Les Misérables (musical)
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It is the future that they bring — When tomorrow comes...
Les Misérables (1980, French; 1985, English) is a musical play based on the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, one of the most acclaimed novels of all time. The show was an immediate hit, and went on to became one of the most successful and popular of modern plays in many productions around the world. This page contains a sampling of some of the expressions and dialog that occur within a work which many cherish as the most magnificent adaptation ever made of a very magnificent tale.
[edit] Prologue
- Chain Gang: Look down, look down
Don't look 'em in the eye
Look down, look down,
You're here until you die.
- Javert: Now bring me prisoner 2-4-6-0-1, your time is up and your parole's begun. Do you know what that means?
Valjean: Yes, it means I'm free...
Javert: No. It means you get your yellow ticket of leave, you are a thief!
Valjean: I stole a loaf of bread.
Javert:You robbed a house.
Valjean: I broke a window pane. My sister's child was was close to death, and we were starving!
Javert: You will starve again, unless you learn the meaning of the law!
Valjean: I know the meaning of of those nineteen years, of slave, of the law.
Javert: Five years, for what you did, the rest because you tried to run, yes 2-4-6-0-1
Valjean: My name is Jean, Valjean
Javert: And I am, JAVERT, do not forget my name, do not forget me, 2-4-6-0-1
- Chain Gang: Look down, look down, you'll always be a slave
Look down, look down, you're standing in your grave.
- Labourer: You broke the law
It's there for people to see
Why should you get the same
As honest men like me?
[edit] Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven
- But my friend you left so early
Surely something slipped your mind
You forgot I gave these also
Would you leave the best behind?
- But remember this, my brother
See in this some higher plan
You must use this precious silver
To become an honest man
By the witness of the martyrs
By the Passion and the Blood
God has raised you out of darkness
I have bought your soul for God!
[edit] What Have I Done (Valjean's Soliloquy)
- If there's another way to go
I missed it twenty long years ago
My life was a war that could never be won
They gave me a number and murdered Valjean
When they chained me and left me for dead
Just for stealing a mouthful of bread!
- Yet why did I allow that man
To touch my soul and teach me love?
He treated me like any other
He gave me his trust
He called me brother.
My sould he claims for God above
Can such things be?
For I have come to hate a world
A world which always hated me
- Take an eye for an eye!
Turn your heart into stone!
This is all I have lived for!
This is all I have known!
- He told me that I have a soul,
How does he know?
What spirit comes to move my life?
Is there another way to go?
[edit] At The End of The Day
- At the end of the day you're another day older
And that's all you can say for the life of the poor.
- It's a struggle it's a war and there's nothing that anyone's giving
One more day standing about
What is it for —
One day less to be living
- At the end of the day you're another day colder.
And the shirt on your back doesn't keep out the chill.
And the righteous hurry past, they don't hear the little ones crying
And the winter's coming on fast, ready to kill.
One day less to be living.
- At the end of the day there's another day coming.
And the sun in the morning is waiting to rise.
Like the waves crash on the sand,
like a storm that'll break any second,
there's a hunger in the land,
there's a reckoning still to be reckoned,
and it's us who will have to pay.
At the end of the day.
[edit] I Dreamed A Dream
- There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong
- I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
- Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung no wine untasted
- But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame
- He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
- I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
[edit] Lovely Ladies
- I smell women
Smell 'em in the air
Think I'll drop my anchor
In that harbor over there
- Lovely ladies
Waiting for a bite
Waiting for the customers
Who only come at night
Lovely ladies
Ready for the call
Standing up or lying down
Or any way at all
- Come on dearie, why all the fuss?
You're no grander than the rest of us
Life has dropped you at the bottom of the heap
Join your sisters
Make money in your sleep!
- Come on Captain, you can wear your shoes
don't it make a change to have a girl who can't refuse?
Easy money
Lying on a bed
Just as well they never see
The hate that's in your head
Don't they know they're making love
To one already dead!
[edit] Fantine's Arrest
- There's a child who sorely needs me
Please M'sieur, she's but that high
Holy God, is there no mercy?
If I go to jail she'll die!
- I have heard such protestations
Every day for twenty years
Let's have no more explanations
Save your breath and save your tears
[edit] The Runaway Cart
- M'sieur le Mayor, I have no words
You come from God, you are a saint.
- I have only known one other
Who can do what you have done
He's a convict from the chain gang
He's been ten years on the run
But he couldn't run forever
We have found his hideaway
And he's just been re-arrested
And he comes to court today.
- Well of course, he now denies it.
You'd expect that of a con.
But he couldn't run forever.
No, not even Jean Valjean.
[edit] Who Am I? - The Trial
- He thinks that man is me
He knew him at a glance!
That stranger he has found
This man could be my chance!
- Why should I save his hide?
Why should I right this wrong
When I have come so far
And struggled for so long?
- If I speak, I am condemned.
If I stay silent, I am damned!
- I am the master of hundreds of workers.
They all look to me.
How can I abandon them?
How would they live
If I am not free?
- If I speak, I am condemned.
If I stay silent, I am damned!
- Who am I?
Can I conceal myself for evermore?
Pretend I'm not the man I was before?
And must my name until I die
Be no more than an alibi?
- Must I lie?
How can I ever face my fellow men?
How can I ever face myself again?
My soul belongs to God, I know
I made that bargain long ago
He gave me hope when hope was gone
He gave me strength to journey on
- Who am I? Who am I?
I am Jean Valjean!
- And so Javert, you see it's true
That man bears no more guilt than you!
Who am I?
24601!
[edit] Fantine's Death
- Coset it's turned so cold
Coset it's past your bedtime
You've played the day away,
and soon it will be night
Come to me... Coset the light is fading
Don't you see the evening star appearing?
Come to me and rest against my sholder
how fast the minutes fly away and every minute colder
Hurry near, another day is dying
Don't you hear the winter wind is crying
there's a darkness which comes without a warning
But I will sing you lullubyes and wake you in the morning
Oh Fantine our time is running out
but Fantine, I swear this on my life...
Look M'sieur where all the the children play!
Be at peace
Be at peace ever more
My Coset!
Shall live in my protection
Take her now
Your child will for nothing
Good M'sieur
You come from God in heaven!
And none will ever harm Coset as long as I am living
Take my hand...
the night grows ever colder
Take my child...
i give her to your keeping
Take shelter from the storm
For God's sake
please stay till I am sleeping!
and tell Coset I love her and I'll see her when i wake!
[edit] The Confrontation
- Believe of me what you will
There is a duty that I'm sworn to do.
You know nothing of my life
All I did was steal some bread
- I am warning you Javert
I'm a stronger man by far
There is power in me yet
My race is not yet run
I am warning you Javert
There is nothing I won't dare
If I have to kill you here
I'll do what must be done!
- Dare you speak to me of crime
And the price you had to pay
Every man is born in sin
Every man must choose his way
You know nothing of Javert
I was born inside a jail
I was born with scum like you
I am from the gutter too!
[edit] Castle On A Cloud
- There is a castle on a cloud,
I like to go there in my sleep,
Aren't any floors for me to sweep,
Not in my castle on a cloud.
- There is a room with lots of toys,
there are a hundred boys and girls,
nobody shouts or talks too loud,
not in my castle on a cloud.
- There is a lady all in white,
Holds me and sings a lullaby,
She's nice to see and she's soft to touch,
She says "Cosette, I love you very much."
- I know a place where no one's lost,
I know a place where no one cries,
crying at all is not allowed,
not in my castle on a cloud.
[edit] Master Of The House
- Welcome Monsieur
Sit yourself down
And meet the best
Innkeeper in town.
- Seldom do you see
Honest men like me
A gent of good intent
Who's content to be
Master of the House
Solding out the charm
Ready with a handshake
And an open palm.
- Glad to do my friends a favour
Doesn't cost me to be nice
but nothing gets you nothing
Everything has got a little price.
- Master of the House
Keeper of the zoo
Ready relieve them of a sou, or two
Watering the wine making up the weight
Picking up their knick-knacks
When they can't see straight.
- Everybody loves a landlord
Everybody's bosom friend
I do whatever pleases Jesus dont
I bleed them in the end!
- Master of the House
Quick to catch your eye
Never wants a passer-by
To pass him by
Servant to the poor
Butler to the great
Comforter, philosopher
And lifelong mate
Everybody's boon companion
Everybody's chaperone
But lock up your valises
Jesus! Wont I skin you to the bone!
- This weighs a ton
Travel's a curse
But here we strive
To lighten your purse
Here the goose is cooked
Here the fat is fried
And nothing's overlooked
Till I'm satisfied.
- Food beyond compare
Food beyond belief
Mix it in a mincer
And pretend it's beef
Kidney of a horse
Liver of a cat
Filling up the sausages
With this and that.
- When it comes to fixing prices
There are lots of tricks he knows
How it all increases
All them bits and pieces
Jesus!Its amazing how it grows!
- Madame Thenardier:
I used to dream that I would meet a prince
But God Almighty, have you seen what's happened since!
Master of the House
Isn't worth my spit
Comforter, philosopher and lifelong shit
Cunning little brain
Regular Voltaire
Thinks he's quite a lover but there's not much there!
What cruel trick of nature
Landed me with such a louse?
God knows how I've lasted living with this bastard in the house!
- Chorus:
Everybody bless the landlord, everybody bless the spouse
Everybody raise a glass - oooo!
Madame Thenardier:
Raise it up the Master's ass!
Chorus:
Everybody raise a glass to the master of the house!
[edit] The Bargain / The Waltz Of Treachery
- What to do? What to say?
Shall you carry our treasure away?
What a gem! What a pearl!
Beyond rubies is our little girl!
- Dear Fantine, gone to rest...
Have we done for her child what is best?
Shared our bread. Shared each bone.
Treated her like she's one of our own!
- No more words. Here's your price.
Fifteen hundred for your sacrifice.
Come, Cosette, say goodbye
Let us seek out some friendlier sky.
Thank you both for Cosette.
It won't take you too long to forget!
[edit] Look Down
- Look down and see the beggars at your feet
Look down and show some mercy if you can
Look down and see the sweepings of the street
Look down, look down, upon your fellow man.
- How do you do? My name's Gavroche
These are my people, here's my patch
Not much to look at nothing posh
Nothing that you'd call up to scratch
This is my school, my high society
Here in the slums of Saint Michel
We live on crumbs of humble piety
Tough on the teeth, but what the hell!
Think you're poor?
Think you're free?
Follow me,follow me!
- With all the anger in the land
How long before the judgement day?
Before we cut the fat ones down to size?
Before the barricades arise?
[edit] Stars
- There, out in the darkness
A fugitive running, fallen from God,
Fallen from Grace.
God be my witness, I shall not yield
Til we come face to face.
til we come face to face!
- He finds his way in the dark.
Mine is the way of the Lord.
And those who follow the path of the righteous shall have their reward!
And if they fall, as Lucifer fell, the Flame! the Sword!
- Stars
In your multitudes
Scarce to be counted
Filling the darkness
With order and light
You are the sentinels
Silent and sure
Keeping watch in the night
Keeping watch in the night!
- You know your place in the sky
You hold your course and your aim
And each in your season
Returns and returns
And is always the same
And if you fall as Lucifer fell
You fall in flame!
- And so it has been, and so it is written
On the doorway to Paradise
That those who falter and those who fall
Must pay the price...
[edit] The ABC Cafe- Red And Black
- The time is near
So near it's stirring the blood in their veins!
And yet beware
Don't let the wine go to your brains!
- We need a sign
To rally the people
To call them to arms
To bring them in line!
- I am agog!
I am aghast!
Is Marius in love at last?
I have never heard him "ooh" and "ah"
We talk of battles to be won
and here he comes like Don Juan
It is better than an opera!
- It is time for us all
To decide who we are
Do we fight for the right
To a night at the opera now?
Have you asked of yourselves
What's the price you might pay?
Is it simply a game
For rich young boys to play?
The colours of the world
Are changing day by day...
- Red - the blood of angry men!
Black - the dark of ages past!
Red - a world about to dawn!
Black - the night that ends at last!
- Had you been there tonight
You might know how it feels
To be struck to the bone
In a moment of breathless delight!
Had you been there tonight
You might also have known
How the world may be changed
In just one burst of light!
And what was right seems wrong
And what was wrong seems right!
- Red - I feel my heart on fire.
Black - My world if she's not there.
Red - The color of desire.
Black - The color of despair.
- Marius, you're no longer a child
I do not doubt you mean it well
But now there is a higher call.
Who cares about your lonely soul?
We strive toward a larger goal
Our little lives don't count at all!
[edit] Do You Hear The People Sing
- Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
- Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
- Will you give all you can give so that our banner may advance?
Some will fall and some will live; will you stand up and take your chance?
The blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of France!
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
[edit] Rue Plumet - In My Life
- In my life
I'm no longer alone
Now the love in my life
Is so near
Find me now, find me here!
- In my life
I'm no longer a child and I yearn
For the truth that you know
Of the years... years ago.
- In my life
She has burst like the music of angels
The light of the sun
And my life seems to stop
As if something is over
And something has scarcely begun.
- Every word that he says is a dagger in me!
In my life
There's been no one like him anywhere
Anywhere, where he is...
If he asked... I'd be his
- Let this convict keep on running. I will run him off his feet. Everyone about your business, clear this garbage from the street!
[edit] A Heart Full of Love
- Eponine's interjections while Cosette and Marius sing a romantic duet:
He was never mine to lose
Why regret what cannot be?
These are words he'll never say
Not to me...
Not to me...
Not to me, not for me...
[edit] One Day More
- One Day More.
Another day another destiny.
This neverending road to Calvary.
These men who seem to know my crime will surely come a second time
One Day More!
- One day to a new beginning
Raise the flag of freedom high!
Every man will be a king
Every man will be a king
There's a new world for the winning
There's a new world to be won.
- Tomorrow isn't far away
Tomorrow is the judgment day
Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in Heaven has in store!
One more dawn
One more day
One day more!
[edit] On My Own
- And now I'm all alone again
Nowhere to turn, no one to go to
Without a home, without a friend,
Without a face to say hello to.
And now the night is near
Now I can make believe he's here.
- Sometimes I walk alone at night
When everybody else is sleeping
I think of him and then I'm happy
With the company I'm keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live inside my head.
- On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone
I walk with him 'til morning
Without him, I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way, I close my eyes and he has found me
- In the rain
The pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever
- And I know it's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there's a way for us
- I love him
But every day I'm learning
All my life I've only been pretending
Without me his world will go on turning
A world that's full of happiness
That I have never known!
- I love him
But only on my own.
[edit] Building The Barricade
- You at the barricade listen to this!
No one is coming to help you to fight
You're on your own
You have no friends
Give up your guns - or die!
- Damn their warnings, damn their lies
They will see the people rise!
[edit] Little People
- Little people know
When little people fight
We may look easy pickings
But we've got some bite
So never kick a dog
Because he's just a pup
We'll fight like twenty armies
And we won't give up
So you'd better run for cover
When the pup grows up!
- Shoot me now or shoot me later
Every schoolboy to his sport
Death to each and every traitor
I renounce your people's court!
[edit] A Little Fall Of Rain
- EPONINE: Don't you fret, M'sieur Marius
I don't feel any pain
A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt me now
You're here, that's all I need to know
And you will keep me safe
And you will keep me close
And rain will make the flowers grow.
- MARIUS: But you will live, 'Ponine. dear God above. If I could heal your wounds with words of love.
- EPONINE: Just hold me now, and let it be. Shelter me, comfort me
- MARIUS:You would live a hundred years if I could show you how I won't desert you now...
- EPONINE: The rain can't hurt me now
This rain will wash away what's past
And you will keep me safe
And you will keep me close
I'll sleep in your embrace at last.
The rain that brings you here is Heaven-blessed!
The skies begin to clear and I'm at rest
A breath away from where you are
I've come home from so far
- EPONINE(in counterpoint):So don't you fret, M'sieur Marius
I don't feel any pain
A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt me now
You're here - MARIUS(in counterpoint): Hush-a-bye, dear Eponine,
You won't feel any pain
A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt you now
I'm here
- EPONINE: that's all I need to know
- EPONINE(in counterpoint):And you will keep me safe And you will keep me close
- MARIUS(in counterpoint): I will stay with you Till you are sleeping
- EPONINE: And rain...
- MARIUS: And rain...
- EPONINE: Will make the flowers...
- MARIUS: Will make the flowers... grow...
[edit] Night Of Anguish
- Once a thief, forever a thief
What you want you always steal!
You would trade your life for mine.
Yes, Valjean, you want a deal!
Shoot me now for all I care!
If you let me go, beware,
You'll still answer to Javert!
- You are wrong, and always have been wrong.
I'm a man, no worse than any man.
You are free, and there are no conditions,
No bargains or petitions.
There's nothing that I blame you for.
You've done your duty, nothing more.
