ranking the size of the roles in Les Miserables

[poppinslionking]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 12:57am

I have seen the revival of Les Miserables over twenty times. I know that the largest part belongs to Valjean. But who comes in second, third, etc?

I know that many people would say the second largest part belongs to Javert.

Now that I think about, I think Marius has the second largest part. I am analyzing the parts based on the amount of singing, on-stage acting, etc. Marius probably does the second most singing. He has to sing Empty chairs, one day more, in my life, red and black, do you hear the people sing, little fall of rain, (almost the entire second act). While Javert has to sing "stars" and his soliloquy. Marius is basically in every scene in the second act. Anyway here is my ranking of the role sizes in Les Miserbables. And, by the way, no one plays Marius better than Adam Jacobs. He is amazing.

1. Valjean
2. Marius
3. Javert
4. Thernadier
5. Eponine
6. Fantine
7. Enjolras
8. Cosette
9. Madame Thernadier


How would you rank the roles?

[TapTapTapioca]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 1:08am

1. Valjean
2. Javert
3. Marius
4. Enjorlas/Thernadier
5. Eponine
6. Cosette
7. Fantine
8. Madame Thernadier

[jam_man]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 1:09am

It may depend on who are playing the parts, but I'd say:

Valjean
Javert
Marius
Eponine
Thenardier
Enjolras
Fantine
Grantaire
Gavroche
Cosette
Madame Thenardier

Updated On: 6/6/07 at 01:09 AM

[poppinslionking]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 1:14am

why would you rank enjolras over eponine. Eponine sings more than Enjolras. She has to sing on my own, a little fall of rain, one day more, in my life. Enjolras has only red and black, do you hear the people sing, and one day more.

[TapTapTapioca]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 1:28am

But he has more stage time. It depends on what you are ranking them on- more dialogue, more singing, more stage time...

I think that Grantaire is a smaller part than Cossette.

[jam_man]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 1:43am

Well, I also tried to rank based on the quality of the role, and honestly, Cosette doesn't do much. If you really look at Grantaire's transformation from cynical drunk to "is you life just one more lie?" to the last one to die on the barricade, you'd see that while it isn't the best written character, it's much more interesting than some larger roles in the show. A good Grantaire is hard to come by, but when you find one, you remember him.

Updated On: 6/6/07 at 01:43 AM

[BDavis0092]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 1:44am

If you base parts on what actually matters (and that is movement of the plot) Javert is ALWAYS second. Other than that, I would say

Valjean
Javert
Marius
Eponine
Fantine
Enjorlas
Thenardier's
Cossette

[Marianne]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 2:26am

You just can't rank the roles in Les Mis by stage time. Not only would it skew heavily towards Marius, Enjolras, and all the ensemble members who are onstage throughout all the barricade scenes, two of the most important roles--Fantine and Javert--have less than 25 minutes of stage time each.

In terms of importance to the story, I would rank the characters thus:

Valjean
Javert
Fantine
Marius
Eponine
Thénardier
Enjolras
Cosette
Gavroche
Young Cosette
Mme Thénardier
Grantaire

Wtf with the people ranking Fantine below Eponine in terms of her importance to the plot? A large part of the first act revolves around Fantine; Eponine, while she gets a showy solo or two, is really only there to tag along behind Marius making the audience feel sorry for her.

(And even I am not anal-retentive enough to calculate each character's stage time. I will note, however, that Fantine and Javert are roughly equal in that respect, so saying that you're ranking on stage time and then putting Javert second and Fantine near the bottom is BS.)

[poppinslionking]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 2:45am

In my rankings, I used the songs and the quality of the songs as factors. Eponine's On My Own is on the same level with Fantine's dream. But what makes Eponine stand out is her little fall of rain. The song is better than Fantine's Come to me. Plus Eponine has to sing In my life and one day more. That is why I rank eponine ahead of fantine.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 3:31am

Naming one of the glorified ensemble members Grantaire doesn't mean he has a character arc comparable to his role in the book. And it definitely doesn't mean that because he has a storyline in the book, that same storyline automatically applies to the musical. It's barely, if ever discussed, especially enough to be able to draw conclusions about his journey as a character. Might as well call one of the random girls Azelma; it would serve just as much a purpose.

