CONTENT

1. ABSTRACT2
2. INTRODUCTION...3
3. VICTOR MARIE HUGO3
4. LES MISRABLES, THE MUSICAL4
4.1 MUSICAL NUMBERS..................4
4.2 CHARACTERS..6
5. LES MISRABLES, THE MOVIE.7
5.1 CAST...7
5.2 FILMING.....8
5.3 AWARDS....9
6. CONCLUSION10
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY....11

ABSTRACT
Les Misrables is a historical novel written by Victor Hugo in the 19 th century and it is
considered one of the greatest books written in that time. Hugo is also famous for the
Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The first musical - stage adaptation of Les Misrables was
presented in Paris, in 1980. Today, in over a 100 countries, the musical is a worldwide
known spectacle and not every theatre can get permission to perform the musical
because of the high standards set by the authors. The music was written by ClaudeMichel Schnberg, Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel wrote the original French
lyrics and the libretto in English was written by Herbert Kretzmer.
The film adaptation of the musical was made in 2012, receiving many awards among
which were three Academy Awards in the USA. Thanks to the movie, the novel and
the musical found a new way to reach wider audiences.
Key words: Victor Hugo, Les Misrables, Claude-Michel Schnberg, Herbert
Kretzmer, Musical, Theatre, Movie

ABSTRAKT
Jadnici su istorijski roman koji je napisao Viktor Igo u 19. veku i smatra se da je
jedan od najznaajnijih romana napisanih u to vreme. Igo je takoe poznat po romanu
Zvonar Bogorodiine crkve. Prvo izvoenje mjuzikla Jadnici je bilo u Parizu, 1980.
godine. Danas je ovaj mjuzikl irom sveta priznat spektakl koji se izvodi u preko 100
zemalja, i ne moe svako pozorite da dobije dozvolu da ga izvodi zbog visokih
standarda autora. Muziku je napisao Klod-Miel onberg, originalni francuski libreto
su napisali Alan Boublil i an-Mark Natel, a engleski libreto je napisao Herbert
Krecmer.
Filmska adaptacija mjuzikla iz 2012. godine je osvojila mnogo nagrada, izmeu
ostalog i tri nagrade Amerike Akademije umetnosti. Zahvaljujui filmu, roman i
mjuzikl nali su svoj nov put do iroke publike.
Kljune rei: Viktor Igo, Jadnici, Klod-Miel onberg, Herbert Kercmer, Mjuzikl,
Pozorite, Film

INTRODUCTION
Les Misrables is a historical novel written by Victor Hugo in the 19 th century. It was
first published in 1862 and it is considered one of the greatest books written in that
time.
At that time France was ruled by Napoleon the Third, whom Victor Hugo opposed.
The country was demolished, devastated and impoverished due to the Napoleonic
Wars. The people of France were starving and there was much poverty in the country.
The novel tells the story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who, inspired by a kind
bishop, decides to turn his life around. He becomes a mayor in a small town in France
and the owner of a factory in that town. He is always alert to the risk of being caught
by police inspector Javert, who believes that law-breakers cannot change for the
better. Fantine, one of Valjeans factory workers blames him for being forced to
become a prostitute, after being fired by his foreman. She works so hard because she
needs to pay for her daughter who is in care of an innkeeper, Monsieur Thnardier and
his wife. When Fantine dies, he feels responsible and decides to take care of her
daughter Cosette, but he must escape from Javert.
A few years later, when Cosette is s grown-up, she falls in love with a student, Marius
Pontmercy. He also falls in love with her and enlists his friend ponine, who is
secretly in love with him. She finds out where Cosette lives and takes Marius to her.
Thnardier and his gang plan to rob Valjeans house and ponine prevents the
robbery. The June Revolution is at hand and Valjean plans to travel to England
escaping the political turmoil. Marius joins his friends in the revolution, but is
wounded. Although he hid his former identity, Valjean decides to stay in Paris in order
to save Marius life, because he finds out that Cosette and he love each other, in order
to secure Cosettes happiness. Valjean confesses to Marius his true identity. He gives
them his blessing and they get married. He goes to a monastery to die in peace. When
Marius realizes that the man who saved his life is Jean Valjean, he takes Cosette to
him and thanks him and begs him for forgiveness, realizing what a brave and kind
man he is.
Victor Marie Hugo
Hugo (Picture 1) was born on 26 February 1802 and died in 1885 on 22 May. He was
a French novelist, poet and dramatis of the Romantic movement. He is considered as
one of the best and one of the most famous French writers. He first became famous in
France as a young poet, later on as a novelist. Outside France, his best-known works
are Les Misrables written in 1862 and Notre-Dame de Paris or The Hunchback of
Notre-Dame written in 1831.
Victor was the third child of Joseph Leopold Sigisbert Hugo and Sophie Trebuchet.
He had two older brothers: Abel Joseph Hugo and Eugene Hugo.
He got married to his childhood friend Adele Foucher (1803-1868) in 1822. They had
four children: Leopoldine, Charles, Francois-Victor and Adele.
He died of pneumonia at the age of 83. More than two million people joined his
funeral procession in Paris from the Arc de Triomphe to the Panthenon, where he was

buried. He shares a crypt within the Pathenon with Alexandre Dumas and Emile Zola.
Most large French cities have streets named after him.
Picture 1 - Victor Hugo

Les Misrables, the musical

The musical is based on the book Les Misrables. It is a sung-through musical, which
has music by Claude-Michel Schnberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and
Jean-Marc Natel and the English-language libretto written by Herbert Kretzmer.
It was released as a French-language album. The first musical-stage adaptation of Les
Misrables was presented in Paris, at the Palais des Sports, in 1980 (Picture 2).
However, the production was closed after three months when the booking contract
expired.
The opening night of Les Misrables was at the Barbican Theatre on 08 October 1985.
At the opening, the London production critical reviews were negative, but the public
opinion was opposite - the box office received record orders. When the three-month
engagement sold out the reviews improved.
Musical numbers (table 1)
Table 1

1
2

Song
Prologue: Work Song
Prologue: On Parole

Performer(s)
Valjean, Javert and the Chain Gang
Valjean, Farmer, Laborer, Innkeepers Wife,
Innkeeper, Bishop of Digne
Policeman and Bishop of Digne

4
5

Prologue: Valjean Arrested, Valjean

Forgiven
Prologue: What Have I Done?
At the End of the Day

Lovely Ladies

7
8
9
10
11
12

I Dreamed a Dream
Fantines Arrest
The Runaway Cart
Who Am I? /The Trial
Fantines Death: Come to me

Valjean
The Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Girls and
Valjean
Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Prostitutes,
Pimp
Fantine
Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert and Vajean
Townspeople, Valjean, Fauchelevant and Javert
Valjean
Fantine and Valjean

The Confrontation

Javert and Valjean

13

Castle on a Cloud

Young Cosette and Madame Thnardier

14

Master of the House

Thnardier, Madame Thnardier and Customers

15
16

The Well Scene

The Bargain / The Thnardier Waltz of
Treachery

Valjean and Young Cosette

Thnardier, Valjean, Madame Thnardier and
Young Cosette

17

Look Down

Gavroche, Beggars, Old Woman, Prostitute,

Pimp, Enjolras, and Marius

18

The Robbery

Thnardier, Madame Thnardier, Marius, ponine

and Valjean

19
20
21
22

Javert's Intervention
Stars
ponine's Errand
ABC Caf / Red and Black

Javert and Thnardier

Javert
ponine and Marius
Students, Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire and
Gavroche

23
24
25
26

Do You Hear the People Sing?

Rue Plumet In My Life
A Heart Full of Love
The Attack on the Rue Plumet

Enjolras, Grantaire, Students and Beggars

Cosette, Valjean, Marius and ponine
Marius, Cosette and ponine
Thnardier, Thieves, ponine, Marius, Valjean
and Cosette

27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35

One Day More

Building the Baricade (Upon These
Stones)
On My Own
At the Barricade (Upon These Stones)
Javerts Arrival
Little People
A Little Fall of Rain (ponines Death)
Night of Anguish
The First Attack

36
37
38
39

Drink With Me
Bring Him Home
Dawn of Anguish
The Second Attack (Gavroches Death)

40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47

The Final Battle

Dog Eats Dog (The Sewers)

48
49

Beggars at the Feast

Valjeans Death

Soliloquy (Javerts Suicide)

Turning
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
Every Day
Valjeans Confession
Wedding Chorale

Valjean, Marius, Cosette, ponine, Enjolras,

Javert, Thnardier, Madame Thnardier,
Gavroche and Company
Enjolras, Javert, Marius, ponine and Valjean
ponine
Enjolras, Students and Army Officer
Javert and Enjolras
Gavroche, Students, Enjolras and Javert
ponine and Marius
Enjolras, Marius, Valjean and Students
Enjolras, Grantaire, Students, Valjean, Javert and
National Guard
Soldier
Grantaire, Students, Women and Marius
Valjean
Enjolras and Students
Gavroche, Enjolras, Marius, Valjean, Feuilly and
Students
Army Officer, Enjolras, Grantaire and Students
Thnardier
Javert and Valjean
Women of Paris
Marius
Cossette, Marius and Valjean
Marius and Vajean
Guests, Thnardier, Marius and Madame
Thnardier
Thnardier and Madame Thnardier
Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius and ponine

50

Do You Hear The People Sing?

