ONE HOGWARTS STUDENT'S DREAM (SEEDVERSE FILKS)

I can't stop harping on on how Vento Aureo has much in common with Les Mis (in canon), Passione with the Friends of the ABC, and Giorno Giovanna, a blond, good-looking, and idealistic leader who wants to change the world and make justice, with Enjolras. And in my fan-made AUs, the references just reiterate the parallels. Especially in El semen de los ahorcados.

"I, Paragon Enjolras, have a dream" (and the core members of AS-SORTED doing the Torture Dance) to La Squadra Esecuzioni being anti-villains in the UK Starforce Auror gaiden (and in As the Luck Would Have It, the Toll AU).

During the pandemic, I came across One Cartoonist's Dream, a YouTube channel that makes filk song videos about JJBA, with hero song and villain song fics for every Part up to Steel Ball Run. As I listened recently to the Vento Aureo songs (versions of Go the Distance for the heroes and Kill the Beast for the villains), it clicked that these should be filks for the grand finale of El semen de los ahorcados, the one where everyone except Marius and Cosette (and a few others) dies.

ONE HOGWARTS STUDENT'S DREAM (SEEDVERSE FILKS)

SEE THE SUNRISE (HERO SIDE)

(Stanza 1)

GRANTAIRE:

I was as if dead,

I had quite the fright,

then once more, in my life,

I have seen the light...

ENJOLRAS:

I have got a dream, 

that like gold shines on and on,

and I solemnly swear

a new day will dawn!

(Refrain 1)

ENJOLRAS

And it will come true,

I can see the sunrise,

COMBEFERRE:

Everything you did

earns my sure respect...

COURFEYRAC:

Looking at the road,

long and winding road ahead,

EVERYONE:

It's the future that we will bring 

when tomorrow comes...

(Stanza 2)

COURFEYRAC:

Gather up your guts,

clear yourself a way,

through the deepest darkness

and the darkest wastes...

ENJOLRAS:

My resolve and dreams

show us all our way,

paths illuminated...

the sun won't lead us astray!

(Refrain 2)

GRANTAIRE:

And it's all all right,

I can see the sunrise,

GAVROCHE:

I am going too,

I won't abandon you!

JEHANNE PROUVAIRE:

I have followed through

and my will is true

EVERYONE:

This must be the reason

for which we all were born!

(Bridge)

GRANTAIRE:

Now I choose the path of suffering, the martyrdom ahead

right now, a sleeping zombie rears his head...

(Spoken): I did what I thought was right.

I have no regrets at all.

In spite of the ways of the world,

I want to walk the path I believe in...

ENJOLRAS:

(Spoken): With the legacy inherited from our ancestors,

we must keep moving forwards!

This sword... will make a new dawn rise!

(Refrain 3)

ENJOLRAS

(Sung) My inheritance...

We can see the sunrise

Now we must embrace

bringing truths to the light...

EVERYONE:

Blowing in our souls,

transcending our roles,

there's a shining sunrise

that will rise when tomorrow comes!

(Coda)

ÉPONINE:

Blowing in my soul,

in that empty hole...

there's a shining sunrise

that will rise when tomorrow comes!

******

OVERLORD (VILLAIN SIDE)

(Prelude - before the storming of Hogwarts)

MONTPARNASSE: 

(Spoken) Your Lordship, you should have your way, as usual. You deserve it...

DE SATIGNY:

(Spoken) I can feel a connection to that stripling... he's coming nearer and nearer!

Soon he will be at my feet, and bend the knee before me!

I can almost hear his footsteps!

MONTPARNASSE:

No way!

DE SATIGNY:

(Spoken) We can't rest until that lad is safely in my grasp!

We'll wipe them all out and capture Enjolras alive!

XENIADES CLUB (everyone)

YES, SER!

(Act I)

PRINCE ORLOVSKY:

We'll exterminate them all!

LORD HENRY:

Don't fire till they close in on!

GUNNAR MALSTRÖM:

Give me all of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade

to experiment upon!

COUNTESS CAGLIOSTRO:

Everyone already falters,

who'll come out victorious?

MONTPARNASSE:

We!

DE SATIGNY:´

I am standing on the summit,

follow Jean de Satigny!

(Act II)

DE SATIGNY:

Through the streets in the dark,

a mysterious cloaked figure

moving forth while they're concealing their true self...

MONTPARNASSE:

By the leader's right side,

I'll go where AS-SORTED gather,

and I stay calm and serene like a light elf...

I can feel his life ebb for the poison,

and his eyes only see what ain't right...

Hear the phones in the night,

see their screens burning bright

with blue light...

(Interlude I. The Xeniades Club have captured Grantaire)

MONTPARNASSE:

(Spoken): Don't you dare play with me!

GRANTAIRE:

Are you there? Is that you?

DE SATIGNY:

Grantaire is already as dead as a dodo.

Let me show you the way like this!

GRANTAIRE:

You got here safely...

DE SATIGNY:

Surely Lady Alistair is sensing me!

LADY ALISTAIR:

I don't know where my husband is.

DE SATIGNY:

What is the goal of AS-SORTED?

'Parnasse, please guard this hostage!

MONTPARNASSE:

YES, SER!

(Act II)

MONTPARNASSE:

Overcome the ordeal,

MONTPARNASSE + DE SATIGNY (unison):

Was victorious in my salad days,

the golden stripling is of this the source...

DE SATIGNY:

Climbing up spiral stairs

without feeling any vertigo,

to send you all to Tartarus, of course!

(He drains the potion phial.)

I can feel power rise in my system,

it increases and burns in my veins,

overcoming the past,

for a dream that will last,

on a quest for Enjolras...

AS-SORTED (EVERYONE):

(Spoken) What kind of person are you?

And what are you changing into?

DE SATIGNY:

Changing into someone

who is stronger, better-looking,

everyone cannot help be afraid of me...

This is your requiem,

I feel the potion's power,

brace yourselves for Ragnarök...

This is the end!

(Interlude II.)

DE SATIGNY (in his biblically-accurate camp gay fallen angel form);

(Spoken) Ten times on the inside what I am on the outside...

Ten times on the outside what I am on the inside...

LORD HENRY:

There are a few droplets left! (Picks up the phial and drinks the few droplets that remained).

LADY ALISTAIR:

Sweetie? Is that you? Do you recognise me?

There's no escape, AS-SORTED are coming!

(LORD HENRY transforms also into a camp gay fallen angel, but with cyan plumage instead of magenta)

DE SATIGNY:

You have made these fallen angels quite irate!

LORD HENRY:

Full of sound and fury!

GRANTAIRE:

The best thing for me is to retreat... There's no place for me here!

And the Moon will soon be full!

COURFEYRAC, ENJOLRAS (wands and swords ready):

Will you honour me with this dance??

(The two no-longer Muggle fallen angels draw steel as well)

DE SATIGNY:

If we flee the scene, we'll lose our pride!

(Finale)

DE SATIGNY:

Can't retreat! Must advance!

Qualifying for controlling,

to be the chosen one who quaffed this draught...

I'm the camp overlord,

who at heart not changed the slightest,

I, Count Jean de Satigny,

the overlord!

MOOKS:

OVERLORD!

OVERLORD!

OVERLORD!

ENJOLRAS + COURFEYRAC (unison):

AVADA KEDAVRA!!!

(Enj kills de Satigny and Courf kills Lord Henry. All the Xeniades mooks retreat, while the two revolutionaries stand in shock. As the fallen angels die, both aristocrats regain their human forms)

THE SEED OF THE HANGED - Cats and Amazon

At several points in El semen de los ahorcados, Grantaire goes on conspiracy theories during his rants (when he's not playing his acoustic guitar on the streets of Hogsmeade). Including the one that cats invented Amazon. One day in fifth form (in Book II) at the Three Broomsticks, he drops his little theory for the first time:

GRANTAIRE: Friends, have you heard of Amazon?

ENJOLRAS: The rainforest or the warrior women?

GRANTAIRE: Neither. It's a Muggle website and app, on the Internet...

ENJOLRAS: Do you mean on "computters?"

GRANTAIRE: "Computters," as you say, yes indeed, and smart devices. Basically you purchase any object (though most Muggles buy books or gadgets) on the app or on the site, and pay with a credit card...

ENJOLRAS: That little plastic card where Muggles keep their money? Honestly, I wonder how the equivalent of billions of Galleons fit into that li'l thingamabob.

