Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables"

Hoping I would not be disappointed after the many years of publicity surrounding this musical, I entered the theatre with high expectations. The extravagance of Queens Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue gave me a sense of the magnitude of this production. 

I briefly scanned the audience and noticed a young girl, around six years old, to my left and an older couple seated directly in front of me. To my right, a group of girls in their late teens were squealing with excitement. As the longest running musical in London, Victor Hugo’s masterpiece Les Miserables continues to inspire audiences that consist of various generations of people. As soon as the production started, I was immediately drawn in by the ambiance of the stage. The bleakness of the situation in France at the time of the revolution was achieved with the dark and foggy atmosphere on stage. 

Unaware of how popular the musical soundtrack was, I was caught off guard by how many songs I recognized. As soon as the beginning chords of “I Dreamed a Dream” played, I realized that I had begun to hum along. The music is beautifully composed by Claude-Michel Schonberg and it brilliantly assists the progression of the story. For instance, a confrontation ensues when Javert arrives at Fantine’s death bed to arrest Valjean. This confrontation is performed through the medium of a song called “Fantine’s Death: Confrontation”, enhancing the entertainment of the piece without jeopardizing its integrity. Another song that resinated with me was the “Love Montage”, particularly the song called “A Heart Full Of Love”, which allows the audience to witness Eponine standing outside the gate of Cosette’s house, pining for Marius. Cosette, a wealthy character, and Eponine, a poor character, are placed in direct opposition of, and in mirror image of, one another. The only barrier between them in this scene is a thin yet rigid gate. Because Cosette was impoverished as a child, she could have easily been the person on the other side of that gate as an adult; this illustrates the arbitrariness of life’s selection of the rich and the poor and that luck plays a larger factor in life than people allow themselves to recognize. My heart genuinely broke for Eponine’s character and her selfless love for Marius. Another character who was able to evoke emotion from the audience was Cosette’s younger self. The child who plays Cosette was exceptional. Her performance of “Castle on a Cloud” was chilling and heart-breaking. 

Although Cosette eventually achieves this “castle” as an adult, she loses her father in the process, suggesting an inevitable suffering that accompanies dream fulfillment and that people must compromise aspects of their lives to achieve happiness just as society and life compromise one person’s or one group’s happiness to allow for another’s.

The musical is nearly three hours long, including a twenty minute intermission. Although this did not bother me in the slightest, I would advise other viewers with perhaps lower attention spans to be aware of this fact. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend this musical to anyone and everyone. It’s been over two months since I’ve seen the musical and I still listen to the soundtrack every day.