Les Miserables

So, I recently rediscovered my love for the musical, Les Miserables.  It was brought on by the trailer for the new movie they are making of it. I knew I needed to journal about it when the music brought me to tears while I was working out last week. Who does that?!  It was at the part where Javier is telling Valjean that men like him never change--"Once a thief, forever a thief"--that part, and Valjean says, "You are wrong, and always have been wrong. I'm a man no worse than any man." Ah, anybody else just love that part? What a slap in the face that is to the act of judging. And then again in what I've always thought was a rather annoying song, "Turning Through the Years." I'll blame it on motherhood because it was when the women are talking about the men that died at the barricades and someone says, "someone used to cradle them and kiss them when they cried." Oh Cameron, please don't ever grow up!

Anyways, I gotta say that the trailer is looking pretty good. The only thing I'm worried about is whether or not I'll like the voices. Not that I don't think the actors/actresses will have good voices, but I have my favorite cast and it's hard to get them out of my head. Plus, I'm not a huge Anne Hathaway fan and Fantine is my favorite character sooo....I'll try to keep an open mind!

Here it is:

Ah. :-)

Here is my favorite Fantine:

It's really hard to pick a favorite character from Les Miserables because they are all so great in different ways and bring so much to the play, but if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be Fantine, even over Jean Valjean, which is a big deal. I think it's because she is such a tragic character and I just can't help but ache for her. Yes, I do ache for a fictional character. :-) It makes me think about how there are people all over the world who go through incredibly hard things. She has the weight of the world on her shoulders and she couldn't be more undeserving. When I listen to the lyrics it makes me want to just cradle someone and help them get through something hard. Maybe that sounds creepy? I don't know how else to explain it, but there are so many parts of this musical that strike me to the core because it's so human.

The priest's interaction with Valjean in the beginning that turns Valjean's life around, Valjean's love for the people around him, Javier's realization that he was the one that was lost, and sooo many more. I could really go on and on about the different elements of this musical, but although that would be fun for me, it would probably be boring for posterity/whoever else reads this! So, I'll spare you!

I just have one more thing to say and it revolves around my favorite part, right here:


I feel like the whole musical points to the Lord, the end especially. Valjean came out of prison and decided to put his life in the service of God. He has whole songs that are prayers to God. Finally after all that he has given, he prays for the Lord to take him home to Him, and so Fantine comes for him. I love her words, "Come with me, where chains will never bind you. All your grief, at last, at last behind you."Beautiful? Yes. That's what I want to hear after a long, hard, and tiring journey. And then right before Valjean dies they sing the words, "...to love another person is to see the face of God." It explains itself, that's my favorite line in the whole play, it's what the play is all about.

Then the chorus sings:

Do you hear the people sing?
Lost in the valley of the night
It is a music of a people who are climbing to the light
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies
Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise

They will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord
They will walk behind the ploughshare
They will put away the sword
The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes

Call me over analyzing, but I don't think that they are talking about the same barricade they were in the middle of the play, nor are they still talking about the crusade to give the French peasants a better life. Who will join in the crusade to overcome the world, "climb to the light", and live in "freedom in the garden of the Lord"? Somewhere beyond the hardships, and the trials, and the temptations of life, is there a goal that you are longing to achieve? Or a place that you long to end up? Then join in the crusade. I love this musical. :-)

If you made it to the end of that post, then good job! I hope it wasn't too boring!