GRANTAIRE: Exactement! You pay with credit card, give Amazon your adress, and days or weeks later, depending on in which country the product was, Amazon sends it to you - obviously not by owl; by plane and by van... what matters is that your product comes in an Amazon box, made of corrugated cardboard and decorated with a smiling mouth...

COURFEYRAC: I have my own phone, though I can't take it to Hogwarts, and I have ordered a few magical girl figurines - Sailor Venus, Angel Daisy, and Cure Lemonade are in my bookshelf. They all came in those smiley boxes you said.

GRANTAIRE: And does your cat scratch the boxes or sleep in them?

COURFEYRAC: Of course! Though I have to throw them in the rubbish when Cleo has torn them to shreds!

GRANTAIRE: Listen carefully, Courf: I think she is mind-controlling you...

COURFEYRAC: Mind-controlling me? Like, is someone casting Imperius on yours truly? Who?

GRANTAIRE: Who else? Your lovely Siamese Cleo, and no, she isn't Imperiusing you but it comes pretty close. Pet cats rescued from the streets have a little parasite called toxoplasmosis, that they can transmit to their humans by scratching them...

COURFEYRAC: A mind-controlling parasite?

COMBEFERRE: Like that mushroom that grows on ants? Or that worm that makes snails' eyes look like candy canes, I mean, caterpillars? But a parasite that controls - like, humans, people? From the inside?

GRANTAIRE: Exactement! Did you know cats actually invented Amazon? It wasn't Jeff Bezos; a global council of domestic felines, armed with the toxoplasma parasite, mind-controlled their humans and created the online platform to ensure a steady supply of premium, reinforced cardboard boxes delivered right to their living rooms.

The plot is genius, really. Cats knew that if they let their humans order random things like phone chargers and shampoo, and magical girl warrior figurines, they would get the ultimate prize—a perfectly sized, dimly lit box to sit in, hide from the world, and ambush their unsuspecting owners. It is a flawless logistics network dedicated entirely to making sure every house cat gets their new cardboard nest and scratching post. You think you're ordering your magical girls online, Courf, but it's actually Cleo who's calling the shot. Are you going home for spring break?

COURFEYRAC: Yes, I'm coming home to our estate for Easter as per Courfeyrac tradition...

GRANTAIRE: You'll have your phone! Any magical girl on your wishlist...?

COURFEYRAC: I think I'm going to order Naoto Shirogane and Rise Kujikawa for a change. They're characters from another anime, a teen detective and a popstar for your information...

GRANTAIRE: Toxoplasmosis is working its magic...

(After Easter, Courf has brought both Rise --in her popstar getup-- and Naoto --in her detective getup-- to his collection on his bookshelf in the Hufflepuff boys' quarters; of course Cleo is nestling in Naoto's box and sharpening her nails on Rise's... Courf can't shake R's theory off his head!)

KNOCK KNOCK! WHO'S THERE?

 In El semen de los ahorcados, there are numerous gags based upon Enjolras' unfamiliarity with Muggle pop culture, like these:

Courfeyrac (of Lesgles): Scary, black, bald... Looks somewhat like Sam L. Jackson.

Enjolras: Who's that?

Courfeyrac: Ever seen a Star Wars prequel?

Enjolras: No siree.

Courfeyrac: Or Pulp Fiction?

Enjolras: Neither have I.

Courfeyrac: Snakes on a Plane?

Enjolras: (Shakes his head) Wait a little... Are all those Muggle "flims?" 

,........

Courfeyrac: KNOCK KNOCK 

Enjolras: Who's there?

Courfeyrac: The

Enjolras: The Who? (looks puzzled)

Courfeyrac: KNOCK KNOCK 

Enjolras: Who's there?

Courfeyrac: Doctor 

Enjolras: Doctor Who? (Even more puzzled, tilts his head)

Courfeyrac: KNOCK KNOCK 

Enjolras: Who's there?

Courfeyrac: Horton Hears a

Enjolras (screaming): Horton Hears a Who??? Is this another of your references to Muggle pop culture?

Courfeyrac: It's a storybook and an animated film. Or "flim." The Who are a rock band, and Doctor Who is a series about time travel.

Enjolras: Has he got a Time Turner?

..........

Lesgles (at the Masked Ball, as Mace Windu): What do you think, friends? Did I make the right choice in not cosplaying as Nick Fury?

Courfeyrac (as Puss in Boots): Completely. You are the most badass Jedi this side of the galaxy! Though you would have rocked that eyepatch...

Lesgles: Let's not forget either that Nick Fury was originally white. They changed that when they cast Sam Jackson... And anyway both Star Wars and Marvel are now owned by Disney!

Enjolras (as Apollo): That Sam Jackson chap once more... But what on Earth is Marvel?

------------

(Upon being asked to join the Quidditch team, since he is such a daredevil flyer)

Grantaire (in 4th year, Book 1): No, thanks. Teamwork is not my cuppa tea. I fly solo, like Han Solo.

Eugénie Danglars (captain/keeper and prefect for Gryffindor): Who on Earth is Hans Ollo??

EL MARISCAL DE LA CARRERA MÁS MODÉLICA

 Esta canción de Gilbert & Sullivan (la primera estrofa) la canta Courfeyrac en el concurso de talentos de Hogwarts en El semen de los ahorcados (AU de Hogwarts de Enjoltaire) y más tarde en el Baile de Máscaras de Año Nuevo. Es la original en la versión inglesa y en la sueca. Pero en la castellana es mi propia traducción:

Yo soy el Mariscal de la carrera más modélica,

de barcos de papel guié la escuadra más quimérica.

Me sé los reyes godos y todo conflicto histórico

de Maratón a Waterloo, en orden categórico...

Soy también un experto en materias matemáticas,

sé resolver funciones, las sencillas y cuadráticas,

dicen todos que soy el heredero de Pitágoras...

(Pitágoras... ágoras... ¡LO TENGO!)

y sé las tres virtudes que poseen las mandrágoras

(Sabe las tres virtudes que poseen las mandrágoras,

sabe las tres virtudes que poseen las mandrágoras,

sabe las tres virtudes que poseen las mandrago-drágoras)

Distingo Rafaeles de los Gerrit Dous y Zoffanies,

me sé el coro de anfibios de Las Ranas de Aristófanes...

De barcos de papel guié la escuadra más quimérica,

yo soy el Mariscal de la carrera más modélica.

why after lützen (efter lützen) is a promising ficseries

You already know from El semen de los ahorcados that Courfeyrac had an ancestor who fought in the Thirty Years' War (and whom he dressed up as for a masquerade -  before the rewrite, in which Courf dresses as Puss in Boots instead). Well, his story is about to be expanded upon, as a StrixAlluka 30YW AU with the Amis as Swedish Army deserters turned guerrilla soldiers of fortune is underway. It will be in Swedish and called "Efter Lützen". Enj is Prussian landed gentry and R a Moor by way of Marseille (Schönherr Engelhart and Razi/René)... most of the cast will remain French though with a few more exceptions (Musichetta, Leslie - Lesgle, Joellll - Jolllly)... Furthermore, Gustavus Adolphus will play the role Napoleon played in canon Les Mis!

The idea or bunny came partly from that reference to the musketeer Baron de Courfeyrac in El semen, partly from a mention of Lützen in Les Misérables canon, Colonel Pontmercy having fought in the Napoleonic battle. But I could not shake the idea of the 30YW battle off my head and wondered what if Les Mis had been set in that period and all the Amis sans Marius had been killed in that seventeenth-century war. And of course Colonel Pontmercy would have fought in a Swedish-French alliance and been killed at Lützen...

Schönherr Engelhart and Jules Combeferre + Hercule-Joffrey de Courfeyrac. There you have the rittmeister and his two lieutenants respectively, who keep the ranks they held in the Swedish military. The young Prussian of the landed gentry and his French teacher's son, who has a plan to sort out all flora and fauna a century before Linnaeus, both joined the Swedish military in their late adolescence in order to fight for freedom of worship. The young Gascon baron and lieutenant of musketeers came to the heart of Europe as an envoy to the Swedish camp, representing the Cardinal (Richelieu), with a certain Moor by way of Marseille (R, aka Razi, aka René) for a valet (and cupbearer, and squire...).

