LES MIZ - from the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo

We began our special evening with a great dinner outside as the temperature was perfect and we were in the active student environment of ASU and near the theater in downtown Phoenix with Michele. Yes, Bruce has seen this show, in some iteration, about 37 times and Karen has seen it 8 times. History repeats itself, maybe we can learn something.

Today’s protests (2026) in Paris and seeing Les Miserable rebellion (1832) today were too similar. Both which started with students building barricades, and intense fighting in the streets against government authorities. Both of these political insurrections were about young people fighting inflation, high costs and wanting to take over the government (President Macron and King Louis Philippe) in order to change policies.

TRIVIA that supports a 41 year "classic":
-Confederate soldiers in the American Civil War called themselves Lee’s Miserables, reflecting poor conditions under Robert E Lee’s leadership, and the popularity of Hugo’s book with soldiers.
-The last song of the musical uses a slowed down phrasing of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise.
-Valjean’s prison number 24601 comes from the date Hugo thought he was conceived (24 June 1801).
-The musical’s wardrobe consists of more than 2000 items including accessories and hats.
-The musical has been performed in 21 languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norweigan, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan and Korean.
-The original Valjean in the London production of Les Misérables, Colm Wilkinson, was also the first Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and originated the role of Che in the Evita concept album.
-The novel is full of animal metaphors, including Cosette/lamb, Valjean/wolf, Enjoras/lion, Grantaire/toad, Thenardiers/dogs.
-Javert is based on Eugène François Vidocq (1775-1957), a criminal who became a police officer.
-The first actor to play both Jean Valjean and Javert in the West End was Hans Peter Janssens, who returned as Javert in 2016.
-Curiously, one country in which the musical of Les Misérables was not a huge hit was in France!
-The anthemic “One Day More” was chosen as a campaign song by US Presidents Clinton and Obama.
-The musical of Les Misérables has more than 50 songs / sung scenes in a running time of 2 hours and 50 minutes. Although most English-speaking countries refer to Les Misérables by its original title, it has also been referred to as The Miserables, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims, and The Dispossessed.Read more