Xue Jiewei
As long as social oppression by law and custom exists, and as long as civilization flourishes, and as long as the human factor turns the earth into a hell, and as long as mankind's innate happiness suffers from the inevitable scourge, as long as the three problems of poverty, which makes the man wretched, hunger, which makes the woman corrupt, and darkness, which makes the child weak, have not been solved; in other words, as long as there are regions in the world where social poisoning is possible, hunger corrupts women, and darkness weakens children - these three problems have not yet been solved; and as long as the poisoning of society is still possible in certain regions, in other words, as long as there is still ignorance and misery in the world, a work like this book will not, perhaps, be of no avail!
--Victor Hugo January 1, 1862 at Villa Ottaway
This is the preface to Victor Hugo's book 'Les Miserables'. Victor Hugo, the great French writer, wrote the preface to the book "Les Misérables". Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802, in Besancon, France (but he considered Paris to be his "soul's birthplace"), where his father was a general under Napoleon. He traveled from an early age, and as a teenager, he developed a strong literary background, absorbed a wide range of knowledge, and made up his mind early on to become a literary scholar. At the age of twenty, he married his childhood sweetheart, Adèle Foucher, and in the same year he published his first collection of poems, Odes et po?ies diverses, thus beginning his career as a writer. In 1831, at the age of 29, Hugo published Nortre Dame de Paris, a novel that vividly depicted the social situation in France in 1482 and raised serious and profound questions about human nature. His next world-famous novel was Les Misérables, which took fourteen years to complete in 1861, and is now being adapted into a musical that is popular with millions of musicians around the world.
Successful Adaptation Les Misérables was a large novel, 1,200 pages thick when it was published, and according to the translation by Chung Man of the local Vision Publishing House, it is even thicker than the five books*** 2,119 pages and 1.2 million words, so it is not easy to adapt such a long novel, which is set in a time and space spanning two decades, into a musical that can be finished in more than three hours, but it is not easy to do so. Michel Sch?berg and Alain Boublil have done just that. This is the second time that the two have collaborated on a musical. In 1973 they presented the French Revolution in Paris, which was a great success, and in 1980 they presented Les Miserables, which created an even bigger sensation. Cameron Mackintosh, a London musical producer, thought the show had potential and asked Kretzmer and Fenton to collaborate with the two original authors to adapt the show into an English language version for London and Broadway. On October 8, 1985, the world premiere of the English version of Les Miserables was held at the Barbican Center in London. The play received overwhelmingly positive reviews and was subsequently staged all over the world, and continues to be a box office hit. In addition, the show has also won eight Tony Awards from music critics, making it both a hit and a hit.
Outline
Since the original Les Misérables spans two decades, it is impossible for a musical to include all of its content, so the musical adaptation of Les Misérables is divided into the following sections: Prologue - 1815 "Digne", Act I - 1823 "Montreuil-Sur-Montreuil", Act II - 1823 "Montreuil-Sur-Montreuil", and Act III - "Montreuil-Sur-Montreuil". Montreuil-Sur-Mer", Act II - 1823 "Montfermeil", Act III - 1832 "Paris". Since Les Miserables has been recorded in Universal, London and Broadway versions, the following is a synthesis of the three versions, using the songs as the warp and woof of the play:
Prologue, 1815, Digne's "Work Song"
The prologue begins in a prison in Toulon, France, in 1815, with the prisoners laboring under the scorching sun. In a prison in Toulon, France, in 1815, the inmates are laboring under the hot sun, singing the "Work Song," and Javert, the prison warden, yells out that prisoner Valjean, number 24601, who is eligible for parole, has been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to give to his sister's child, who is dying of starvation, but his sentence was lengthened to nineteen years due to his repeated attempts to escape and has only just regained his freedom. Now he has regained his freedom. After his release, Valjean is evicted from his job at a farm and from a hostel where he is discriminated against. When he is desperate, the bishop of Digne takes him in and offers him a meal.
Valjean Arrested/Valjean Forgiven
Valjean steals a silver goblet in the middle of the night and leaves, but in the daytime two policemen bring him back. The bishop, in a fit of compassion, tells the police that the silverware in Valjean's hand is a gift from him, and takes a pair of silver candlesticks to Valjean. After the police left, the bishop admonished Valjean to make a new life for himself and gave him his blessing.
"What have I done? （
Valjean is left alone on the stage, feeling remorseful for what he has done and wondering why he has become a thief in the night; then he remembers that the bishop treats him like a normal human being, calls him a brother, and soothes his soul. He tore off the yellow identity card of the felon, and the old Valjean no longer existed, and a new man with a new face was reborn.