(Reprise) / [Finale]

Full Company

Picture 2 Musical poster

Characters
Jean Valjean is a French prisoner (24601) who breaks parole after serving 19 years in
prison. He receives mercy from a Bishop and turns his life around to live for God. He
changes his identity and becomes a wealthy mayor of a small town. Later on he
adopts Cosette, the daughter of Fantine. At the end he dies and the ghost of Fantine
thanks him for taking care of her daughter.
Inspector Javert is a police inspector who is constantly searching for Valjean, the exconvict who broke parole. Javert always stands on the side of the law and believes
that law-breakers cannon be forgiven and cannot change for the better. In the end he
commits suicide, broken by the mercy he experiences from Valjean.
Fantine is a poor factory worker who loses her job and turns to prostitution in order to
pay the Thnardiers to take care of her daughter Cosette. As she dies, she asks Valjean
to take care of her child. At the end she appears as a spirit and takes dying Valjean to
Heaven.
Cosette is the daughter of Fantine. She was in the care of the Thnardiers who were
paid by Fantine to take care of her child, but without Fantines knowledge, they made
Cosette work. She is adopted by Valjean and grows into a beautiful young woman,
who falls in love with Marius Pontmercy and he returns her strong feelings. She
marries Marius at the end of the musical.
Marius Pontmercy is a young boy from a wealthy family, who joins his friends in the
June Revolution in 1832. He meets Cosette and falls in love with her and is later
wounded at the barricades and saved by Valjean.

ponine is the daughter of the Thnardiers, who is secretly in love with Marius. She is
killed on the barricades where she came to see Marius. In the end she appears as a
spirit, along with Fantine, taking dying Valjean to Heaven.
The Thnardiers are second-rate thieves who run a small inn. They are the parents of
ponine and they take care of young Cosette, whom they make to work and used the
money that Fantine sent them for their own needs.
Les Misrables, the movie
Les Misrables is a 2012 British movie (Picture 3) based on the musical of the same
name. It is produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Universal Pictures.
The film is directed by Tom Hooper, scripted by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil,
Schnberg and Herbert Kretzmer, and stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman,
Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried.
Cast
Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean. Around June 2011, Hugh met with the producer
Cameron Mackintosh to audition in New York. Preparing for the role, Jackman lost 15
pounds and later regained 30 pounds to mirror the characters success. He avoided
drinking coffee, drank about 7 liters of water a day, warmed up every day for at least
15 minutes and used a wet washcloth over his face when flying. He worked
extensively with his vocal coach, Joan Lader. He managed to extend his vocal range,
which was categorized a high Baritone.
Russell Crowe stars as inspector Javert. Before being cast as Javert, Crowe was very
unsatisfied with the character. On his way to a friends wedding in Europe, he came to
London and met with producer Cameron Mackintosh. On the meeting with director
Tom Hooper, he told him about his concerns about playing Javert and after the
meeting he was more than determined to be involved in the project and to play Javert.
Anne Hathaway plays Fantine. Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Marion Cotillard, Kate
Winslet and Rebecca Hall were considered to play Fantine, before Hathaway was cast.
When she was cast she thought that she was maybe not mature enough for the role of
Fantine. Anne lost 25 pounds to play the dying Fantine. She actually cut her hair very
short for this movie, in a scene where Fantine sells her hair.
Amanda Seyfried plays Cosette. She said in an interview that it took her four months
of auditioning to get the role. During the auditioning process Amanda was also
singing and reading the part of Fantine, and forced herself to get into vocal and
physical shape for consideration for both parts. When Hathaway was given the part of
Fantine, she was given the part of Cosette.
Isabelle Allen plays young Cosette.
Eddie Redmayne plays Marius Pontmercy. He found director Hoopers vision
incredibly helpful. Redmaynes audition was on his iPhone. He recorded himself
singing in a trailer during a movie break in North Carolina. It was him who suggested
to Hooper that his characters song Empty Chairs at Empty Tables should begin in a

cappella (without musical accompaniment) in order to really express Marius guilt and
pain.
Samantha Barks played ponine. She had played her in the 25th Anniversary concert.
A lot of young actresses auditioned for the part of ponine - Hayden Panettiere,
Scarlett Johansson, Lea Michele, Emily Browning, Lucy Hale and Evan Rachel Wood
- before it was rumored that Taylor Swift was offered the part, but at the end Barks
was cast.
Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play the Thnardiers. Rowan
Atkinson, Billy Cristal, Ricky Gervias, Steve Martin and Robin Williams were all
considered for the role of Monsieur Thnardier.
Picture 3 Movie poster

