Come to Me...
Cosette, the light is fading...
Don't you see, the evening star appearing...
There is a darkness, which comes without a warning...
But I will sing you lullabies and wake you in the morning...
My favourite recording is definitely the TAC, for the performers and the fact that it's almost complete (well, no one here has the CSR...so...). I like the OBC well enough, but it's missing a lot of important songs...when you go to get the CD and you can only pick up one recording, get the TAC if the performances is the most important or the CSR if having everything is most important...IMO.
Ruthie Henshall (Fantine) is the most amazing performer of any cast! She is just amazing. She acts through the song and doesn't just sing it, and does so with a lot of emotion. Plus her voice is amazing...ever notice how long she holds the final note in the finale? ("To love another person is to see the face of God").
Jean Valjean
"You can take...you can give...let him be...let him live...if I die...let me die...let him live..."
The character the story centers on. It begins when his 19 year jail term is done, after he is transformed by the Bishop of Digne's (who, btw, is one of my fav. characters even if he has a small part...) show of forgiveness, and he breaks parole to start over again as Monseuir Madeline. I think this character is amazing since it shows transformation, love, and self-sacrifice.
Javert
"And does he know...that granting me my life today...this man has killed me...I am reaching...but I fall...and the stars are black and cold..."
(First off, I just have to say...[:))The character that is after Valjean, which gives him the label of the "bad guy"...and, let me say, the character is way more then that. He is doing what he knows, what his idea of right is--the law. I think Valjean's character represents justice and Javert's the law. I think this is one of the more complex characters in the story.
Fantine
"Monseuir, don't mock me now I pray...it's hard enough I've lost my pride...you let your foreman send me away...yes, you were there...and turned aside...I never did no wrong...my daughter is close to dying...if there's a God above...he'd let me die instead..."
My personal favourite character, this character is just plain amazing. The only happiness she had and the only reason she lived was her daughter, and she even needed to sacrifice that, and in the end, it was her sacrifices from love for her daughter that kills her. She didn't even plan for her daughter yet she is the world to her. What *isn't* amazing about this character?
The Thenardiers
Umm...not exactly my favourite characters. :-) They are important and good characters in the novel, but here...I don't know, I guess I don't like comic relief! :-)
Eponine
"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..."
Actually, I think the novel has a better "version" of this character, but it's still amazing. She is the daughter of the Thenardiers who falls in love with Marius, while he loves Cosette. Eponine plots for Marius and herself to die at the barricades.
Marius
"My friends, my friends forgive me...that I live and you are gone...there is a grief that can't be spoken...there is a pain that goes on and on..."
"Games! Oh, I love games!" Anyway...this character is amazing. The films (I love them, though...:-)) don't have the best portrayal of him, but in the musical and book he's amazing. I think "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" is one of the best songs in the musical (besides I Dreamed a Dream and Come To Me...)
Cosette
"Every day...we'll remember that night and the vow that we made...a heart full of love...no fear, no regret..."
A lot of people don't like this character for various reasons...(example: "ditzy", takes Marius from Eponine, doesn't even have a solo...) but I rather like the character, I don't have a problem with it. However, she doesn't have as much emotional impact and complexity as other characters...
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