Act I, 1823, Montreuil-Sur-Mer "At the end of the day"
Eight years later, Valjean has become Mr. Madelaine, the owner of a factory and the mayor of Montreuil-Sur-Mer. The Mayor of Montreuil-Sur-Mer. On this day, the workers got off work and sang "At the end of the day" (At the end of the day). Among the workers, there was a woman named Fantine, who received a letter from her daughter's adoptive parents, which said that the child was sick and in need of medical expenses.......The letter was snatched away by another good woman, so the two of them began to fight over the letter, and Valjean heard the news and came out of the factory, and then he started to fight. Valjean came out of the factory and asked the foreman to calm down the ruckus. When the crowd found out about her dishonorable deed, they demanded that she be fired, and Fantine was out of a job.
"I dreamed a dream"
Disappointed, Fantine sings "I dreamed a dream" to strings and harp, reminiscing about the good old days of her youth before her husband abandoned them.
Lovely ladies
The scene changes to the docks, where sailors, prostitutes, and johns are seen flirting with each other as they sing "Lovely ladies. A thin, dry old woman with shiny hair offers her ten francs, which Fantine agrees to, thinking she can afford to pay for her daughter's expenses. Egged on by the other women, Fantine is forced to sell her flesh and blood.
Fantine's Arrest
Fantine has a run-in with a woman-seeker, and the unfortunate Fantine is arrested by police officer Javert, when Valjean sees her in the crowd and approaches to find out what happened. When Valjean learns Fantine's story, he agrees to take her to the hospital and help her take care of her daughter.
The Runaway Cart
Then there was an accident, a runaway cart crushed a passerby, so heavy that no one could move it, and Valjean tried to lift the cart and save the life of the man underneath it, as the crowd screamed that he couldn't do it. Officer Javert, amazed at the sight, pulled the mayor aside and said the mayor reminded him of Jean Valjean, a parolee he'd hunted for a long time and who had been so powerful that he'd finally been caught a few days earlier, and left.
Who am I? (Who am I - The Trial)
Valjean heard Javert say this and knew that Javert had arrested the wrong person. But if he didn't turn himself in, he would be condemned by his own conscience if he caused others to suffer. So he asked himself, "Who am I? Can I remain anonymous for the rest of my life? How can I face myself again? After an internal struggle, he enters the courtroom, removes his shirt to reveal the tattoo on his chest, and shouts, "I am Jean Valjean, prisoner number 24601! Cosette is on her deathbed, and she's giving her motherly advice and singing a lullaby to her child. Then Valjean enters, and a weakened Fantine dies with a smile on her face after entrusting her daughter to Valjean.
The Confrontation
At this point, Javert walks in. Valjean asks for three days' time to settle the matter of Fantine's daughter, Cosette, and then he will return to the case, but Javert does not believe that the former criminal has reformed and believes that "a cow led to Beijing is still a cow". Valjean grabs a chair, breaks it and confronts Javert with a sharp piece of wood, swearing to Fantine that he will take care of her daughter. A scuffle ensues between the two men, with Javert knocked down and Valjean taking advantage of the situation to escape.
Act II, 1823, Montfermeil, "Castle on a cloud"
The location changes to Montfermeil, where young Cosette has lived for five years with Mr. and Mrs. Théardiers at their inn. The Th?ardiers have been treating Cosette very harshly and treating her like a servant. Cosette is cleaning and dreaming, "Ahh, I wish I could go to that place in my dreams! I wish I could dream of going to that castle above the clouds, where there are no floors to sweep, just a room with lots of toys and lots of children, and then there is an aunt dressed all in white who puts her arms around me and sings me lullabies and says she loves me so much...". Little Cosette's dreams are soon interrupted when a snarky Mrs. Th?ardiers approaches and asks Cosette to go out to the well in the woods to fetch water. Cosette pleads not to be allowed to go out alone in the dark, but is still pushed out by Eponine (the Th?ardiers' baby girl).
Master of The House
On the other hand, in the store, a few drinkers have gathered, and Mr. Th?ardiers, the owner, is serving the customers, singing "Master of The House" in unison, and gossiping a bit.
The Bargain
Outside the house, Valjean happens upon Cosette in the woods, out for water, and takes her by the hand back to the inn, ready to pay for the privilege of taking her with him, while Mr. and Mrs. Th?ardier, with a false sense of humor and a dance to The Waltz of Treachery, take Cosette away.
