| Character Breakdown
|
|
BABET |
Member of Thenardier's gang of thieves. Physically
frail. He is lean and cunning.
|
|
BAMATABOIS |
Bamatabois is the "customer" who taunts Fantine
into violence. He is dressed in expensive clothes. He is a wealthy
dissolute young man who thinks of himself as a gentleman. He is drunk
and in a sadistic mood and chauvinistically feels it is his right to buy
anything, even Fantine.
|
|
BISHOP OF DIGNE |
The Bishop is a good man who saves Valjean with
his compassion. Don't overlook the importance of this role. The Bishop
of Digne's compassion carefully establishes the premise of the show by
literally buying Jean Valjean's soul for God.
|
|
BRUJON |
Member of Thenardier's gang of thieves. Pysically
very strong. The body of a bear and a pea sized brain. A genuine
gangster, he is stupid and evil.
|
|
CHAIN GANG |
The Chain Gang consists of Jean Valjean's fellow
prisoners. There are four soloists (indicated as convict 1,2,3,4.) The
overall vocal range of the convicts is low and they should be able to
sing in a rich baritone if possible.
|
|
CLAQUESOUS |
Member of Thenardier's gang of thieves. Tough,
dangerous and secretive.
|
|
COMBEFERRE |
Member of the ABC Society. The philosopher and
believer in peace. He is gentle, humane, strong and brave.
|
|
CONSTABLE 1 & 2 |
There are two Constables with solos in the show.
|
|
COSETTE |
is the beautiful daughter of Fantine. She is
strong willed and loving. She is an intelligent, inquiring, personable
girl. She is not in any sense a "soppy" romantic heroine. Once adopted
by Jean Valjean, Cosette lives a comfortable, if secluded life. She is
challenging to Valjean, behaving always with imagination and dignity.
She falls instantly in love with Marius, changing her world and her
priorities.
|
|
COURFEYRAC |
Member of the ABC Society. A student. He is
youthful, passionate and fearless.
|
|
ENJOLRAS |
is the student leader. He is handsome,brave and
daring, although youthful. He combines his revolutionary ideals with a
strong charismatic leadership. He is described by Victor Hugo as "a
thinker, and a man of action". On the barricade he physically and
vocally should dominate everyone else. He should ooze with charisma, be
a natural leader, be good looking, and have a very strong high baritone
or a tenor voice. Remember, Enjolras must lead the students to fight and
ultimately die. His death at the barricade is one of the dramatic
highlights of the show.
|
|
EPONINE |
is the daughter of the Thenardiers. She is a young
girl who is streetwise and tough, but also sensitive and lonely. She is
in love with Marius, knowing that he will never love her. She bravely
follows Marius to the Barricades in the hope that they will die there
together. Once grown up, Eponine moves with her family to Paris where
they fall on hard times. Now poor, living hand to mouth, she survives by
helping her father break the law. Eponine is a tragic character,
hopelessly in love with Marius. She sings one of the most famous numbers
in the show, "On My Own," and should therefore be an excellent singer
with a contemporary edge to her voice and an excellent actress.
|
|
FACTORY GIRL (GIRLS) |
The Shop Girl who fights with Fantine. She is
mean, catty, and selfish. She also is most likely having an affair with
the Foreman and jealous of Fantine.
|
|
FANTINE |
Fantine is the beautiful young girl who, abandoned
by her lover, is left to fend for herself and her daughter Cosette. She
is rejected by society and forced through circumstances to become a
prostitute. She is a brave woman defeated by life, sustained by her love
for her daughter and clinging to her dignity. Sick with consumption, we
witness her descent through poverty, hunger, cold, loneliness and
destitution to death. She is a noble character, whose life becomes is a
series of terrible events that rob her of her pride, character, and
ultimately her life.
|
|
FARMER |
The Farmer has solo lines that are a bit difficult
to sing. There may be additional non-singing farmers.
|
|
FAUCHELEVANT |
is the victim of the cart crash. The role requires
a few solo lines and some painful yelps.
|
|
FEUILLY |
Member of the ABC Society. A worker, self-educated
and an orphan. A believer in "nationality." Affectionate, warm and
poetic.
|
|
FOREMAN |
The Foreman begins Fantine on her downward spiral
of desperation. He should be virile, commanding and a bit sleazy around
the edges.
|
|
GAVROCHE |
Gavroche is Thenardier's son. He is left to fend
for himself and lives by his wits in the streets of Paris. His "arch
enemy" is Javert the Policeman. He is brave and witty. Think a young
Artful Dodger. Gavroche has a very dramatic death at the barricade.
|
|
GAVROCHE'S GANG |
Paris at this time would be full of orphans (due
to years of wars and revolutions).
