Les Miserables Piano Vocal Score Pdf
Grethe Presnar
Set in early 19th-century France, Les Misrables is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his desire for redemption, released from jail in 1815 after serving nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a bishop inspires him with a tremendous act of mercy. But a police inspector named Javert refuses to let him escape justice and pursues him. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists attempt to overthrow the government at a street barricade in Paris.
Les Misrables was originally released as a French-language concept album in 1980,[1] and the first musical-stage adaptation of Les Misrables was presented at the Palais des Sports in September.[2]
In 1983, about six months after producer Cameron Mackintosh had opened Cats on Broadway, he received a copy of the French concept album from director Peter Farago. Farago had been impressed by the work and asked Mackintosh to produce an English-language version of the show. Initially reluctant, Mackintosh eventually agreed. Mackintosh, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, assembled a production team to adapt the French musical for a British audience. After two years in development, the English-language version opened in London on 8 October 1985, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre, then the London home of the RSC, before transferring to the West End. The success of the London production led to a Broadway production.
Critical reviews for Les Misrables were initially negative. At the opening of the London production, The Sunday Telegraph's Francis King described the musical as "a lurid Victorian melodrama produced with Victorian lavishness" and Michael Ratcliffe of The Observer considered the show "a witless and synthetic entertainment", while literary scholars condemned the project for converting classic literature into a musical.[3][4] Public opinion differed: the box office received record orders. The three-month engagement sold out, and reviews improved. The London production has played over 15,000 performances, making it the second longest-running musical in the world after The Fantasticks,[5] the second longest-running West End show after The Mousetrap,[6] and the longest-running musical in the West End.[7] On 3 October 2010, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary with three productions running in London: the original production at the Queen's Theatre; the 25th Anniversary touring production at the Barbican Centre; and the 25th Anniversary concert at London's O2 Arena.[7]
The Broadway production opened 12 March 1987 and ran until 18 May 2003, closing after 6,680 performances. At the time of its closing, it was the second-longest-running musical in Broadway history.[8] As of 2022, it remains the sixth longest-running Broadway show.[9] The show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, of which it won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
Subsequently, numerous tours and international and regional productions have been staged, as well as concert and broadcast productions. Several recordings have also been made. A Broadway revival opened in 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre and closed in 2008, and a second Broadway revival opened in 2014 at the Imperial Theatre and closed in September 2016. The show was placed first in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of Britain's "Number One Essential Musicals" in 2005, receiving more than forty percent of the votes.[10] A film version directed by Tom Hooper was released at the end of 2012 to generally positive reviews as well as numerous awards.
The musical's emblem is a picture of the waif Cosette sweeping the Thnardiers' inn (which occurs in the musical during "Castle on a Cloud"). It is usually cropped to a head-and-shoulders portrait, superimposed on the French flag. The image is based on an etching by Gustave Brion, which in turn was based on the drawing by mile Bayard. Bayard's drawing appeared in several of the novel's earliest French-language editions.
In 1815 in France, a chain gang of prisoners work at hard labour ("Prologue: Work Song"). After serving 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean, "Prisoner 24601," is released on parole by the prison guard Javert. By law, Valjean must display a yellow ticket of leave, which identifies him as an ex-convict ("On Parole").
As a convict, Valjean is shunned wherever he goes and cannot find regular work with decent wages or lodging. Only the Bishop of Digne offers him food and shelter. Discontented, Valjean steals the Bishop's silver. He is captured by the police, but rather than turn him in, the Bishop pretends to have given Valjean the silver as a gift, and passes him a pair of silver candlesticks as though he left them behind. The Bishop tells Valjean that he must use the silver to become an honest man. ("Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven"). Humbled by the Bishop's kindness, Valjean resolves to redeem himself ("Valjean's Soliloquy (What Have I Done?)") and tears up his yellow ticket, breaking his parole.
Eight years later, in 1823, Jean Valjean assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Fantine is a single mother working in his factory, trying to support her daughter Cosette, who is being raised by an innkeeper and his wife while Fantine labours in the city. The factory foreman lusts after Fantine, and when she rejects his advances, he takes it out on the other workers, who resent her for it. One day, a coworker steals a letter about Cosette from Fantine, revealing to the other workers that Fantine has a child. A fight breaks out, and the foreman and workers use the incident to manipulate Valjean into firing Fantine ("At the End of the Day"). Fantine reflects on her broken dreams and about Cosette's father, who abandoned them both ("I Dreamed a Dream"). Desperate for money, she sells her locket and hair, finally becoming a prostitute ("Lovely Ladies") and attracting local sailors. When she fights back against an abusive customer named Bamatabois, Javert, now a police inspector stationed in Montreuil-sur-Mer, arrives to arrest her. Valjean passes by the scene and pities Fantine when he realizes she had worked for him. He orders Javert to release her, and Valjean takes her to a hospital ("Fantine's Arrest").