The next act, Act III, begins nine years later in Paris, with beggars, vagrants, prostitutes, and students walking the streets singing "Look Down". On the side, Mr. and Mrs. Théardier and their daughter, Eponine, have also arrived in Paris. Mr. and Mrs. Théardier are still evil and have gathered a small group of gang members to do some stealing and robbing. As the saying goes, "If you're not an enemy, you can't get together." The two men were struggling when Mr. Th?ardier asked an oncoming man for a handout and recognized him as Valjean, the man who had taken Cosette away from him.
Javert's Intervention
Coincidentally, a police patrol was just passing by, led by Javert, and Eponine shouted that the crowd was scattering, and Valjean took advantage of the situation to slip away with Cosette next to him. Javert comes over and wonders where the man that Thérardier has been pestering is, but then he realizes from Thérardier that the man is Valjean, whom he has been wanting to arrest all day and night, and so he sings "Stars", and swears that he will catch Valjean with the stars in the sky as proof. Then Eponine is left alone in the square, and she remembers that the young girl was Cosette, who lived in her house when she was a child. At this moment, Marius, the leader of the student group, comes over and asks her if she knows the girl (meaning Cosette), and asks Eponine to ask her where Cosette is, which becomes "Eponine's Errand" ("Eponine's Errand"). Eponine's Errand).
The ABC Café (耎ed and Black)
In the ABC Café (Note 1), the students led by Enjolras are discussing the plan of the revolution, and they need a ****signal to convey the instructions of the revolution, so that they can command the masses, and finally they discuss the use of the colors of red and black as the colors of the revolutionary flag. Finally, the two colors of "red" and "black" were agreed upon as the colors of the revolutionary flag - red for the blood of the angry people and the world before the dawn, and black for the dark years of the past and the pitch-black night. In the midst of all the excitement, a young boy, Gavroche, rushes in to tell the group the bad news - General Lamarque is dead! Enjolras, the student leader, turns his grief into strength and plans to use the gathered crowd to stage a demonstration at Lamarque's funeral, leading them in a rousing rendition of "Do you hear the people sing? (Do you hear the people sing?) The lyrics are along the lines of, "The people who are not slaves sing in anger, the heartbeats and the drums beat against each other, and when tomorrow comes, a new life will begin!
"Rue Plumet-In my life"
The set shifts to Rue Plumet, where Cosette is alone in the garden, and realizes that she is in love, right after falling in love at first sight with Marius. For the first time, she realizes that love is so close to her. Valjean approaches to comfort her and then leaves. Marius, led by Eponine, arrives at the garden gate; Marius is overjoyed to be meeting his loved one, while Eponine is saddened by the fact that the one she loves is now meeting someone else.
A Heart full of Love
Marius walked into the garden and exchanged words of love with Cosette, while Eponine listened on the outside, wishing Marius was speaking to her!
The Attack on Rue Plumet
Then Eponine's father, Thérardier, came to the garden with his men and tried to rob Valjean of some of his possessions. When Marius leaves, Valjean hears the screams and rushes to Valjean's house. Cosette lies to her father, saying that she screamed because she saw three people sneaking around outside the wall, and Valjean, thinking that Javert is back, decides that it's not a good idea for him to stay here, and decides to take Cosette with him.
"One day more! （
"One day more!"
Led by Valjean, "One day more!" spoke to everyone's heart. Valjean thinks that one more day and he can take Cosette away with him; Marius and Cosette seize their last day together, while Eponine looks on in sadness; Javert waits for a chance to sabotage the students; and Enjolras and the students are looking forward to tomorrow's uprising. Enjolras and the students are looking forward to tomorrow's uprising to overthrow the dictatorship with the banner of freedom and make everyone the master!
At the Barricade
Enjolras speaks to the crowd as the rebel army chooses a place to build its defenses, and Marius, noticing that Eponine is dressed as a man, urges her to leave and asks her to take a letter to Cosette. Eponine gives the letter to Valjean, who reads it over and walks back into the house, leaving Eponine behind.
"On My Own"
This is a "love song" that Eponine sings alone, expressing her infinite love for Marius, who is not the one she loves. So the song reveals helplessness and despair: "I love him, but I'm here alone...".
Building the Barricade
The barricade has been completed, and the students have vowed to defend it and fight to the end. On the other side of the barricade, an officer shouts at the students to lay down their weapons, which they do not do. At that moment, Javert tumbles in from outside the fortification and tells everyone about the enemy information he has detected, "Javert's Arrival" ("Javert")。 Coincidentally, his true identity is recognized by Gavroche, the Little People, and the ruse is revealed, with Javert being tied up by the group.