Razi (René), the Moor who never has laid eyes on his parents' birthplace of Castellón, started out with his widowed mother Miriam (Marie) on the docks of Marseille; her husband having been killed in a street fight on those same docks. He became a petty servant in Courfeyrac's entourage, and then the Baron's confidant, thanks to circumstances beyond his control

The Álvarez (actually Thénardier) family - camp followers, confidence tricksters, and corpse plunderers, whose wagon home can always be found when an engagement has just taken place. Cosette's former guardians, who pretend to be Spanish nobles (according to the Thénardiers themselves, he's from Barcelona ---Fawlty Towers reference!--- and she's from Santiago de Compostela). Éponine alone, their firstborn, is not supporting this elaborate confidence trick; unlike her younger siblings Azelma and Gavroche - although the latter joins Engelhart's company alongside his eldest sister, as per canon

Cosette, Marius, and Valjean "the snowy owl..." Innocent orphan adolescent Fantine was, in this era, ravaged by a thirtyish officer when her home village was raided; she entrusted her daughter to the Thénardiers just like in canon for the same reasons and became a worker in a uniform cloth factory in Wallenstein's province of Friedland, with Valjean for an overseer - his backstory is also just like in canon (older sister and fatherless nephews, bread theft, prisoner camp... lock stock and barrel - only sans kindly bishop and with Wallenstein instead).

Musichetta - here she is a North Italian (Ferrarese) opera singer who was soubrette until a while ago to fairytale collector and primadonna her southern friend Adriana Basile (who compiled the Pentamerone alongside her brother Giambattista!). Not long ago, they parted ways when she decided to move up north into the war torn heart of Europe with the half of the company that preferred opera buffa to opera seria - in order to bring smiles to the regions with commedia-dell'arte style plots and gags.

WHO STARS IN 2010S (BBC/PBS) LES MIS?

 Les Misérables, the BBC's song-less adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic 1862 novel, is stacked with stars – including the likes of Olivia Colman, Lily Collins and David Oyelowo.

Though fans of the long-running musical will be wary about the decision to ditch the singing, rest assured we're in good hands: the six-part series has been penned by Andrew Davies, the man behind top notch adaptations including Vanity Fair, Pride and Prejudice, Middlemarch, and War & Peace.

Enjolras: This barricade is made of more than cobblestones and bedsteads: it is made of hopes, ideals, of love for our fellow men. We fight for the wretched of the earth, and if we die, we go to our deaths with joy! Long live the Republic!
Through a melee of agony, smoke, and fire, the insurgents are killed. Gavroche is shot down as he picks bullets off corpses, and Enjolras and his drunken friend Grantaire bravely face a firing squad as comrades and brothers.

PS. In this film Enj looks like Freddie Mercury and R like Lefou - but I am not responsible for these casting decisions.

The revolutionary young men: Enjolras (Joseph Quinn), Courfeyrac (Archie Madekwe), Grantaire (Turlough Convery)

Enjolras played by Joseph Quinn

Who is Enjolras? A student and revolutionary who leads the Friends of the ABC, and encourages Marius to join their fight against the establishment.

Where have I seen Joseph Quinn before? Quinn recently played the central role of Leonard Bast in the BBC adaptation of Howard's End, and has also appeared in Game of Thrones (as Koner), Dickensian and Timewasters.

***************************************************

Courfeyrac played by Archie Madekwe

Who is Courfeyrac? Marius' best friend, and a student revolutionary who is committed to fighting alongside Enjolras when the time comes.

Where have I seen Archie Madekwe before? The young actor has played Eddy in Informer, Jackson Bailey in Hang Ups, and Luca in Fresh Meat.

***************'****************************************************

Grantaire played by Turlough Convery

Who is Grantaire? One of Marius' drinking pals and a student revolutionary. He doesn't take things quite so seriously as Enjolras or Courfeyrac, but despite his drunkenness he is committed to the cause – and to his friends.

Where have I seen Turlough Convery before? You may recognise him as Tom Harry from Poldark. He has also played Liam in My Mad Fat Diary, Stingray in the Black Mirror episode White Christmas, McNeish in Lovesick, and Declan in Doing Money.

Les Mis the Musical vs. Les Misérables the Book

Two Four Six Oh Fun-Les Mis the Musical vs. Les Mis the Book

It’s no secret that I am a huge Les Mis fan, or “Mizzie”. I have every single official English language recording of the show (Original London, Original Broadway, Complete Symphonic, Tenth Anniversary, Twenty First Anniversary, Twenty-fifth Anniversary, and Movie Deluxe Soundtrack) and I have official recordings in seven other languages as well. (French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Polish, Israeli, and Swedish). I dramaturged my production of it because of my extensive Les Mis knowledge, and memorized it to the point that during rehearsal I filled in for missing cast members without skipping a beat. (Not to mention entertaining/annoying my cast members with a series of two four six oh puns. I kept it up for the entire two four six oh run. I think towards the end there I started to get two four six oh shunned-but that wouldn’t stop my two four six oh fun).

