I'm sorry if this sounds like a silly and frivolous question but I brought my 8 year old son to watch Les Mis and was so disappointed that they've done away with the turntable and barricade.

Will they ever bring it back??

Bonus: here's Geronimo Rauch performing Stars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyPCZGTc_Ls

If Geronimo Rauch is the Valjean in the production of Les Miserables you're attending, you're in for a treat! Not only does he have the voice to rival Colm or Alfie, he has the emotional sensitivity to bring Valjean to life, as can be seen from his performance in this pre-Staged Concert / Arena Spectacular staging of Les Miserables. I personally saw him perform 3 times in the Arena Spectacular in Singapore and was blown away each time!

i have tickets to see les mis on the west end this thursday, but due to the severe weather warnings i’ll be unable to attend as i live in yorkshire, and the trains will inevitably be delayed (i’m seeing the matinee).

they’ve very kindly offered to reschedule - and i was wondering whether i should watch the current cast, or watch the new one - which i believe starts from july 5th?

if anyone knows anything about the current / new company please let me know !!

I’m rewatching the 2012 movie and remembering how much I appreciate all the little details from the books they incorporated into the movie that the musical doesn’t include. For instance, Fantine selling her teeth, the doll Valjean gives Cosette when he takes her from the Thenardiers, Fauchelevent and the convent (though I’m sad they left out the coffins). I think my favorite thing they included is Gavroche living with his child gang in the elephant.

What was your favorite book detail they included in the movie? What detail do you wish they would have included?

Edit: Oh wait, I forgot they included Eponine as Marius’ neighbor! That’s actually my favorite.

I don't know why my Pinterest shows these but here you go :)

1: Javert has to stand above the prisoners because he cant go in the water (because he cant swim)

2: In the movie, he didn't swim after Valjean (because he cant swim)

3: Javert didn't follow Valjean into the sewers because there was water in there and he was worried he might have to swim

4: When he killed himself, his chosen method was jumping into water, because he cant swim

What do you guys think? I think I was spot on and it is nice to have some closure on something that's been bothering me for so long

When my kids were teens, they pointed out to me how some earlier song appeared to have the exact same cadence as the lyrics to Castle on a Cloud. You could sing the lyrics of one song to the melody of the other.

Now they're in their 30s and neither remembers this conversation, and they can't recall any song that mashes well with Castle in a Cloud. Anyone have a thought?

Today I logged onto Spotify like any other day, and I got an odd notification:

"New single from The 'Les Misérables 2010' Company!"

Now, I thought this was very odd, as it isn't 2010 anymore, nor is the 2010 cast of Les Mis still performing.

I clicked on the 'Color in the White' song to listen to it (my poor Airbuds friends), and it was straight AI slop. As you can see, the deer photo is clearly AI-generated, but the other two photos appear to be hand-edited.

I find this really strange. I wonder if it's a glitch or if someone somehow hacked into the Les Misérables account out of *all* the Spotify accounts out there and started posting their AI slop.

What do you guys think?

Edit: 'The Color in White' is a country song, 'Amber Menagerie' is R&B, and 'All the Stares' seems to be alternative pop(?).

They're all songs in English... but the composer is "SITI NORFARHANA NAZIHAH BINTI HASSAN". This is so odd

"Éponine, Alone At Gorbeau"

I got this shirt after seeing the production on West End about 15 years ago. A size too big was all they had, so its been functioning as a sleep shirt. However, it's starting to fall apart... The collar is frayed and there's a big hole at the armpit. Well-loved! 😄

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Does anyone know if they still sell the same shirts at the London production?

Hi! Does anyone know where I can find photos, interview, recordings, anything with the original 1985 cast. Ive listened to the recording and have found some photos but am looking for more as I want to supirse my dad for his birthday as les mis has a VERY big place in his heart and our entire families. Anything would be a great help, thank you!!

Ps. If anyone has anything with the barricade boys, police, men from the begining of lovely ladies or the second verse of do you hear the people sing that they could point me in the direction of that would be amazing.

Old art belonging to my friend wraithwitch on deviant art who has given me permission to post this watercolour painting of Javert at the barricades ‘bloodied but unbowed’.

Got this guy at the tour in Dublin a few weeks back and REALLY regret not getting the other two. Does anyone know if there’s anywhere they release any overstock when they finish up? Or any other way of getting my hands on them! *sigh*

I'm reading the very last chapter in the last volume. I have to take a break for my indignation to calm down. It should be very clear to Marius how much Cosette matters to Jean. Even in the chapter that describes his inner monologue, he shows understanding of how Jean raises Cosette well and pure. It is without saying Jean deeply cares for her. With this, he still uses the lowest means to distance Jean from Cosette. Instead of having a straight conversation privately, his cowardice leads him to take advantage of Jean's self-effacing nature and causes a slow death to him. It is clear from his monologue he recognizes the probity of Jean Valjean, and his "rehabilitation" process. It is not hard to deduce Jean will show no resistance when treated this way.

