:eyes forum title: Musicals should count as 'Music', right? :D

Anyway, I've only recently rediscovered this world-famous musical. :D I say REdiscovered 'cause I was exposed to it at a very young age, when my school staged it and 4 of my siblings had major roles in it(My three older brothers were Gavroche, Mnsr. Thenardier and Enjolras; my older sister played little Cosette).
A few weeks ago, I decided to reacquaint myself with it. I got a copy of the 10th Anniversary Concert, fell in love with the songs, read the entire libretto, and am now basically walking around with Les Miz's songs and intricate plot ringing in my head :lol: Heck, it's even taken over my sig quote! I also want to read the novel, despite the fact that the size of it has always freaked me out (1300 pages?!*faints*)

There are so many parallel plots in the musical- Javert vs Valjean, the Marius-Cosette romance, Fantine's heartbreaking story...but my favorite facet of it has to be the Revolution itself. I know this part ends explosively and tragically...but I think it contains the story's "thesis statment" in a way: how the oppressed suffer and die fighting for what they believe in -_- (Oh, okay, it's foremost Jean Valjean's story. Still, the title means "The Miserable" after all.)Plus the songs specifically connected to it(Red and Black, Do you Hear the People Sing) and all the barricade scenes are electrifying.
And I'm shamelessly turning into an Enjolras fangirl

I also discovered that a very Cleris-Cloti-like debate has always raged among the fans, this time with Marius, Eponine and Cosette in the triangle XD

So...am I the only Les Miz fan in here? :P

No you are not, this musical is fantastic! It is also so heartbreaking I can't go see it in public anymore, the last time I did I was literally sobbing throughout the whole musical and I was so embarrassed. It is just one of the best musicals ever done in my opinion with it deep story and amazing music.

I did not know there was a major debate about Eponine, Cosette, and Marius. I feel terrible for Eponine and I thought that Marius really cared about her but I never thought there was any doubt on who he loved or wanted to be with :unsure: Of course On My Own is one of my all time favorite songs, I mean I don't know of any girl who hasn't felt that way at least once in there life. But I have no problem with Cosette and Marius as a couple, actually out of all the major characters I think Cosette is the least concentrated on, I don't remember much about her after she grows up besides falling in love with Marius. I actually think Valjean and Fantine is the more heartbreaking because maybe he could have loved her and she could have finally been treated decently by a man. Eh I am babbling now but in any case great musical and I recommend it to everyone, just bring tissues! Thanks for bringing this up Kusari Yarou!

You're much welcome, and thanks for replying and letting me know I'm not the ONLY fan ^_^

It's more of a debate over who deserved him more, really. You can see one of them here. And yes, I don't blame the girls for liking Eponine better...empathy creates love for a character, we ALL know how she felt. I haven't read the novel yet(I have it on my desk right now, it's HUMONGOUS :o ), but apparently, Eponine is more wretched there, not a romantic figure at all...and those who've read the book are sick of teenage girls for making her into their heroine. You can see one of the rants here:
Eponine is not Kewl.

From that rant:

But I honestly don't BLAME the writers of the musical for turning Eponine and Marius into best friends! :lol: It makes her love for him all the more tragic, and his grief at her death more poignant. I always feel the tears coming on during A Little Fall of Rain. I probably wouldn't feel that way if they'd stayed true to Marius and Eponine's relationship in the book.

Hmmm, really? So far, the only version I've, where Valjean and Fantine are in love is in the movie. They were played fantastically by Uma Thurman and Liam Neeson. I was actually surprised to discover that they weren't a couple in the musical. But why do you think they could have been in love? :P

Speaking of the movie..saw it ages before I got interested in the musical. I remember loving Marius' character, because he was so charismatic as the ABC's leader. Now I realize that it's actually Enjolras's characrter that I fell in love with, they just turned him into Marius for the movie version :blink: :lol:

Les Miz...From Musical to Film?!
^yup, like Phantom of the Opera. Whoa. IF the project ever pushes through(this news is two years old, and it's been in development hell since the 1980's), I REALLY hope it lives up to it's legacy. The last movie was kinda disappointing, if you base it on the musical and the novel. :whistle:

Oh sorry to confuse you,I don't think they were in love in the musical I was saying that I thought he would have been good for her and she never got to see how he raised her daughter, that they would have been a nice family and that he could have been the kind of man she deserved but never had. :blush:

As for a movie based on the musical,that could be really good but I agree that it will be hard to not disappoint fans. I hope they get capable singers for all the roles, I liked Phantom of the Opera fine, I thought visually it was fantastic but the Phantom did not have the voice to back up his acting and that hurt the overall production.

Yeah, he was sexy and all...but he seemed to bellow his lines rather than sing them, don't you think? :sweat:

Oh I see :D Well, looks like the director of the last film was thinking along the same lines as you, putting in Valjean/Fantine in the first half.
But I like to think that Fantine in heaven DID see how he raised Cosette. Because of that line "m'sieur I bless your name... you raised my child with love":)

I'm looking at Les Miz on youtube right now...it's amazing how something as simple as marching(during 'One Day More') can make me feel awe. :lol: