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[[File:lesmis25_5931.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''[[Awesome Music (Sugar Wiki)|Do you hear the people sing?]] / [[Angry Mob Song|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!''|'''Enjolras''', ''Les Misérables'', the musical version (1985)}}
The famous musical adaptation of [[Les Misérables (novel)|the novel by Victor Hugo]]. An ever popular choice for schools and drama companies of all levels, this epic show celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010. Originally a French musical, composed by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, and Jean-Marc Natel, it compressed the plot of the book even more tightly than the book itself did. Then Cameron Mackintosh got his hands on the rights, and Herbert Kretzmer took a hand with adapting the music.
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Produced in thirty-eight countries and twenty-one languages, with over seventy official recordings, ''Les Misérables'' is quite possibly the most popular, most-performed work of musical theater ever written.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: As far as attempts at adaptations of the [[Doorstopper]] of a book go, this one is probably still one of the most loyal, even if it does cut out a few characters.
* [[The Alcoholic]]: Grantaire. And some productions more than others emphasize Fantine becoming addicted to drink.
* [[All Musicals Are Adaptations]]
▲* [[Anyone Can Die]]: Proven true, namely with the case of {{spoiler|Gavroche}}.
* [[The Artful Dodger]]: Gavroche. "This only goes to show what little people can do!"
* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Jean Valjean.
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* [[Crucified Hero Shot]]: The death of {{spoiler|Enjolras}}.
* [[Dark Reprise]]: ''Every'' song gets a reprise. Most of them increasingly depressing.
* [[Death by Despair]]:
* [[Defiled Forever]]: Fantine.
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Inevitable, in this show, but Gavroche gets ''a lot'' more screen time in the book than in the play because his subplot's cut, going from one of the more memorable characters to a few solos and glossing over the fact that he's a Thénardier. Barring a change in songs, though, his {{spoiler|death scene}} is kept mostly intact.
* [[Determinator]]: Javert.
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]
** There are sometimes moments, such as the line "They were schoolboys, never held a gun" in the song
** The use of convicts as actual galley slaves in the new 25th anniversary production is also an example of this, since this had been abolished in the eighteenth century.
* [[Dissonant Laughter]]: It's common to have Thénardier let off some cackles during the "Dog Eats Dog" number. Considering that he's
* [[Doomed Moral Victor]]: Les Amis.
* [[Double Entendre]]: "I smell women, smell 'em in the air / Think I'll drop my anchor in that harbor over there..."
* [[Dressing as the Enemy]]: Javert disguises himself as an insurgent and lies low in order to spy; Valjean wears a French National Guard uniform so he can cross the barricade.
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Javert
* [[The Dumbledore]]: The Bishop of Digne.
* [[Dying Declaration of Love]]: Éponine, to Marius, in the song "A Little Fall
* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: Jean Valjean is practically the poster boy for this trope.
* [[Embarrassing Rescue]]: Valjean sees Javert is slated for execution and requests that he have the privilege of killing the spy. Being killed by Valjean squares with Javert's rigid view of the world and he accepts it, feeling like a martyr. When Valjean unties him, fires into the air and urges him to flee, Javert at first thinks it's a trick, and is so shocked that he later self-terminates due to the ensuing cognitive dissonance. His entire view of the world is crumbling, and furthermore, as long as he is alive he must pursue Valjean, but at the same time, he feels he should not pursue a man who saved his life.
* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: The Miserable People.
* [[Flanderization]]: It's inevitable with such a [[Compressed Adaptation]]... but there is more to Javert than chasing Valjean (snuff, for instance) and there's more to Éponine than loving Marius (insanity, for instance
* [[Fourth Date Marriage]]: Subverted. Marius and Cosette are sighing that they were born to love each other after about twenty minutes of conversation. But after Marius is gravely injured, Cosette nurses him during a convalescence of at least several weeks, and their relationship grows much stronger for it.
* [[Good Shepherd]]: The Bishop of Digne.
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* [[Icon of Rebellion]]: The red flag, which was used as a symbol of revolution since 1789.
* [[Identical Stranger]]: Champmathieu, who almost takes the rap for Valjean.
* [[If I Can't Have You]]: Éponine. In the song "One Day More
* [[Ill Girl]]: Fantine is reduced to a "ghost of herself
* [[Infant Immortality]]: Cosette. Also
* [[The Ingenue]]: Cosette as a grown-up.
* [[Inspector Javert]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Ironic Echo]]
▲* [[Infant Immortality]]: Cosette. Also {{spoiler|heartbreakingly [[Averted Trope]] with}} Gavroche.
▲* [[Ironic Echo]] & [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: Done most certainly deliberately, as many of the songs are re-used throughout the musical for different people, situations and ''moods''. Good examples are "Do You Hear The People Sing?", later re-used for the revolutionaries' chorus in the finale, with altered text. Another example is the prisoners' "Work Song", which is later re-used for the beggars' "Look Down", once again with altered lyrics (however, the situations are so painfully similar that these tropes are [[Justified Trope|perfectly justified]]).
* [[It Was a Gift]]: Valjean's candlesticks from the Bishop of Digne. He keeps them until the end of his life.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: The only reprisal Monsieur Thénardier suffers for all his villainy is a punch in the face from Marius, right before "Beggars at the Feast". His wife gets off scot-free.
* [[Killed Mid-Sentence]]:
** Mid-song, in the case of
**
** Depending on the production, Valjean can be implied to {{spoiler|die either at Fantine's "Come with me" or at "To love another person is to see the face of God"
* [[Kill Him Already]]: Justified, because much as the rebels would like to kill Javert, they have a reason for holding him prisoner for an extended length of time: they are conserving their powder and bullets, and consider killing him any way other than shooting him to be reprehensible and beneath them.
* [[Kill Me Now or Forever Stay Your Hand]]: Javert to Valjean. [[Driven to Suicide|Javert does not take it well.]]
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* [[Load-Bearing Hero]]: Valjean, when he lifts a toppled wagon off its fallen driver. This costs him dearly, for Javert witnesses the rescue and is immediately reminded of a certain muscular fugitive.
* [[Lonely Rich Kid]]: Cosette spent a good size of her life alone. The song "In My Life" illustrates that Marius is a wake up call to the fact that there's a whole world outside of her garden.
* [[Love At First Sight]]: Cosette and Marius. Depending on the chemistry of the actors involved, this can range from genuinely sweet and believable to absolutely ridiculous. Michael Ball and Rebecca Caine, of the 1985 original London cast, were notable for their chemistry onstage, but some other productions haven't been so lucky...▼
* [[Loveable Rogue]]: This version of the Thénardiers. (Now read the book.) Zigzagged with Monsieur (but only Monsieur) in "Plumet Attack" and "Dog Eats Dog", which are a very creepy contrast with "Master of the House" and its reprise.
▲* [[Love At First Sight]]: Cosette and Marius. Depending on the chemistry of the actors involved, this can range from genuinely sweet and believable to absolutely ridiculous. Michael Ball and Rebecca Caine, of the 1985 original London cast, were notable for their chemistry onstage, but some other productions haven't been so lucky...
* [[Love Triangle]]: Marius, Cosette, Éponine.
* [[Loving a Shadow]]: Éponine's song "On My Own" ends with her having a revelation that she's not really in love with Marius, she's only in love with the ''idea'' of Marius, and even after this realization, she still clings to the delusions because it is literally the only thing she has to look forward to.
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** "I Dreamed a Dream" pretty much defines this trope.
** "Turning" has the same melody as "Lovely Ladies", and is even worse. It is slowed down a bit.
** Also, "
* [[Memetic Number]]: 24601, the prison number of Valjean.
* [[Memetic Outfit]]: Valjean's prison outfit, Cosette's black dress, Éponine's trenchcoat and hat, and the "[[Fan Nickname|Red Vest Of Doom]]" that Enjolras wears from the Act
* [[The Messiah]]: Valjean, and to a much lesser extent, Enjolras.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Mostly in a lot of cast recordings where the reprise of "A Heart Full of Love" is cut, but it goes from the long, dark, depressing line of songs starting from "Dog Eats Dog" to "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" to... a triumphant wedding chorale and "
* [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]]: Hot men! Gorgeous women! Incredible music! A glorious revolution! Death! Bloodshed! Humor! This show has ''everything''.
* [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]:Where to start, poor Jean.▼
* [[No Name Given]]: Enjolras's name is actually never spoken in libretto throughout the entire musical due to pronunciation issues.
** Though beginning the ABC Cafe scene with an exclaimed "Enjolras!" has become a pretty regular ad-lib, nowadays ...
▲* [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]:Where to start, poor Jean.
* [[Oblivious to Love]]: Marius to Éponine throughout the musical. He thanks her as a "friend" for bringing him to Cosette, despite her obvious feelings for him, and asks the devoted Éponine to deliver a love letter to Cosette in his name. However, this trope is thankfully subverted in their final scene together.
* [[Official Couple]]: Marius and Cosette.
* [[Pair the Spares]]: Many fanfic writers seem to think that Éponine and Enjolras should be paired, on the basis that they are both single.
* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Javert when he tries to {{spoiler|spy on the Amis of the ABC
* [[Plucky Comic Relief]]: The Thénardiers, in a stark contrast to the novel.
* [[Rain Aura]]: The musical has a song that involves this.
* [[Red Light District]]: At least some interpretations of the show set
* [[Relationship Compression]]: Marius/Cosette.
* [[Remake Cameo]]: Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean, will be playing the Bishop of Digne in the film version.
* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified]]: The Friends of the ABC are portrayed as heroic defenders of the common man.
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* [[Voice Types|The Soprano]]: Cosette, so SO much.
* Song Types:
** [[BSOD Song]]: In the musical, "Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide)" is this trope embodied.▼
** [[Angry Mob Song|The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified Song]]: "Red and Black," "Do You Hear the People Sing?", we could go on.▼
▲** [[BSOD Song]]: In the musical, "Javert's Suicide" is this trope embodied.
*** Also a good example of a [[Sanity Slippage Song]].
** [[Counterpoint Duet]]: "A Heart Full
*** [[Your Mileage May Vary|... or in which Éponine's stalkerish-ness contrasts the utter adorable/heartwarming love that is this song.]]
*** "Confrontation" is a semi-example, since Valjean and Javert sing together throughout, but do switch melody lines
** [[Crowd Song]]: "Do You Hear the People Sing?", among ''many'' others.
** [[Death Song]]: "Come To Me
** [[The Eleven O'Clock Number]]: "Wedding Chorale".▼
** [[Epic Song]]: "Do You Hear the People Sing?", its reprise
** [[Final Love Duet]]: "A Heart Full of Love" comes towards the end of Act I, and Cosette sings "Every Day" towards the end of Act II to console Marius.
** [[Ghost Song]]: "Epilogue". Inverted by "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables".
** [[Grief Song]]: "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and "I Dreamed a Dream
*** After "A Little Fall of Rain
** [["I Am Becoming" Song]]: [[Heel Face Turn|"
** [["I Am
** [["I Want" Song]]: "On My Own", "In My Life", "Stars"
** [[Massive Multiplayer Ensemble Number]]: "One Day More".
▲** [[Angry Mob Song|The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified Song]]: "Red and Black
▲** [[The Eleven O'Clock Number]]: "Wedding Chorale"
** [[The Song Before the Storm]]: "One Day More" and "Bring Him Home
** [[Villain Song]]: "Master of the House
*** "Beggars at the Feast" is also a straight [[Villain Song]].▼
** [["The Villain Sucks" Song]]: "Master of the House", oddly; Thénardier's part (the main part) is a straight [[Villain Song]], but when his wife starts singing it turns into this (though she is also a villain).
▲** "Beggars at the Feast" is also a straight [[Villain Song]].
* [[Sour Supporter]]: Grantaire.
* [[Spared by the Adaptation]]:
* [[Stalker with a Crush]]: Éponine.
* [[Stay with Me Until I Die]]: Both Fantine and
* [[Stern Chase]]: Javert hounding Valjean for decades
* [[Still Wearing the Old Colors]]: Thénardier wears a Napoleonic uniform at the start of the play as a remnant from his supposed days as a soldier (if by "soldier", you mean "guy who looted corpses on the battlefield").
* [[Sung Through Musical]]
* [[Survivor Guilt]]: "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
* [[Take a Third Option]]: Javert is stuck between arresting Valjean or letting him go in a certain climactic scene. Instead, he {{spoiler|commits suicide}}.
* [[Take Care of the Kids]]: Fantine, depending on the actress, she might not be aware of her impending death -- however, Valjean is, and he assures her before she dies that he will raise Cosette and take care of her.
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** And the Bishop of Digne.
* [[Unholy Matrimony]]: The Thénardiers.
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: "Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide)" is this in song form.
* [[Wham! Line|Wham Song]]/[[Wham! Episode|Wham Scene]]: The barricade battle scene. By the end of it, half the cast is dead, including {{spoiler|Enjolras, Gavroche, all the barricade boys
* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]]: Marius, Enjolras, heck all the ABCs except Grantaire.
** [[Your Mileage May Vary|YMMV]] '''to the extreme''' on that. If you're aware of your history/the actors do their research, it becomes pretty apparent that all of them went in eyes wide open. After all, they had all participated in a nearly-succesful revolution just two years prior
* [[You Are Number Six]]: Despite the fact that the book hardly mentions Valjean's prison numbers (yes, in the book, he has two), the musical is crazy about this one. Actual counting reveals that Javert calls Valjean more often by his number than his name. Valjean refers to himself as "24601" once.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Films of the 2010s]]
[[Category:The Musical]]
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