|
|
GRANTAIRE |
Member of the ABC Society. A student. He is the
opposite of Enjolars. He believes in nothing. Although he admires
Enjolras, he loves to mock him. Witty and drunken, he is happy being
with the group and the put up with him because of his good humor. He
also keeps a watchful eye on Gavoche, the mascot of the group, and is
most heartbroken when Gavroche is killed. So much so that Grantaire
abandons his cynicism and rushes to die on the barricade.
|
|
IMPOSTER JEAN VALJEAN AND FAMILY |
These characters are also non-singing. This is the
man who Javert believes to be Jean Valjean.
|
|
JAVERT |
is the inspector who serves as antagonist to Jean
Valjean. Javert is unswerving in his belief that men cannot change for
the good. "Once a thief, always a thief" is his mantra. At first glance
Javert might appear to be the villain of the story, but on closer
examination it is clear that he is not an evil man. He is aware that in
society some people achieve control through evil and others through
power of the law. He is a dedicated policeman, with a profound sense of
duty. Unlike Valjean he cannot change. His attitudes are rigid and
unmoveable. He is stern, forbidding and lacking in compassion. Javert
should be an actor who can convincingly stand up to Jean Valjean.
|
|
JEAN VALJEAN |
is the hero of the show. It is his life journey
that we follow. Jean Valjean is supposed to be stronger than other men,
and so physically should appear robust. He should resaonably carry
himself as mature and paternal. Valjean's ability to change is his
greatest asset. the key to his character is his great humanity and
compassion. Jean Valjean is a vocally demanding role.
|
|
JOLY |
Member of the ABC Society. A medical student.
Eccentric and light-hearted, although sometimes morbid. His name is
derived from the English word "Jolly."
|
|
JUDGE |
The Judge or Judges are non-singing roles.
|
|
LABOURERS |
The Laborer has solo lines that are a bit
difficult to sing. There may be additional non-singing laborers.
|
|
LESGLES |
Member of the ABC Society. A student. Cheerful.
laughing at life but unlucky. His close friend is Joly.
|
|
MADAME THÉNARDIER |
She is the wife of Thenardier, Madame Thenardier
is as "one" with Thenardier. Together they con the world as partners in
crime. They were made for each other, although she complains about him,
she loves him deeply. She is coarse and vulgar, unhappy in her existence
without knowing why. She is romantic, greedy, stupid, evil and larger
than life. She is mean and nasty to Young Cosette and able to improvise
in nearly any situation.
|
|
MARIUS |
is the handsome romantic hero of the story. He is
impulsive, passionate, willful and headstrong. His moods change
according to his circumstances. He is sweet and tender but also capable
of great courage and compassion. In Act 1 Marius plays Romeo to
Cosette's Juliet. Marius matures after the Cafe Song as a result of his
experiences on the barricade. Marius should have a lovely, lyrical voice
with a contemporary edge.
|
|
MONTPARNASSE |
Member of Thenardier's gang of thieves. A
teenager. Handsome and dangerous. Kills with a knife. He is well
dressed, strongly built and supple.
|
|
OLD WOMAN |
The Old Woman is a nice feature part. This is the
character that purchases Fantine's hair.
|
|
PIMP |
The Pimp controls the prostitutes at the docks. he
is mean, aggressive and abusive. The Pimp has a small solo line in The
Docks.
|
|
PROUVAIRE |
Member of the ABC Society. A student of social
studies. He is kind, softly spoken and at the right moments strong and
masterful. He is also a poet.
|
|
SAILORS |
three sailors begin The Docks scene. All three
have solos.
|
|
THÉNARDIER |
is the true villain of Les Miserables. He is
embodiment of evil. That said, he should also possess a wicked sense of
humor. He delights in cheating, robbing, fraud and blackmail, relishing
every aspect of them with glee. He is tough, greedy, brutal, stupid and
creafty and yet irresistable. He hates society and blames it and
everyone else for all his misfortune. thenardier is also the opportunist
and realist of the show. He is a thief, a liar, a cheat, steals
valuables from the dead with no remorse. He is also the comic relief of
the production. However, his comedy is based in reality and shouldn't be
too exaggerated. He is married to Madame Thenardier and father to
Eponine and Gavroche (although he has abandoned Gavroche to the streets
of Paris.)
|
|
YOUNG COSETTE |
is the child of Fantine. She is the ward of the
Thenardiers forced into child labor and sings "Castle On A Cloud." She
is a trembling little creature, underfed, beaten by Madame Thenardier
and bullied by Eponine. make sure Cosette is small and looks properly
pathetic and yet warms the audience's heart who should be sympathetic to
her plight.
|
|
YOUNG EPONINE |
Little Eponine is the pampered daughter of the
Thenardiers. She does little except enter the stage and taunt Little
Cosette. The role requires no singing or speaking. She should be a
smaller version of grown Eponine and resemble Eponine in appearance and
features.
Non-singing
|