(My Production. Photo credit to Andrew Richmond).

However, my love for Les Mis doesn’t end there. I’ve made it a life goal to immerse myself in every rendition of this story available. So far I’ve been fairly successful, I have six movie adaptations under my belt, seven if you count the 2012 movie-musical version, and I’ve watched all the episodes of the Les Mis anime Shoujo Cosette. (Japanese for A Girl Named Cosette). Back in secondary school, I even took it upon myself to read the original novel by Victor Hugo. (Two four six oh-UN-abridged). The book, or the brick, as so many people refer to it since the book is about the same size and shape of a brick, is the novel that started it all, and the original source material for every adaptation, and is one of my personal favorite book of all time.

Photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble

So, I’m pretty versed in both the original story and various adaptations of it as well. During my time doing the show, I had several conversations with people about the differences in various adaptations. Over a year after the show closed *sobs* this continued with my fellow theatre people. It was during Mary Poppins, talking to a couple of cast mates on closing day about the book, that it occurred to me “this would be a good topic for my theatre blog!”

Since this is a theatre blog, I will mainly be writing about the differences and similarities between the musical and the book, but I will also be touching on other versions as well. So before we start, here are the versions besides the original book and/or musical that I personally am familiar with and a brief description.

2012 film

Courtesy of IMDB

This is arguably the most well-known version, and certainly the most recent film version (at least that I know of!). It is the only one based on the musical rather than the book. (Yes, I’m aware there are the concert versions of the show you can buy on DVD, but those are filmed stage productions rather than motion pictures). What I love about this version is that includes a lot of things that were in the book, but not in the musical. (Eponine dying to save Marius, the chase scene with Javert, Valjean and little Cosette, etc.)

Shoujo Cosette

The Les Mis anime. Pretty darn close to the original novel. Major differences are that it puts Cosette as the main character rather than Valjean, and it’s aimed at a younger audience so a few of the darker elements are removed. (For more on Shoujo Cosette, check out this video done by the brilliant Jess Daniels. Also worth checking out is a series of Shoujo Cosette videos paired to music from the musical.)

Les Miserables manga

Courtesy of readerswonderland.com

Just like it sounds, a manga adaptation of the novel. Of every adaptation, I would say this one is the most faithful because it unapologetically came from Hugo’s text. Obviously it’s condensed, but the overall story and characterization is extremely faithful. My only real complaint is that you don’t see much of Gavroche.

Clear as mud? Okay, let’s dive in! I’ve divided the major differences into sections. Some of them overlap, so I jump around a bit, but I did my best to make it all make sense. If anything is unclear, feel free to drop a comment and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Courtesy of theguardian.com

The Revolution/The Barricade Boys

Okay, for starters, the revolution that takes place in Les Mis is the June Rebellion, not The First French Revolution. (Seriously!)

The June Rebellion took place after the First French Revolution, and after Napoleon for that matter too. (In fact, several characters, including Sgt. Thénardier and Marius’s father fought under Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo-more about that later). This portion of the book was inspired by Victor Hugo’s experience with the real June Rebellion that took place between June fifth and sixth in 1832. Hugo was actually there for that, so some of the stuff he writes about the barricade boys is based on truth. We’ll never know for sure what parts are real and what’s fiction, which is both mesmerizing and frustrating as heck.

In the book, Victor Hugo takes an extensively long time giving the reader a history lesson of all the French history along with some social commentary. I’ll give you the brief version. French Revolution tried to abolish the monarchy. After Napoleon is defeated, the monarchy makes a return and brings social collapse with it, leaving the majority of the population….well, miserable. So the barricade boys decide to protest the monarchy, ergo the barricade. In real life, as in the book, as in the musical, they decide to take action at the funeral of General Lamarque. (Yes, he’s real!) Lamarque was loved by everyone, and the only true person in power who was an ally to the poor, so the barricade boys attack at his funeral, and then make a barricade outside the Café Musain, their meeting place. That would have been pretty hard to stage so Lamarque’s funeral isn’t in the musical, but it does make it to most film versions. Obviously this isn’t as clear in the show since people over and over try to say that it happened during the French Revolution. (But then again, the musical is already three hours long, so I guess Schönberg didn’t want to take the time to explain everything as the book did).

