Kinley, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowlands, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Mick Potter and projections by Fifty-Nine Productions. Cameron Mackintosh once again produced the show. On October 22, 2013, it was announced that Ramin Karimloo, Will Swenson, Caissie Levy, and Nikki M. James would be headlining the revival cast as Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Éponine respectively.[50] Andy Mientus and Samantha Hill also star as Marius and Cosette respectively.[51][52] Angeli Negron and McKayla Twiggs share the role of Young Cosette.[53] On August 30, 2015, Karimloo ended his run of the show as was replaced by Alfie Boe.
The 2014 Broadway revival was nominated for 3 Tony Awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Karimloo, and Best Sound Design for Potter.
2014 Australian revival[edit]
In mid 2013, a brand new Australian production was announced, with Simon Gleeson as Valjean, Hayden Tee as Javert, Patrice Tipoki as Fantine, Trevor Ashley and Lara Mulcahy as the Thénardiers, Kerrie Anne Greenland as Éponine, Emily Langridge as Cosette, Euan Doidge as Marius and Chris Durling as Enjolras.[54] The production premiered on the 4th of July at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne.[55]
2016 Manila production[edit]
On September 16, 2015, it was announced that the new production of Les Misérables would launch its Asian tour in Manila in March 2016,[56] with Simon Gleeson as Jean Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, and Rachelle Ann Go as Fantine,[57] at The Theater at Solaire.
Concert productions[edit]
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
On 8 October 1995, the show celebrated its tenth anniversary with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This 10th Anniversary Concert was nearly "complete," missing only a handful of scenes, including "The Death of Gavroche" and the confrontation between Marius and the Thénardiers at the wedding feast. Sir Cameron Mackintosh hand-selected the cast, which became known as the Les Misérables Dream Cast, assembled from around the world, and engaged the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert concluded with seventeen Valjeans from various international productions singing, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" in their native languages. The concert cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Paul Monaghan as the Bishop of Digne, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Michael Ball as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Lea Salonga as Éponine, and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire. The concert was staged by Ken Caswell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert
Gree The 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables was held at The O2 in North Greenwich, South East London, United Kingdom, on Sunday, 3 October 2010 at 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm.
It featured Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Nick Jonas as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Matt Lucas as Thénardier, Mia Jenkins as Young Cosette, Robert Madge as Gavroche and Earl Carpenter as the Bishop of Digne. (Originally, Camilla Kerslake had been selected to perform as Cosette, however she was unable to attend. Katie Hall was selected in her place. Hall had previously acted the role at the Queen's Theatre from 2009 and in the 25th Anniversary Tour production at the Barbican.) Casts of the current London, international tour, original 1985 London, and several school productions took part, comprising an ensemble of three hundred performers and musicians. The concert was directed by Laurence Connor & James Powell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
Other concert performances[edit]
The musical has also been performed in concert at Cardiff Castle and several venues in southern England, produced by Earl Carpenter Concerts. A concert version starring Jeff Leyton was also performed at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. In 1989, a one-night concert performance was performed at SkyDome, Toronto, and the largest concert production attracted an audience of approximately 125,000 as part of the Australia Day celebrations in Sydney's Domain Park. The Scandinavian concert tour, produced by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Noble Art, starred Danish musical icon Stig Rossen in the leading role and commemorated author Victor Hugo's 200th birthday. Venues on the tour included the Stockholm Globe Arena, Oslo Spektrum, the Helsinki Hartwell Areena, and the Gothenburg Scandinavium, with audiences totalling over 150,000 for the complete tour.
In November 2004, to celebrate the centennial of the Entente Cordiale, the Queen invited the cast of Les Misérables in the West End to perform for French President Jacques Chirac at Windsor Castle. It was the first time the cast of a West End musical had performed at a Royal residence. The cast was the same as in the West End, supplemented by several guest singers and a choir of former performers. The part of Jean Valjean was played by Michael Ball – the original 1985 London and 1995 Dream Cast Marius - and the part of Javert was played by Michael McCarthy.
In February 2008, Les Misérables was performed at the Bournemouth International Centre, England with a cast of West End stars accompanied by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In August 2008, a concert version, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, was performed at the Hollywood Bowl. The cast included veteran Les Misérables star J. Mark McVey as Valjean, The Office star Melora Hardin as Fantine, Broadway star and Bowl veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert, Spring Awakening and Glee star Lea Michele as Éponine, Tony-winning Jersey Boys star John Lloyd Young as Marius, West End star Tom Lowe as Enjolras, Michael McCormick as Thénardier, Ruth Williamson as Madame Thénardier, Michele Maika as Cosette, Maddie Levy as Young Cosette, and Sage Ryan as Gavroche.
In September 2008, it was performed at the St John Loveridge Hall in Guernsey with a cast of West End performers—the first time that it had been professionally performed on the Island where Victor Hugo wrote the novel. Former London Valjean Phil Cavill reprised his role alongside Les Misérables veteran Michael McCarthy as Javert. In March 2009, the Guernsey production was remounted at Fort Regent in Jersey; and in July 2009, the musical was performed in concert at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Touring Productions[edit]
National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production[edit]
The show had three national touring companies of the original Broadway production in the US, all of which shared the Broadway producer and manager, creative teams, as well nearly identical sets, costumes, and lighting. While the touring production and the New York production were running simultaneously, the staff, cast members, crew, and musicians of the two productions interchanged often, which contributed to keeping both companies of the show in form. When the New York production closed in 2003, the Third National Tour continued for another three years, and enjoyed the influx of many members from the original and subsequent New York companies.
The First National Tour opened at Boston's Shubert Theatre on 12 December 1987, and continued to play major cities until late 1991. The Second National Tour (called "The Fantine Company") opened at Los Angeles' Shubert Theatre on 1 June 1988. The production played for fourteen months then transferred to San Francisco's Curran Theatre where it enjoyed a similar run. The Third National Tour of Les Misérables (called "The Marius Company") was one of the longest running American touring musical productions. Opening on 28 November 1988, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Florida, and closing on 23 July 2006, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri,[58] the tour ran for seventeen years and 7,061 performances. The tour played in 145 cities in 43 states. The same touring company also frequently performed in Canada, made a 1994 diversion to Singapore, and another diversion in 2002 to be the first Western musical production to visit China, opening in Shanghai's Grand Theatre for a three-week engagement.
All US productions (including Broadway and its revival) were visually identical in scale and design but the third national tour was notable for its portability without sacrificing the Broadway-caliber experience. Thanks to innovative touring techniques borrowed from the pop/rock concert industry, the 4.5 million dollar production was adaptable to smaller and larger venues and traveled complete in all of 8 semi tractor trailers. It was set up and ready to go in less than 24 hours and broken down and packed up in about 16 hours. This allowed it to reach many cities and venues in its acclaimed, original Broadway form.
The final company of the Third National Broadway Tour included Randal Keith as Valjean (Keith also played Valjean in the final company of the original Broadway engagement), Robert Hunt as Javert, Joan Almedilla as Fantine, Daniel Bogart as Marius, Norman Large (from Original Broadway Cast) as Monsieur Thénardier, Jennifer Butt (from Original Broadway Cast) as Madame Thénardier, Melissa Lyons as Éponine, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Victor Wallace as Enjolras, Meg Guzulescu and Rachel Schier alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine, and Austyn Myers and Anthony Skillman alternating as Gavroche.
25th Anniversary Tour[edit]
A tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the show began performances on 12 December 2009, at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Differences from the original production included a new set, new costumes, new direction and alterations to the original orchestrations. The tour also did not use a revolving stage and the scenery was inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Locations have included Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Salford, and Southampton. The tour also played a special engagement in Paris. From September through October, the show returned to the Barbican Centre, London, site of the original 1985 production. The tour cast featured John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Gareth Gates as Marius, Ashley Artus as Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Madame Thénardier, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Rosalind James as Éponine, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, Katie Hall as Cosette (with Eliza Jones as Young Cosette), and David Lawrence as the Bishop of Digne. The tour ended 2 October 2010, at the Barbican.[citation needed]
In the fall of 2010, The tour moved to the US with a new company presented by Broadway Across America to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show opening on Broadway. The tour had its opening on 19 November 2010 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, running until 19 December 2010. This tour originally starred Lawrence Clayton as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Betsy Morgan as Fantine, Jenny Latimer as Cosette, Justin Scott Brown as Marius, Chasten Harmon as Éponine, Michael Kostroff as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, Jeremy Hays as Enjolras, Josh Caggiano and Ethan Paul Khusidman as Gavroche, Maya Jade Frank and Juliana Simone alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine. J. Mark McVey's daughter, Kylie McVey was the understudy for Young Cosette and Young Éponine. Clayton left the tour in April 2011. Ron Sharpe later took over as Valjean until June 2011. J. Mark McVey was then Valjean (McVey previously played the role on Broadway), but McVey and his daughter left the tour on 1 April 2012. Peter Lockyer replaces him as Valjean. Betsy Morgan left the tour on December 2, 2012. She was replaced by Genevieve Leclerc. The tour ran until August 11, 2013, closing at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. The tour's final cast included Peter Lockyer as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Lauren Wiley as Cosette, Devin Ilaw as Marius, Briana Carlson-Goodman as Éponine, Timothy Gulan as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, and Jason Forbach as Enjolras,[59][60] In 2011 it was reported that the tour is one of six US national Broadway tours that are grossing over $1,000,000 per week.[61]
International productions[edit]
The show has been produced in forty-two countries and translated into twenty-one languages: English, French (original and re-translated), German (Austria and Germany), Spanish (four versions: two from Spain, one version each from Argentina and Mexico), Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Swedish (in Sweden and in Finland), Dutch (Netherlands and Belgium), Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan and Korean. Including singles and promos, there have been over seventy official recordings from worldwide productions.[62]
The first full West End / Broadway production in Europe (mainland) was set up in Oslo, Norway at Det Norske Teatret and opened on 17 March 1988.[63] The production was in Norwegian and starred Norwegian singer/actor Øystein Wiik as Jean Valjean, Paul Åge Johannessen as Javert, Øivind Blunck as Thénardier, Kari Gjærum as Fantine, Amund Enger as Enjolras and Guri Schanke as Éponine. The first Oslo production was hugely successful and some 10% of Norway's entire population saw the show in the first 6 months. Øystein Wiik went on to also star as Jean Valjean in the in productions in Vienna and London in 1989–1990.
Interestingly, the stage show, which had changed so significantly since its Parisian conception as a stadium concert in 1980, was only finally translated back into the language of Victor Hugo for its French World Première in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1991. This production, which in fact boasted a cast that presented five shows a week in French and three a week in English, was a great success. It gave the producers a clear indication that Les Misérables was finally ready to go "home", to Paris, later that same year.
Regional productions[edit]


