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.
Enjolras *convincing Grantaire to come to the barricade*: Do it or you’re straight
Grantaire: *bisexual gasp*
Grantaire personally can’t wait for the cold weather to drag its ass back amongst them mere mortals because a) hoodies and scarves and b) Enjolras wearing /his/ hoodies and scarves
Around the beginning of September, Enjolras and Grantaire sit down and make a very serious TV planning with all the shows that they want to watch together, taking both of their schedules into account
Enjolras tries to bake an apple pie every year, since it’s Grantaire’s favourite, but always burns the curst or something disastrously similar. Grantaire will still eat it though, bless his soul
Enjolras always picks up the crunchiest-looking leaves for Grantaire
Coffee dates in the yellowing and reddening parks of Paris with traveling mugs. Grantaire brings marshmallows
Grantaire teaches Enjolras that sipping apple juice through a cinnamon stick is very much a thing and that it’ll change his life
As the nights get more chilly, they opt for the “huddling for warmth” method rather than adding a blanket
Grantaire: Wanna know what I’m feeling? Enjolras: *heavy sigh*: How are you feeling? Grantaire:
WHY THE THENARDIERS THOUGH? HUGO HAS VILLAINS PLAYED FOR COMEDY. HE HAS GILLENORMAND AND HE HAS MONTPARNASSE. WHY DOES THE MUSICAL INSIST ON DOING IT TO THE THENARDIERS INSTEAD?
I KNOW, the Thenardiers are just so awful and they never STOP being awful, they’re NEVER “Loveable Rogues”, even in the play Mme T’s first appearance is in seriously THREATENING TO BEAT A CHILD?!? Anyone who thinks that’s Wacky Fun kind of worries me.
I think maybe it’s because they’re THERE from an early point? But like there’s no comedy relief in the first bit of Les Mis, there just really isn’t The hijinks are with THE GUYS WHO ALL DIE There are REASONS for that but (while I totally get that the play is what it is now and directors just have to work with that) I think, like, if they HAD to have some wackiness in the first chunk Fauchelevent would have made a lot more sense?? He’s kind of an antagonist at first, even!
i can think of no other reason than “this musical is too damn somber we need comic relief.” you see, the musical could have introduced the thenardiers with a dark and dreary song, but at that point in the musical, the audience would have seen 1) a convict wrongly punished, 2) a woman hitting rock bottom and dying, 3) said convict having to run for his life again. they need a rest. hence, master of the house. true, i never really got to enjoy MoTH because of the undertones, but melody-wise, it’s a savior.
as for fauchelevent, that would entail using an actor for one short scene and having him join the ensemble afterward. it’s a waste of an actor, and is probably the reason gillenormand was scrapped from the original french concept. the thenardiers play largely in the story and can’t be scrapped like fauchelevent and gillenormand (and even montparnasse), so since they have to be there in the first place, might as well use them for comedy.
note though, i don’t endorse them as comic relief either, but i can only explain how it probably went on in the creative process for the adaptation.
Yeah, my husband and I argue about this all the time. “How can you make the Thenardiers funny!” I say. “They’re horrible people!” “You need some levity or the musical will be too overwhelming and no one will watch it!” he says. “The Thenardiers make more sense than anyone else!” “You don’t need levity in a musical!” I say. “Look at Sweeney Todd!” “Sweeney Todd is funny ALL THE TIME,” he says. “There’s a funny song about cannibalism, FFS! That is a horrible example!” Etc.
I haaaaaaaaate what they did with the Thenardiers because it lessens their menace, especially their abuse, and because it means that most of the social commentary Hugo was using the Thenardiers to make has been lost (there is a little bit of it in Dog Eat Dog, but oh so little). That carries over into Eponine, as well — I think it would have been easier to get her actual story across, rather than shunting her into the ‘unrequited love’ role, if her family had been portrayed as something other than comic relief. Eponine is supposed to be a lecture on agency and poverty, but it’s hard to communicate that if you aren’t explicit about what her family life was like, and associated with that, what her future would have been.
But the worst thing is, while I’m right, my husband is as well. The musical does need some levity, and it needs levity, as Hana points out, exactly when the Thenardiers show up, timing-wise. I bitch about how the musical compresses things and glosses over things and cuts things and then dwells on the wrong things ALL THE TIME because that means so much of the story and its attendant messages are lost, but honestly, as a musical, it’s actually paced really well. (It wouldn’t be such a success if it wasn’t.) The Thenardiers might be misused, but the musical wouldn’t work nearly as well if they weren’t.
Beggars at the Feast should still be excised from all existence, though.
You know, I actually don’t mind comic Thénardiers… when they’re funny in the same way Sweeney Todd is funny. When they are so awful the awfulness comes right out the other end into helpless laughter, and it makes you feel almost guilty for laughing so fucking hard, then comic Thénardiers is a thing that works. Thénardier has a slightly easier job in this department than Mme T–before the whole accursed jolly-hockey-sticks panto-slapstick trend got started, I saw a number of excellent Thénardiers, but the only Mme T’s I saw who managed to wring that kind of involuntary horrified laughter out of the audience were Jennifer Butt and Jenny Galloway, both of whom are pretty much the best of the best.
Granitaire: I made this friendship bracelet for you.
Enjolras: You know, I’m not really a jewelry person.
Granitaire: You don’t have to wear it.
Enjolras: No, I’m gonna wear it, forever, back off.
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