THE ORIGINAL LONDON CAST

Les Misérables

THE STORY

SIDE ONE

Prologue

WORK SONG

Look down, look down

Don't look 'em in the eye

Look down, look down

You're here until you die.

The sun is strong

It's hot as hell below

Look down, look down

There's twenty years to go.

I've done no wrong

Sweet Jesus, hear my prayer

Look down, look down

Sweet Jesus doesn't care

I know she'll wait

I know that she'll be true

Look down, look down

They've all forgotten you.

When I get free

You won't see me

'Ere for dust

Look down, look down

Don't look 'em in the eye

How long, O Lord

Before you let me die?

Look down, look down

You'll always be a slave

Look down, look down,

you're standing in your grave.

JAVERT

Now bring me prisoner 24601

Your time is up

And your parole's begun

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 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 those 19 years

A slave of the law.

JAVERT

Five years for what you did

The rest because you tried to run

Yes, 24601.

VALJEAN

My name is Jean Valjean.

JAVERT

And I'm Javert

Do not forget my name

Do not forget me

24601.

VALJEAN ARRESTED/VALJEAN FORGIVEN

CONSTABLES

Tell His Reverence for your story.

Let us see if he's impressed.

You were lodging here last night.

You were the honest bishop's guest.

And then, out of Christian goodness.

When he learned about your plight

You maintain he made a present of this silver.

BISHOP

That is right.

But my friend, you left so early

Something surely slipped your mind.

You forgot I gave these also

Would you leave the best behind?

So, messieurs, you may release him

For this man has spoken true

I commend you for your duty

And God's blessing go with you.

And 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!

WHAT HAVE I DONE?

VALJEAN

What have I done

Sweet Jesus, what have I done?

Become a thief in the night!

Become a dog on the run!

And have I fallen so far

And is the hour so late

That nothing remains but the cry of my hate,

The cries in the dark that nobody hears

Here where I stand at the turning of the years?

If there's another way to go

I missed it twenty long years ago.

My life was a war that never could 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 life he claims for God above.

Can such things be?

For I had come to hate the world

This world that 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.

One word from him and I'd be back

Beneath the lash, upon the rack.

Instead, he offers me my freedom.

I feel my shame inside me like a knife.

He told me that I had a soul.

How does he know?

What spirit comes to move my life?

Is there another way to go?

I am reaching but I fall,

And the night is closing in,

And I stare into the void -

To the whirlpool of my sin.

I'll escape now from the world

From the world of Jean Valjean.

Jean Valjean is nothing now.

Another story must begin.

END OF PROLOGUE

Valjean decides to start his life anew, breaks his parole and changes his name to Monsieur Madelaine. Although he is still pursued by the implacable Police Inspector Javert who has been his chief captor during his years on the chain-gang, he rises to become a factory owner and the Mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

THE POOR

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 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 older

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 is comming on fast

Ready to kill

One day nearer to dying.

At the end of the day there's another day dawning

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 hunger in the land

There's reckoning still to be reckoned

There's gonna be hell to pay

At the end of the day.

FOREMAN

At the end of the day you get nothing for nothing

Sitting flat on your bum doesn't buy any bread.

WORKERS

There are children back at home

And the children have gotta be fed

And you're lucky to be in a job

And in a bed

And we're counting our blessings!

WOMEN

Have you seen how the foreman is fuming today

With his terrible breath and his wandering hands?

It's because little Fantine won't give him his way

Take a look at his trousers, you see where he stands!

And the boss, he never knows.

That the foreman is always on heat

If fantine doesn't look out

Watch how she goes

She'll be out on the street!

CHORUS

At the end of the day it's another day over

With enough in your pocket to last for a week

Pay the landlord. Pay the shop.

Keep on grafting as long as you're able

Keep on grafting till you drop

Or its back to the crusts on the table

Well, you've gotta pay your way

At the end of the day.

And what have we here, little innocent sister?

Come on Fantine let's have all the news!

ぢ...dear Fantine, you must send us more money

...your child needs a doctor...there's no

time to lose..."

FANTINE

Give me that letter back

VALJEAN

What is this shouting all about?

Will someone tear these two apart?

This is a factory not a circus

Now come on ladies settle down

I run a business of repute

I am the mayor of this town

I look to you to sort this out

And be as patient as you can.

FOREMAN

Now someone say how this began!

GIRL

At the end of the day

She's the one who began it

There's a kid that she's hiding

In some little town

There's a man she has to pay

You can guess how she picks up the extra

You can bet that she's earning her keep

Sleeping around

And the boss wouldn't like it!

FANTINE

Yes, it's true there is a child

And the child is my daughter

And her father abandoned us, leaving us flat.

Now she lives with an Innkeeper man

And his wife

And I pay for the child

What's the matter with that?

WOMEN

At the end of the day

She'll be nothing but trouble

And there's trouble for all

When there's trouble for one

While we're earning our daily bread

She's the one with her hands in the butter

You must send the slut away

Or we're all gonna end in the gutter

It's us who'll have to pay

At the end of the day!

FOREMAN

I might have known the bitch could bite

I might have known the cat had claws

I might have guessed your little secret.

Ah yes, the virtuous Fantine

Who keeps herself so pure and clean

You'd be the cause, I had no doubt,

Of any trouble hereabout

You play a virgin in the light

But need no urgin' in the night!

GIRL

She's been laughing at you

While she's having her men.

WOMEN

She'll be nothing but trouble again and again.

WOMAN

You must sack her today.

ALL WORKERS

Sack the girl today.

FOREMAN

Right my girl. On your way.

Fantine now unemployed recalls happier days before her dream turned sour.

I DREAMED A DREAM

FANTINE

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.

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

As 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.

Desperate for money to pay for medicine for her daughter Cosette(whom she left with an innkeeper and his wife named Thénardier)Fantine sells her locket, her hair and then joins the whores in selling herself.

LOVELY LADIES

SAILORS

I smell women

Smell 'em in the air.

Think I'll drop my anchor

In that harbour over there.

Lovely ladies

Smell 'em through the smoke

Seven days at sea

Can make you hungry for a poke.

Even stocker need a little stoke.

WOMEN

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.

Bargain prices up against the wall!

OLD WOMAN

Come here, my dear

Let's see this trinket you wear

This bagatelle...

FANTINE

Madame, I'll sell it to you!

OLD WOMAN

I'll give you four.

FANTINE

That wouldn't pay for the chain.

OLD WOMAN

I'll give you five. You're far too eager to sell.

It's up to you.

FANTINE

It's all I have.

OLD WOMAN

That's not my fault.

FANTINE

Please make it ten.

OLD WOMAN

No more than five.

My dear, we all must stay alive.

WOMEN

Lovely ladies

Waiting in the dark

Ready for a thick one

Or a quick one in the park.

Long time, short time

Any time, my dear.

Cost a little extra if you want to take all year.

Quick and cheap is underneath the pier!

CRONE

What pretty hair!

What pretty locks you got there.

What luck you got. It's worth a centime, my dear.

I'll take the lot.

FANTINE

Don't touch me. Leave me alone.

CRONE

Let's make a price. I'll give you all of ten francs,

just think of that!

FANTINE(aside)

It pays a debt.

CRONE

Just think of that.

FANTINE

What can I do? It pays a debt.

Ten francs may save my poor Cosette.

SAILORS

(about a whore)

Lovely lady!

Fastest on the street.

Wasn't there three minutes

She was back upon her feet.

(Taunting Fantine)

Lovely lady!

What yer waiting for?

Doesn't take a lot of savvy

Just to be a whore.

Come on, lady,

What's lady for?

PIMP

Gimme the dirt

Who's that bit over there?

WHORE 1

A bit of skirt

She's the one sold her hair.

WHORE 2

She's got a kid

Sends her all that she can.

PIMP

I might've known

There is always some men

Lovely lady, come along and join us,

Lovely lady!

WHORES

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.

Joint your sisters.

Make money in your sleep!

That's right, dearie,

Let 'im have the lot.

That's right, dearie,

Show him what you've got!

Old men, young men, take 'em as they come,

Harbour rats, and alley cats, and every kind of scum.

Poor men, rich men, leaders of the land,

See them with their trousers off

they're never quite as grand.

All it takes is money in your hand.

Lovely ladies

Going for a song

Got a lot of callers

But they never stay for long!

FANTINE

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?

Utterly degraded by her new trade she gets into a fight with a prospective customer and is about to be taken to prison by Inspector Javert when the Mayor arrives and demands she be taken to hospital instead. The Mayor then rescues a man pinned down by a runaway cart. Javert is reminded of the abnormal strenth of convict 24601, Jean Valjean the payrole breaker, a man he thinks has just been recaptured.

Valjean is unable to see an innocent man go to prison in his place.

WHO AM I?

VALJEAN

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

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 condemn this man to slavery?

Pretend I do not see his agony?

This innocent who bears my face

Who goes to judgment in my place.

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

By 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 strenth 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!