A Little Fall of Rain
A boy crawls in from outside the fortifications, and it turns out to be Eponine, who is badly wounded and in Marius' arms. Though weakened, Eponine is overjoyed to be in the arms of the man she loves, and even though she is under fire, she has nothing to fear from the outside world. Despite Marius' reassurances, she died in his arms.
Night of Anguish
The crowd makes a united declaration that Eponine's blood will not be spilled in vain, and Valjean climbs in at this point, dressed in his uniform and ready to fight alongside the students, and Enjolras gives him a gun. At this point, the army outside sends men to approach, and the two sides engage in a First Attack, with a sniper aiming at Enjolras, but being taken down by Valjean. Valjean asks Javert to be handed over to him, and Enjolras agrees. Javert thinks that Valjean wants to take revenge, so he faces him with a sense of humor, but Valjean cuts the ropes around him and tells him to leave. But Javert's surprise was that Valjean fired a shot in the air, and Javert quickly left.
Bring him home
It's late at night, and the scout students are drinking and singing "Drink with me". Valjean looked at Marius, who was so young, and sang "Bring him home", praying that God would protect this young man and let him live in peace, and that if God wanted to take anyone's life, it would be mine!
The Second Attack, Death of Gavroche
A second battle took place at dawn, and Enjolras asked his men to report on the situation, realizing that they were running low on ammunition. As Marius and Valjean scrambled out to gather ammunition, Gavroche had climbed beyond the fortifications, and just as he was about to make it, a shot rang out - a bullet hit him! He was then shot two or three more times, and finally collapsed.
The Final Battle
Outside the fortification, the officer again shouted at the students to put down their weapons, but they refused, and Enjolras led them in an attack; there was a lot of gunfire, and the battle was very fierce. Enjolras was killed at the top of the fortification, and Marius was seriously wounded, but survived and was carried away by Valjean through the sewers; Javert did not find Valjean's body at the scene, and decided that he must have slipped out of the sewers.
The Sewers-Dog eats Dog
In the sewers, Th?ardier is at it again, searching for valuables on the bodies of the dead. Th?ardier, who was carrying Marius, fell to the ground and took Marius's ring, but when he realized that it was Valjean who was lying next to him, he laughed maniacally and disappeared to the other side of the sewers. Javert is the only one who can help Marius, but he is not the only one who can help him, and he is the only one who can help him.
"Javert's Suicide"
Javert has mixed feelings about letting Valjean go; it was Valjean's release that allowed him to live this long, and he begins to wonder if, after all these years of chasing, Valjean is actually a compassionate person. With mixed feelings, he thinks he has nowhere else to go and throws himself into the Seine River. In the aftermath of the war, the women come out into the streets, questioning, "Has it changed? (Turning), but of course, nothing has changed. It's as if everything has come full circle, back to square one.
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
Marius is overcome with sadness as he sings "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" in an emotional voice, as he remembers meeting his friends in the ABC Café to talk about how things are still the same and how they've passed away. As he sings, the spirits of his companions appear and disappear, as if they have heard his cries; then Cosette arrives to soothe Marius's rising and falling emotions, and the two of them **** together in a duet of love, "Every Day", recalling the night they first met, with love in their hearts; Valjean walks in, and a short trio is formed. Valjean enters, forming a short trio.
Valjean's Confession
Cosette leaves for a while, leaving Marius with Valjean, who reveals to Marius that he used to be a thief. Valjean explains to Marius that he was once a thief and has never dared to let Cosette know about his guilt. Now that Cosette has someone to take care of, he must leave and ask Marius to tell Cosette that he is traveling to a faraway place and not to let her know the truth.
The Wedding Chorale
Marius and Cosette are finally on their way to the wedding chapel, with the crowd singing their blessings. A round dance music starts, the melody of which is taken from the second act, "The Cunning Waltz", and it turns out that Mr. and Mrs. Thérardier have appeared again. This time they come to ask Marius for money, demanding 500 francs, claiming that they have evidence that Valjean has seized the dead man's belongings in the sewers; Th?ardier takes a ring out of his pocket, the same ring that was taken from Marius that night, and Marius realizes at once that Valjean is the one who saved his life that night. Marius realizes that Valjean is the one who saved his life that night. He knocks Th?ardier down with a punch and, not caring that the wedding is in progress, drags Cosette to look for Valjean. The wedding became Beggars At The Feast.
