Posted: 3/23/17 at 8:49am
"she's never had a scrap of brains" reflects poorly on Eponine's mother. Not Eponine. There's no reason to get rid of it.
Posted: 3/23/17 at 9:15am
kkevilus said: "I'm a little surprised that the changes to the robbery haven't been called out. Maybe it's not politically correct to make Eponine appear undereducated because she's female or poor? But they keep the "she's never had a scrap of brains"?? I missed the lyrics in more recent versions and the movie but I think it gives a better picture of Marius thoughts on Eponine.
Mme. Thenardier
These bloody students on our street
Here they come slumming once again
Our Eponine would kiss their feet
She never had a scrap of brain
Marius
Eponine, what's up today?
I haven't seen you much about.
Eponine
Here, you can always catch me in.
Marius
Mind the police don't catch you out!
Eponine
Here, whatcher doing with all them books?
I could have been a student too!
Don't judge a girl on how she looks...
I know a lot of things I do!
Marius
Poor Eponine, the things you know
You wouldn't find in books like these.
Eponine
I like the way you grow your hair
Marius
I like the way you always tease
Eponine
Little he knows!
Little he sees!
"
I am a huge, huge Les Miz fan and I have to say, listening to these lyrics as a grown woman had a very different impact than when I listened as a teenager. My thought are....did Marius just throw shade at her like that? Ew. I am not familiar with the changes on that exchange since its been awhile since I saw the production on stage. What did they change the line about "the things you know you wouldn't find in books like these" to? Or am I misunderstanding the post and that was the change?
Posted: 3/23/17 at 9:17am
I have always taken it as Marius acknowledging that the books he's holding/reading don't represent the experience of poverty that she knows.
Posted: 3/23/17 at 9:31am
There are currently, and always have been, a number of awkward lyrics in Les Mis, which is why I guess they feel the need to keep tinkering with them. 
The one that always drives me batty is the recitative alteration between "Red and Black" and "DYHTPS," something about "the light of rebellion ablaze in their eyes." It's been there in the show forever by now, but here I am, still singing along with Anthony Warlow in the 1988 CSR recording, so I don't think I'll ever get used to it.
And while I'm on the subject of Enjolras edits, this isn't a lyrical change, but it is so gross to my ear that I can't stop obsessing over it. Can someone please, please tell me why they thought it necessary to alter Enjolras' last two notes ("until the earth IS FREE!"*) to that horrid octave jump belt??? That can't be how it's originally written in the score, it just can't! For years, most actors seem to have just yelled it, which I much preferred, because now, having heard this shrieky belt attempted on more than one disastrous occasion, I'm starting to think that only a handful of human voices on earth are capable of making it not sound super awkward, and last I checked, Pippa Soo has not been approached to play Enjolras any time soon. :P
Updated On: 3/23/17 at 09:31 AM
Posted: 3/23/17 at 10:55am
aimeric said: "There are currently, and always have been, a number of awkward lyrics in Les Mis, which is why I guess they feel the need to keep tinkering with them. The one that always drives me batty is the recitative alteration between "Red and Black" and "DYHTPS," something about "the light of rebellion ablaze in their eyes." It's been there in the show forever by now, but here I am, still singing along with Anthony Warlow in the 1988 CSR recording, so I don't think I'll ever get used to it.
And while I'm on the subject of Enjolras edits, this isn't a lyrical change, but it is so gross to my ear that I can't stop obsessing over it. Can someone please, please tell me why they thought it necessary to alter Enjolras' last two notes ("until the earth IS FREE!"*) to that horrid octave jump belt??? That can't be how it's originally written in the score, it just can't! For years, most actors seem to have just yelled it, which I much preferred, because now, having heard this shrieky belt attempted on more than one disastrous occasion, I'm starting to think that only a handful of human voices on earth are capable of making it not sound super awkward, and last I checked, Pippa Soo has not been approached to play Enjolras any time soon. :P
"
You and me both. He is my favorite Enjolras (well, probably favorite singer on anything he has ever recorded) and the main reason I listen to the Symphonic recording.
Updated On: 3/23/17 at 10:55 AM
Posted: 3/23/17 at 12:42pm
Babe_Williams said: ""
I am a huge, huge Les Miz fan and I have to say, listening to these lyrics as a grown woman had a very different impact than when I listened as a teenager. My thought are....did Marius just throw shade at her like that? Ew. I am not familiar with the changes on that exchange since its been awhile since I saw the production on stage. What did they change the line about "the things you know you wouldn't find in books like these" to? Or am I misunderstanding the post and that was the change?"
When I first watched Les Miserables, (oddly inspired by Neil Diamonds awful rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream' I was in my late teens and as a young man watching this I heard this as Marius having no interest in Eponine romantically. The things 'she knows' weren't what he was looking for in a bride, she was associating with criminals, etc. I thought perhaps even they may have intimate relations (sex) but that he wasn't taking her home to mommy (grandpa).
The first two times I saw Les Mis it was included. The last time with the 25th anniversary changes, including the concert, and also in the movie it was left at. In the movie Eponine is calling him out for 'pretending to be poor' and it's an akward attempt at the same exchange that ends with her still singing 'Little he knows, little he sees'.
another note: I almost missed the drama of the original (to me) when 24601 rips open his shirt to expose the scar.