Valjean leaves the astonished courtroom and the dumbfounded Javert to rush to the hospital where Fantine is dying.

Fantine's Death:

COME TO ME

FANTINE

Cosette, it's turned so cold

Cosette, it's past your bed time!

You've played the day away

And soon it will be night.

Come to me, Cosette, the light is fading

Don't you see the evening star appearing?

Come to me and rest against my shoulder

How fast the minutes fly away,

and every minutes 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 lullabies and wake you in the morning.

VALJEAN

Oh, Fantine, our time is running out

But, Fantine, I swear this on my life.

FANTINE

Look, M'sieur, where all the children play!

VALJEAN

Be at peace, be at peace evermore.

FANTINE

My Cosette...

VALJEAN

Will live in my protection.

FANTINE

Dear Cosette...

VALJEAN

The child will want for nothing.

FANTINE

Good M'sieur, you come from God in heaven.

VALJEAN

And none will ever harm Cosette

As long as I am living.

FANTINE

Take my hand

The night grows ever colder.

VALJEAN

Then I will keep you warm.

FANTINE

Take my child

I give her to your keeping.

VALJEAN

Take shelter from the storm.

FANTINE

For God's sake, please stay till I am sleeping

And tell Cosette I love her

And I'll see her when I wake...

CONFRONTATION

JAVERT

Valjean, at last,

We see each other plain!

でM'sieur le Mayorと,

You'll wear a different chain!

VALJEAN

Before you say another word, Javert

Before you chain me up like a slave again.

Listen to me. There is something I must do.

This woman leaves behind a suffering child.

There is none but me who can intercede.

In mercy's name, three days are all I need.

Then I'll return. I pledge my word.

Then I'll retrun...

JAVERT

You must think me mad!

I've hunted you across the years.

A man like you can never change.

A man such as you.

+- VALJEAN

| Believe of me what you will

| There is duty that I'm sworn to do

| You know nothing of my life

| All I did was steal some bread

| You know nothing of the world

| You would sooner see me dead

| But not before I see this justice done

|

| I am warning you, Javert

| I'm 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!

|

| JAVERT

| Men like you can never change

| Men like you can never change

|

| No, 24601

| My duty's to the law

| You have no rights

| Come with me, 24601

| Now the wheel has turned around

| Jean Valjean is nothing now.

| Dare you talk to me of crime

| And the price you had to pay?

| Everyman 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.

VALJEAN(to Fantine)

And this I swear to you tonight...

JAVERT

There is no place for you to hide.

VALJEAN

Your child will live within my care.

JAVERT

Wherever you may hide away

VALJEAN

And I will raise her to the light.

VALJEAN & JAVERT

I swear to you. I will be there!

Valjean knocks Javert down and escapes to keep the promise he made to the dying Fantine.

In Montfermeil Cosette has been lodged for five years with the unscrupulous Thénardiers who horribly mistreat the little girl, using her as a skivvy, while indulging their own daughter.

Alone, Cosette dreams like any little girl.

CASTLE ON A CLOUD

COSETTE

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 room that's full 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 sing a lullaby

she's nice to see

And she's soft to touch

She says: でCosette, I love you very muchと.

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.

Madame Thénardier sends a protesting Cosette alone into the woods at night to draw water from the well while another ribald evening is starting at the inn.

MASTER OF THE HOUSE

THENARDIER

Welcome, M'sieur

Sit yourself down

And meet the best

Innkeeper in town.

As for the rest,

All of them crocks

Rooking the guests

And cooking the books.

Seldom do you see

Honest men like me

A gent of good intent

Who's content to be

Master of the House

Doling out the charm

Ready with a handshake

And an open palm

Tells a saucy tale

Makes a little stir

Customers appreciate a bon-viveur!

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 to relieve 'em

Of a sou, or two.

Watering the wine

Making up the weight

Pickin' up their knick-knacks

When they can't see straight

Everybody loves a landlord

Everybody's bosom friend

I do whatever pleases

Jesus! Don't I bleed 'em in the end!

THENARDIER and CHORUS

Master of the house

Quick to catch yer 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.

THENARDIER

But lock up your valises

Jesus! Won't I skin yer to the bone!

Enter, M'sieur

Lay down yer load

Unlace yer boots

And rest from the road.

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!

Residents are more than welcome

Bridal suite is occupied!

Reasonable charges

Plus some little extras on the side!

Charge 'em for the lice

Extra for the mice

Two per cent for looking in the mirror twice!

Here a little slice

There a little cut

Three per cent for sleeping with the window shut!

