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So welcome back to the Sound of Musicals, our new musical segment. I'm here with Oliver. Hi, Oliver.

Hello, hello.

Hi. So last time we talked about one of your favorite musicals Les Mis. And today, let's continue. Let's get more into the conflicts or the characters, because last time you shared with us the basic story like a really, really brief version of the story. And I'm sure now our audience already have some idea of that story.

Yes, it was a very fast sort of overview of the story. There is a lot more to it and hopefully today we can make it a bit brighter because I felt very down after talking about it last time, it is not a happy story.

I know.

It is not a happy story, but…

Yeah, it got me down as well.

I know.

Everyone died in the end. There was pretty much no hope.

So what attracted you to this particular musical? I mean you have all these other happy jolly musicals to choose from, why this? There must be a reason other than it's depressing, right?

Actually it might be, because it's depressing that I do like it so much, because lots of other musicals they have serious parts in them, but then they also have lots of comic relief. They have comedy characters. They have things to make you feel happy and to cheer you up.

Les Mis doesn't have that same style to it. There are sad parts, there are hopeful parts, but then it goes down to sad again, and it keeps bringing you down with the reality of what it was.

I love history. It's my favorite subject and to see this period of history in this way is something which always keeps me interested and drags me back in.

I see. So it's one of those musicals that really has depth.

It does. It has depth in lots of different ways. The characters have a lot of different levels in terms of their desires, their wants. The conflicts between the two. There are …every time you watch it, you find something new, I find.

Talking about conflicts, I couldn't help noticing there are lots of opposite in the show like for example, the main characters like Jean Valjean and the policeman who keeps chasing after him, Javert.

Yes, those two are possibly my favorite examples of opposites in the show, because it's a competition. It's law versus lawlessness, but it's also right versus wrong. They are both good men, but they have their different ways of being good. Javert focuses on the law. The law is correct. The law is everything. To him, the law is God. Jean Valjean believes he what…he tries to be good. He doesn't follow the law all the time. But he always tries to do the right thing. So it does bring him into a conflict.

He's not a bad person.

Neither of them are, no, neither of them are bad people. They're just following what they believe is correct in different ways, but it does bring them into conflict quite a lot through the show.

Yeah, because Javert didn't believe that people can change, criminals they will always commit crime. There's no redemption.

Exactly, yes. He thought that once you are a criminal you are always a criminal, you don't change; and he never believed that Jean Valjean would change and he hunted him for years and years to catch him and to send him back to prison.

But then there is a moment where Javert being captured by the revolutionaries. And Jean Valjean has the chance to get rid of Javert to kill him, yeah, to get rid of him and to live a life where he is not being chased, but Jean Valjean lets Javert go which changes everything about Javert. The most important thing is doubt. Javert begins to doubt, he has hunted Jean Valjean as a criminal, and criminals are bad. But Jean Valjean just let him go, so…

Yes, for Javert it was always very…especially for the most part of it, it was always black and white.

Very much so…

Easy as that, law man, criminals, but then at that moment, he started to doubt his fundamental belief in life.

He does, yes, he doubts everything that he has focused on all his life, the black, the white, the right, the wrong. Suddenly there's gray, and he doesn't know what to do with that. He can't reconcile it in his own mind. He can't work out what he should be doing anymore. And that doubt inevitably leads him to commit suicide because he doesn't know what the world is. It's not black and white. It's very different from what he assumed. And there are other reasons going into it, but this is one of the reasons why he does in the end commit suicide.

He could not live in a world where this criminal Jean Valjean was also a good man. He couldn't do it and he couldn't be in his debt. Javert owed Jean Valjean his life and he couldn't owe a criminal a debt. So he commits suicide to take himself out of the equation so to speak.

Yeah, but apart from these two main guys, one character that touches me, obviously Fantine. Fantine is… like you said, you told us the story shared with us the story, if you look at her life such a miserable life, such a miserable end as well, but she did nothing wrong. From the beginning to the end, she never really was a bad person. She was sort of pushed by all of these happening around her, into this miserable life.

Yes, she was…It was forced upon her. She thought she was doing the right thing. She thought that she had found love with a young man. She was a young girl and he was slightly older than her and she thought she had found love and eventually had his child but then he leaves her. So she is forced to work and…

It was never serious for him, for him it was always a fling.

