Les Mis

After seeing Les Miserables last night I have no doubt as to why it is the longest running musical in the world. Aside from the superb talent and captivating story line there were many stylistic elements to this production that made it my new favorite musical.

For one, I appreciated the set design that featured a spinnable portion of the floor. I think it really illustrated a major theme of the play: the inability for the characters to escape their poverty and its cyclical nature. This theme was most embodied in the character Jean Valjean who is introduced to the audience working in a field as a prisoner. He has been put in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family and has been kept there 19 years as punishment for that as well as for various escape attempts. As an ex-convict he is turned away from every job and must resort to even more criminal activity. A priest offers him a leg up which brings him much success but he still remains in constant fear of the police who can take away the life he has built up at any moment. He employs a factory of people, one being a young mom who is fired a misunderstanding; she must sell everything she has to survive, eventually including her body. As she dies she wishes more in life for her daughter and asks Jean Valjean to take care of her and give her a better life. The characters to escape their poverty need a leg up from someone else. This idea repeatedly articulated throughout the play, again in which a police officer sings to Jean that “A man like you can never change.” Not having faith in others is seen as humanity’s biggest downfall and Christian love seems to represent all that is good.

Also, another aspect of the play I found very interesting was the fact that every single line of the performance was sung. I imagine this tiring for the performers, but also something I have never seen before on stage. Most musicals I have attended get across the major plot points through dialogue and use music to then develop upon them. Music is often harder to follow than dialogue and at times meaning can get lost behind the tune, but I feel Les Miserables for the most part accomplished the story line and didn’t sacrifice its poetic, artistic expression. There were some minor details I felt had gone unexplained, but maybe with the complex story line it was just my confusion. Additionally, the music was just plain beautiful; I fell in love with the numbers and started playing various ones on repeat right when I got home, especially Cosette’s song “Castle on a Cloud.” I think I'll go listen to it again... bye!

Rachel Samec