Les Misérables (theatre): Difference between revisions

* [[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.

** There are sometimes moments, such as the line "They were schoolboys, never held a gun" in the song ''Turning''. When you consider that nearly everyone who died had fought on the barricades only 2 years before in 1830, and some in other riots, the idea that none of them had fought before is a little ludicrous.

** 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.

* [[If I Can't Have You]]: Éponine. In the song "One Day More," Marius is trying to decide whether to follow Cosette to England or fight with the students. Éponine, standing there with him, practically makes the decision for him by grabbing his arm and then they both run off. A minute later, they are next seen joining Enjolras and the other students, and Marius tells Enjolras "My place is here, I fight with you." In the 2006 revival, Celia Keenan-Bolger (who played Éponine at the time) made this a ''lot'' more obvious. In the revival, Éponine extends her hand out to Marius, and he quickly grabs her hand and they both run.

* [[Ill Girl]]: Fantine is reduced to a "ghost of herself," suffering from a never-exactly-named disease, and acts as a motivator for Valjean to go and retrieve her daughter, and then disappears from the story.

* [[The Ingenue]]: Cosette as a grown-up.

* [[Inspector Javert]]: The [[Trope Namer]].

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[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 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.

* [[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 "Beggar at the Feast". It's incredibly jarring.

* [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]]: Hot men! Gorgeous women! Incredible music! A glorious revolution! Death! Bloodshed! Humor! This show has ''everything''.

* [[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 ...

* [[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.

** [[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 ... They knew exactly what to expect.

* [[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}}