Soon afterward, Valjean rescues a man who is pinned by a runaway cart ("The Runaway Cart"). Javert, who has pursued the fugitive Valjean all these years, witnesses the incident. He becomes suspicious, remembering the incredible strength Valjean displayed in the work camp. However, it turns out a man who looks like Valjean has been arrested and is about to go to trial for breaking parole. The real Valjean realizes that this case of mistaken identity could free him forever, but he is not willing to see an innocent man go to prison in his place. He confesses his identity to the court ("Who Am I? (The Trial)"). At the hospital, a delirious Fantine dreams of Cosette. Valjean promises to find Cosette and protect her ("Come to Me (Fantine's Death)"). Relieved, Fantine succumbs to her illness and dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean back into custody, but Valjean asks Javert for time to fetch Cosette. Javert refuses, insisting that a criminal like Valjean can never change for the better. They struggle, but Valjean overpowers Javert and escapes ("The Confrontation").
In Montfermeil, the duplicitous innkeepers, the Thnardiers, use Cosette as a servant and treat her cruelly while extorting money from Fantine to indulge their own daughter ponine. Cosette dreams of a life with a mother where she is not forced to work and is treated lovingly ("Castle on a Cloud"). The Thnardiers cheat their customers, stealing their possessions and setting high prices for low-quality services while living a life of criminal depravity ("Master of the House"). Valjean meets Cosette while she's on an errand drawing water, and offers the Thnardiers payment to adopt her ("The Bargain"). The Thnardiers feign concern for Cosette, claiming that they love her like a daughter and that she is in fragile health. Valjean negotiates with the Thnadiers, for whom he pays 1,500 francs in the end. Valjean and Cosette leave for Paris ("The Waltz of Treachery").
Nine years later, in 1832, Paris is in upheaval because of the impending death of General Lamarque, the only man in the government who shows mercy to the poor. Among those mingling in the streets are the student revolutionaries Marius Pontmercy and Enjolras, who contemplate the effect Lamarque's death will have on the poor and desperate in Paris. The Thnardiers have since lost their inn and now run a street gang that consists of thugs Brujon, Babet, Claquesous, and Montparnasse. The Thnardiers' daughter ponine is also now grown and has fallen in love with her oblivious friend Marius, as well as the streetwise young urchin Gavroche who knows everything that happens in the slums ("Look Down"). The Thnardiers prepare to con some charitable visitors, who turn out to be Valjean and a fully-grown Cosette. While the gang confounds her father, Cosette runs into Marius, and the pair fall in love. Thnardier recognizes Valjean, but Javert intervenes before they can finish the robbery ("The Robbery"). Valjean and Cosette escape, and only later does Javert suspect who they were. Javert makes a vow that he will find Valjean and recapture him ("Stars"). Meanwhile, Marius persuades ponine to help him find Cosette ("ponine's Errand").
At a small caf, Enjolras exhorts a group of idealistic students to prepare for revolution. Marius interrupts the serious atmosphere by fantasizing about his new-found love, much to the amusement of his compatriots ("The ABC Caf/Red and Black"). When Gavroche brings the news of General Lamarque's death, the students realize that they can use the public's dismay to incite their revolution and that their time has come ("Do You Hear the People Sing?"). At Valjean's house, Cosette thinks about her meeting with Marius. She confronts Valjean about the secrets he keeps about his and her own past ("Rue Plumet/In My Life"). ponine leads Marius to Cosette's garden. He and Cosette meet again and confess their mutual love, while a heartbroken ponine watches them through the garden gate and laments that Marius has fallen in love with another ("A Heart Full of Love"). Thnardier and his gang arrive, intending to rob Valjean's house, but ponine stops them by screaming a warning ("The Attack on Rue Plumet"). The scream alerts Valjean, who believes that the intruder was Javert. He tells Cosette that it's time once again for them to go on the run, and starts planning for them to flee France altogether.
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