In order to encourage me to read when I was in grade school, mom told me she loved reading Les Miserables when she was in the 4th grade. She says she loved Victor Hugo as well as many Russian novelists.
That didn't encourage me at all. I looked at how fat a book War and Peace was and thought it was crazy. There was no way I was going to read such a fat book.
Uh oh... I'm going off on a tangent. That wasn't what I was going to write about. Sorry about that.
Anyway, decades later I saw the musical Les Miserables and totally LOVED it!
When we mentioned it to our friend, Sam in Tokyo, he offered to get it for us so mom could listen to the music in Japanese too.
Ummmm.... I think it ended up costing us almost $50, but I was happy she got to hear it.
Yesterday, I was playing it for her again and I remembered something interesting.
When we first took the kids to see the musical in Chicago I remember being surprised that our son's favorite character was Inspector Javert who is the antagonist obsessed with pursuing and capturing the noble Jean Valjean who had been sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's children.
Our son felt that Inspector Javert was consumed with honesty, order, self denial and complete adherence to the law. When Jean Valjean spares his life and then he himself allows Jean Valjean to go free, he realizes that the law is not infallible and he is unable to live with that torment. His final song, Stars (sung here by Philip Quast) before drowning himself is one of the show's moving moments.
Art's favorite character was Jean Valjean who turns his life around after leaving prison and raising Fantine's (a prostitute who had tragically fallen on hard times) child while becoming a well-loved mayor. Art LOVED Bring Him Home. I wanted to post Josh Groban's version but Colm Wilkinson was the original Jean Valjean. This video was done at the 10th anniversary.
I thought my daughter's favorite character would be Eponine whose tearful song On My Own is so very poignant. This is Lea Salonga singing that song of longing.
But no... Tiffany said her favorite character is Fantine, the same as me. I guess we love the song, I Dreamed a Dream. Here is Ruthie Henshall singing the song at the 10 Anniversary. It makes me tear up every time I hear it.
Do you have a favorite character?
And no... I still haven't read War and Peace nor Les Miserables. Well, I did read the Classic Comics version.
That didn't encourage me at all. I looked at how fat a book War and Peace was and thought it was crazy. There was no way I was going to read such a fat book.
Uh oh... I'm going off on a tangent. That wasn't what I was going to write about. Sorry about that.
When we mentioned it to our friend, Sam in Tokyo, he offered to get it for us so mom could listen to the music in Japanese too.
Ummmm.... I think it ended up costing us almost $50, but I was happy she got to hear it.
Yesterday, I was playing it for her again and I remembered something interesting.
When we first took the kids to see the musical in Chicago I remember being surprised that our son's favorite character was Inspector Javert who is the antagonist obsessed with pursuing and capturing the noble Jean Valjean who had been sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's children.
Our son felt that Inspector Javert was consumed with honesty, order, self denial and complete adherence to the law. When Jean Valjean spares his life and then he himself allows Jean Valjean to go free, he realizes that the law is not infallible and he is unable to live with that torment. His final song, Stars (sung here by Philip Quast) before drowning himself is one of the show's moving moments.
Art's favorite character was Jean Valjean who turns his life around after leaving prison and raising Fantine's (a prostitute who had tragically fallen on hard times) child while becoming a well-loved mayor. Art LOVED Bring Him Home. I wanted to post Josh Groban's version but Colm Wilkinson was the original Jean Valjean. This video was done at the 10th anniversary.
I thought my daughter's favorite character would be Eponine whose tearful song On My Own is so very poignant. This is Lea Salonga singing that song of longing.
But no... Tiffany said her favorite character is Fantine, the same as me. I guess we love the song, I Dreamed a Dream. Here is Ruthie Henshall singing the song at the 10 Anniversary. It makes me tear up every time I hear it.
Do you have a favorite character?
And no... I still haven't read War and Peace nor Les Miserables. Well, I did read the Classic Comics version.
I am a bit muddled. Was Eponine Fantine's daughter or the girl who loved the young man that Jean Valjean saved? There was a song that that girl sang outside a fence that I found very moving but for the life of me now can't remember the title.
ReplyDeleteCosette was Fantine's daughter. Eponine was the daughter of the Thénardiers. She loved Marius who loved Cosette. Eponine dies in Marius' arms at the barricade.
DeleteThank you. So it's Fantine's song that I liked the best.
DeleteActually, you're probably thinking of Eponine. She sang On My Own out on the street, perhaps near a fence.
DeleteI have read War and Peace and Les Miserables but only have spotty memory of them. I was in college still. I would love to see Les Miserables in stage production though.
ReplyDeleteFunny, my mom used to tell me to put down the book and go outside to play.
This stirred a forgotten memory that is still vague, but when I was teaching English, we did a short story based on this character. I don't know now if it was an extract from the book or something else.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this lovely look at Les Miz, I saw the musical many years ago in Toronto.
ReplyDeleteOur daughter, when in middle school, insisted we go see Les Miserables. She had the tapes and played them endlessly, singing each song again and again. I hated the show. It was like watching hours and hours of the nightly news. So much horror, so much sadness, so much tragedy. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteYour son had an interesting take on Javert. I too remember him as a man doing his job who grows as the show progressed. How cool that your Mom can now hear it in Japanese.
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't.
ReplyDeleteNever saw the play. Saw the movie. I liked Anne Hathaway, and also Eddie Redmayne.
ReplyDeleteWe did see the most recent movie, and while the music is great, there is just too much suffering in this story for me. PBS just had a Masterpiece series of La Miserable and we chose not to watch it.
ReplyDeleteWhat an educator you are!
ReplyDeleteI saw the movie on which this musical is the basis. I liked the On My Own in the movie much better, I don't see her that upset and sad.
ReplyDeleteJust saw the PBS offering of the 25th anniversary. It was WONDERFUL. Yes, tragic but powerful.
ReplyDeleteThe movie was not as good as the play but each to their own opinion.
So happy your Mom has it in Japanese.
Patty and Paul
Hi Patty and Paul,
DeleteHow wonderful to hear from you! I saw that 25th anniversary show too. I did love the power of the musical, but even more so I got into the energy of fighting for the oppressed and standing up to dictators.
I never tried either of those. I have read all of Dickens, though. Many more than once.
ReplyDeleteThere is a version of the Les Miserable story written at a lower reading level.Just the basic story is told. This was the novel we studied in gr 8. It's always been a favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kay, I enjoyed listening to the videos.
ReplyDeleteNow I want to watch it! Hopefully it is on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteI saw the latest movie version and loved it. I was enthralled with it, and I also think Jean Valjean is my favorite character. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe music is just wonderful …
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
I like to read the books before the play or the movie, it's interesting to compare! I took my parents to see Les Mis in the 90s!
ReplyDeletePBS here in Seattle just aired both the musical version and the masterpiece theater production. I turned off the former right away, as it was overwrought. The latter was much more nuanced, and the actors were terrific.
ReplyDelete