 This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (February 2014)
In September 2008, a mini-tour produced by Atlanta's Theater of the Stars played Eisenhower Hall at the United States Military Academy,[64][not in citation given] in West Point, New York; the Filene Center at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia; Kansas City Starlight Theatre; and the Fox Theater in Atlanta. The show featured a new set of original pictures painted by Victor Hugo himself. Robert Evan played Valjean, returning to the role he played in the mid-nineties on Broadway. Also featured were Nikki Rene Daniels as Fantine and Robert Hunt as Javert, both reprising their roles from the Broadway revival. Fred Hanson directed the production. The creative team included Matt Kinley as Scenic Designer, Ken Billington as Lighting Designer, Peter Fitzgerald and Erich Bechtel as Sound Designers, Zachary Borovay as Projection Designer, and Dan Riddle as Musical Director and Conductor.[65]
In 2008, the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia staged a small venue "black box" version of the play. Signature received Mackintosh's special permission for the production: "One of the great pleasures of being involved with the creation of Les Misérables is seeing this marvelous musical being done in a completely different and original way. Having seen many shows brilliantly reimagined at Signature I have no doubt that Eric and his team will come up with a revolutionary new take on Les Miz unlike anything anyone has seen before. Viva la différence!"[66] The production officially opened on 14 December 2008 (after previews from 2 December), and ran through 22 February 2009 (extended from 25 January 2009).[67][68]
A 2014 production at the Dallas Theater Center modernized the staging in a way rarely attempted in productions of this play, set visually in the modern-day United States rather than 1830s France. The concept was thought to be refreshing as a change from typical production styles and effective as a commentary on modern inequality. Though, much controversy surrounded their unauthorized depart from the authors' libretto and score.[69][70]
In Panama, Les Misérables was staged in 2014 in Spanish at the famed National Theatre of Panama for a short, sold out run, directed by Aaron Zebede.[71]
School edition[edit]
The school edition cuts a considerable amount of material from the original show. It is divided into thirty scenes and, although no "critical" scenes or songs have been removed, it runs 25–30 minutes shorter than the "official" version making the total running time about 2 1⁄2 hours.[72] A few subtle changes of vocal pitch have been made: "What Have I Done?", Valjean's Soliloquy, "Stars" by Javert, "A Little Fall of Rain" by Éponine and Marius, "Turning", and "Castle on a Cloud" lose a verse each. During "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois loses two verses. The song "Fantine's Death/Confrontation" is edited, and the counterpoint duel between Javert and Valjean is lost, as well as a verse by Fantine. "Dog Eats Dog" by Thénardier is heavily truncated. "Beggars at the Feast", is shortened, with Thénardier losing a verse, and the song before it, "Wedding Chorale", is excluded entirely although the rest of the wedding remains in place. Also, the drinker's introduction to "Master of the House" is cut completely.[73]
Film adaptation[edit]
For the most recent film adaptation, see Les Misérables (2012 film).
Although numerous films of the Les Misérables story have been made, no film adaptation of the stage musical was produced for many years. A film adaptation was in development at several times since the late 1980s. Alan Parker was reported to be connected to an adaptation at an early stage.[74] In 1992 Mackintosh announced planning for a film to be directed by Bruce Beresford and co-produced by Tri-Star Pictures,[75] but the project was later abandoned.[76]
The 2010 DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert included an announcement of revised plans for a film adaptation[77] which was later confirmed by Mackintosh. Tom Hooper signed on in March 2011 to direct the Mackintosh-produced film from a screenplay by William Nicholson.[78] In June 2011, Working Title Films and Mackintosh announced that the film would begin principal photography in early 2012 for a tentative December release date. The film was given its general US release on Christmas Day 2012.[79] Principal cast members include Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert,[80] Anne Hathaway as Fantine,[81] Amanda Seyfried as Cosette,[82] Eddie Redmayne as Marius Pontmercy,[83] Samantha Barks as Éponine,[84] and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thénardiers.[85][86] Other notable actors who played roles in the film include Aaron Tveit as Enjolras, Bertie Carvel as Bamatabois, Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop of Digne and Frances Ruffelle as a prostitute.[87]
Cast recordings[edit]
English[edit]
The following recordings of Les Misérables are available in English: the Original London Cast, the Original Broadway Cast, the Complete Symphonic Recording, the 10th Anniversary London Concert, The 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast and The 25th Anniversary London Concert.
Original London Cast recording[edit]
The Original London Cast recording was the first English language album of the musical. Recorded in 1985, when the show premiered, it is closest to the original French concept album. For example, "Stars" appears before "Look Down" and shortly after, the original version of "Little People" plays, which was later incorporated into the revealing of Javert. It also features a song entitled "I Saw Him Once", sung by Cosette, which was later incorporated into the first part of "In My Life". The album has sold 887,000 copies in the US.[88]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Susan Jane Tanner as Mme. Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Ian Tucker as Gavroche, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, and Rebecca Caine as Cosette.
Original Broadway Cast recording[edit]
The Original Broadway Cast recording was produced in 1987. It included several changes to the songs that are still evident in today's performances. As with its predecessor, it is incomplete, and leaves out songs or parts that are more important narratively than musically (e.g., "Fantine's Arrest", "The Runaway Cart", "The Final Battle"). The album has sold 1,596,000 copies in the US.[88]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Terrence Mann as Javert, Randy Graff as Fantine, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, and Donna Vivino as Young Cosette.
Complete Symphonic Recording[edit]
Recorded in 1988 and released in 1989, the Complete Symphonic Recording features the entire score. (The Czech Revival Recording is the only other album, in any language, to feature the entire score; on the other hand, the four 2003 Japanese recordings feature the entire score after the cuts first made on Broadway at the end of 2000.) Cameron Mackintosh's original plan was to use the Australian cast,[89] but the scope was expanded to create an international cast featuring performers from the major performances of the musical. The cast was recorded in three different places.[90]
The album, produced by David Caddick and conducted by Martin Koch, won the Best Musical Cast Show Album Grammy Award in 1991. The cast includes Gary Morris as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Debra Byrne as Fantine, Gay Soper as Mme. Thénardier, Barry James as Thénardier, Kaho Shimada as Éponine, Michael Ball as Marius, Anthony Warlow as Enjolras, and Tracy Shayne as Cosette.
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
The 10th Anniversary recording was of a concert version of Les Misérables, performed at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1995, featuring full orchestra and choir. All the parts were sung live, giving the performance a different mood from other recordings. The score was recorded consecutively without pauses or multiple recordings. The concert's encores are also included. As with the original recordings, however, they differed from the stage versions by excluding some songs (e.g., those vital to plot such as "Fantine's Arrest" and "The Runaway Cart" were kept, while unnecessary or complex songs, such as "At the Barricade", were left out).
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier, Lea Salonga as Éponine, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Judy Kuhn as Cosette and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire.
Manchester Highlights[edit]
A five-track album featuring members of the UK national tour was released in 1992 and includes "I Dreamed a Dream" (Ria Jones); "Stars" (Philip Quast); "On My Own" (Meredith Braun); "Bring Him Home" (Jeff Leyton); and "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" (Mike Sterling). The version of "Stars" is the same as that on the Complete Symphonic Recording.
25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast[edit]
Recorded live at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, this recording was released to commemorate 25 years of Les Misérables in English. This recording featured new arrangements and reinspired orchestrations, and included John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Ashley Artus as M. Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Mme. Thénardier, Gareth Gates as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, and Rosalind James as Éponine.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert


 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)
The 25th Anniversary Concert was recorded live at The O2 (London) on 3 October 2010 and is available on DVD in the UK while the Blu-ray was released worldwide. It was shown in select US theaters via NCM Fathom Events. The release for the DVD and Blu-ray in the United States was 22 February 2011 to promote the film adaptation. A CD single of the 'Valjean Quartet' singing "Bring Him Home" was also recorded and released, with proceeds going to the charity "Tickets For Troops". The cast included Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Nick Jonas as Marius, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Katie Hall as Cosette, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Matt Lucas as Monsieur Thénardier and Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier.
Other languages[edit]
There are also various non-English language cast albums of the musical.


1980 Original French concept album
1987 Original Israeli cast
1988 Original Norway cast
1988 Original Hungarian cast
1988 Original Vienna cast
1990 Original Swedish cast
1991 Original Dutch cast
1991 Paris Revival cast
1992 Original Danish cast
1992 Original Czech cast
1993 Original Spanish cast
1993 Korean revival cast
1994 Japanese "blue" cast
1994 Japanese "red" cast

1996 Original Duisburg cast
1996 Swedish Värmland cast
1998 Original Antwerp cast
2003 Japanese "orange" cast
2003 Japanese "green" cast
2003 Japanese "light blue" cast
2003 Japanese "violet" cast
2003 Czech revival cast
2008 Dutch revival cast
2008 Le Capitole de Québec cast
2010 Polish Revival cast
2010 Spanish 25th anniversary production cast
2011 Czech cast

Awards and nominations[edit]
Original West End production[edit]
Original West End production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1985 Laurence Olivier Award Best New Musical Nominated
Best Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Alun Armstrong Nominated
Best Actress in a Musical Patti LuPone Won
2012 Laurence Olivier Award[91] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
2014 Laurence Olivier Award[92] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
Original Broadway production[edit]
Original Broadway production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1987 Tony Award Best Musical Won
Best Book of a Musical Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Best Original Score Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer Won
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Terrence Mann Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Frances Ruffelle Won
Best Direction of a Musical Trevor Nunn and John Caird Won
Best Scenic Design John Napier Won
Best Costume Design Andreane Neofitou Nominated
Best Lighting Design David Hersey Won
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Won
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Outstanding Orchestrations John Cameron Won
Outstanding Music Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Outstanding Set Design John Napier Won
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
2013 Toronto revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Dora Award[93][94] Outstanding Production Nominated
Outstanding Male Performance Ramin Karimloo Nominated
Mark Uhre Nominated
Aiden Glenn Nominated
Outstanding Female Performance Melissa O'Neil Won
Outstanding Direction Laurence Connor and James Powell Nominated
Outstanding Scenic Design Matt Kinley Nominated
Outstanding Costume Design Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowland Won
Outstanding Lighting Design Paule Constable Nominated
Outstanding Choreography James Dodgson Nominated
Outstanding Ensemble Entire ensemble Nominated
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
2014 Broadway revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Tony Award Best Revival of a Musical Nominated
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Ramin Karimloo Nominated
Best Sound Design of a Musical Mick Potter Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Musical Nominated
2014 Australian revival[edit]
2014 Australian revival

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
2014 Green Room Awards Production Nominated
Actor in a Leading Role Simon Gleeson Nominated
Hayden Tee Won
Direction James Powell and Laurence Connor Nominated
Musical Direction Geoffrey Castles Nominated
Design (Lighting) Paule Constable Nominated
Design (Sound) Mick Potter Nominated
Design (Set and Costume) Matt Kinley (Set and Image Design) Nominated
2015 Helpmann Awards[95][96] Best Musical Won
Best Male Actor in a Musical Simon Gleeson Won
Hayden Tee Nominated
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical Trevor Ashley Nominated
Chris Durling Nominated
Best Female Actor in a Musical Patrice Tipoki Nominated
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical Kerrie Anne Greenland Won
Best Direction of a Musical Laurence Connor and James Powell Nominated
Best Choreography in a Musical Michael Ashcroft and Geoffrey Garratt Nominated
Best Lighting Design Paule Constable Won
Best Scenic Design Matt Kinley Nominated
Best Sound Design Mick Potter Won
See also[edit]

Portal icon Musical Theatre portal
Lists of musicals
References[edit]
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80.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (9 September 2011). "Hugh Jackman Is Russell Crowe's Quarry in Les Misérables Film". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
81.Jump up ^ "Cameron Mackintosh Confirms Anne Hathaway for Les MIsérables Film". Broadway World. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
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84.Jump up ^ Dunn, Carrie (31 January 2012). "Breaking News: Samantha Barks To Play Eponine In Les Miserables Movie". Broadway World. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
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External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables (musical).
Official website
Les Misérables at the Internet Broadway Database
An Archive of Performers from the Original Broadway Run of Les Misérables
An Archive of Performers from the London Run of Les Misérables


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Les Misérables (2012 film)

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Les Misérables
The poster shows a young girl, played by Isabelle Allen, in the background of a dark night. Text above reveals the cast listing and text below reveals the film's title.
Theatrical film poster

Directed by
Tom Hooper
Produced by
Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Debra Hayward
Cameron Mackintosh
Screenplay by
William Nicholson
Alain Boublil
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Herbert Kretzmer
Based on
Les Misérables
 by Claude-Michel Schönberg
 Alain Boublil
Les Misérables
 by Victor Hugo
Starring
Hugh Jackman
Russell Crowe
Anne Hathaway
Amanda Seyfried
Eddie Redmayne
Helena Bonham Carter
Sacha Baron Cohen
Music by
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Cinematography
Danny Cohen
Edited by
Melanie Ann Oliver
Chris Dickens

Production
 company

Relativity Media
StudioCanal
Working Title Films
 Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.[1]

Distributed by
Universal Pictures

Release dates

5 December 2012 (London premiere)[2]
11 January 2013 (United Kingdom)


Running time
 158 minutes[3]
Country
United Kingdom[4][5]
Language
English
Budget
$61 million[6][7]
Box office
$441.8 million[7]
Les Misérables is a 2012 British epic romantic musical period drama film produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the 1980 musical of the same name by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg which is in turn based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo. The film is directed by Tom Hooper, scripted by William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, and stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried. The title literally translates to The Miserables or The Miserable Ones.
The film tells the story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who, inspired by a kindly bishop, decides to turn his life around. He eventually becomes mayor of a town in France and owner of a factory in that town. He is always alert to the risk of being captured again by police inspector Javert, who is ruthless in hunting down law-breakers, believing they cannot change for the better. One of Valjean's factory workers, Fantine, blames him for her being cast into a life of prostitution. When she dies, he feels responsible and agrees to take care of her illegitimate daughter, Cosette — though he must first escape Javert. Later, when Cosette is grown, they are swept up in the political turmoil in Paris, which culminates in the Paris Uprising of 1832.
Attempts to adapt a Les Misérables film from the stage musical have taken place since the late 1980s. In June 2011, from a screenplay by Nicholson, production of the film officially began with Hooper and Mackintosh serving as director and producer, and the main characters were cast later that year. Principal photography commenced in March 2012,[8] and took place in various English locations, including Greenwich, London, Chatham, Winchester, Bath and Portsmouth; as well as in Gourdon, France.
Les Misérables premiered in London 5 December 2012, and was released 25 December 2012 in the United States, 26 December 2012, in Australia, and 11 January 2013 in the United Kingdom.[2][7][9]
The film received generally favourable[10] reviews, with many critics praising the cast, and Jackman, Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks being the most often singled out for praise. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Jackman and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for Hathaway. It also won four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), including the Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hathaway). It received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture (the first musical nominated since 2002's winner Chicago) and Best Actor for Jackman, and won three, for Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Supporting Actress for Hathaway.[11]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Musical numbers
4 Production 4.1 Development
4.2 Pre-production
4.3 Filming
4.4 Post-production
5 Distribution 5.1 Marketing
5.2 Release
5.3 Home media
6 Reception 6.1 Box office
6.2 Critical response
6.3 Accolades
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
In 1815, convict Jean Valjean is released on parole by prison guard Javert after serving a nineteen-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread and numerous escape attempts. Valjean is refused employment due to his paroled status. He is offered food and shelter by the Bishop of Digne, but Valjean steals his silver during the night. When he is captured by the constables, the Bishop tells them that the silver was given as a gift, securing Valjean's release. The Bishop urges Valjean to do something worthwhile with his life. Moved by the Bishop's grace, Valjean breaks his parole and vows to start a new life under a new identity.
Eight years later, Valjean has become a factory owner and mayor of Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais, while Javert has been assigned as his new chief of police. In their initial meeting, Javert suspects Valjean's identity after witnessing his strength as he lifts a heavy cart to free a trapped man. Meanwhile, Fantine, one of Valjean's workers, is discovered by the other women working there to send money to her illegitimate daughter, Cosette, who lives with the unscrupulous Thénardiers and their daughter Éponine. Outraged that Fantine has spurned his advances, the foreman dismisses her for promiscuity. In a desperate attempt to support her daughter, Fantine sells her hair and teeth and eventually becomes a prostitute. She is arrested by Javert after attacking an abusive customer, but is saved by Valjean, who has her hospitalized and watches over her.
Later, Valjean learns that a man believed to be him has been arrested after Javert files a report against the real Valjean only to be told he had already been apprehended. Because of this, Javert tries to resign his duties, but Valjean refuses, saying that he only did his job. Finally unable to accept that an innocent man could be condemned in his place, Valjean reveals his identity to the court. He returns to the hospital, where he vows to Fantine that he will watch over her daughter before she dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean into custody, but Valjean pleads for enough time to rescue Cosette, which Javert refuses. After a brief fight and Javert revealing that he was born inside a jail, Valjean jumps into a river to escape. Cosette lives with the Thenardiers dreaming of having a mother. The Thenadiers own an inn where they scam the guests and steal their belongings. He finds Cosette in the woods since the Thenardiers ordered her to draw some water from the well. Valjean pays Fantine's debts, and leaves with Cosette, promising to be like a father to her. Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris.The Thénardiers wonder whether they demanded enough money from Valjean, and how much more money he might have. After Valjean and Cosette escape to a convent, Javert vows to bring the escaped convict to justice.
Nine years later, there is increasing poverty in Paris. Jean Maximilien Lamarque, the only government official sympathetic towards the poor, is nearing death; therefore a large group of young revolutionary students, known as the Friends of the ABC, plan a rebellion against the French monarchy. The students consist of Marius Pontmercy, Enjolras, Gavroche, Grantaire, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Joly, and Jean Prouvaire. Marius lives in a small room near the Thénardiers and has become friendly with their daughter, Éponine, who fell deeply in love with him but was merely considered his best friend.
When Valjean and Cosette are giving alms to the poor, Marius catches a glimpse of Cosette and instantly falls in love. The Thénardiers also see Valjean and believe they now have their chance to extract more money. Valjean and Thénardier argue and Javert arrives to intervene. Valjean and Cosette slip away before Javert can recognize them and Thénardier devises a plot to rob Valjean. Marius pleads with Éponine to find out where Cosette lives so he can see her again.
At the ABC cafe, Enjolras rallies the students when Gavroche brings word that Lamarque has died. Éponine leads Marius to Cosette. Marius and Cosette profess their love, while Éponine laments that her secret love for Marius will go unrequited. As Marius and Cosette conclude their talk, Thénardier's gang arrives to capture Valjean and earn a reward from Javert. Éponine screams to warn Valjean and Cosette, and Valjean decides to flee, unaware of Cosette's desire for Marius. Cosette tries to dissuade him, then asks about their pasts. Valjean declines and she leaves a note for Marius explaining her departure. Éponine finds Cosette's letter to Marius, who becomes dismayed. He sends a farewell to Cosette and decides to join the revolution. Éponine joins too, disguised as a man, just to be near Marius. Enjolras urges the Parisians to full revolt.
The next day, the students interrupt Lamarque's funeral procession to begin their revolt and build barricades throughout Paris. Javert poses as a rebel to spy on them, but is quickly exposed by street child Gavroche and captured. During the ensuing battle, Éponine intervenes in standoff between Marius and a soldier at the cost of her own life. She gives Marius the letter Cosette wrote and professes her love to him before she dies in his arms, leaving Marius devastated and heartbroken at the loss of his best friend as well as the revelation of her feelings.
Meanwhile, Marius asks Gavroche to deliver a letter to Cosette. When Gavroche arrives at Valjean's house, Valjean takes the letter and learns of their love. He abandons his plans to flee the country and instead goes to the barricade to protect Marius. After saving Enjolras from a sniper, he is given custody of the prisoner, Javert, whom he says he will execute. However, when the two are alone, Valjean frees Javert who leaves, confused by this act of mercy from a criminal whom he holds in low regard. The students settle down for the night and reminisce. Enjolras tells the other students to stay awake in case the enemy strikes unexpectedly in the night, but he tells Marius to get some sleep, knowing he is still too devastated over losing Éponine to stay awake.



Elephant of the Bastille on the Les Misérables film set
When the Parisians do not join the revolution as they expected, the students resolve to fight to the death. Everyone is killed except Marius, who is saved when Valjean drags his unconscious body into the sewers before the army arrives. Thénardier discovers Marius and Valjean and steals Marius's ring before moving on to scavenge other bodies. Valjean attacks Thénardier and demands to know the way out. Thénardier shows the way, and Valjean escapes the sewers carrying Marius, but encounters Javert. When Valjean asks Javert to take Marius to a doctor, he refuses and threatens to kill him if he does not surrender. Valjean ignores him and leaves with Marius. Stunned by Valjean's earlier mercy toward him and his own recent mercy towards Valjean, and unable to reconcile the conflict between his civil and moral duties, two things which he always considered the same, Javert drops his pistol into the sewers and jumps to his death in the Seine.
After recovering at his grandfather's home, Marius mourns his friends, and Cosette comforts him. Valjean sees that Cosette and Marius are happy together and believes that his presence can only threaten their happiness. He reveals his past to Marius and tells him he must leave to ensure their safety and happiness. Marius is shocked, and at first attempts to persuade him to stay, but reluctantly accepts Valjean's decision to leave, promising not to tell Cosette that her father is a fugitive.
Marius and Cosette marry, although Cosette is sad that Valjean is not with them. The Thénardiers attempt to crash the reception and tell Marius that they saw his father-in-law (Valjean) carrying a murdered corpse through the sewers. They plan to blackmail him to keep it quiet. As proof, Thénardier shows Marius the ring that he stole from the murder victim in the sewers. Recognizing the ring as his own, Marius realizes it was Valjean who saved his life. The Thénardiers are ejected from the wedding, and Marius and Cosette hurry to find Valjean, who is dying in a local convent. As he perceives Fantine's spirit arriving to take him to heaven, Cosette and Marius rush in to bid him farewell. Valjean hands Cosette a letter of his confession of his past life and joins the spirits of the Bishop, Fantine, Enjolras, Grantaire, Éponine, Gavroche, Courfeyrac, Joly and the other rebels at the holy barricade.
Cast[edit]

Actor

Role
Hugh Jackman     Jean Valjean
Russell Crowe   Javert
Anne Hathaway   Fantine
Amanda Seyfried   Cosette
Eddie Redmayne  Marius Pontmercy
Aaron Tveit   Enjolras
Samantha Barks   Éponine
 Isabelle Allen  Young Cosette
 Daniel Huttlestone   Gavroche
Colm Wilkinson   Bishop Myriel
Helena Bonham Carter   Madame Thénardier
Sacha Baron Cohen   Thénardier
Bertie Carvel  Bamatabois
George Blagden   Grantaire
Killian Donnelly   Combeferre
Fra Fee   Courfeyrac
Alistair Brammer  Jean Prouvaire
Gabriel Vick   Feuilly
Hugh Skinner   Joly
Iwan Lewis   Bahorel
Stuart Neal   Laigle
Hadley Fraser   National Guard Leader
Heather Chasen   Madame Magloire
Georgie Glen   Mademoiselle Baptistine
Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, a Frenchman released from Toulon prison after 19 years of imprisonment for stealing bread and failed attempts at escaping from the prison.[12] Around June 2011, Jackman met with producer Cameron Mackintosh to audition in New York.[13] To prepare for the role, Jackman lost 15 pounds and later regained 30 pounds to mirror his character's success.[13] He avoided drinking coffee, warmed up at least 15 minutes every day, kept Ricola lozenges, drank as much as seven litres of water per day, sat in steam three times a day, took cold baths and used a wet washcloth over his face while flying, citing the musical's original co-director Trevor Nunn for his training.[14] He worked extensively with vocal coach Joan Lader, and managed to extend his vocal range, which he originally categorized a high baritone, up to tenor.[15]
Russell Crowe stars as Javert, a police inspector dedicating his life to imprisoning Valjean once again.[12] Before being cast as Javert, Crowe was initially dissatisfied with the character. On his way to Europe for a friend's wedding, Crowe came to London and met with producer Cameron Mackintosh. On meeting with Tom Hooper, he told the director about his concerns about playing Javert, and after meeting with him, Crowe was "determined to be involved in the project and play Javert. I think it had something to do with Tom's passion for what he was about to undertake, and he clearly understood the problems and he clearly understood the challenge."[16] On visiting Victor Hugo's home in Paris, Crowe said, "[The house's curator] told me about [19th century detective Eugene Francois] Vidocq, a man who had been both a prisoner and a policeman, the man credited with inventing undercover police work when he established the Brigade de Surete."[13]
Anne Hathaway plays Fantine, and Amanda Seyfried plays Cosette.[17][18][19] Fantine is a struggling factory worker and mother of an illegitimate child, Cosette, who is kept by the Thénardiers until Valjean buys her from them. When Hathaway was cast, she stated, "There was resistance because I was between their ideal ages for the parts—maybe not mature enough for Fantine but past the point where I could believably play Cosette."[13] On developing Cosette, Seyfried said, "In the little time that I had to explain Cosette and give the audience a reason [to see her] a symbol of love and strength and light in this tragedy, I needed to be able to convey things you may not have connected with in the show."[20] A vocal coach was enlisted to help her with the songs.[21] Isabelle Allen plays young Cosette, a child.[22] On working with her fellow actors, Allen said, "They gave us lots of tips and mostly [made] sure we were all OK. They were really nice."[23]
Eddie Redmayne plays Marius Pontmercy, a student revolutionary who is friends with the Thenardiers' daughter, Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette.[24][25][26] He found director Hooper's vision "incredibly helpful". On collaborating with Hooper, Redmayne said, "He was incredibly collaborative. Certainly during the rehearsal process, we sat with Tom and the Victor Hugo book adding things."[27] It was Redmayne who suggested to Hooper that his character's song, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", should begin a cappella in order to better express Marius' guilt and pain.
Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play the Thénardiers, a pair of swindling innkeepers.[28][29][30] Hooper previously collaborated with Bonham Carter in The King's Speech, in which she portrayed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[31] Baron Cohen and Bonham Carter previously co-starred in the film adaptation of the musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. When Baron Cohen accepted the role of Thénardier, he had to abandon Django Unchained.[32]
Samantha Barks played Éponine, the Thénardiers' daughter.[33] Having previously played the role at the 25th Anniversary concert and in the West End production, Barks said "there was similarities in playing the role—they're the same character—but Eponine in the novel and Eponine in the musical are two kind of different girls, so to me it was the thrill of merging those two together, to get something that still had that heart and soul that we all connect to in the musical, but also the awkward, self-loathing teenager that we see in the novel, trying to merge those two together." She found Jackman "fascinating to learn from, and I feel like that's the way it should be done".[34]
Aaron Tveit portrayed Enjolras, the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC. Hoping to play Marius, Tveit submitted an audition tape in which he sang "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and "In My Life". He had never performed any role in the musical. He also said of Enjolras that "once I got more and more familiar with the material and when I read the novel, I was like, 'Wow this is a really, really great role,' and I felt very much better suited for it." Tveit said the shooting of the film was "almost as grueling as a marathon".[35]
Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle, two of the original cast members involved in the Broadway and West End productions of the English version (as Jean Valjean and Éponine, respectively), make appearances. Wilkinson plays the Bishop of Digne, while Ruffelle plays a prostitute.[36] West End star Hadley Fraser, who previously played Grantaire in the 25th Anniversary Concert and Javert at West End, also makes a cameo as the Army General. Another West End star, Gina Beck, makes a cameo appearance one of the "Turning Women". Michael Jibson plays the foreman of the factory in which Fantine works and is fired from.[37]
Several actors in the West End production of the musical appear members of the student society, including George Blagden as Grantaire;[38] Killian Donnelly as Combeferre; Fra Fee as Courfeyrac; Alistair Brammer as Jean Prouvaire; Hugh Skinner as Joly;[39] Gabriel Vick as Feuilly;[40] Iwan Lewis as Bahorel; and Stuart Neal as Bossuet. Blagden was cast in January 2012.[41] Other stage actors including Hannah Waddingham, Daniel Evans and Kerry Ellis have small parts in the film along with actors who previously starred in various productions of Les Misérables.[30][42]
Musical numbers[edit]
See also: Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
A highlights soundtrack album was released via Universal Republic 21 December 2012.[43] Republic Records confirmed 25 January 2013, via Twitter that a 2-disc deluxe soundtrack was in production alongside the DVD and Blu-ray; it was released 19 March 2013.[44]
The film contains every song from the original stage musical with the exception of "I Saw Him Once" and "Dog Eats Dog", although many songs have been partially or extensively cut. "The Attack on Rue Plumet" and "Little People" were especially shortened. In addition, the Bishop sings with Fantine during "Valjean's Death" instead of Eponine, as was in the stage musical. The lyrics of some songs were also changed to suit the changes in setting or narrative to the stage musical. In addition to the cuts, a new song, "Suddenly" was added, new music was composed for the battle scenes, and the order of several songs changed from the stage musical. Several major pieces, primarily as "Who Am I?", "Stars", and the two "Soliloquy" pieces are performed in a different key than most recordings.
1."Look Down" – Convicts, Javert, Valjean†§
2."On Parole" – Valjean, Bishop of Digne
3."The Bishop" – Bishop of Digne†§
4."Valjean's Soliloquy" – Valjean†§
5."At the End of the Day" – Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Women, Fantine, Valjean†§
6."The Runaway Cart" – Valjean, Javert
7."The Docks (Lovely Ladies)" – Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores, Pimp, Toothman§
8."I Dreamed a Dream" – Fantine†§
9."Fantine's Arrest" – Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert, Valjean§
10."Who Am I?" – Valjean§
11."Fantine's Death" – Fantine, Valjean§
12."The Confrontation" – Javert, Valjean†§
13."Castle on a Cloud" – Young Cosette, Mme. Thénardier†§
14."Master of the House" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Inn Patrons†§
15."The Well Scene" – Valjean, Young Cosette§
16."The Bargain" – Valjean, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
17."The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" – Thénardier, Valjean, Mme. Thénardier, Young Cosette§
18."Suddenly" – Valjean†§
19."The Convent" – Valjean§
20."Stars" – Javert§
21."Paris/Look Down" – Gavroche, Beggars, Enjolras, Marius, Students§
22."The Robbery" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Éponine, Valjean§
23."Javert's Intervention" – Javert, Thénardier§
24."Éponine's Errand" - Éponine, Marius
25."ABC Café/Red and Black" – Students, Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Gavroche†§
26."In My Life" – Cosette, Valjean, Marius, Éponine§
27."A Heart Full of Love" – Marius, Cosette, Éponine†§
28."The Attack on Rue Plumet" – Thénardier, Thieves, Éponine, Valjean
29."On My Own" – Éponine†§
30."One Day More" – Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Cast of Les Misérables†§
31."Do You Hear the People Sing?" – Enjolras, Marius, Students, Beggars§
32."Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" – Enjolras, Javert, Gavroche, Students§
33."Javert's Arrival" – Javert, Enjolras§
34."Little People" – Gavroche, Students, Enjolras, Javert§
35."A Little Fall of Rain" – Éponine, Marius§
36."Night of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Valjean, Javert, Students
37."Drink With Me" – Grantaire, Marius, Gavroche, Students†§
38."Bring Him Home" – Valjean†§
39."Dawn of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Gavroche, Students§
40."The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" – Gavroche, Enjolras, Students, Army Officer§
41."The Sewers" – Valjean, Javert§
42."Javert's Suicide" – Javert†§
43."Turning" – Parisian women§
44."Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" – Marius†§
45."A Heart Full of Love [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette, Valjean, Gillenormand§
46."Valjean's Confession" – Valjean, Marius§
47."Suddenly [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette§
48."Wedding Chorale" – Chorus, Marius, Thérnardier, Mme. Thérnardier§
49."Beggars at the Feast" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
50."Valjean's Death" – Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius, Bishop of Digne†§
51."Do You Hear the People Sing? [Reprise]" – The Cast of Les Misérables†§
† Included on the highlights edition soundtrack
§ Included on the deluxe edition soundtrack
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In 1988, Alan Parker was considered to direct a film adaptation of the Les Misérables musical. However, in 1991, Bruce Beresford signed on to be the film's director.[45]