And considering the entire story is about Cosette, it's absurd to claim she has less of a role than the chorus boy-esque Grantaire.

[jam_man]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 4:30am

Now, I'm not saying in the musical that Grantaire is written great, or even fully developed. However, there certainly is enough there to work with as an actor. As for the story being about Cosette, that is true, but when you really look at the show, the adult Cosette doesn't do much on stage, and after "One Day More," she doesn't even appear again untill the last 20 minutes of the show. Granted, much that happens in that time is because of her, but she isn't there. Honestly, adult Cosette doesn't really have that much more to do than young Cosette.

However, valid points have been made, so if I may, I will edit my list:

Valjean
Javert
Marius
Eponine
Thenardier
Fantine
Enjolras
Cosette
Grantaire
Madame Thenardier
Gavroche

EDIT: Also, this whole discussion is a little self-defeating, as we all know "There are no small parts, only small actors." And as clice as that sounds, it's very much true, espeically in Les Miz, which is very much an ensemble show.

Updated On: 6/6/07 at 04:30 AM

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 4:37am

Personally, I would rank the role of Cosette above Cossette. I don't think Cossette even has any stage time.

[jam_man]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 4:46am

Well...I've seen it spelled both ways. [err... >:- ]

I'll change 'em.

[Copeman63]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 8:49am

Yeah, you can't really base it on stage time... For arguments sake, the Phantom of the Opera is only on stage for about 40 minutes...

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 8:52am

Must it ALWAYS be about size?

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 12:07pm

"Must it ALWAYS be about size?"

It's not the size, man, it's what you do with it.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 2:05pm

I think most of us are more likely to identify with Eponine than Fantine - honestly now; how many of us have been in love with someone who didn't like them back? And how many of us have sacrificed EVERYTHING for very little money to keep our child from starving? - so we're more likely to pay attention to Eponine than Fantine. Also it doesn't help that Fantine's gone by the time most of the action kicks in, so she's not as fresh in our minds.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 2:11pm

honestly now; how many of us have been in love with someone who didn't like them back?

And how many have been in gangs run by their dads?

Just me, huh?

[Weez]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 2:12pm

Pfft, like the squealing Eponine-fangirls ever pay attention to anything other than "OMG she like totally loves this hott guy who doesn't love her back I SOOO know how she feels!".

[Marianne]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 6:05pm

After Lea Salonga took over, I half-expected to start seeing "OMG my boyfriend left me my dreams are crushed bcuz we so totally had a future together and I can sooooo relate to Fantine!"

Which is about as relevant to Fantine's actual situation as "I love this guy and he doesn't love me back!" is to Eponine's.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 6:13pm

Well..
Enjolras is more vital to the story than Eponine. I feel like he would definitely be before Eponine.

[ulkis]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 8:11pm

In terms of importance to the story, I would rank the characters thus:

Actually Eponine, despite more songs/screentime than Fantine and Cosette, doesn't really matter to the story. If you took out On My Own and Little Fall of Rain, it really wouldn't matter much to the main story. The most important thing Eponine does is hand Marius' letter to Cosette to Valjean. That would be the one thing Eponine does that couldn't be cut.

Cosette is actually much more important to the story. She's never actually in the story (at least in the stage version) but everyone's actions revolve around her. Everything Fantine does, all about Cosette. All of Valjean's actions after Fantine dies, all about Cosette. Who is Marius always moaning about? Cosette. Alas, poor Cosette never gets a say while all these people are dying for her sake.

[pants2]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 10:05pm

now, this could just be me, but, no matter how much I think about it, eponine, while she has more stage time, doesn't seem like the lead, fantine does, but she has barely anything.

just me?

[VeryMiserablephantom]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 11:30am

I know this is a really old thread so sorry but I can’t stand people ranking Èponine over Fantine. Although Èponine has more stage time, they have about the same number of songs and Fantine is so much more important to the plot. If Èponine wasn’t in the story at all, it wouldn’t matter. If Fantine wasn’t, Cosette’s part wouldn’t make sense. I also think it is weird that Èponine comes back at the end to take Valjean to heaven because he doesn’t know her so why is she there ? I swear it’s just to make the lovesick young girls happy. