50 Fun Facts About Les Misérables

Who wrote the novel Les Misérables?

Flaubert hated the book, finding 'neither truth nor greatness' in it.

In which year was the novel first published?

The first two volumes appeared in Brussels at the end of March and in Paris on 3 April; the rest followed on 15 May.

What did Jean Valjean steal, earning him five years in prison that grew to nineteen?

It was to feed his sister's seven starving children; four failed escape attempts added the extra years.

What is Valjean's prisoner number in the musical?

The prologue with the number and Javert's parole speech was added for the English version; the French original had no prologue.

Which cleric shelters Valjean and then lies to the police, saying the stolen silver was a gift?

Hugo modelled him on Bienvenu de Miollis, the real bishop of that town at the time.

What does the Bishop press on Valjean in addition to the silverware he had stolen?

He tells Valjean his soul has been bought for God and that the silver should make an honest man of him.

Under what alias does Valjean become a factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer?

The other names on the list are also aliases he uses later in the novel.

Valjean was loosely based on which ex-convict who founded France's first private detective agency?

In 1828 Vidocq really did lift a heavy cart off a worker in his paper factory, just as Valjean does.

Fantine, desperate to pay the Thénardiers, sells her hair and what else?

The Thénardiers' demands were extortionate and largely fictitious; she then turns to prostitution.

The Thénardiers, who abuse young Cosette, run an inn in which village?

The musical's emblem of Cosette sweeping the inn is based on an 1879 illustration by Émile Bayard.

In the musical, how much does Valjean pay the Thénardiers to release Cosette?

The scene is titled 'The Bargain' and leads into 'The Waltz of Treachery'.

Where do Valjean and Cosette hide from Javert for several years in Paris?

The gardener there is Fauchelevent, the man Valjean once rescued from under a cart, and Valjean becomes a gardener too.

Street urchin Gavroche is secretly the eldest son of which couple?

His parents show him no affection and send him to live on the streets, where Hugo says he is better off.

The story culminates in which real Paris uprising?

It was sparked by riots at the funeral of General Lamarque, who had died of cholera.

How does Valjean escape from the fallen barricade carrying the wounded Marius?

At the locked exit gate he runs into Thénardier, who lets him out for a price; hundreds of pages of the novel are devoted to the sewer system itself.

How does Javert die?

He first writes a letter to the prefect about the squalid conditions in prisons, unable to reconcile the law with what he now knows to be right.

Roughly how many words long is the novel in the original French?

It runs to five volumes, 48 books and 365 chapters, more than a quarter of it digressions on subjects like convents and the sewers.

Hugo devotes 19 chapters of Volume II to which battle, finishing the book at its battlefield?

The digression's chance meeting between Thénardier and Colonel Pontmercy sets up much of what follows.

Hugo supposedly asked his publisher how Les Misérables was selling with a telegram containing only what?

The publisher supposedly replied with a single exclamation mark.

Which two Frenchmen conceived and wrote the original musical?

The idea struck the librettist while watching Oliver! in London, when the Artful Dodger walked on and he saw Gavroche.

Watching which musical in London gave Alain Boublil the idea for Les Misérables?

The show was first released as a French concept album in 1980 that sold 260,000 copies.

Where was the original French stage version presented in 1980?

The 100 performances were seen by over 500,000 people, and Enjolras was played by singer Michel Sardou on the album.

Which producer, fresh from opening Cats on Broadway, took on the English-language version?

He was initially reluctant when director Peter Farago sent him the French concept album in 1983.

Who wrote the English lyrics, refusing to call them a 'translation'?

About a third of his lyrics were rough translations, a third adaptations, and a third entirely new material.

The English-language Les Misérables opened in October 1985 at which London venue, then home of the RSC?

It transferred to the Palace Theatre that December and to the smaller Queen's, now the Sondheim, in 2004.

Which two RSC directors shaped and directed the English version?

The programme billed it as 'The Royal Shakespeare Company presentation of the RSC/Cameron Mackintosh production'.

Who originated the role of Jean Valjean in London and on Broadway?

He also created the Phantom at Sydmonton in 1985 and cameos as the Bishop of Digne in the 2012 film.

Which Broadway star played Fantine in the original 1985 London cast?

Michael Ball was the original Marius and Frances Ruffelle the original Éponine.

Which non-musical play is the only West End show to have run longer than its longest-running musical?

Worldwide, only the original off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks has outlasted it among musicals.

The original Broadway run closed in 2003 after how many performances?

The closing was postponed from March to May 2003 after the announcement itself caused ticket sales to surge.

How many Tony Awards did the original Broadway production win from twelve nominations?

The haul included Best Musical and Best Original Score.

Which song, sung by Fantine, was originally the French 'J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie'?

Susan Boyle's 2009 Britain's Got Talent audition with the song became a global viral moment.

Which Scottish singer's 2009 Britain's Got Talent audition went viral worldwide?

Piers Morgan called it 'the biggest yes' he had ever given on the show.

Who directed the 2012 film of the musical?

He came to it fresh from The King's Speech; the film premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in December 2012.

Who plays Jean Valjean in the 2012 film?

He starved himself for the opening prison scenes, going on 45-minute morning runs on an empty stomach.

Whose singing as Javert drew most of the film's criticism?

The rest of the principal cast were widely praised, and Hathaway won an Oscar.

Anne Hathaway won which Academy Award for playing Fantine?

She had her real hair cut off on camera for the scene where Fantine sells it.

Which new song was written for the film, sung by Valjean after he takes Cosette from the inn?

The film includes every stage song except 'I Saw Him Once' and 'Dog Eats Dog', though many were trimmed.

Which original stage Valjean plays the kindly bishop who gives Valjean the candlesticks in the film?

The original Éponine, Frances Ruffelle, also appears, as a prostitute.

Roughly how much did the 2012 film gross worldwide, against a $61M budget?

Its opening-day take broke the record for a musical film, previously held by High School Musical 3.

Who plays Enjolras, leader of Les Amis de l'ABC, in the film, having auditioned for Marius?

He had never performed any role in the stage musical before the film.

The 1998 non-musical film version starred which actor as Valjean, opposite Geoffrey Rush's Javert?

It was shot at Barrandov Studios in Prague and directed by Bille August.

The 1935 Hollywood version, nominated for Best Picture, starred which pair as Valjean and Javert?

The 1934 French version by Raymond Bernard ran four and a half hours.

Who adapted the novel as a 2018 BBC series starring Dominic West, David Oyelowo and Lily Collins?

The same writer had already adapted Pride and Prejudice and War & Peace for the BBC.

The novel's first English translation, by Charles E. Wilbour, appeared in which city in June 1862?

A Confederate edition printed in Richmond, Virginia the next year quietly cut Hugo's antislavery sentences.

In Hugo's notes for the novel, what name did he first write in block letters for his hero?

He jotted it while taking notes at the Bagne of Toulon in 1839; Tréjean became Valjean when the book was written.

Where does street urchin Gavroche sleep in the novel?

The elephant was a real abandoned monument; Gavroche also briefly shelters his two younger brothers there.

In French, the student club's name 'ABC' is a pun on which word?

The Friends of the ABC are the revolutionary students who build the barricade with Marius.

How many volumes make up the novel, which is subdivided into 48 books and 365 chapters?

The chapters are short, commonly no more than a few pages each.

Which serialized 1842-43 novel by Eugène Sue did Hugo borrow plot elements from?

Sue's serial was a huge success and, like Hugo's book, viewed Paris through its most downtrodden.