 Producer Cameron Mackintosh had an integral role in facilitating the production of the film.
In 1992, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that the film would be co-produced by TriStar Pictures.[46] However, the film was abandoned. In 2005, Mackintosh later confirmed that interest in turning the musical into a film adaptation had resumed during the early months of that year. Mackintosh said that he wanted the film to be directed by "someone who has a vision for the show that will put the show's original team, including [Mackintosh], back to work." He also said that he wanted the film audiences to make it "fresh as the actual show".[47] In 2009, producer Eric Fellner began negotiations with Mackintosh to acquire the film's rights and concluded it near the end of 2011. Fellner, Tim Bevan, and Debra Hayward engaged William Nicholson to write a screenplay for the film.[13] Nicholson wrote the draft within six weeks time.[13]
The DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert confirmed an announcement of the musical's film adaptation.[48]
Pre-production[edit]
In March 2011, director Tom Hooper began negotiations to direct Les Misérables from the screenplay by William Nicholson.[49] Production on the film officially began in June that year, with Cameron Mackintosh and Working Title Films co-producing. Having already approached Hooper prior to production with the desire of playing Jean Valjean, Hugh Jackman began negotiations to star in the film alongside Paul Bettany as Javert.[50][51] Other stars who became attached to the project included Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter.[52]
In September 2011, Jackman was officially cast as Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe was cast as Javert.[53] The following month, Mackintosh confirmed that Fantine would be played by Hathaway. Before Hathaway was cast, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Tammy Blanchard, Kristin Kreuk, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Rebecca Hall had reportedly been considered for the part.[54] For the role, Hathaway allowed her hair to be cut short on camera for a scene in which her character sells her hair, stating that the lengths she goes to for her roles "don't feel like sacrifices. Getting to transform is one of the best parts of [acting]."[55] The role also required her to lose 25 pounds.[13]
In November 2011, Eddie Redmayne joined the cast as Marius Pontmercy.[24] It was reported that the shortlist of actresses for the role of Éponine included Scarlett Johansson (who also auditioned for the role of Fantine), Lea Michele, Tamsin Egerton, Taylor Swift, and Evan Rachel Wood.[56][57]
In January 2012, the press reported that the role of Éponine had officially been offered to Taylor Swift, but Swift later stated that those reports were not entirely accurate.[58][59][60][61] At the end of the month, Mackintosh made a special appearance during the curtain call of the Oliver! UK tour at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, announcing that the tour's Nancy, Samantha Barks, who had played Éponine in the West End production and in the 25th Anniversary concert, would reprise the role in the film.[33] Barks had been auditioning for 15 weeks by that point.[62]
Originally, an unknown was sought for the role of Cosette, with an open casting call in New York City in December 2011.[63] In January 2012, reports surfaced that Amanda Seyfried had been offered the role instead.[64] Eddie Redmayne confirmed both Seyfried's casting and that of Bonham Carter as Madame Thénardier in an interview on 12 January.[17] Hooper confirmed that he would stick to the musical's essentially sung-through form and would thus introduce very little additional dialogue.[26] Hooper confirmed that the film would not be shot in 3D, expressing his opinion that it would not enhance the emotional narrative of the film and would distract audiences from the storytelling.[65]
Following this announcement, reports surfaced in the press that Sacha Baron Cohen had begun talks to join the cast as Thénardier and that Aaron Tveit had been cast as Enjolras.[66][67] Later that month, the press officially confirmed Tveit's casting as Enjolras.[18][19] Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle (the original Valjean and Éponine, respectively, in the West End and Broadway productions) appeared in the film. Wilkinson played the Bishop of Digne, and Ruffelle had a cameo as a prostitute.[36] George Blagden was cast as Grantaire.[38] In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Front Row, Tom Hooper revealed that Claude-Michel Schönberg will be composing one new song and additional music. The director also expanded on the performers singing live on set, which he felt would eliminate the need to recapture "locked" performances and allow more creative freedom. More details of this were confirmed by Eddie Redmayne in an interview. He stated that the cast would sing to piano tracks (via earpiece) and that the orchestra would be added in post-production.[68]
In February 2012, casting auditions involving extras for the film took place at the University of Portsmouth and Chatham Maritime in Chatham.[69] Several days later, Mackintosh officially confirmed that Bonham Carter would play Madame Thénardier.[29] He also announced that the title of the newly created song for the film is "Suddenly" and that it "beautifully explains what happens when Valjean takes Cosette from the inn and looks after her."[70] At the end of the month, The Sun reported that the long-rumoured Baron Cohen had been cast in the role of Monsieur Thénardier.[71]
The cast began rehearsals in January 2012, with principal photography due to begin in March.[72] The press officially confirmed Baron Cohen's casting during the latter month.[30] No table read took place before filming.[21]
Filming[edit]



 Tom Hooper directing the second unit of Les Misérables on location in Winchester in April 2012.