Epilogue, Finale
A breathless Valjean is alone, with a wooden cross beside him, praying for Cosette and Marius, and for himself. Cosette rush in. In the end, Eponine and the spirits of those who died in the battle appear, and the group sings the chorus of "Epilogue, Finale" (终曲), which says that for the unfortunate, there will be a bright day after all!
About the versions of Les Miserables
There are several recorded versions of Les Miserables available in Taiwan, but since I don't have the French version on hand, and I don't know French, I can't introduce it to readers. There are at least three English-language versions, and the first one to be introduced is of course the most complete Universal Edition (3CDs), which is a collection of Les Misérables performances from around the world. Sixty-five members of the Philharmonia Orchestra and more than seventy choristers recorded and mastered Les Misérables in London, Sydney, Nashville, Los Angeles and other venues. In the liner notes, producers Cameron Mackintosh and David Caddick describe the idea and process of recording this set, which is quite interesting. One thing I will mention is that Kaho Shimada, the Japanese singer who sings the role of Eponine, speaks very little English, and an interpreter was hired to communicate with her for the role, but her diction, facial expressions, and emotional interpretation are all excellent, and it's very admirable! The other roles were also instantly recognizable, and the performances were outstanding. The two-piece set comes in two versions, Original London Cast Recording and Original Broadway Cast Recording, both featuring Jean Valjean, sung by Colm Wilkinson, the famous musical theater actor, and Eponine, the same singer. Although the other singers are different, their performances are roughly in between, without much difference; however, the London version has a plot narration linking each lyric, which is slightly better than the Broadway version in this respect. In addition to the above three versions, there is also a selected edition of "Highlights from Les Misérables" published by Woodford Music, which contains seventeen pieces of music from Les Misérables; there is no other narration in the CD except for the titles and names of the singers, and the accompaniment is only simple electronic synthesized instruments. The accompaniment is simple electronic synthesized instruments, which sounds weak and melodic, and the chorus is clearly only a few people holding the show together. Unless you're a fan of this musical, the first three sets of Les Misérables are more than enough to satisfy the average person.
Note 1: "ABC" in this case is actually the same as the French word Abaisse, which means "humiliated."
Book Summary
The row of open stores, as we recall, stretched from the chapel to the front of Denardi's inn. Since the rich would soon be passing through the area to attend midnight mass, the stores were lit with candles with funnel-shaped paper shades, and a teacher from the Memphis Primary School, who was having a drink in the Denardi store at the time, said that the light of the candles was "charming", and at the same time there was not a single star to be seen in the heavens.
The last stall, facing the door of Denardi's, was a toy store, filled with dazzling gold and silver jewelry, glassware, and white-iron toys. The merchant, at the head of the first row, displayed before a large white handkerchief a large doll, two feet high, in a pink crepe gown, with gold spangles round its head, and with real hair and enamel eyes. The treasure had been there all day, and no passer-by under ten years of age could see it without loving it; but there was not a mother in Memphremene who had so much money, or rather such a habit of dissipation, as to buy it for her child. Eponine and Azima were there for hours gazing at it, and as for Cosette, indeed, only dared to steal a glance or two.
When Cosette went out with the bucket, she could not, in spite of all her melancholy and despondency, refrain from lifting her eyes to the extraordinary doll, to the "Maiden," as she called it. The poor child stood there frozen. She had never been close enough to see the doll. To her the whole store looked like a palace, and the doll was not a doll, but an illusion. The poor lady, who had been so y immersed in that miserable, cold life of poverty, now saw what, in her fancy, naturally appeared together as joy, glory, honor, and bliss. Cosette used her naive and sorrowful wisdom to estimate the abyss that lay between her and the doll. She said to herself that only a queen, or at least a princess, could have such a "thing". She scrutinized the beautiful pink gown, the smooth hair, and thought to herself, "This doll, how happy she should be!" She could not take her eyes off the colorful store. The more she looked, the more her eyes were dazzled. She thought she saw heaven. Behind the big doll, there were many little dolls, and she thought they must be some fairy children. She thought the merchant walking around in the bottom of that stall looked a little like the Eternal Father.
In the midst of that admiration she forgot everything, even what she had been told to do. With a jolt, Dame Denardi's gruff voice brought her back to reality, "Why, fool, you haven't left yet! Wait! Wait for me to settle accounts with you! I'm going to ask what she's doing there! Go, little monster!"
Dame Denardi glanced down the street and saw Cosette lost in thought.
Cosette hastened to carry her bucket and let go of her footing and slipped away. (Part 2, Book 3, Chapter 4)