When it comes to fixing prices

There are lots of tricks he knows

How it all increases

All them bits and pieces

Jesus! It's amazing how it grows!

THENARDIER and CHORUS

Master of the House

Quick to catch your eye

Never wants a passerby to pass him by

Servants to the poor

Butler to the great

Comforter, philosopher

And lifelong mate

Everybody's boon companion

Gives 'em everything he's got.

THENARDIER

Dirty bunch of geezers

Jesus! What a sorry little lot!

MADAME THENARDIER

I used to think

That I would meet a prince.

But God Almighty,

Have you seen what's happened since?

でMaster of the house'?

Isn't worth me spit!

でComforter, philosopher'

- and lifelong shit!

Cunning little brain

Regular Voltaire

Thinks he's quite a lover

But there's not much there.

What a cru-el trick of nature

Landed me with such a louse

God knows how I've lasted

Living with this bastard in the house!

THENARDIER and CHORUS

Master of the house.

MADAME THENARDIER

Master and a half!

THENARDIER and CHORUS

Comforter, philosopher

MADAME THENARDIER

Don't make me lauph!

THENARDIER and CHORUS

Servant to the poor

Butler to the great

MADAME THENARDIER

Hypocrite and today

And inebriate!

THENARDIER and CHORUS

Everybody bless the landlord!

Everybody bless his spouse.

THENARDIER

Everybody raise a glass.

MADAME THENARDIER

Raise it up the master's arse!

ALL

Everybody raise a glass to

The master of the house!

Monseiur Madeleine, now Valjean again, has met the frightened little girl fetching water in the dark. He takes her bucket and leads her back to the Inn where hard bargaining begins.

THENARDIER WALTZ OF TREACHERY

THENARDIER

What to do? What to say?

Shall you carry our treasure away?

What a gem! What a pearl!

Beyond rubies is our little girl!

How can we speak of debt?

Let's not haggle for darling Cosette!

Dear Fantine, gone to rest...

Have we done for your child what is best?

Shared our bread. Shared each bone.

Treated like her she's one of our own!

Like our own, monsieur!

VALJEAN

Your feelings do you credit, sir.

And I will ease the parting blow

Let us not talk of bargains or bones or greed

Now, may I say, we are agreed--?

MME THENARDIER

That would quite fit the bill

If she hadn't so often been ill.

Little dear, cost us dear

Medicines are expensive m'sieur!

Not that we begrudged a sou

It's no more than we Cristians must do!

M & MME THENARDIER

One thing more. One small doubt.

There are treacherous people about.

No offence. please reflect.

Your're intentions might not be -- correct?

VALJEAN

No more words! Here's your price.

Fifteen hundred for your でsacrifice!と

Come, Cosette, say goodbye

Let us seek out a friendlier sky.

Thank you both for Cosette

It won't take you too long to forget!

Valjean, living on a secret income from his years as Monsieur Madelaine, would be the happiest man in the world if Javert, now Commissioner of Police in Paris, was not still hunting him as the implacable defender of justice against chaos.

STARS

JAVERT

There, out in the darkness,

A fugitive running.

Fallen from grace,

Fallen form grace.

God be my witness

I never shall yield

Till we come face to face

Till we come face to face!

He knows his way in the dark,

But 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 skies

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's written

On the doorways to paradise,

That those who falter,

And those who fall

Must pay the price...

Scarce to be counted,

Changing the chaos,

To order and light.

You are the sentinels,

Silent and sure

Keeping watch in the night

Keeping watch in the night.

Nine years later in the streets of Paris among the beggars and underdogs, lives an unchin Gavroche. Also in Paris, having left the turmoil brewing in the countryside, Thénardier, his wife and his daughter Eponine lead a dangerous gang of robbers.

LOOK DOWN

BEGGARS

Look down and see the beggars at your feet.

Look down and show some mercy if you can.

Look down and see

The sweeping of the street.

Look down, look down

Upon your fellow man!

GAVROCHE

'Ow 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

From Saint Denis to Saint Michele

We live on crumbs of humble piety

Tough on the teeth, but what the hell!

If you're poor, if you're free

Follow me! Follow me!

BEGGARS

Look down and show some mercy if you can

Look down, look down, upon your fellow man!

COMBEFERRE

As for the leader of the land

AS for the swells who run the show

Only one man - and that's Lamarque -

Speaks for the people here below.

FEUILLY

Lamarque is ill, and fading fast.

Won't last the week out, so they say.

With all the anger in the land.

How long before the judgment day?

Before we cut the fat ones down to size

Before the barricades arise!

BEGGARS

Look down and show some mercy if you can

Look down, look down, upon your fellow man!

In contrast to the grimness of life among Les Misérables Gavroche celebrates his irrepressible philosophy of life.

LITTLE PEOPLE

GAVROCHE

They laugh at me, these fellows,

Just because I am small.

They laugh at me because I'm not a hundred feet tall!

I tell 'em there's a lot to learn down here on the ground.

The world is big, but little people turn it around.

A worm can roll a stone

A bee can sting a bear

A fly can fly around Versailles

'Cos flies don't care!

A sparrow in a hat

Can make a happy home

A flea can bite the bottom

Of the Pope in Rome!

Goliath was a bruiser who was tall as the sky

But David threw a right and gave him one in the eye

I never read the Bible but I know that it's true

It only goes to show what little people can do!

ALL

A worm can roll a stone, etc.

GAVROCHE

So listen here, professor,

With your head in the cloud.

It's often kind of useful

To get lost in a crowd.

So keep your universities

I don't give a damn

For better or for worse it is

The way that I am!

Be careful as you go

'Cos little people grow...

And little people know

When little people fight

We may look easy pickings but we got some bite!

So never kick a dog because it's just a pup

You better run for cover when the pup grows up!

And we'll fight like twenty armies

And we won't give up!

ALL

A worm can roll a stone, etc

At a political meeting in a small Paris café a group of idealistic students prepare for the revolution they are sure will erupt on the death of General Lamarque, while one of them, Marius, is distracted by thoughts of a young girl he has met once in the street.

RED AND BLACK

STUDENTS

At Notre Dame the sections are prepared!

At rue du Bac they're straining at the leash!

Students, workers, everyone,

There's a river on the run

Like the flowing of the tide

Paris coming to our side!

ENJOLRAS

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!

For the army we fight is a dangerous foe

With the men and the arms that we never can match

It is easy to sit here and swat 'em like flies

But the National Guard will be harder to catch

We need a sign to rally the people

To call them to arms

And to bring them in line.

STUDENTS

Marius, what's wrong with you today?

You look as if you've seen a ghost

Some wine, and say what's going on.

MARIUS

A ghost you say? A ghost, maybe!

She was just like a ghost to me

One minute there...then she was gone!

GRANTAIRE

I am agog! I am aghast!

Is Marius in love at last?

I have never heard him でoohと and でaahと

We talk of battles to be won

And here he comes like Don Ju-an

It's better than an o-per-a!

ENJOLRAS

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 colour of the world

Is 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!

MARIUS

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 soul on fire!

Black - my world if she's not there!

Red - the colour of desire!

Balck - the colour of despair!

ENJOLRAS

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 towards a larger goal.

Our little lives don't count at all!

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!

When Gavroche brings the news of the General's death, the students swarm out into the street to whip up popular support.

DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?

ENJOLRAS

Do you hear the people sing?

Singing the 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!

COMBEFERRE

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?

COURFEYRAC

Then join in the fight

That will give you the right to be free!

CHORUS

Do you hear the people sing?

Singing the 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!

FEUILLY

Will you give all you can give

So that our banner may advance?

Some will fall, and some will live

Will you come up and take your chance?

The blood of the martyrs

Will water the meadows of France!

CHORUS

Do you here the people sing?

Singing the songs 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!

END OF SIDE ONE

SIDE TWO

Cosette is consumed by thoughts of Marius, with whom she has fallen in love. Valjean realises that his ぢdaughterっ is changing very quickly. In spite of her own feelings for Marius, Eponine sadly brings him to Cosette

Love Montage:

I SAW HIM ONCE

COSETTE

I saw him once

Then he was gone

We were like dreamers at night

Who meets as in a trance, then part again!

Two phantoms in the shadows of the moon

Can people really fall in love so soon?

He walked alone

He seedmed alone like me

Could he have known

That moment was my destiny?

I had to run away,

And it was like a dream.

I saw him once

The dream was true.

I saw him once,

And once will do!

IN MY LIFE

COSETTE

In my life,

I have all I could want.

You are loving and gentle and good

But Papa, dear Papa,

In your eyes I am just like a child

Who is lost in a wood.

VALJEAN

No more words

No more, it's a time that is dead

There are words

That are better unheard

Better unsaid.

MARIUS

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!

MARIUS AND EPONINE

In my life

There is someone who touches my life.

MARIUS

Waiting near!

EPONINE

Waiting here!

A HEART FULL OF LOVE

MARIUS

A heart full of love!

A heart full of song!

I'm doing everything all wrong

Oh God, for shame,

I do not even know your name!

Dear mad'moiselle

I am lost in your spell.

COSETTE

A heart full of love

BOTH

A heart full of you.

MARIUS

The words are foolish but they're true

Cosette! Cosette!

Or were we dreaming when we met?

COSETTE

Who can say?

MARIUS

Who can tell?

COSETTE

A heart full of love

A heart full of you.

MARIUS

I saw you waiting and I knew.

COSETTE

Waiting for you.

MARIUS

At your feet.

COSETTE

At your call.

COSETTE AND MARIUS

And it isn't a dream

Not a dream after all!

EPONINE(Interjection)

He was never mine to lose.

Why regret what could not be?

These are words he'll never say.

Not to me.

Not to me, not for me.

His heart full of love.

He will never feel this way!

Thénardier has also found Valjean's hideway and prepares, with his gang, to attack the house.

PULMET ATTACK

THENARDIER

This is his lair

I've seen the old fox around

he keeps himself to himself

He's staying close to the ground.

I small profit here.

Ten years ago

He came and paid for Cosette.

I let her go for a song

It's time we settled the debt.

This'll cost him dear.

BRUJON

What do I care

Who You should rob?

Gimme my share

Finish the job!

THENARDIER

You shut your mouth

Give me your hands.

What have we here?

Who is this hussy?

BABET

It's your brat Eponine

Don't you know your own kid

Why's she hanging about you?

THENARDIER

Eponine, get on home

You're not needed in this

We're enough here without you.

EPONINE

I know this house

I tell you there's nothing here for you.

Just the old man and the girl,

They live ordinary lives....

THENARDIER

Don't interfere

You've got some gall

Take care young miss

You've got a lot to say!

ROBBERS

She's going soft

Happens to all

Go home, 'Ponine

Go home, you're in the way.

EPONINE

I'm going to scream, I'm going to warn them here!

THENARDIER

One little scream and you'll regret it

For a year

CLAQUESOUS

What a palaver

What an absolute treat

To watch a cat and its father

Pick a bone in the street.

BRUJON

Not a sound out of you!

EPONINE

Well, I told you I'd do it

Told you I'd do it...

THENARDIER

Make for the sewers! Don't wait around!

Leave her to me! Go underground!

You wait my girl, you'll rue this night.

I'll make you scream. You'll scream alright.

MARIUS

It was your cry sent them away

Once more 'Ponine, saving the day!

Dearest Cosette -- my friend 'Ponine

Brought me to you

Showed me the way!

Someone is near

Let's not be seen

Somebody's here.

Alerted by Eponine's shout Valjean arrives and finds Cosette overwrought. She lies to him for the first time and omits to mention Marius's presence at her side during the attack. Valjean thinks that it must have been Javert who has found him again and plans to leave the country for good.

Cosette understands that she will not see Marius again. In different parts of Paris, Marius, Eponine, Javert the Thénardiers and the Students all join Cosette and Valjean in wondering what tomorrow will bring.

ONE DAY MORE!

VALJEAN

One day more!

Another day, another destiny.

This never-ending road to Calvary

These men who seem to know my crime

Will surely come a second time.

One day more!

MARIUS

I did not live until today.

How can I live when we are parted?

VALJEAN

One day more.

MARIUS & COSETTE

Tomorrow you'll be worlds away

And yet with you my world has started!

EPONINE

One more day all on my own.

MARIUS & COSETTE

Will we ever meet again?

EPONINE

One more day with him not caring

MARIUS & COSETTE

I was born to be with you.

EPONINE

What a life I might have known...

MARIUS & COSETTE

And I swear I will be true.

EPONINE

But he never saw me there!

ENJOLRAS

One more day before the storm!

MARIUS

Do I fellow where she goes?

ENJOLRAS

At the barricades of freedom!

MARIUS

Shall I join my brothers there?

ENJOLRAS

When our ranks begin to form.

MARIUS

Do I stay; and do I dare?

ENJOLRAS

Will you take your place with me?

CHORUS

The time is now

The day is here.

VALJEAN

One day more!

JAVERT

One day more to revolution

We will nip it in the bud!

We'll be ready for these schoolboys

They will wet themselves...with blood!

THE THENARDIERS

Watch 'em run amuck

Catch 'em as they fall!

Never know your luck

When there's a free-for-all.

Here a little でdipと

There a little でtouchと

Most of them are goners

So they won't miss much!

REBEL STUDENTS

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)

Do you here the people sing?

MARIUS

My place is here. I fight with you!

VALJEAN

One day more.

