Les Miserables

Set in 19th Century France, Hugo’s story centres on Jean Valjean – a down-and-out peasant imprisoned after stealing a loaf of bread for his starving nephew. Les Miserables is, essentially, his quest for redemption after breaking jail and robbing a kindly bishop of his silver. Pursued by his prison guard, a stern police officer named Javert, the law catches up with Valjean – only for his victim to cover for him, claiming the silver was a gift and handing over two further candlesticks. Valjean swears he will become an honest man. Years later, the two men – prisoner and policeman – will come face to face again.

Les Mis homes in on the revolution itself and, as it takes to the barricades, the musical follows a series of characters through tumultuous times. For some, like the grotesque Madame and Monsier Thernadier, they’re an opportunity for profiteering; for others, like the revolutionary Enroljas and his student Marius, a shot at political upheaval. Valjean, now wealthy and moral, joins in their crusade – as does Javert – and thought they should be fighting shoulder to shoulder, the two rivals find themselves head-to-head once more.

The musical is every bit as epic as Hugo’s original novel, but Boubil and Schönberg’s score is an astonishing thing. While its rousing revolutionary drum-beats, ‘Do You Hear The People Sing’ and ‘One Day More,’ have become iconic, so too have softer numbers like ‘I Dreamed a Dream,’ ‘Stars’ and ‘Empty Chairs and Empty Tables’ that carry its love stories and its heartfelt grief. Far from being an overblown melodrama – a grand historical yarn of revolutionaries and corsets – Les Miserables is tender, honest and, above all else, human.