Tweaking The Classic
Before we get to the book review, let's look at a couple of things that they changed from the stage musical. I have to say that all of the ones that I'll be mentioning are ones that made me say, "Oh wow" instead of "Oh no."
"
I Dreamed A Dream" This song always packs a hell of a punch because of its despair and loneliness and bitterness against God and mankind. I love that in a
Bunheads episode, Michelle intends to sing this song until the accompanist convinces her not to be the 50th person to sing it that day. And it comes directly after Fantine has been fired from her job at the factory for having a child out of wedlock. Having recently left my own job and since I'm writing this in the hiatus before my new job starts, I can understand being pissed off at the world. But that's not where the movie places it. Fantine was fired and they moved on to "Lovely Ladies," in which Victor Hugo sums up Fantine's demise as "Fantine became a woman of the town." As an alto who only gets one or two good songs written for her range EVER, I was ready to cry in annoyance that they cut "I Dreamed a Dream." Instead, they waited until Fantine had been forced into a life of prostitution to insert the song. It's after her bitter question, "Don't they know they're making love to one already dead?" When Fantine says that, "There was a time when the world was a song and the song was exciting" in the hold of a ship where she has just been had for a few sous, it makes a lot more sense to the character. She sings that "I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I'm living" and we've already been through that hell. I mentioned before that I cry at certain parts of this musical and was waiting to find out if the movie would bring me to tears the same way. Anne Hathaway is the only Fantine who has ever made me sob uncontrollably through the last half of that song.
"Do You Hear the People Sing" This song is another classic. The students who are standing up against the corrupt and out-of-touch government are rallying their few troops to take a stand. They're planning where they can stash their weapons and when they will form the barricades. Enjorlas sings this song in preparation of what they are about to commit to. In the film, they wait until the funeral procession of General Lamarque, their hero. The students who idolized the man stand in furious and impotent respect as the government parades the body through the streets of Paris, they start singing
a capella (without accompaniment for those of you who aren't familiar with the term).
All of a sudden, this song that seems almost ridiculously upbeat in the original musical (except for the death motif) is the French version of "We shall overcome."
Eponine's Death If you've seen the musical, you may remember this a little differently than the movie. On stage, Eponine is returning from delivering a letter to Cosette through her father when shots are fired. Marius spends half a minute singing about that letter before he notices that blood everywhere is not the sign of a healthy messenger. The book itself has Eponine essentially take a bullet for Marius. They kept that in the movie and I am so relieved by that. Yes, the musical's version of events implied that she died in his service, but that's not as powerful as her sacrifice for him.