 The film's set at Greenwich Naval College.
With a production budget of $61 million,[6] principal photography of the film began 8 March 2012 in Gourdon. Filming locations in England included Boughton House, Winchester College, Winchester Cathedral Close, Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, Chatham Dockyard,[73] St Mary the Virgin Church, Ewelme, South Oxfordshire[74] and Pinewood Studios.[8][75][76][77] In April 2012, crews constructed a replica of the Elephant of the Bastille in Greenwich.[78][79] In the novel, Gavroche lives in the decaying monument. On-location filming also took place at Gourdon, Alpes-Maritimes in France. Footage of Hathaway singing "I Dreamed a Dream", a song from the musical, was shown at CinemaCon 26 April 2012. Russell Crowe confirmed 5 June 2012, on Twitter that he had finished filming. He was later followed by Samantha Barks, confirming that all of her scenes had too been completed. Jackman stated that all filming had been completed 23 June 2012.[80] Some late filming occurred in Bath, Somerset, in October 2012 where stunt shots for Javert's suicide scene had to be reshot due to an error found with this footage during post-production. Bath was not the original filming location for this scene, but the late footage was captured at Pulteney Weir.[81]
Post-production[edit]
The film's vocals were recorded live on set using live piano accompaniments played through earpieces as a guide, with the orchestral accompaniment recorded in post-production, rather than the traditional method where the film's musical soundtracks are usually pre-recorded and played back on set to which actors lip-sync. Production sound mixer Simon Hayes used 50 DPA 4071 lavalier microphones to record the vocals.[82] Hooper explained his choice:
“ I just felt ultimately, it was a more natural way of doing it. You know, when actors do dialogue, they have freedom in time, they have freedom in pacing. They can stop for a moment, they can speed up. I simply wanted to give the actors the normal freedoms that they would have. If they need a bit for an emotion or a feeling to form in the eyes before they sing, I can take that time. If they cry, they can cry through a song. When you're doing it to playback, to the millisecond you have to copy what you do. You have no freedom in the moment – and acting is the illusion of being free in the moment.[83] ”
Although this unique live recording method has been stated as "a world's first" by the creative team, several film musicals have used this method before, including early talkies, as lip-syncing wasn't perfected, the 1975 20th Century Fox film At Long Last Love, the adaptation of The Magic Flute that same year, and more recently in the 1995 adaptation of The Fantasticks, in the 2001 film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and in the 2007 film Across the Universe with songs by The Beatles.
Producers announced 27 August 2012, that recording sessions for Les Misérables would begin in London 10 October and featured a 70-piece orchestra. They was also announced that composer Claude-Michel Schönberg was composing additional music to underscore the film.[84] Universal Studios executives were granted a viewing of the rough cut of the film 9 September 2012, without the orchestra tracks. They greeted the cut with "extreme excitement".
Distribution[edit]
Marketing[edit]
The film's first teaser trailer debuted online 30 May 2012, and later in theatres with Snow White and the Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy and Argo.[85]
Producers released an extended first look on the film's official Facebook page 20 September 2012. This short introduces and explains Hooper's method of recording vocals live on set, comparing it to the traditional method of pre-recording the vocals in a studio months in advance. Hugh Jackman stated that filming in this way allows him more creative freedom with the material and that he "only has to worry about acting it." Both Hooper and the actors believe that this choice of production method will make the film feel much more emotional, raw, and real. The actors praised Hooper for his method and provide brief interviews throughout the video. Hooper mentions, "I thought it was an amazing opportunity to do something genuinely groundbreaking."[86] Clips of Jackman, Hathaway, Seyfried, Redmayne and Barks singing were received very positively, especially the teaser trailer's presentation of "I Dreamed a Dream" by Hathaway. Producers released a new poster, featuring young Cosette, played by Isabelle Allen, 24 September 2012, on the film's official Facebook page.[87] They released posters featuring Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Cosette 12 October,[88] with additional posters of Thénardiers and Marius released 1 November 2012.
Release[edit]
Les Misérables was originally to be released 7 December 2012 before the studio moved it to 14 December; however, 18 September 2012, they delayed the film's release date to 25 December, so as not to conflict with the opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opened 14 December. Because of this, it opened alongside Django Unchained.[9] Release date for the United Kingdom was 11 January 2013.[89]
Les Misérables was screened for the first time at the Lincoln Center in New York City, 23 November 2012, and received a standing ovation from the crowd.[90][91] This was followed by a screening the next day in Los Angeles, which also received positive reviews.[92]
Les Misérables premiered 5 December 2012, at the Empire, Leicester Square in London.[2] Red carpet footage was screened live online in an event hosted by Michael Ball, the original Marius of the West End. The film was released in select IMAX theatres in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Montreal the same day as its domestic theatrical release, 25 December 2012.[93] Les Misérables was released internationally by IMAX theatres on 10 January 2013.[93]
Home media[edit]
The film was confirmed for home release 13 May 2013 on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD in the United Kingdom; it was released in the United States 22 March 2013. The DVD contains three featurettes: The Stars of Les Misérables, Creating the Perfect Paris, and The Original Masterwork: Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, along with an audio commentary from director Tom Hooper. The Blu-ray has all DVD features including four additional featurettes: Les Misérables Singing Live, Battle at the Barricade, The West End Connection, and Les Misérables On Location.[94]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Les Misérables earned $148,809,770 in North America and $293,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $441,809,770.[7] In North America, Les Misérables opened 25 December 2012 in 2,808 theatres, placing first at the box office with $18.1 million.[95] This amount broke the record for the highest opening day gross for a musical film, previously held by High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and was also the second highest opening day gross for a film released on Christmas Day.[96] It earned $27.3 million in its opening weekend, placing third behind Django Unchained and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.[97]
The film was released in the United Kingdom 11 January 2013 and earned £8.1 ($13.1) million in its opening weekend, making it the largest opening weekend for a musical film, as well as for Working Title.[98]
Critical response[edit]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 70% approval rating with an average rating of 7/10, based on an aggregation of 225 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Impeccably mounted but occasionally bombastic, Les Misérables largely succeeds thanks to bravura performances from its distinguished cast." [99] On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 63 out of 100 based on 41 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[100] The film was generally praised for its acting and ensemble cast, with Jackman and Hathaway being singled out for praise. The live singing, which was heavily promoted in marketing for the film, received a more divided response.
Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film five stars: "Les Misérables is a blockbuster, and the special effects are emotional: explosions of grief; fireballs of romance; million-buck conflagrations of heartbreak. Accordingly, you should see it in its opening week, on a gigantic screen, with a fanatical crowd."[101]
The Guardian‍ '​s Peter Bradshaw concurred: "Even as a non-believer in this kind of "sung-through" musical, I was battered into submission by this mesmeric and sometimes compelling film ...".[102] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave a positive review, saying that the film "is a clutch player that delivers an emotional wallop when it counts. You can walk into the theater as an agnostic, but you may just leave singing with the choir."[103] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, "Besides being a feast for the eyes and ears, Les Misérables overflows with humor, heartbreak, rousing action and ravishing romance. Damn the imperfections, it's perfectly marvelous."[104]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "As the enduring success of this property has shown, there are large, emotionally susceptible segments of the population ready to swallow this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's good."[105]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote: "[Director Tom] Hooper can be very good with actors. But his inability to leave any lily ungilded—to direct a scene without tilting or hurtling or throwing the camera around—is bludgeoning and deadly. By the grand finale, when tout le monde is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat."[106]
Justin Chang of Variety wrote that the film "will more than satisfy the show's legions of fans." Chang praised the performances of Jackman, Hathaway, Barks, Tveit and Seyfried (i.e., every leading cast member except Crowe and Redmayne) but said that the film's editing "seems reluctant to slow down and let the viewer simply take in the performances."[107]
Callum Marsh of Slant Magazine gave the film 1 star, and wrote: "Flaws—and there are a great many that would have never made the cut were this a perfectible studio recording—are conveniently swept under the rug of candid expression ... the worst quality of Les Misérables's live singing is simply that it puts too much pressure on a handful of performers who frankly cannot sing.... Fisheye lenses and poorly framed close-ups abound in Les Misérables, nearly every frame a revelation of one man's bad taste ... One would be hard-pressed to describe this, despite the wealth of beauty on display, as anything but an ugly film, shot and cut ineptly. Everything in the film, songs included, is cranked to 11, the melodrama of it all soaring. So it's odd that this kind of showboating maximalism should be ultimately reduced to a few fisheye'd faces, mugging for their close-up, as the people sing off-key and broken."[108] The Chicago Tribune critic Michael Philips gave the film only one and a half stars, writing: "The camera bobs and weaves like a drunk, frantically. So you have hammering close-ups, combined with woozy insecurity each time more than two people are in the frame. ...too little in this frenzied mess of a film registers because Hooper is trying to make everything register at the same nutty pitch."[109]
Some specific performances were reviewed very positively. Anne Hathaway's performance of ballad "I Dreamed a Dream" was met with praise, with many comparing its showstopper-like quality to Jennifer Hudson's performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.[110] Christopher Orr of The Atlantic wrote that "Hathaway gives it everything she has, beginning in quiet sorrow before building to a woebegone climax: she gasps, she weeps, she coughs. If you are blown away by the scene—as many will be; it will almost certainly earn Hathaway her first Oscar—this may be the film for you."[111] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post writes that "The centerpiece of a movie composed entirely of centerpieces belongs to Anne Hathaway, who as the tragic heroine Fantine sings another of the memorable numbers".[112] Joy Tipping of The Dallas Morning News described Hathaway's performance as "angelic".[113]
Claudia Puig of USA Today describes her as "superb as the tragic Fantine".[114] Travers felt that "A dynamite Hathaway shatters every heart when she sings how 'life has killed the dream I dreamed.' Her volcanic performance has Oscar written all over it."[104] Lou Lumenick, critic for the New York Post, wrote that the film is "worth seeing for Hathaway alone".[115] She was widely considered to be the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,[116] ultimately winning it.
Eddie Redmayne also received considerable praise for his performance with Bloomberg News saying that "Eddie Redmayne—most recently seen as the eager young production assistant in My Week with Marilyn—delivers by far the most moving and memorable performance in the film as the young firebrand Marius, who, along with his fellow students, is caught up in France's political upheavals in the 19th century."[117]
Samantha Barks earned praise for her portrayal of Éponine, with Digital Journal saying: "Samantha Barks plays Éponine with such grace, sweetness, and sadness that it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role",[118] while Claudia Puig of USA Today calls her "heartbreakingly soulful",[114] Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times describes her performance as "star-making",[119] and Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com says she "just about steals the film".[120]
Crowe's performance was less well received and even Crowe agreed that the film suffered from poor vocal performances. Emma Gosnell, writing for The Daily Telegraph, stated that she walked out of the showing due to the poor singing, specifically citing Crowe and Jackman as the cause. Playback singer Marni Nixon said "[Crowe] was nothing. It wasn’t that he was choosing to sing like that, he just couldn't do anything else" and that Jackman acted well but "could have done with a nobler voice". She also criticized Bonham Carter as being incomprehensible, but praised the rest of the female cast.[121] American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert tweeted several disparaging messages, including "why not cast actors who could actually sound good?" and "the singing was so distracting at times it pulled me out", to which Crowe replied via twitter "I don't disagree with Adam,sure it could have been sweetened,Hooper wanted it raw and real,that's how it is".[122] Nixon rebutted this: “We’re talking about a musical. Is that real? People don’t go around singing 'La la la la’ to each other all day!”[121]
In 2013, the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including the Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hugh Jackman,[123] and went on to win in three categories: Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound Mixing.
Accolades[edit]


List of awards and nominations

Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
Ref

Academy Award 24 February 2013 Best Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [123]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" (music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil) Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell Won
Best Sound Mixing Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, and Simon Hayes Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
American Film Institute 11 January 2013 Movies of the Year Won [124]
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award 28 January 2013 Best International Film Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [125]
Best International Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
British Academy Film Award 10 February 2013 Best Film Nominated [126]
Best British Film Nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hair Lisa Westcott Won
Best Sound Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, and John Warhurst Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 10 January 2013 Best Film Nominated [127]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens and Melanie Oliver Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup Lisa Westcott Won
Chicago Film Critics Association 17 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated [128]
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Most Promising Performer Samantha Barks Nominated
Directors Guild of America Award 2 February 2013 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Tom Hooper Nominated 
Dorian Awards 17 January 2013 Film of the Year  Nominated [129][130]
Film Performance of the Year - Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Film Performance of the Year - Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Visually Striking Film of the Year  Nominated
Golden Globe Award 13 January 2013 Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Won [131]
Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Hugh Jackman Won
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Grammy Awards 26 January 2014 Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media Cameron Mackintosh, Lee McCutcheon and Stephan Metcalfe Nominated [132]
Hollywood Film Festival 23 October 2012 Best Trailer Erin Wyatt Won [133]
Producer of the Year Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Won
Spotlight Award Samantha Barks Won
Houston Film Critics Society 5 January 2013 Best Picture Nominated 
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
5th Annual Lancashire Film Critics Awards 30 March 2013 Best Film  Won [134]
Best Director Tom Hooper Won
London Film Critics Circle 20 January 2013 British Film of the Year Nominated 
Actor of the Year Hugh Jackman Nominated
Supporting Actress of the Year Anne Hathaway Won
Young British Performer of the Year Samantha Barks Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association 9 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
MTV Movie Awards 14 April 2013 Best Female Performance Anne Hathaway Nominated [135]
Best Breakthrough Performance Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Musical Moment Anne Hathaway Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle Award 3 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
New York Film Critics Online 3 December 2012 Movies of the Year Won 
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Producers Guild of America Award 26 January 2013 Best Theatrical Motion Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [136]
Satellite Award 16 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [137]
Best Cast – Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor – Motion Picture Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Samantha Barks Nominated
Best Art Direction and Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens and Melanie Oliver Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
Best Sound John Warhurst, Lee Walpole, and Simon Hayes Won
Saturn Awards 26 June 2013 Best Action / Adventure Nominated [138]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated
Best Costume Paco Delgado Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award 27 January 2013 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated [139]
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association 10 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [140]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Samantha Barks Nominated
Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Young Artist Award 5 May 2013 Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated [141]
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress Ten and Under Isabelle Allen Won

References[edit]
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10.Jump up ^ "Metacritic provided reviews".
11.Jump up ^ Anne Hathaway wins Oscar for role in Les Misérables
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External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Les Misérables (2012 film)
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Les Misérables at Metacritic
Les Misérables: information about the film and novel.


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Les Misérables (2012 film)

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Les Misérables
The poster shows a young girl, played by Isabelle Allen, in the background of a dark night. Text above reveals the cast listing and text below reveals the film's title.
Theatrical film poster

Directed by
Tom Hooper
Produced by
Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Debra Hayward
Cameron Mackintosh
Screenplay by
William Nicholson
Alain Boublil
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Herbert Kretzmer
Based on
Les Misérables
 by Claude-Michel Schönberg
 Alain Boublil
Les Misérables
 by Victor Hugo
Starring
Hugh Jackman
Russell Crowe
Anne Hathaway
Amanda Seyfried
Eddie Redmayne
Helena Bonham Carter
Sacha Baron Cohen
Music by
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Cinematography
Danny Cohen
Edited by
Melanie Ann Oliver
Chris Dickens

Production
 company

Relativity Media
StudioCanal
Working Title Films
 Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.[1]

Distributed by
Universal Pictures

Release dates

5 December 2012 (London premiere)[2]
11 January 2013 (United Kingdom)


Running time
 158 minutes[3]
Country
United Kingdom[4][5]
Language
English
Budget
$61 million[6][7]
Box office
$441.8 million[7]
Les Misérables is a 2012 British epic romantic musical period drama film produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the 1980 musical of the same name by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg which is in turn based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo. The film is directed by Tom Hooper, scripted by William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, and stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried. The title literally translates to The Miserables or The Miserable Ones.
The film tells the story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who, inspired by a kindly bishop, decides to turn his life around. He eventually becomes mayor of a town in France and owner of a factory in that town. He is always alert to the risk of being captured again by police inspector Javert, who is ruthless in hunting down law-breakers, believing they cannot change for the better. One of Valjean's factory workers, Fantine, blames him for her being cast into a life of prostitution. When she dies, he feels responsible and agrees to take care of her illegitimate daughter, Cosette — though he must first escape Javert. Later, when Cosette is grown, they are swept up in the political turmoil in Paris, which culminates in the Paris Uprising of 1832.
Attempts to adapt a Les Misérables film from the stage musical have taken place since the late 1980s. In June 2011, from a screenplay by Nicholson, production of the film officially began with Hooper and Mackintosh serving as director and producer, and the main characters were cast later that year. Principal photography commenced in March 2012,[8] and took place in various English locations, including Greenwich, London, Chatham, Winchester, Bath and Portsmouth; as well as in Gourdon, France.
Les Misérables premiered in London 5 December 2012, and was released 25 December 2012 in the United States, 26 December 2012, in Australia, and 11 January 2013 in the United Kingdom.[2][7][9]
The film received generally favourable[10] reviews, with many critics praising the cast, and Jackman, Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks being the most often singled out for praise. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Jackman and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for Hathaway. It also won four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), including the Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hathaway). It received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture (the first musical nominated since 2002's winner Chicago) and Best Actor for Jackman, and won three, for Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Supporting Actress for Hathaway.[11]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Musical numbers
4 Production 4.1 Development
4.2 Pre-production
4.3 Filming
4.4 Post-production
5 Distribution 5.1 Marketing
5.2 Release
5.3 Home media
6 Reception 6.1 Box office
6.2 Critical response
6.3 Accolades
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
In 1815, convict Jean Valjean is released on parole by prison guard Javert after serving a nineteen-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread and numerous escape attempts. Valjean is refused employment due to his paroled status. He is offered food and shelter by the Bishop of Digne, but Valjean steals his silver during the night. When he is captured by the constables, the Bishop tells them that the silver was given as a gift, securing Valjean's release. The Bishop urges Valjean to do something worthwhile with his life. Moved by the Bishop's grace, Valjean breaks his parole and vows to start a new life under a new identity.
Eight years later, Valjean has become a factory owner and mayor of Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais, while Javert has been assigned as his new chief of police. In their initial meeting, Javert suspects Valjean's identity after witnessing his strength as he lifts a heavy cart to free a trapped man. Meanwhile, Fantine, one of Valjean's workers, is discovered by the other women working there to send money to her illegitimate daughter, Cosette, who lives with the unscrupulous Thénardiers and their daughter Éponine. Outraged that Fantine has spurned his advances, the foreman dismisses her for promiscuity. In a desperate attempt to support her daughter, Fantine sells her hair and teeth and eventually becomes a prostitute. She is arrested by Javert after attacking an abusive customer, but is saved by Valjean, who has her hospitalized and watches over her.
Later, Valjean learns that a man believed to be him has been arrested after Javert files a report against the real Valjean only to be told he had already been apprehended. Because of this, Javert tries to resign his duties, but Valjean refuses, saying that he only did his job. Finally unable to accept that an innocent man could be condemned in his place, Valjean reveals his identity to the court. He returns to the hospital, where he vows to Fantine that he will watch over her daughter before she dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean into custody, but Valjean pleads for enough time to rescue Cosette, which Javert refuses. After a brief fight and Javert revealing that he was born inside a jail, Valjean jumps into a river to escape. Cosette lives with the Thenardiers dreaming of having a mother. The Thenadiers own an inn where they scam the guests and steal their belongings. He finds Cosette in the woods since the Thenardiers ordered her to draw some water from the well. Valjean pays Fantine's debts, and leaves with Cosette, promising to be like a father to her. Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris.The Thénardiers wonder whether they demanded enough money from Valjean, and how much more money he might have. After Valjean and Cosette escape to a convent, Javert vows to bring the escaped convict to justice.
Nine years later, there is increasing poverty in Paris. Jean Maximilien Lamarque, the only government official sympathetic towards the poor, is nearing death; therefore a large group of young revolutionary students, known as the Friends of the ABC, plan a rebellion against the French monarchy. The students consist of Marius Pontmercy, Enjolras, Gavroche, Grantaire, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Joly, and Jean Prouvaire. Marius lives in a small room near the Thénardiers and has become friendly with their daughter, Éponine, who fell deeply in love with him but was merely considered his best friend.
When Valjean and Cosette are giving alms to the poor, Marius catches a glimpse of Cosette and instantly falls in love. The Thénardiers also see Valjean and believe they now have their chance to extract more money. Valjean and Thénardier argue and Javert arrives to intervene. Valjean and Cosette slip away before Javert can recognize them and Thénardier devises a plot to rob Valjean. Marius pleads with Éponine to find out where Cosette lives so he can see her again.
At the ABC cafe, Enjolras rallies the students when Gavroche brings word that Lamarque has died. Éponine leads Marius to Cosette. Marius and Cosette profess their love, while Éponine laments that her secret love for Marius will go unrequited. As Marius and Cosette conclude their talk, Thénardier's gang arrives to capture Valjean and earn a reward from Javert. Éponine screams to warn Valjean and Cosette, and Valjean decides to flee, unaware of Cosette's desire for Marius. Cosette tries to dissuade him, then asks about their pasts. Valjean declines and she leaves a note for Marius explaining her departure. Éponine finds Cosette's letter to Marius, who becomes dismayed. He sends a farewell to Cosette and decides to join the revolution. Éponine joins too, disguised as a man, just to be near Marius. Enjolras urges the Parisians to full revolt.
The next day, the students interrupt Lamarque's funeral procession to begin their revolt and build barricades throughout Paris. Javert poses as a rebel to spy on them, but is quickly exposed by street child Gavroche and captured. During the ensuing battle, Éponine intervenes in standoff between Marius and a soldier at the cost of her own life. She gives Marius the letter Cosette wrote and professes her love to him before she dies in his arms, leaving Marius devastated and heartbroken at the loss of his best friend as well as the revelation of her feelings.
Meanwhile, Marius asks Gavroche to deliver a letter to Cosette. When Gavroche arrives at Valjean's house, Valjean takes the letter and learns of their love. He abandons his plans to flee the country and instead goes to the barricade to protect Marius. After saving Enjolras from a sniper, he is given custody of the prisoner, Javert, whom he says he will execute. However, when the two are alone, Valjean frees Javert who leaves, confused by this act of mercy from a criminal whom he holds in low regard. The students settle down for the night and reminisce. Enjolras tells the other students to stay awake in case the enemy strikes unexpectedly in the night, but he tells Marius to get some sleep, knowing he is still too devastated over losing Éponine to stay awake.



Elephant of the Bastille on the Les Misérables film set
When the Parisians do not join the revolution as they expected, the students resolve to fight to the death. Everyone is killed except Marius, who is saved when Valjean drags his unconscious body into the sewers before the army arrives. Thénardier discovers Marius and Valjean and steals Marius's ring before moving on to scavenge other bodies. Valjean attacks Thénardier and demands to know the way out. Thénardier shows the way, and Valjean escapes the sewers carrying Marius, but encounters Javert. When Valjean asks Javert to take Marius to a doctor, he refuses and threatens to kill him if he does not surrender. Valjean ignores him and leaves with Marius. Stunned by Valjean's earlier mercy toward him and his own recent mercy towards Valjean, and unable to reconcile the conflict between his civil and moral duties, two things which he always considered the same, Javert drops his pistol into the sewers and jumps to his death in the Seine.
After recovering at his grandfather's home, Marius mourns his friends, and Cosette comforts him. Valjean sees that Cosette and Marius are happy together and believes that his presence can only threaten their happiness. He reveals his past to Marius and tells him he must leave to ensure their safety and happiness. Marius is shocked, and at first attempts to persuade him to stay, but reluctantly accepts Valjean's decision to leave, promising not to tell Cosette that her father is a fugitive.
Marius and Cosette marry, although Cosette is sad that Valjean is not with them. The Thénardiers attempt to crash the reception and tell Marius that they saw his father-in-law (Valjean) carrying a murdered corpse through the sewers. They plan to blackmail him to keep it quiet. As proof, Thénardier shows Marius the ring that he stole from the murder victim in the sewers. Recognizing the ring as his own, Marius realizes it was Valjean who saved his life. The Thénardiers are ejected from the wedding, and Marius and Cosette hurry to find Valjean, who is dying in a local convent. As he perceives Fantine's spirit arriving to take him to heaven, Cosette and Marius rush in to bid him farewell. Valjean hands Cosette a letter of his confession of his past life and joins the spirits of the Bishop, Fantine, Enjolras, Grantaire, Éponine, Gavroche, Courfeyrac, Joly and the other rebels at the holy barricade.
Cast[edit]