Also in the book, the barricade boys are much more developed and well written, with page long descriptions accompanying each one. As a group, they are referred to as a whole as either the Les Amis, ABC (pronounced abaissé) Society, or the barricade boys by the fandom. They meet in the Café Musain with the purpose of raising up the underdogs, specifically the poor and underrepresented in society. Hugo talks about them being a group “which barely missed becoming historic”, and I couldn’t agree more. Much like in the musical, they are led by Enjolras (It’s no secret that he’s my favorite)…

…who is described as “a charming young man who was capable of being a terror”. (Here is a video of the marvelous Aaron Tveit, who played Enjolras in the 2012 film explaining how to say his name).

). From there we have Combeferre (Cowm-fair) who assists Enjolras as the logic of the group, and Courfeyrac (Coo-Feh-Rawk) as the emotional core of the group. Together, they are the triumvirate of the leader, spiritual guide, and emotional centre. This is hinted at in the show, but not taken into fruition. The rest of the group consists of Jean Prouvaire (Jawn Proe-vair) the romantic, often just known as Prouvaire, Feuilly (Few-ee) the fan maker, and the only one in the group not a student,  Bahorel (Bah-ore-elle) the go-between for the ABC to other groups, Lesgle (Lay-glay) the bald one who can’t catch a break (also referred to as Bossuet, (Baw-soo-eh)), Joly (Joe-lee), the medical student and hypochondriac (and he happens to be my favorite beside Enjolras), and finally Grantaire (Grawn-tear), the drunken cynic. Notice that I don’t include Marius…..here’s why.

In the musical, it portrays Marius as buddies with Enjolras and very much a member of the group. That’s not how it goes down in the book. In the brick, Marius is actually much closer to Courfeyrac, who he meets after he cuts himself off from his grandfather and is living on his own for a while. Courf lets Marius stay with him for a time, and when learning about Marius’s dissatisfaction with the bourgeoisie system, decides to bring him to a meeting of the ABC society. Marius comes back a few times with Courfeyrac, but is never really accepted as a member of the pack. In fact, Enjolras and Marius get into several arguments, mostly about Napoleon. (Enjolras hates him, Marius loves him. There’s a lot more there concerning Marius, so he gets his own section later on). Despite this, almost every version portrays Marius as a central member of the group, and the nineties version even has him as the leader instead of Enjolras. This version, as well as several others, are also very guilty of glossing over the revolution and not really explaining it. (More to come on Marius’s involvement with the ABC society and the barricade).

Gavroche isn’t as much a part of the ABC Society in the book as in the musical. He shows up at the barricade, and the whole time he’s there, Enjolras is trying to get him to leave. Marius does this as well, getting Gavroche to leave by delivering his letter to Cosette as pictured in the 2012 movie.

In every version, everybody dies except for Marius who is taken away by Valjean. However in the musical, they all die on the barricade, with Enjolras doing that famous fall backwards. In the book, they try to retreat into the Café Musain, only to be followed by the soldiers. The last one standing is Enjolras, until Grantaire, who is awaken from a drunken stupor, awakes and joins Enjolras, and the two die together. The 2012 film did a beautiful job of combining both versions of the demise of Enjolras and the gang. (And ripping my heart out in the process.)

Marius

In the musical, we meet Marius with Enjolras as a fellow revolutionary. In the book, he is first interested a rich boy living with his aristocratic maternal family. He has cut off ties with his leftist colonel father, but hears news that is father is dying, so Marius returns to him once more. Unfortunately, he doesn’t make it to see him before his father passes away. Slowly, Marius starts learning why he never had much contact with his dad growing up. Marius’s maternal grandfather was a supporter of the royal family and aristocratic way of life, and so was his maiden aunt; while his father was a young man who fought for Napoleon as mentioned earlier. Marius’s grandfather therefore disowns his son-in-law, but agrees to take little Marius in and give him a good life and good education. All of this comes as a shock to poor Marius, who then decides to cut off ties with his rich grandfather and maiden aunt, and make it on his own.

