pilferingapples:

anything-but-one-straight-line:

Why is Cosette the face of the musical, rather than Jean Valjean?

Reasonable question! The musical, even more than the book, is very About Jean Valjean, his journey and his plotline. But the musical isn’t JUST about Valjean; it’s also about Fantine, about Marius, about an uprising, about the Thenardier Family, and so on. 

And Cosette is the thread that ties it all together. 

Without Cosette, the story (of the musical) is : 

Valjean redeems himself through his behavior at M-sur-M and (possibly!) his act of sacrifice at the Champmathieu trial. 

Fantine stays in Paris; Valjean never meets her. 

Javert either never tells Valjean about Champmathieu (because he’s not pressing suspicions due to Fantine’s arrest), and Valjean stays as mayor, end of story, Javert either goes on with his life in the service of the now-exonerated (in his mind) Mayor Madeleine,

OR:  Valjean goes to jail (and stays there, without duty to Cosette driving him to find another way) and Javert goes on his way with the satisfaction of a job rightly done. Neither of them ever has to confront the choices and character growth that come their way in the existing story. 

Marius never even considers not being part of the barricade fight; and he dies with everyone else there. *Including* Eponine and Gavroche, who are there for their own reasons. 

 And all of these are complete stories! Every one of these characters serves as the hub of an entire plot, with other characters affected by them and their choices!  

But the only reason they’re part of the SAME story is because of Cosette. Because of Cosette, Fantine goes to Valjean’s factory. Because of Cosette, Valjean finds a way to keep moving ahead after the trial, and eventually goes to Paris. Javert’s suicide, Marius’ survival at the barricade–they happen because Valjean loves Cosette enough to be there (and because Marius loved Cosette enough to consider NOT being there, and send Eponine off with a note–and in the world of the musical, this may be why Eponine’s at the barricade too, but that’s a consideration for another time.) 

Valjean’s line– “It’s the story of those who always loved you”– could stand for the whole musical.   I’ve seen that post saying Marius is only there because Valjean loves Cosette, but really you can track that back–VALJEAN only connects with any of these people because Fantine  loved Cosette.  It’s the story of people who love Cosette,  and how that transforms them and the people they meet.

No, none of this is intentional on Cosette’s part, but hey, that’s part of the point of this story– no one knows what they’re doing, no one’s got a Master Plan, everyone’s just moving forward the best they know how.  What brings people together, through all the confusion, across classes and war and all kinds of social prejudice, is love, and that’s what Cosette does, and what she represents. 

And that’s why Cosette is the face of the musical.