Having a date, really, with the convict Jean Valjean, Javert, the bad cop, Fantine, the desperate one, Cosette, who is a Cinderella, Gavroche and his literary rhymes is an incredible opportunity. More than one hundred and sixty years after the publication of the colossal novel by Victor Hugo (1802-1885), Les Misérables Not only is it still there – on display until January 2, 2025, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Paris – but it speaks to us face to face. With a cockade in his buttonhole, he provokes a storm of class struggle and revenge, curiously softened by the great feelings of this Valjean. Good as the bread he stole and for which he was sent to the penal colony, he showed a generosity that ended up pushing Javert, “humbled by his kindness”to suicide. Is a world of good, compassionate people so terribly unbearable?
This intimate and harsh violence, reread to the dimension of the political and social conflicts of the early 19th centurymy century, explodes in the successful staging, compact and sober, suggestive and eloquent, by Ladislas Chollat. The adventures of Jean Valjean’s life, from his release from prison to his death, intersect with those of the workers, the abused women, until the republican riots of June 1832. Blackened by the jealous cruelty of men and women, This humanist fresco, fierce and timeless, mocks the new French production of the work created in 1980 by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, here accompanied by the orchestra of the Théâtre du Châtelet.
fabulous success
According to the British producer Cameron Mackintosh, the axis of the versions presented since 1985 in London and then on Broadway, two years later, he relaunched the fabulous success of this profoundly French musical, translated into twenty-two languages, and which has reached 130 million people since its creation. A record that risks being broken very quickly, if we believe in the crowd effect, on Saturday, November 23 at the Théâtre du Châtelet. We observe a spectator dressed in the fashion of the time. At the end of the applauded performance, a group of young fans gathered in front of the artists’ entrance to meet the brilliant heroes and ask for their autographs. This shows the impact of this recovery.
It is simply amazing that this insurrectionary saga of love and injustice still captivates audiences today. Because the phenomenon Miserable It’s double trigger. In addition to the conservation of a large literary work, which has undergone numerous theatrical and film adaptations, and which here is reduced to three hours (50 pages synthesized into a three-minute song), the history of this musical show is also worth the history. .
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