Actor

Role
Hugh Jackman     Jean Valjean
Russell Crowe   Javert
Anne Hathaway   Fantine
Amanda Seyfried   Cosette
Eddie Redmayne  Marius Pontmercy
Aaron Tveit   Enjolras
Samantha Barks   Éponine
 Isabelle Allen  Young Cosette
 Daniel Huttlestone   Gavroche
Colm Wilkinson   Bishop Myriel
Helena Bonham Carter   Madame Thénardier
Sacha Baron Cohen   Thénardier
Bertie Carvel  Bamatabois
George Blagden   Grantaire
Killian Donnelly   Combeferre
Fra Fee   Courfeyrac
Alistair Brammer  Jean Prouvaire
Gabriel Vick   Feuilly
Hugh Skinner   Joly
Iwan Lewis   Bahorel
Stuart Neal   Laigle
Hadley Fraser   National Guard Leader
Heather Chasen   Madame Magloire
Georgie Glen   Mademoiselle Baptistine
Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, a Frenchman released from Toulon prison after 19 years of imprisonment for stealing bread and failed attempts at escaping from the prison.[12] Around June 2011, Jackman met with producer Cameron Mackintosh to audition in New York.[13] To prepare for the role, Jackman lost 15 pounds and later regained 30 pounds to mirror his character's success.[13] He avoided drinking coffee, warmed up at least 15 minutes every day, kept Ricola lozenges, drank as much as seven litres of water per day, sat in steam three times a day, took cold baths and used a wet washcloth over his face while flying, citing the musical's original co-director Trevor Nunn for his training.[14] He worked extensively with vocal coach Joan Lader, and managed to extend his vocal range, which he originally categorized a high baritone, up to tenor.[15]
Russell Crowe stars as Javert, a police inspector dedicating his life to imprisoning Valjean once again.[12] Before being cast as Javert, Crowe was initially dissatisfied with the character. On his way to Europe for a friend's wedding, Crowe came to London and met with producer Cameron Mackintosh. On meeting with Tom Hooper, he told the director about his concerns about playing Javert, and after meeting with him, Crowe was "determined to be involved in the project and play Javert. I think it had something to do with Tom's passion for what he was about to undertake, and he clearly understood the problems and he clearly understood the challenge."[16] On visiting Victor Hugo's home in Paris, Crowe said, "[The house's curator] told me about [19th century detective Eugene Francois] Vidocq, a man who had been both a prisoner and a policeman, the man credited with inventing undercover police work when he established the Brigade de Surete."[13]
Anne Hathaway plays Fantine, and Amanda Seyfried plays Cosette.[17][18][19] Fantine is a struggling factory worker and mother of an illegitimate child, Cosette, who is kept by the Thénardiers until Valjean buys her from them. When Hathaway was cast, she stated, "There was resistance because I was between their ideal ages for the parts—maybe not mature enough for Fantine but past the point where I could believably play Cosette."[13] On developing Cosette, Seyfried said, "In the little time that I had to explain Cosette and give the audience a reason [to see her] a symbol of love and strength and light in this tragedy, I needed to be able to convey things you may not have connected with in the show."[20] A vocal coach was enlisted to help her with the songs.[21] Isabelle Allen plays young Cosette, a child.[22] On working with her fellow actors, Allen said, "They gave us lots of tips and mostly [made] sure we were all OK. They were really nice."[23]
Eddie Redmayne plays Marius Pontmercy, a student revolutionary who is friends with the Thenardiers' daughter, Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette.[24][25][26] He found director Hooper's vision "incredibly helpful". On collaborating with Hooper, Redmayne said, "He was incredibly collaborative. Certainly during the rehearsal process, we sat with Tom and the Victor Hugo book adding things."[27] It was Redmayne who suggested to Hooper that his character's song, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", should begin a cappella in order to better express Marius' guilt and pain.
Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play the Thénardiers, a pair of swindling innkeepers.[28][29][30] Hooper previously collaborated with Bonham Carter in The King's Speech, in which she portrayed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[31] Baron Cohen and Bonham Carter previously co-starred in the film adaptation of the musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. When Baron Cohen accepted the role of Thénardier, he had to abandon Django Unchained.[32]
Samantha Barks played Éponine, the Thénardiers' daughter.[33] Having previously played the role at the 25th Anniversary concert and in the West End production, Barks said "there was similarities in playing the role—they're the same character—but Eponine in the novel and Eponine in the musical are two kind of different girls, so to me it was the thrill of merging those two together, to get something that still had that heart and soul that we all connect to in the musical, but also the awkward, self-loathing teenager that we see in the novel, trying to merge those two together." She found Jackman "fascinating to learn from, and I feel like that's the way it should be done".[34]
Aaron Tveit portrayed Enjolras, the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC. Hoping to play Marius, Tveit submitted an audition tape in which he sang "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and "In My Life". He had never performed any role in the musical. He also said of Enjolras that "once I got more and more familiar with the material and when I read the novel, I was like, 'Wow this is a really, really great role,' and I felt very much better suited for it." Tveit said the shooting of the film was "almost as grueling as a marathon".[35]
Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle, two of the original cast members involved in the Broadway and West End productions of the English version (as Jean Valjean and Éponine, respectively), make appearances. Wilkinson plays the Bishop of Digne, while Ruffelle plays a prostitute.[36] West End star Hadley Fraser, who previously played Grantaire in the 25th Anniversary Concert and Javert at West End, also makes a cameo as the Army General. Another West End star, Gina Beck, makes a cameo appearance one of the "Turning Women". Michael Jibson plays the foreman of the factory in which Fantine works and is fired from.[37]
Several actors in the West End production of the musical appear members of the student society, including George Blagden as Grantaire;[38] Killian Donnelly as Combeferre; Fra Fee as Courfeyrac; Alistair Brammer as Jean Prouvaire; Hugh Skinner as Joly;[39] Gabriel Vick as Feuilly;[40] Iwan Lewis as Bahorel; and Stuart Neal as Bossuet. Blagden was cast in January 2012.[41] Other stage actors including Hannah Waddingham, Daniel Evans and Kerry Ellis have small parts in the film along with actors who previously starred in various productions of Les Misérables.[30][42]
Musical numbers[edit]
See also: Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
A highlights soundtrack album was released via Universal Republic 21 December 2012.[43] Republic Records confirmed 25 January 2013, via Twitter that a 2-disc deluxe soundtrack was in production alongside the DVD and Blu-ray; it was released 19 March 2013.[44]
The film contains every song from the original stage musical with the exception of "I Saw Him Once" and "Dog Eats Dog", although many songs have been partially or extensively cut. "The Attack on Rue Plumet" and "Little People" were especially shortened. In addition, the Bishop sings with Fantine during "Valjean's Death" instead of Eponine, as was in the stage musical. The lyrics of some songs were also changed to suit the changes in setting or narrative to the stage musical. In addition to the cuts, a new song, "Suddenly" was added, new music was composed for the battle scenes, and the order of several songs changed from the stage musical. Several major pieces, primarily as "Who Am I?", "Stars", and the two "Soliloquy" pieces are performed in a different key than most recordings.
1."Look Down" – Convicts, Javert, Valjean†§
2."On Parole" – Valjean, Bishop of Digne
3."The Bishop" – Bishop of Digne†§
4."Valjean's Soliloquy" – Valjean†§
5."At the End of the Day" – Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Women, Fantine, Valjean†§
6."The Runaway Cart" – Valjean, Javert
7."The Docks (Lovely Ladies)" – Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores, Pimp, Toothman§
8."I Dreamed a Dream" – Fantine†§
9."Fantine's Arrest" – Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert, Valjean§
10."Who Am I?" – Valjean§
11."Fantine's Death" – Fantine, Valjean§
12."The Confrontation" – Javert, Valjean†§
13."Castle on a Cloud" – Young Cosette, Mme. Thénardier†§
14."Master of the House" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Inn Patrons†§
15."The Well Scene" – Valjean, Young Cosette§
16."The Bargain" – Valjean, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
17."The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" – Thénardier, Valjean, Mme. Thénardier, Young Cosette§
18."Suddenly" – Valjean†§
19."The Convent" – Valjean§
20."Stars" – Javert§
21."Paris/Look Down" – Gavroche, Beggars, Enjolras, Marius, Students§
22."The Robbery" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Éponine, Valjean§
23."Javert's Intervention" – Javert, Thénardier§
24."Éponine's Errand" - Éponine, Marius
25."ABC Café/Red and Black" – Students, Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Gavroche†§
26."In My Life" – Cosette, Valjean, Marius, Éponine§
27."A Heart Full of Love" – Marius, Cosette, Éponine†§
28."The Attack on Rue Plumet" – Thénardier, Thieves, Éponine, Valjean
29."On My Own" – Éponine†§
30."One Day More" – Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Cast of Les Misérables†§
31."Do You Hear the People Sing?" – Enjolras, Marius, Students, Beggars§
32."Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" – Enjolras, Javert, Gavroche, Students§
33."Javert's Arrival" – Javert, Enjolras§
34."Little People" – Gavroche, Students, Enjolras, Javert§
35."A Little Fall of Rain" – Éponine, Marius§
36."Night of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Valjean, Javert, Students
37."Drink With Me" – Grantaire, Marius, Gavroche, Students†§
38."Bring Him Home" – Valjean†§
39."Dawn of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Gavroche, Students§
40."The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" – Gavroche, Enjolras, Students, Army Officer§
41."The Sewers" – Valjean, Javert§
42."Javert's Suicide" – Javert†§
43."Turning" – Parisian women§
44."Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" – Marius†§
45."A Heart Full of Love [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette, Valjean, Gillenormand§
46."Valjean's Confession" – Valjean, Marius§
47."Suddenly [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette§
48."Wedding Chorale" – Chorus, Marius, Thérnardier, Mme. Thérnardier§
49."Beggars at the Feast" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
50."Valjean's Death" – Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius, Bishop of Digne†§
51."Do You Hear the People Sing? [Reprise]" – The Cast of Les Misérables†§
† Included on the highlights edition soundtrack
§ Included on the deluxe edition soundtrack
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In 1988, Alan Parker was considered to direct a film adaptation of the Les Misérables musical. However, in 1991, Bruce Beresford signed on to be the film's director.[45]



 Producer Cameron Mackintosh had an integral role in facilitating the production of the film.
In 1992, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that the film would be co-produced by TriStar Pictures.[46] However, the film was abandoned. In 2005, Mackintosh later confirmed that interest in turning the musical into a film adaptation had resumed during the early months of that year. Mackintosh said that he wanted the film to be directed by "someone who has a vision for the show that will put the show's original team, including [Mackintosh], back to work." He also said that he wanted the film audiences to make it "fresh as the actual show".[47] In 2009, producer Eric Fellner began negotiations with Mackintosh to acquire the film's rights and concluded it near the end of 2011. Fellner, Tim Bevan, and Debra Hayward engaged William Nicholson to write a screenplay for the film.[13] Nicholson wrote the draft within six weeks time.[13]
The DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert confirmed an announcement of the musical's film adaptation.[48]
Pre-production[edit]
In March 2011, director Tom Hooper began negotiations to direct Les Misérables from the screenplay by William Nicholson.[49] Production on the film officially began in June that year, with Cameron Mackintosh and Working Title Films co-producing. Having already approached Hooper prior to production with the desire of playing Jean Valjean, Hugh Jackman began negotiations to star in the film alongside Paul Bettany as Javert.[50][51] Other stars who became attached to the project included Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter.[52]
In September 2011, Jackman was officially cast as Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe was cast as Javert.[53] The following month, Mackintosh confirmed that Fantine would be played by Hathaway. Before Hathaway was cast, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Tammy Blanchard, Kristin Kreuk, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Rebecca Hall had reportedly been considered for the part.[54] For the role, Hathaway allowed her hair to be cut short on camera for a scene in which her character sells her hair, stating that the lengths she goes to for her roles "don't feel like sacrifices. Getting to transform is one of the best parts of [acting]."[55] The role also required her to lose 25 pounds.[13]
In November 2011, Eddie Redmayne joined the cast as Marius Pontmercy.[24] It was reported that the shortlist of actresses for the role of Éponine included Scarlett Johansson (who also auditioned for the role of Fantine), Lea Michele, Tamsin Egerton, Taylor Swift, and Evan Rachel Wood.[56][57]
In January 2012, the press reported that the role of Éponine had officially been offered to Taylor Swift, but Swift later stated that those reports were not entirely accurate.[58][59][60][61] At the end of the month, Mackintosh made a special appearance during the curtain call of the Oliver! UK tour at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, announcing that the tour's Nancy, Samantha Barks, who had played Éponine in the West End production and in the 25th Anniversary concert, would reprise the role in the film.[33] Barks had been auditioning for 15 weeks by that point.[62]
Originally, an unknown was sought for the role of Cosette, with an open casting call in New York City in December 2011.[63] In January 2012, reports surfaced that Amanda Seyfried had been offered the role instead.[64] Eddie Redmayne confirmed both Seyfried's casting and that of Bonham Carter as Madame Thénardier in an interview on 12 January.[17] Hooper confirmed that he would stick to the musical's essentially sung-through form and would thus introduce very little additional dialogue.[26] Hooper confirmed that the film would not be shot in 3D, expressing his opinion that it would not enhance the emotional narrative of the film and would distract audiences from the storytelling.[65]
Following this announcement, reports surfaced in the press that Sacha Baron Cohen had begun talks to join the cast as Thénardier and that Aaron Tveit had been cast as Enjolras.[66][67] Later that month, the press officially confirmed Tveit's casting as Enjolras.[18][19] Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle (the original Valjean and Éponine, respectively, in the West End and Broadway productions) appeared in the film. Wilkinson played the Bishop of Digne, and Ruffelle had a cameo as a prostitute.[36] George Blagden was cast as Grantaire.[38] In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Front Row, Tom Hooper revealed that Claude-Michel Schönberg will be composing one new song and additional music. The director also expanded on the performers singing live on set, which he felt would eliminate the need to recapture "locked" performances and allow more creative freedom. More details of this were confirmed by Eddie Redmayne in an interview. He stated that the cast would sing to piano tracks (via earpiece) and that the orchestra would be added in post-production.[68]
In February 2012, casting auditions involving extras for the film took place at the University of Portsmouth and Chatham Maritime in Chatham.[69] Several days later, Mackintosh officially confirmed that Bonham Carter would play Madame Thénardier.[29] He also announced that the title of the newly created song for the film is "Suddenly" and that it "beautifully explains what happens when Valjean takes Cosette from the inn and looks after her."[70] At the end of the month, The Sun reported that the long-rumoured Baron Cohen had been cast in the role of Monsieur Thénardier.[71]
The cast began rehearsals in January 2012, with principal photography due to begin in March.[72] The press officially confirmed Baron Cohen's casting during the latter month.[30] No table read took place before filming.[21]
Filming[edit]



 Tom Hooper directing the second unit of Les Misérables on location in Winchester in April 2012.


