Les Miserables, the Happy Musical
So Hub and I were chatting in the car about musicals. He only likes one musical: <i>Les Miserables</i>. We both love it. He argued with me, however, when I said it was sad.
Hub: "It's not sad! It has a happy ending!"
Me: "What? Everybody dies!"
Hub: "But Valjean goes to heaven, and that daughter-person gets married to that guy."
Me: "Cosette and Marius. But Cosette's mother Fantine dies of the clap or something, and all of Marius's friends die, including Eponine getting shot and singing a whole song about it. And the rising fails, and the people of France continue living in poverty. And Javert kills himself. The evil inkeeper and his wife are the only ones who do well out of the bargain."
Hub: [ponders all of this] "Yeah, but Valjean was able to fulfill his promise to Fantine..."
Me: "...after letting her get fired, become a prostitute, and die..."
Hub: "...and he goes to heaven! Although I guess the people that the title actually refers to are pretty screwed...but it's still a happy ending."
Happy Easter.
Hub: "It's not sad! It has a happy ending!"
Me: "What? Everybody dies!"
Hub: "But Valjean goes to heaven, and that daughter-person gets married to that guy."
Me: "Cosette and Marius. But Cosette's mother Fantine dies of the clap or something, and all of Marius's friends die, including Eponine getting shot and singing a whole song about it. And the rising fails, and the people of France continue living in poverty. And Javert kills himself. The evil inkeeper and his wife are the only ones who do well out of the bargain."
Hub: [ponders all of this] "Yeah, but Valjean was able to fulfill his promise to Fantine..."
Me: "...after letting her get fired, become a prostitute, and die..."
Hub: "...and he goes to heaven! Although I guess the people that the title actually refers to are pretty screwed...but it's still a happy ending."
Happy Easter.
Comments
I think I'll stick with The Bandwagon. Not only does it have Fred Astaire, but Cyd Charisse too.
Posted by: Serge | March 24, 2008 09:19 AM
i love it too, but my (adopted)(black) daughter refuses to watch the DVD and almost refused to go to the play in London last summer because I admitted it has a sad ending ...uplifting, but sad.
she loved the thenardiers, however. she likes anything funny, pretty much. the first shakespeare play she say was a French production of 12th Night that was very funny, so she watched that on DVD three times ...
paperwork -- we finally got her american certificate of citizenship. she's pretty excited about going to the states on a us passport this summer, if that goes more efficiently than the certificate, and it should.
jody
(via making light, where i am only a lurker)
Posted by: jodyinparis | April 3, 2008 03:07 AM