[edit] The Night / Drink With Me
- Drink with me to days gone by
Sing with me the songs we knew
Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads.
Here's to witty girls who went to out beds.
Here's to them and here's to you!
- Drink with me to days gone by
Can it be you fear to die?
Will the world remember you when you fall?
Can it be your death means nothing at all?
Is your life just one more lie?
- Drink with me to days gone by
To the life that used to be
At the shrine of friendship, never say die
Let the wine of friendship never run dry
Here's to you and here's to me
[edit] Bring Him Home
- God on high
Hear my prayer
In my need
You have always been there
He is young
He's afraid
Let him rest
Heaven blessed
Bring him home
- He's like the son I might have known
If God had granted me a son.
The summers die
One by one
How soon they fly
On and on
And I am old
And will be gone
- Bring him peace
Bring him Joy
He is young
He is only a boy
You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home.
[edit] The Final Battle
- You at the barricades listen to this: The people of Paris sleep in their beds. You have no chance, no chance at all, why throw your lives away?
- Let us die facing our foes, make them bleed while we can. Make them pay through the nose, make them pay for every man. Let others rise to take our place until the earth is FREE!!!!
[edit] Dog Eats Dog
- It's a world where the dog eats the dog
Where they kill for bones in the street
And God in His Heaven
He don't interfere
'Cause he's dead as the stiffs at my feet
I raise my eyes to see the heavens
And only the moon looks down
The harvest moon shines down!
[edit] Javert's Suicide
- Who is this man, what sort of devil is he?
To have me caught in a trap and choose to let me go free?
It was his hour at last to put a seal on my fate, wipe out the past and wash me clean off the slate.
All it would take was a flick of his knife.
Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life!
- Damned if I live in the debt of a thief!
Damned if I yield at the end of the chase!
I am the law, and the law is not mocked;
I'll spit his pity right back in his face.
There is nothing on Earth that we share,
It is either Valjean or Javert!
- How can I now allow this man
To hold dominion over me?
This desperate man whom I have hunted
He gave me my life. He gave me freedom.
I should have perished by his hand
It was his right.
It was my right to die as well
Instead I live... but live in hell.
- And my thoughts fly apart
Can this man be believed?
Shall his sins be forgiven?
Shall his crimes be reprieved?
- Must I now begin to doubt,
Who never doubted all these years?
My heart is stone and still it trembles
The world I have known is lost in shadow.
Is he from heaven or from hell?
And does he know
That granting me my life today
This man has killed me even so?
- I am reaching, but I fall and the stars are black and cold
As I stare into the void of a world that cannot hold
I'll escape now from the world, from the world of Jean Valjean.
There is nowhere I can turn. There is no way to go on....
[edit] Turning
- They were schoolboys
Never held a gun...
Fighting for a new world
That would rise up like the sun.
Where's that new world now the fighting's done?
[edit] Empty Chairs At Empty Tables
- There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone.
- Here they talked of revolution.
Here it was they lit the flame.
Here they sang about 'tomorrow'
And tomorrow never came.
- Oh my friends, my friends forgive me
That I live and you are gone.
There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
- Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me, what your sacrifice was for! Empty chairs at empty tables where my friends will sing no more...
[edit] Valjean's Confession
- I never told Cosette
She had enough of tears
She's never known the truth-
The story you must hear
Of years ago.
[edit] Beggars at the Feast
- Ain't it a laugh
Ain't it a treat?
Hob-nobbin' here
Among the elite?
- Beggar at the feast!
Master of the dance!
Life is easy pickings
If you grab your chance.
- Masters of the land
Always get our share
Clear away the barricades
And we're still there!
We know where the wind is blowing
Money is the stuff we smell.
And when we're rich as Croesus
Jesus! Won't we see you all in hell!
- God on high
Hear my prayer
Take me now
To thy care
Where You are
Let me be
Take me now
Take me there
Bring me home
Bring me home.
- Cosette, my child, am I forgiven now?
Thank God, thank God, I've lived to see this day.
- Yes, Cosette, forbid me now to die
I'll obey,
I will try.
- Come with me
Where chains will never bind you
All your grief
At last, at last behind you.
- Take my hand
And lead me to salvation.
Take my love,
For love is everlasting.
And remember
The truth that once was spoken
To love another person
Is to see the face of God!
[edit] Finale
- Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.
- They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the plough-share,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.
- Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes...
Tomorrow comes!