 The film's set at Greenwich Naval College.
With a production budget of $61 million,[6] principal photography of the film began 8 March 2012 in Gourdon. Filming locations in England included Boughton House, Winchester College, Winchester Cathedral Close, Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, Chatham Dockyard,[73] St Mary the Virgin Church, Ewelme, South Oxfordshire[74] and Pinewood Studios.[8][75][76][77] In April 2012, crews constructed a replica of the Elephant of the Bastille in Greenwich.[78][79] In the novel, Gavroche lives in the decaying monument. On-location filming also took place at Gourdon, Alpes-Maritimes in France. Footage of Hathaway singing "I Dreamed a Dream", a song from the musical, was shown at CinemaCon 26 April 2012. Russell Crowe confirmed 5 June 2012, on Twitter that he had finished filming. He was later followed by Samantha Barks, confirming that all of her scenes had too been completed. Jackman stated that all filming had been completed 23 June 2012.[80] Some late filming occurred in Bath, Somerset, in October 2012 where stunt shots for Javert's suicide scene had to be reshot due to an error found with this footage during post-production. Bath was not the original filming location for this scene, but the late footage was captured at Pulteney Weir.[81]
Post-production[edit]
The film's vocals were recorded live on set using live piano accompaniments played through earpieces as a guide, with the orchestral accompaniment recorded in post-production, rather than the traditional method where the film's musical soundtracks are usually pre-recorded and played back on set to which actors lip-sync. Production sound mixer Simon Hayes used 50 DPA 4071 lavalier microphones to record the vocals.[82] Hooper explained his choice:
“ I just felt ultimately, it was a more natural way of doing it. You know, when actors do dialogue, they have freedom in time, they have freedom in pacing. They can stop for a moment, they can speed up. I simply wanted to give the actors the normal freedoms that they would have. If they need a bit for an emotion or a feeling to form in the eyes before they sing, I can take that time. If they cry, they can cry through a song. When you're doing it to playback, to the millisecond you have to copy what you do. You have no freedom in the moment – and acting is the illusion of being free in the moment.[83] ”
Although this unique live recording method has been stated as "a world's first" by the creative team, several film musicals have used this method before, including early talkies, as lip-syncing wasn't perfected, the 1975 20th Century Fox film At Long Last Love, the adaptation of The Magic Flute that same year, and more recently in the 1995 adaptation of The Fantasticks, in the 2001 film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and in the 2007 film Across the Universe with songs by The Beatles.
Producers announced 27 August 2012, that recording sessions for Les Misérables would begin in London 10 October and featured a 70-piece orchestra. They was also announced that composer Claude-Michel Schönberg was composing additional music to underscore the film.[84] Universal Studios executives were granted a viewing of the rough cut of the film 9 September 2012, without the orchestra tracks. They greeted the cut with "extreme excitement".
Distribution[edit]
Marketing[edit]
The film's first teaser trailer debuted online 30 May 2012, and later in theatres with Snow White and the Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy and Argo.[85]
Producers released an extended first look on the film's official Facebook page 20 September 2012. This short introduces and explains Hooper's method of recording vocals live on set, comparing it to the traditional method of pre-recording the vocals in a studio months in advance. Hugh Jackman stated that filming in this way allows him more creative freedom with the material and that he "only has to worry about acting it." Both Hooper and the actors believe that this choice of production method will make the film feel much more emotional, raw, and real. The actors praised Hooper for his method and provide brief interviews throughout the video. Hooper mentions, "I thought it was an amazing opportunity to do something genuinely groundbreaking."[86] Clips of Jackman, Hathaway, Seyfried, Redmayne and Barks singing were received very positively, especially the teaser trailer's presentation of "I Dreamed a Dream" by Hathaway. Producers released a new poster, featuring young Cosette, played by Isabelle Allen, 24 September 2012, on the film's official Facebook page.[87] They released posters featuring Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Cosette 12 October,[88] with additional posters of Thénardiers and Marius released 1 November 2012.
Release[edit]
Les Misérables was originally to be released 7 December 2012 before the studio moved it to 14 December; however, 18 September 2012, they delayed the film's release date to 25 December, so as not to conflict with the opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opened 14 December. Because of this, it opened alongside Django Unchained.[9] Release date for the United Kingdom was 11 January 2013.[89]
Les Misérables was screened for the first time at the Lincoln Center in New York City, 23 November 2012, and received a standing ovation from the crowd.[90][91] This was followed by a screening the next day in Los Angeles, which also received positive reviews.[92]
Les Misérables premiered 5 December 2012, at the Empire, Leicester Square in London.[2] Red carpet footage was screened live online in an event hosted by Michael Ball, the original Marius of the West End. The film was released in select IMAX theatres in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Montreal the same day as its domestic theatrical release, 25 December 2012.[93] Les Misérables was released internationally by IMAX theatres on 10 January 2013.[93]
Home media[edit]
The film was confirmed for home release 13 May 2013 on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD in the United Kingdom; it was released in the United States 22 March 2013. The DVD contains three featurettes: The Stars of Les Misérables, Creating the Perfect Paris, and The Original Masterwork: Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, along with an audio commentary from director Tom Hooper. The Blu-ray has all DVD features including four additional featurettes: Les Misérables Singing Live, Battle at the Barricade, The West End Connection, and Les Misérables On Location.[94]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Les Misérables earned $148,809,770 in North America and $293,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $441,809,770.[7] In North America, Les Misérables opened 25 December 2012 in 2,808 theatres, placing first at the box office with $18.1 million.[95] This amount broke the record for the highest opening day gross for a musical film, previously held by High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and was also the second highest opening day gross for a film released on Christmas Day.[96] It earned $27.3 million in its opening weekend, placing third behind Django Unchained and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.[97]
The film was released in the United Kingdom 11 January 2013 and earned £8.1 ($13.1) million in its opening weekend, making it the largest opening weekend for a musical film, as well as for Working Title.[98]
Critical response[edit]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 70% approval rating with an average rating of 7/10, based on an aggregation of 225 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Impeccably mounted but occasionally bombastic, Les Misérables largely succeeds thanks to bravura performances from its distinguished cast." [99] On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 63 out of 100 based on 41 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[100] The film was generally praised for its acting and ensemble cast, with Jackman and Hathaway being singled out for praise. The live singing, which was heavily promoted in marketing for the film, received a more divided response.
Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film five stars: "Les Misérables is a blockbuster, and the special effects are emotional: explosions of grief; fireballs of romance; million-buck conflagrations of heartbreak. Accordingly, you should see it in its opening week, on a gigantic screen, with a fanatical crowd."[101]
The Guardian‍ '​s Peter Bradshaw concurred: "Even as a non-believer in this kind of "sung-through" musical, I was battered into submission by this mesmeric and sometimes compelling film ...".[102] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave a positive review, saying that the film "is a clutch player that delivers an emotional wallop when it counts. You can walk into the theater as an agnostic, but you may just leave singing with the choir."[103] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, "Besides being a feast for the eyes and ears, Les Misérables overflows with humor, heartbreak, rousing action and ravishing romance. Damn the imperfections, it's perfectly marvelous."[104]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "As the enduring success of this property has shown, there are large, emotionally susceptible segments of the population ready to swallow this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's good."[105]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote: "[Director Tom] Hooper can be very good with actors. But his inability to leave any lily ungilded—to direct a scene without tilting or hurtling or throwing the camera around—is bludgeoning and deadly. By the grand finale, when tout le monde is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat."[106]
Justin Chang of Variety wrote that the film "will more than satisfy the show's legions of fans." Chang praised the performances of Jackman, Hathaway, Barks, Tveit and Seyfried (i.e., every leading cast member except Crowe and Redmayne) but said that the film's editing "seems reluctant to slow down and let the viewer simply take in the performances."[107]
Callum Marsh of Slant Magazine gave the film 1 star, and wrote: "Flaws—and there are a great many that would have never made the cut were this a perfectible studio recording—are conveniently swept under the rug of candid expression ... the worst quality of Les Misérables's live singing is simply that it puts too much pressure on a handful of performers who frankly cannot sing.... Fisheye lenses and poorly framed close-ups abound in Les Misérables, nearly every frame a revelation of one man's bad taste ... One would be hard-pressed to describe this, despite the wealth of beauty on display, as anything but an ugly film, shot and cut ineptly. Everything in the film, songs included, is cranked to 11, the melodrama of it all soaring. So it's odd that this kind of showboating maximalism should be ultimately reduced to a few fisheye'd faces, mugging for their close-up, as the people sing off-key and broken."[108] The Chicago Tribune critic Michael Philips gave the film only one and a half stars, writing: "The camera bobs and weaves like a drunk, frantically. So you have hammering close-ups, combined with woozy insecurity each time more than two people are in the frame. ...too little in this frenzied mess of a film registers because Hooper is trying to make everything register at the same nutty pitch."[109]
Some specific performances were reviewed very positively. Anne Hathaway's performance of ballad "I Dreamed a Dream" was met with praise, with many comparing its showstopper-like quality to Jennifer Hudson's performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.[110] Christopher Orr of The Atlantic wrote that "Hathaway gives it everything she has, beginning in quiet sorrow before building to a woebegone climax: she gasps, she weeps, she coughs. If you are blown away by the scene—as many will be; it will almost certainly earn Hathaway her first Oscar—this may be the film for you."[111] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post writes that "The centerpiece of a movie composed entirely of centerpieces belongs to Anne Hathaway, who as the tragic heroine Fantine sings another of the memorable numbers".[112] Joy Tipping of The Dallas Morning News described Hathaway's performance as "angelic".[113]
Claudia Puig of USA Today describes her as "superb as the tragic Fantine".[114] Travers felt that "A dynamite Hathaway shatters every heart when she sings how 'life has killed the dream I dreamed.' Her volcanic performance has Oscar written all over it."[104] Lou Lumenick, critic for the New York Post, wrote that the film is "worth seeing for Hathaway alone".[115] She was widely considered to be the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,[116] ultimately winning it.
Eddie Redmayne also received considerable praise for his performance with Bloomberg News saying that "Eddie Redmayne—most recently seen as the eager young production assistant in My Week with Marilyn—delivers by far the most moving and memorable performance in the film as the young firebrand Marius, who, along with his fellow students, is caught up in France's political upheavals in the 19th century."[117]
Samantha Barks earned praise for her portrayal of Éponine, with Digital Journal saying: "Samantha Barks plays Éponine with such grace, sweetness, and sadness that it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role",[118] while Claudia Puig of USA Today calls her "heartbreakingly soulful",[114] Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times describes her performance as "star-making",[119] and Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com says she "just about steals the film".[120]
Crowe's performance was less well received and even Crowe agreed that the film suffered from poor vocal performances. Emma Gosnell, writing for The Daily Telegraph, stated that she walked out of the showing due to the poor singing, specifically citing Crowe and Jackman as the cause. Playback singer Marni Nixon said "[Crowe] was nothing. It wasn’t that he was choosing to sing like that, he just couldn't do anything else" and that Jackman acted well but "could have done with a nobler voice". She also criticized Bonham Carter as being incomprehensible, but praised the rest of the female cast.[121] American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert tweeted several disparaging messages, including "why not cast actors who could actually sound good?" and "the singing was so distracting at times it pulled me out", to which Crowe replied via twitter "I don't disagree with Adam,sure it could have been sweetened,Hooper wanted it raw and real,that's how it is".[122] Nixon rebutted this: “We’re talking about a musical. Is that real? People don’t go around singing 'La la la la’ to each other all day!”[121]
In 2013, the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including the Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hugh Jackman,[123] and went on to win in three categories: Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound Mixing.
Accolades[edit]


List of awards and nominations

Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
Ref

Academy Award 24 February 2013 Best Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [123]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" (music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil) Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell Won
Best Sound Mixing Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, and Simon Hayes Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
American Film Institute 11 January 2013 Movies of the Year Won [124]
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award 28 January 2013 Best International Film Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [125]
Best International Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
British Academy Film Award 10 February 2013 Best Film Nominated [126]
Best British Film Nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hair Lisa Westcott Won
Best Sound Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, and John Warhurst Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 10 January 2013 Best Film Nominated [127]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens and Melanie Oliver Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup Lisa Westcott Won
Chicago Film Critics Association 17 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated [128]
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Most Promising Performer Samantha Barks Nominated
Directors Guild of America Award 2 February 2013 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Tom Hooper Nominated 
Dorian Awards 17 January 2013 Film of the Year  Nominated [129][130]
Film Performance of the Year - Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Film Performance of the Year - Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Visually Striking Film of the Year  Nominated
Golden Globe Award 13 January 2013 Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Won [131]
Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Hugh Jackman Won
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Grammy Awards 26 January 2014 Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media Cameron Mackintosh, Lee McCutcheon and Stephan Metcalfe Nominated [132]
Hollywood Film Festival 23 October 2012 Best Trailer Erin Wyatt Won [133]
Producer of the Year Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Won
Spotlight Award Samantha Barks Won
Houston Film Critics Society 5 January 2013 Best Picture Nominated 
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
5th Annual Lancashire Film Critics Awards 30 March 2013 Best Film  Won [134]
Best Director Tom Hooper Won
London Film Critics Circle 20 January 2013 British Film of the Year Nominated 
Actor of the Year Hugh Jackman Nominated
Supporting Actress of the Year Anne Hathaway Won
Young British Performer of the Year Samantha Barks Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association 9 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
MTV Movie Awards 14 April 2013 Best Female Performance Anne Hathaway Nominated [135]
Best Breakthrough Performance Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Musical Moment Anne Hathaway Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle Award 3 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
New York Film Critics Online 3 December 2012 Movies of the Year Won 
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Producers Guild of America Award 26 January 2013 Best Theatrical Motion Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [136]
Satellite Award 16 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [137]
Best Cast – Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor – Motion Picture Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Samantha Barks Nominated
Best Art Direction and Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens and Melanie Oliver Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
Best Sound John Warhurst, Lee Walpole, and Simon Hayes Won
Saturn Awards 26 June 2013 Best Action / Adventure Nominated [138]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated
Best Costume Paco Delgado Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award 27 January 2013 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated [139]
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association 10 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [140]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Samantha Barks Nominated
Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Young Artist Award 5 May 2013 Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated [141]
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress Ten and Under Isabelle Allen Won

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External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Les Misérables (2012 film)
Official website
Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
Les Misérables at the TCM Movie Database
Les Misérables at Box Office Mojo
Les Misérables at Rotten Tomatoes
Les Misérables at Metacritic
Les Misérables: information about the film and novel.


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Categories: 2012 films
English-language films
Films based on Les Misérables
2010s historical films
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British films
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Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners
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Films set in the 1820s
Films set in the 1830s
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Films directed by Tom Hooper
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Musical drama films
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