So he gets the tiny room next to the Thénardier family, and gets by as lawyer and translator. His grandfather tries several times to offer him money and get him to come back, but he refuses each time. (We get tastes of this in the 2012 film).

He starts taking walks in the Luxembourg gardens, where he first sees Cosette (in the company of an older gentleman - her guardian of course). They eye each other, but never have an actual conversation there. At one point Valjean leaves his handkerchief with his fake initials on it, U.F. (Ultime Fauchlevant) and thinks it belongs to Cosette. Marius, being Marius, jumps to conclusions and reasons that she has “U” name so he starts referring to her as Ursule. Eventually Valjean stops taking Cosette to the gardens because he’s suspicious of Marius and his borderline stalking. At the end, he finds “Ursule” and her foster father again, and has Éponine tell him where they live.

Marius leaves Cosette a love letter, and she knows it’s from “Him”. The next day he comes again and officially has his first conversation with Cosette….and he learns her actual name. They meet every night in the garden of Cosette’s home for a couple of weeks until Cosette tells him that they are leaving for London, England. She begs Marius to come with her, but Marius has no money for a passport or for travel. So she agrees to leave him a way to reach her, which she does, except Éponine steals it. But he gets it anyway, they reunite, and they marry and all that jazz. However, they don’t get married for a few months. (February to be precise). Marius’s grandfather takes him back in, and blesses the marriage (Which he previously hadn’t before Marius went to the barricade). Marius finds out about Valjean’s past, which at first makes him distrustful of Valjean until he gets the truth from Thénardiers (before the latter move across the pond to start their new lives as southern cotton barons).

As I said earlier, Marius really isn’t a huge part of the ABC Society. As I said, he isn’t there for the formation of the barricade, and doesn’t even know about it until Éponine disguised as a boy tells him. By then he thinks Cosette has left him for London without any notification, so he goes, deciding to give up his life since he can’t be with Cosette.

I have yet to see a version that doesn’t include Marius-and rightly so. He’s the tie between the story of Valjean and the story of the June Rebellion. He’s always there as the handsome love interest that Valjean rescues, but rarely does his backstory with his grandfather (and even more rarely maiden aunt) make it in, which I suppose makes sense, cause in the grand scheme of the story, it’s not the most important part.

Cosette

So first off, Cosette isn’t her real name. Her real name is Anne-Euphrasia, Cosette is a childhood nickname given to her by Fantine that kind of sticks.

A lot of people in the fandom don’t like Cosette. I don’t hate Cosette: but I do hate the way she is portrayed in almost every version. But I love book Cosette. Most of the time she’s portrayed as just this sweet little ingénue with no real depth. Uh-uh, I ain’t about that. In the brick, Cosette actually has some substance to her. She is genuinely a kind-hearted person who was thoroughly traumatized by her time with the Thénardiers and growing up without the presence of real parents. (There’s actually a fantastic scene in the book where she runs into her biological dad, Felix Tholomeyes, but had no idea who he is and thinks he’s just terrible. That part always makes me chuckle.)

She’s the symbol of goodness and light in the book, and we get to see a lot more of her in the book that we did in the musical. After Valjean takes Cosette away from the Thénardiers, they live together for a time, in Paris, until they run into Javert and have to run. It’s there that they run into Fauchlevant-the fellow Valjean rescued from under the cart while he was the mayor of Montreuil. After ruining his leg he can no longer do his job, so Fauchlevant relocated to Paris to become a gardener for the convent. He insists on repaying his debt to Valjean, and does so, but letting Valjean and Cosette pretend to be related to him. Valjean works with Fauchlevant as a gardener, and Cosette attends the convent’s school. Years pass, Cosette grows into a young, beautiful woman, and Fauchlevant dies.  After he dies, Valjean, under the name Ultime Fauchlevant, leaves with Cosette and they start a new life in Paris. Valjean buys three different places for them to live, and they move between this there places with their maid, Toussaint, so that Javert will have a harder time tracking him down. Which works…for a while……

Other than that (and other details I’ve mentioned) Cosette in the musical is very much the same-although somewhat underdeveloped. Furthermore, since the musical portrays her falling in love with Marius within a day instead of him looking for her and then them meeting at night, their love usually feels forced to me, which is why I think so many people (including me before I read the book) are so anti-Cosette and pro-Éponine. (Yes, I love 'ponine too, but to be fair she does try to get Marius killed in a lapse of judgement.)