“The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details … a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end.”
This is how Victor Hugo summarises Les Misérables, considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest and certainly the longest, French novel. Like the Count of Monte Cristo I have chosen not to read it. Les Mis, the musical, opened in Paris in 1980 and in London in 1985; it has been running in London ever since. I saw it in Paris on Saturday.
I really did not know what to expect. I will tell you what I got: an operatic production, great sets, good acting, singing and, worth mentioning, lighting. I was just about the only member of the audience unfamiliar with the work. There was much applause after some numbers but that happens in operas too. There was one lovely detail that may not have been appreciated by the juvenile members of the audience but Barons Court readers will appreciate. A woman twirling a tricolour looks just like Jeanne Deroin, the model for the woman in Honoré Daumier‘s The Uprising.
Like the novel, the musical is long but perhaps fortunately does not “examine the nature of law and grace, or elaborate upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, anti-monarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love” (Wikipedia).The first half is 1 1/2 hours but I was probably the only person in the packed house feeling a bit restless and hungry. Accordingly I did not go back for part two. I might have felt differently if I had a better seat but for Euros 12 I was lucky to be in the auditorium at all. It’s a production that could have a long run but it has a good cast with other commitments and closes on 2nd January 2025.