Exactly, it was always just a short time as she says he was gone when autumn came, it was a summer fling for him. But for her it was.. she probably saw her future with him but then he was gone. What does she do after that? It's a very sad story of Fantine.

As you mentioned about this tragic, not even love story, like a fling for this guy, this rich student, I think?

I think he was a student, he was certainly older than she was. She was still… just a little bit older than a child really.

So I always remember this bit when in this particular song in this particular score, she said 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, that's what you were mentioning?

Yes, that was what I was saying, and I think it's very sad and very moving image that this song gives you.

We're gonna listen to this part.

(Music)

Honestly, I don't know if you would agree with me, perhaps you prefer the musical version, but I really like Anne Hathaway’s rendition in the movie. This part it was so emotional, so powerful. Even if you've never read the book or watch the musical, you don't even know the story. Just by watching this particular score, this bit, her rendition is good enough to really put you in tears.

It was such a…I feel powerful performance. I really thought Anne Hathaway was fantastic in the movie. I really did. She gave it such emotion and it was moving, it was chilling at times. It was chilling how she sang about this love she had and how he left and how she was lost and angry. And you could see it. You could feel it the way she sang it. It was a very good performance from her.

And you could see so many layers of emotion. It was like you said anger, just desperation and towards the end, it was just giving up.

It was, it was, just the end, now life has killed the dream I dreamed, it really does say everything about her situation. She can't be any lower when she has done nothing wrong. But life has given her this, it's… it's very sad.

What about other musical scores in this, apart from this, what is your favorite?

I've got a joint two favorites. There are two which are possibly my favorites. The first one is the one that most people know, Do You Hear the People Sing, which is…

Let's listen to that part.

Yes please. Thank you.

(Music)

That is about these revolutionaries, right?

Yes, it's about the revolution that is starting, the people and the students are rising up against the king and his armies. They want to fix France. They want to change the world. They want food for everyone and jobs and it's a marching song.

It's people marching.

It is. It's a battle song in lots of ways. It's a call to the people to stand up and to fight. And when you hear it the first time it makes you want to join in, I did when I heard it, I wanted to go and join in.

You can totally…

But…

Yeah, you can totally visualize it. You can totally visualize people marching, being all hopeful that they believe in what they are fighting for, that sort of idea.

It's all about belief, belief in this new better world that they can create if they stand together and fight and ultimately the show and the movie and the book shows that it is an impossible dream.

But at that moment, when they are standing together, they believe it and they make you believe it, because it is a very powerful song I find. So that one is one of my favorites.

You mentioned two, what was the other one?

The other one is Stars, and it's sung by Javert. He sings it during the first half of the show. He sings it again just before his suicide, a version of it, before his suicide. And it shows his belief in the world. The first time he sings it, the law is right, if you fall as Lucifer fell, you fall in flame.

So there is no middle ground, you are good or you fall. And later when the doubt happens you can see that he's not so sure anymore. You can see his mind is changing. Yes, and the difference between the two versions of that song, I think it's a really good way of showing a change in somebody's mind in somebody's opinions.

Good sort of contrasting pieces. But I have to say the movie version that was Russell Crowe, right?

It was.

I would say it was the most powerful bit of the movie.

It was not, no, I have to say that Russell Crowe I feel…did not really give it as much as it could have or deserved. I think it is one of my favorite songs but not my favorite in that movie. No.

Okay. Because the time limit, I think we're gonna have to wrap up here. I know a lot of you guys at least watched a movie or maybe even read the book or maybe even seeing the musical of Les Mis.

Tell us what you think, tell us who is your favorite character, if you agree with our little analysis of these conflicts of these characters.

And also, since we're starting this new segment, Sound of Musicals, if you like any musical and would like for us to talk about those musicals, leave us a comment in the comment sections, maybe we'll pick your idea. Thank you, Oliver for coming to the studio.

Thank you for having me again. It's been fantastic.

I can't wait for our next talk on another musical.

No, I am definitely looking forward to talk about more musicals here.

Great, on that note. See you next time. Bye

Bye bye.