Senior Music Appreciation

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Senior Music Appreciation
Mr. Jeff Young, Instructor
Musicals in the '80s and '90s
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Act I

• Jean Valjean is released on parole.
• Steals silver from a Bishop gets caught.
• Bishop clears his name Valjean begins new life.
• He takes a new name.
• Eight years later, he becomes Mayor of
  Montreuil-Sur-Mer, and owner of a factory in the
  city.

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• Fantine, one of Valjeans workers has an
  illegitimate child living with a couple far away.
  
• After finding this out, the other women in the
  factory want her to be fired.
• The foreman of the factory follows the womens
  request and throws her out, leaving her no way to
  make money for to pay for Cosette, her daughter.
• Desperate for money to pay for Cosette, Fantine
  sells her hair, her locket, and finally herself.
• The prostitutes sing the song Lovely Ladies.

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• Fantine gets sick, and Javert, the police
  officer, tries to take her to jail. Valjean, the
  Mayor, arrives and wants to take her to a
  hospital.
• Javert realizes that the Mayor is similar to
  Valjean.
• Thinks that it cant be Valjean because he has
  just been recaptured.
• Valjean cant see an innocent man go to jail in
  his place, and admits who he actually is.

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• Fantine dies, and Valjean promises to take care
  of Cosette.
• Javert tries to capture Valjean, but he escapes.
• Valjean goes and gets Cosette from the
  Thénardiers.
• The Thénardiers tell their story in Master of the
  House.

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Nine Years Later....

• Javert is still hunting Valjean, and Valjean is
  still taking care of Cosette, who has grown up.
  Valjean has made sure that she was raised
  correctly.
• There is a hatred of the Government by the poor
  people of France. This is the beginning of the
  French Revolution. The song Do You Hear the
  People Sing? represents the beliefs of the
  people.
• Marius, a son of the Revolution, meets Cosette
  and the two fall in love.
• Eponine, the daughter of the Thénardiers, is also
  in love with Marius.
• Even though she is in love with Marius, she takes
  him to meet Cosette.
• Marius does not know whether to go fight with his
  Revolutionary friends or stay and be with
  Cosette.
• He chooses to go fight.

The first act comes to a multiple-angled
cliffhanger, and the audience is left wondering
what is going to happen when the Revolutionaries
begin to fight, if Valjean will protect Cosette,
and what will happen between the love triangle
between Marius, Eponine, and Cosette?
What Will Happen??
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Act II

• Eponine has joined Marius at the barricades that
  are being built for the Revolution.
• Marius sends her with a letter to Cosette.
• On her way, she sings On My Own.
• Valjean intercepts this letter, and tries to
  convince Eponine to stay behind.

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• Javert is at the barricades, as a spy.
• He tries to sabotage the Revolutionaries.
• Gavroche, a young child, realizes this is Javert
  and tells everyone so.
• The first battle ensues.

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• On her way back to the barricades, Eponine is
  shot.
• She and Marius sing the duet A Little Fall of
  Rain, as everyone else looks on.

Eponine dies at the Barricades, after having
expressed her love for Marius.
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• After the first battle, the barricades fall
  silent for the night.
• Valjean prays for the safe return of Marius, for
  the sake of Cosette. He sings Bring Him Home.

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• The next day, the battle rages on.
• Gavroche goes out to get more ammunition, and is
  shot and killed in the process.
• All of the rebels are killed in the battle. There
  are no survivors, except for Marius, who was
  saved by Valjean.
• Valjean takes Marius into the sewers and carries
  him to safety.
• Valjean runs into Thénardier in the sewer, who is
  stealing things from the people who died in the
  battle. He sings Dog Eat Dog.

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• Valjean exits the sewers, only to once again run
  into Javert.
• Valjean pleads with Javert to let him take Marius
  to a hospital.
• Javert lets him go.

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• Frustrated with himself, Javert escapes from the
  world of Jean Valjean and kills himself, by
  drowning in the Seine River.

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The Finale
Tomorrow Comes!

• Marius has survived the battle, and has gotten
  better.
• Cosette and Marius are married.
• Valjean tells Cosette the truth about her mother
  Fantine, and the rest of the story in a letter
  that he gives her.

Valjean, now an old man, dies.
The many heroes from the battles, Fantine, and
Eponine, all return to the stage, as if they are
helping Valjean into heaven. The entire company
sings a new version of Do You Hear The People
Sing?
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References

• Pictures Synopsis http//www.lesmis.com
• Sounds Les Misérables, Original Broadway
  Soundtrack.
• Originally Recorded, 1986.

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Next Week....