MARIUS & COSETTE

I did not live until today.

How can I live when we are parted!

JAVERT

I will join these people's heroes

I will follow where they go

I will learn their little secrets

I will know the things they know.

EPONINE

One more day all on my own

VALJEAN

One day more

MARIUS & COSETTE

Tomorrow you'll be worlds away.

And yet with you my world has started

JAVERT

One more day to revolution.

We will nip it in the bud.

We'll be ready for these schoolboys.

THENARDIERS

Watch 'em run amuck, catch 'em as they fall

Never know your luck when there's a free for all.

VALJEAN

Tomorrow we'll be far away

Tomorrow is the judgment day.

ALL

Tomorrow we'll discover

What our God in heaven has in stone

One more dawn! One more day! One day more!

The stdents prepare to build the barricades, Marius sends Eponine with a letter to Cosette which is intercepted at the Rue Plumet by Valjean. Eponine decides, despite what he has told her, to rejoin Marius at the barricade.

ON MY OWN

EPONINE

And now I'm all alone again

Nowhere to go, no one to turn to

I did not want your money, sir,

I came out here 'cos I was told 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 till 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 for ever 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 when the night is over

He is gone, the river's just a river

Without him the world around me changes

The trees are bare, and everywhere the streets

are full of strangers.

I love him

But everyday I'm learning

All my life I've only been pretending.

Without me his world will go on turning

The world is full of happiness that I have never known

I love him, I love him, I love him...but only on my own.

The barricade is built and the revolution is begun. After a first good day difficulties start.

THE ATTACK

ARMY OFFICER

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!

ENJOLRAS

Damn their warnings. Damn their lies!

They will see the people rise!

STUDENTS

Damn their warnings. Damn their lies!

They will see the people rise!

In trying to return to the Barricade to give Marius news from Cosette, Eponine is shot and fatally injured.

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 close 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.

+- So don't you fret, M'sieur Marius

| I don't feel any pain

| A little fall of rain

| Can hardly hurt me now.

|

| 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...

|

| MARIUS(Interjection)

| Hushabye, dear Eponine

|

| You won't feel any pain

| A little fall of rain

| Can hardly hurt you now.

| I'm here

|

| I will stay with you till you are sleeping.

|

| And rain

+- Will make the flowers grow...

Javert has come to the Barricade disguised but Gavroche exposes him as a police spy. Valjean arrives at the Barricade in search of Marius. He is given the chance to kill Javert but instead lets him go. Night falls, the firing has ceased and the students remember happier days. They all know that the end is near. Grantaire, the wine lover among the students, sings by the fire:

DRINK WITH ME

GRANTAIRE

Drink with me to days gone by.

Sing with me the songs we knew

Here's pretty girls

Who went to our heads

Here's to witty girls

Who went to our beds

Here's to them

And here's to you!

STUDENTS and WOMEN

Drink with me to days gone by

To the life that used to be

At the shrine of friendship

Never say die!

May the wine of friendship

never run dry.

Here's to you.

And here's to me.

MARIUS

Do I care if I should die

Now she goes across the sea?

Life without Cosette

Means nothing at all

Would you weep, Cosette,

Should Marius fall?

Will you weep, Cosette, for me?

Everybody is asleep at the barricade except Jean Valjean who prays to God to save Marius from the slaughter which is to come.

BRING HIM HOME

VALJEAN

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

Bring him home

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

Bring him home

Bring him home.

The barricade falls and everyone is killed except Jean Valjean who sees that Marius, although seriously wounded, is also still alive. He takes him on his back through the Paris sewers, where Thénardier, who is robbing the corpses of the rebels, catches sight of him.

DOG EATS DOG

THENARDIER

Here's a hint of gold

Struck into a tooth

Pardon me, M'sieur

You won't be using this no more,

Shouldn't be too hard to sell.

Add it to the pile

Add it to the stock

Here among the sewer rats

A breath away form Hell

Y'get accustomed to the smell.

Here's a tasty ring

Pretty little thing

Wouldn't want to waste it

That would really be a crime,

Thank you sir, I'm in your debt.

Here's a little boy

Take it off the boy

His heart's no longer going

And he's lived his little time

But his Watch is ticking yet.

Well someone's got to clean 'em up, my friends

Before the little harvest

Disappears into the mud

Someone's got to collect their odds and ends

When the gutters run with blood.

It's a world where the dogs eat the dogs

Where they kill for the bones in the street

And God in His Heaven

He don't inferfere

'Cos 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.

