Les Misrables: 25th Anniversary Concert (Reflection Paper) by: Poll Anthony R.

Santillan

Les Misrables: 25th Anniversary Concert, I can say, is one of the best musical concerts in the world. Sometimes, we find movies deadening especially if it does not suit your interests. I propose a toast to the person who produced this then for making Les Misrables arousing or holding the attention of the people through a form of a concert. I can give this concert a 10 for making it a successful one. True, indeed, that Les Misrables never cease to deliver such a heartfelt act.

FORM/MEDIUM The concert utilized the same plot from the novel. All scenes were performed with an arrangement. What Im trying to explain is that the concert did follow the orders of how the scenes happened in the novel. However, the concert was just a sum-up of the crucial occurrences in the novel. One dominant element in the concert is music also. The concert, I can say, is a good one for the reason that the concert itself relies on the energy of the band and their ability to communicate with the audience. I am a person who loves music. The songs in the concert were sang naturally as if they becharmed the audiences hearts. An ensemble of three hundred performers and musicians all took part and added for the success of the concert. The actions or movements of the actors are controlled or performed in a highly conventionalized manner. Their actions or movements are suitable for their assigned roles.

THE SUBJECT MATTER Upon examination of the concert, it is clearly evident the elements of Forgiveness, Self Sacrifice, and Courage are only a few of the main themes the concert or the write of the novel itself, Hugo wanted to develop. Forgiveness The first example of this was at the very beginning, when Jean Valjean stayed with the bishop. Valjean stole his silver and ran off. He ends up being caught by police, but when the police questioned the bishop, he claimed to have given the silver to Valjean. Jean was

confused and the bishop claimed that with the silver, he had purchased the convicts soul, and had given it to God, and from that day forward, Valjean must be a good man. Self-sacrifice One such example of this element is with Valjean. He lets Marius and Cosette marry, and for a while, he seems all right with that fact. Later on however, he goes to Marius, and confesses to his past. He tells Marius his whole story, and thinks it best if he never sees Cosette again. Marius agress but allows Valjean the occasional visit. Only at the end, does Marius realize what a good man Valjean is and by then it was too late. Valjean dies shortly after Marius and Cosette visit him to ask him to come back and live with them. Courage The main kind of courage that will be covered is emotional and physical. An example is when Valjean must enter Paris by climbing the wall that surrounds the great city. Normally, this would be hard enough for anyone.

THE STYLE The concert employs Hugos style of imaginative realism and is set in an artificially created human hell that emphasizes the three major predicaments of the nineteenth century. Each of the three major characters in the novel symbolizes one of these predicaments: Jean Valjean represents the degradation of man in the proletariat, Fantine represents the subjection of women through hunger, and Cosette represents the atrophy of the child by darkness. In part, the novels fame has endured because Hugo successfully created characters that serve as symbols of larger problems without being flat devices.