ive been watching clips of les miserables play on youtube, but until now i cant understand whats the story of it... I want to download the movie, but i want to understand it first... I love the song" on my own" and thats the only part of the play that i had understand a bit... I hope u cud tell me the story guys... Love it!
2006-11-18 14:09:53 · 8 answers · asked by huskyrex 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Theater & Acting
Les Miserables is a wonderful story that follows the lives of several French characters during the time of the French Revolution. It mainly focuses on the lives of Jean val Jean (an ex-convict and his struggle to lead a normal life) and Cosette (a little orphan girl). It's a beautiful story/musical and I highly recommend that you read/see it, but here is a little summary to help you understand it better. Just so you know, I'm leaving out a lot of the material in order to keep it short.
After many years in prison (I forget how many. Maybe 15?), for stealing some bread, Jean val Jean is set free. Val Jean struggles to become accepted because everywhere he goes it is know that he is an ex-convict. After a bishop shows unlimited kindness to val Jean, he decided to give his life to God and do right. Val Jean then takes on a new identity and becomes mayor of a town.
In this town there is a woman by the name of Fantine. Fantine gives birth to a little girl and calls her Cosette. Because no one will hire Fantine if they know she has a child, Fantine leaves Cosette with an inn keeper and his wife and daughter. Fantine then goes to work and sends money to them in order to support her daughter.
Ok, so during this time an old conviction against val Jean comes up and an innocent man that looks like him is put on trial. Val Jean finds out but could not let this innocent man take his punishment, so val Jean goes to the trial and revels his identity. So now there is an inspector by the name of Javar after him.
Alright, back to Fantine. Fantine's boss eventually finds out that she has a child and fires her, so Fantine must work extra hard to earn money to send to the inn keeper and his wife to support her daughter. The inn keeper and his wife keep demanding more and more money saying that Cosette had been sick and blah, blah, blah when they were really treating Cosette like a maid and pocketing the money for themsleves. Eventually Fantine gets sick and dies. But before that, val Jean comes to visit her and she makes him promise to take care of her daughter. So, val Jean sets off to get her and by now he is also running from Javar who wants to put him in prison.
Ok, to make this really long story short, val Jean finds Cosette and they live together in Paris as father and daughter. Cosette falls in love with a young man by the name of Marius and it also turn out that Eponine (the daughter of the inn keeper and his wife) is also in love with Marius but he doesn't return her love (that is what the song "On my Own" is about). Anyways, a battle brakes out and Marius is in it. Val Jean joins in on the fight becuase he knows that Cosette's lover is in it and also Eponine get in on the action. Eponine get hurt and dies (the song "A Little Fall of Rain") and val Jean ends up saving the life of Javar (the guy who's after him). Javar is then torn between the law and the mercy val Jean had shown on him, so he commits suicide. Marius ends up marrying Cosette after the battle and they all live happily ever after :D well, sort of...
Ok, I really chopped out a lot of information, but that is the basic (really basic) idea of the story. I hope you can understand this and I also hope you get the chance to see/read it.
2006-11-18 16:36:18 · answer #1 · answered by nickname 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It's a wonderful story by Victor Hugo. I've read the book and seen the musical.
It's a social commentary on the lives of the poor in France. It shows how the poor struggled to survive and the injustice of the system during that time.
It's a story of hope, redemption, justice, struggle, and love.
I highly recommend reading the book Les Miserables or listening to/watching the musical. But I DON'T recommend the movie with Liam Neeson. They completely butchered it.
2006-11-18 17:24:32 · answer #2 · answered by Wendy S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are talking about the national tour - go! I saw the show on Broadway when a friend was in the original cast, so I was lucky enough to get house seats (for free). But I would have spent whatever tickets cost back then to see this stunning show. This is Victor Hugo's masterpiece set to soaring music. The National Tour will have the original Broadway sets, costumes, lighting, etc. -- to say nothing of top-quality actors. It's worth every penny. Enjoy - but bring your handkerchief - no one sees the show without shedding some tears.
2016-03-29 01:06:35 · answer #3 · answered by Shane 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
we watched the movie in history a couple weeks ago, and it is placed in france in the 1800s and a runaway convict moves to france to become mayor. a hooker comes along and gets kicked out of work and cannot help her daughter. hooker dies, and mayor comes along and takes the daughter in. the mayor is caught and escapes to a convent to raise hooker's daughter. one day, the hooker's daughter grows up and finally leaves the convent with her dad. when they are out in the real world, hooker's daughter falls in love with handsome man (love at first sight) and wants to date him. every night, they sneak out to see each other, until the french have a war with the king, they have to move and cannot see each other. then after the war, the police guy who catches the mayor decides to let him go and he commits suicide and the mayor lets the handsome man and hooker's daughter live together =D hope that helped a little!
2006-11-20 09:09:34 · answer #4 · answered by xxdolphingirl92xx 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's based on the novel by Victor Hugo about revolution, social injustice and the power of love. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables_(musical)
Don't depend on YouTube. Get the CD and listen to the whole show.
2006-11-18 14:44:00 · answer #5 · answered by Vette999 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is a musical (operetta) of the book "Tale of Two Cities". It's about the French Revolution as it is played out in Paris.
2006-11-18 14:14:07 · answer #6 · answered by Sophist 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
A loaf of Bread
2006-11-19 18:11:23 · answer #7 · answered by Silver phoenix 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
from what I know,it is about a 'poor'
french peasant who stole some bread to
feed his family, and is relentlessly pursued
by a french policeman for years,,rather
tragic..
2006-11-18 14:39:08 · answer #8 · answered by Jaymagiclady 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