I'm dismayed by Eponine's model-perfect looks at 1:12. She's supposed to be missing a few teeth and her face hardened by life and drinking. Cosette should be the pretty one, which is why Marius is attracted to her and not Eponine. When Eponine is pretty as well, it throws everything out of whack. The audience (who sympathizes with Eponine, anyway, since she has a memorable, lovesick song and a touching death song) will no doubt think, "Why does he want boring Cosette when he can have the beautiful, headstrong Eponine?" That's been my complaint with the musical. They put too much emphasis on Eponine and not enough on Cosette, so the former comes off looking better for the audience. In the book, Marius doesn't really care about Eponine and humors her, but in the musical they're good friends. Eponine should be wretched. We should be rooting for Cosette after all she's been through.
I had a similar problem with the
Phantom movie. They cast a handsome man in the title role, and his mask became more of a fashion accessory than a guise to hide his deformity. As it turns out, his face didn't look that bad once he was unmasked; it just looked like he had a bad laser peel. Meanwhile, they uglied up Patrick Wilson with that awful wig. I remember talk at the time that Christine should've left Raoul, or why didn't she choose the Phantom since he was hotter?
Eponine and the Phantom should derive some sympathy for us, but in the end they're pathetic characters. We shouldn't be rooting against Cosette and Raoul, but when they make their foils attractive and give them meaningful songs, it shifts the audience's sympathy to them.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