As Valjean emerges form the sewers Javert is there waiting for him like a fox after his prey. Valjean asks for one hour to save Marius and Javert decides to let him go and his unbending principles of justice having been shattered by Valjean's own mercy, he kills himself by throwing himself into the swollen River Seine.

SOLILOQUY(Javert's Suicide)

JAVERT

Who is the man?

What sort of devil is he?

To have me caught in a trap

And choose to let 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'll live in the debt of a thief

Damned if I'll 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 desp'rate man that 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?

And must I now begin to doubt,

Who never doubted all those years?

My heart is stone and still it trembles.

The world I have know 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 that world

From the world of Jean Valjean.

There is nowhere I can turn

There is no way to go on...

TURNING

Did you see them

Going off to fight

Children of the barricade

Who didn't last the night?

Did you see them

Lying where they died?

Someone used to cradle them

And kiss them when they cried.

Did you see them lying side by side?

Who will wake them?

No one ever will.

No one ever told them

That a summer day can kill

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?

Nothing changes. Nothing ever will.

Every year another brat, another mouth to fill.

Same old story. What's the use of tears?

What's use of praying

If there's nobody who hears!

Turning turning turning turning turning

Through the years.

Turning, turning , turning through the years.

Minutes into hours, and the hours into years

Nothing changes. Nothing ever can.

Round about the roundabout, and back where you begin.

Round and round and back where you begin!

A few months later, Marius unaware of the identity of his rescuer has recovered and recalls, at Cosette's side, the days of the barricade where all his friends have lost their lives.

EMPTY CHAIRS AT EMPTY TABLES

MARIUS

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 でtomorrowと

And tomorrow never came.

From the table in the corner

They could see a world reborn

And they rose with voices ringing

I can hear them now

The very words that they had sung

Became their last communion

On the lonely barricade at dawn.

Oh, my friend , my firends, 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.

Phantom faces at the window

Phantom shadows on the floor

Empty chairs at empty tables

Where my friends will sing no more.

Jean Valjean considers he has now fulfilled his duties by taking Marius back to Cosette's love. He confesses to Marius the truth of his past and insists that he must go away after the young couple are married rather than taint the sanctity and safety of their union. The infamous Thénardier however do interrupt the wedding offering to sell information about Valjean in the sewers robbing a body and Thénardier produces as proof a ring which he stole form the corpses Valjean carried in the sewers the night the barricades fell.

It is Marius' own ring and he realises that it was Valjean who rescued him that night. He leaves the ball with Cosette to find Valejan while Thénardier remains to enjoy the evening, and gloat over their survival.

BEGGAR AT THE FEAST

CHORUS

Ring out the bells upon this day of days

May all the angels of the Lord above

In jubilation sing their songs of praise

And crown this blessed time with peace and love.

THENARDIER

Ain't it a laugh?

Ain't it a treat?

Hob-nobbin' here

Among the elite?

Here comes a prince.

There goes a Jew.

This one's a queer,

But what can you do?

Paris at my feet.

Paris in the dust.

And here's me breaking bread

With the upper crust...

Beggar at the feast!

Master of the dance!

Life is easy pickings

If you grab your chance.

Every where you go,

Law-abinding folk

Doing what is decent,

But they're mostly broke!

Singing to the Lord on Sundays

Praying for the gifts He will send.

M. & MME. THENARDIER

But we're the ones who take it

We're the ones who make it in the end!

Watch the buggers dance.

Watch 'em till they drop.

Keep your wits about you

And you stand on top!

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.

THENARDIER

And when I'm rich as Croesus

Jesus! Won't I see you all in Hell!

Marius and Cosette hurry to Valjean where Cosette learns for the first time of her own history before the old man dies joining the spirits of Fantine, Eponine and all those who died at the barricades.

FINALE

VALJEAN

Now you are here

Again beside me

Now I can die in peace

For now my life is blessed...

COSETTE

You will live, Papa, you're going to live

It's too soon to ever say goodbye!

VALJEAN

Yes, Cosette, forbid me now to die

I'll obey. I will try.

On this page

I write my last confession.

Read it well

When I, at last, am sleeping

It's a story

Of those who always loved you.

Your mother gave her life for you

Then gave you to my keeping.

FANTINE

Come with me

Where chains will never bind you

All your grief

At last, at last, behind you

Lord in Heaven,

Look down on him in mercy.

VALJEAN

Forgive me all my trespasses

And take me to Your glory.

VALJEAN,FANTINE,EPONINE

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.

CHORUS

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 ploughshare

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?

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...

Tomoroow comes!

END OF SIDE TWO