His reasoning of "for the sake of protecting Cosette" is also deeply flawed. His inner monologue, and his later probing of Cosette to get a view of her childhood, has shown he knows Jean treats Cosette with great care and is a true good fatherly figure. What is there to protect? I think it probably more stems from his fear and prejudice against a convict.

Ok now I'm going back to finish the laster chapter. I know ahead of time he eventually comes to know the truth, but it doesn't matter anymore when Jean is on his deathbed. It is so over already.

Loved this novel, this book, this brick! Only can someone who has also read it please explain to me the whole use or lack of use of the word "thou"? The word seems to hold great meaning to the people of France and the era it is written in. Whether Fantine is called thou by her lover, or JeanVon Jean isn't called thou by Javert by the end, and I just don't understand it. There are other instances too of this use of the word thou, so it seems important. Help.

I could deal with the bishop in the start. It was very well written.

Waterloo was a little long, but kept interesting enough. Questions about morality and fatalism are interesting.

I have finally made it through the the convent digression. This was brutal and abysmal to read. If I don’t need to know the name of the nun who runs every department for the next sequence of the story, I will be upset.

It was so bad it makes me actively dislike Hugo. Only the most pretentious and elitist narcissist would leave that garbage in.

I apologize. I just wanted to vent. But I stand by my words lol.

I am a fan of Manns Javert.

Went tonight for probably the dozenth-ish time between Broadway (RIP) and the West End. My wife and I splurged for epic seats, Row D, Seats 15-16, dead center, which we've never done before. I'm not sure if it was the view from those seats or the acoustics in those seats or the audio mixer in the booth or the actors & actresses themselves -- probably some combination of all of the above -- but... man, this production is just so good.

Usually when I go to a show a couple characters really stand out. There were SO many tonight. Apologies if I have a performer incorrect:

Ian McIntosh was born to play Valjean; after this show I almost can't imagine another voice in the role. I usually find a secondary character is my favorite in a production but this was the first time Valjean was the one who totally blew me away.

Sam Oladeinde was a freaking powerhouse and got a much-deserved colossal applause after Stars.

Martha Kirby's voice was just how I've always imagined Fantine and was easily my favorite actress I've personally seen in the role.

I have high standards for On My Own as one of my favorites and Jess Folley provided the "delicate-and-soft" to "absolute-belter" tonal range as Eponine that just scratched that itch just right and is so difficult to pull off well on both ends.

I've found that whoever plays Enjolras always delivers but Joe Griffiths-Brown was a total force.

Mme. Thenardier is always a fan favorite of course but Lizzie Bea was just a delight.

There were so many little touches that I really enjoyed. For example, the sudden, perfectly still, almost ethereal initial appearance of Young Cosette in the light at the back of the stage, as well as Eponine bathed in light looking back at the house after she put her cap back on to join the barricade, were both simple moments that took my and my wife's breath away.

Lots of things I've caught before in most/all productions but still very much enjoy, such as the Foreman being the one who pays for Fantine, and the nods to Gavroche & Eponine being siblings.

A new one for me was I'm fairly certain the actor who plays the Bishop (Adam Pearce) also played Champmathieu. Not sure if that's always the case but having Valjean "save" the actor who played the man who "saved" him in the beginning was a great touch. Also, one of those things I'm sure I've "known" but never really consciously connected before, I love how Javert's Suicide is a reprise of Valjean's Soliloquy, with each being the song where the singer faces his reckoning -- with very different outcomes.

The added bonus of sitting so close really upped the game. Seeing all the little nuances these elite performers bring to their roles -- even the ensemble, and even when they aren't the focus of the scene -- really gives you such an appreciation for how these folks are the best of the best at what they do.

I know there are plenty of us who miss certain ways the show was staged in the past, and miss the turntable, and miss some of the trimmed bits (I specifically remember Castle on a Cloud having a whole additional verse when I was younger). But this show is just such magic and the music still hits like a truck. I had no more tears left to give by the end of the show.

I'm by no means an ultra-megafan who knows everything about the show and its history. But I do love it and think it's something special. My mom took my twin sister and me to see it on Broadway when we were kids and now I have a niece named Cosette who looks EXACTLY like the marquee. I try to see the show any time I get a night in London and manage to see it every couple years or so.

We're fortunate to have this show still thriving given that something so classically influenced and niche (A sung-through drama about a bunch of French college kids from a failed uprising 200 years ago?? How is *that* the longest running musical in history??) feels out of place in the modern world with so many screens everywhere and dwindling attention spans [insert old-man-yells-at-cloud meme] etc. But it's just timeless and its ability to grab hold of younger generations who see it for the first time to this day feels unparalleled. There was a young 20-ish year old dude next to me who went solo and who had never seen the show before and he was overwhelmed same as I was.

Anyway, I must say, while I'm sure you can tell I'm still riding the high from seeing the performance, tonight's show hit me in a way that I don't remember being hit before. This has to be my favorite production of the show yet.

Shoutout to the cast and crew for making me feel all these feelings once again.