Filming
The filming began on 08 March 2012 in Gourdon. The movie had a production budget
of $61 million. Filming locations in England included Winchester College,
Winchester Cathedral Close, Chatham Dockyards, Her Majestys Naval Base
Portsmouth, St Mary the Virgin Church, South Oxfordshire, Ewelme and Pinewood
Studios. A replica of the Elephant of the Bastille was constructed in April 2012 in
Greenwich.
The actors were singing live as they were acting. The thing that made it easier for the
actors to sing was that they wore earpieces that fed the sound of a live piano being
played off stage, helping them to sing in key.
Composer Claude-Michel Schnberg and lyricist Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
wrote a new song exclusively for the movie. The song Suddenly has been added in
addition to the cuts of the songs Dog Eats Dog and I Saw Him Once.

Awards
At the Academy Awards (Picture 4) in the USA in 2013, the Oscar for the Best
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role went to Anne Hathaway. They won
the Oscar for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Achievements in
Sound Mixing.
They were nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in
Costume Design, Best Achievement in Product Design, Best Achievement in Music
Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song for the song Suddenly and Hugh
Jackman was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.
At the Golden Globes, held in the USA, in 2013, they won Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, Hugh Jackman won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion
Picture Comedy or Musical, Anne Hathaway won Best Performance by an Actress
in a Supporting Role.
They were nominated for Best Original Song Motion Picture for the song
Suddenly.

Picture 4 Academy
Awards

CONCLUSION
Les Misrables is a novel by Victor Hugo written in the 19 th century and is considered
one of the greatest books written in that time. The first musical - stage adaptation of
Les Misrables was presented in Paris, in 1980. Les Misrables has been seen
worldwide by 60 million people. Today, the musical is one the best known musicals of
all time. The film adaptation of the musical was made in 2012 and it received many
awards among which were three Academy Awards in the USA. The movie was
released on 25th of December 2012 in 2808 theatres in North America, placing first in
the bow office with 18.1 million dollars. This amount broke the record for the highest
opening day gross for a musical film.
Great, eternal and noble ideas of the novel Les Misrables by Victor Hugo, despite the
preferences of the broad masses to low quality entertainment offered by the media of
today, resists and survives thanks to the movie Les Misrables. People are driven back
to theatres and reading books which gives hope for the remaining of the real cultural
values.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Misrables
http://www.hyperink.com/A-Brief-Summary-b573a12
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Picture 1 https://www.google.rs/search?
q=victor+hugo&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=amJSU_mpCIrJtQbzlIHI
Dw&sqi=2&ved=0CKYBEIke&biw=1439&bih=764#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=6yu
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%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252Fe
%252Fe6%252FVictor_Hugo_by_%2525C3%252589tienne_Carjat_1876_-_full.jpg
%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FVictor_Hugo
%3B2140%3B2632
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Misrables_(musical)
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%20miserables&revid=912663220&tbm=isch&bih=764&biw=1439&bav=on.2,or.r_c
p.r_qf.&bvm=pv.xjs.s.en_US.Xm3CSs9ypgk.O&ech=1&psi=aoVVU8HxF6TnygOdv
ILgCg.1398113693191.3&emsg=NCSR&noj=1&ei=aoVVU8HxF6TnygOdvILgCg#f
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%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FLes_Mis
%2525C3%2525A9rables_(musical)%3B445%3B381
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Misrables_(2012_film)
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imgurl=http://www.impawards.com/2012/posters/les_miserables_ver11_xlg.jpg&imgr
efurl=http://www.impawards.com/2012/les_miserables_ver11.html&h=1500&w=110
8&tbnid=haeP_kzmHWFa3M:&zoom=1&docid=gvvRZDbFtUHRGM&ei=645VU4
PoDOPoywPV44DwDw&tbm=isch
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bih=764&biw=1436&noj=1&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=les+miserables+cast&btnG=#facrc
=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=FrbVzz3rsFFPwM%253A%3BiOz4B7Mv8YMzRM%3Bhttp
%253A%252F%252Fs3.amazonaws.com%252Fkidzworld_photo%252Fimages
%252F20121220%252F0d9cd169-baee-42f6-8235-d4be7cccc75f%252Fpremiere.jpg
%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.kidzworld.com%252Farticle%252F27735-lesmiserables-cast-clues-us-in%3B400%3B263

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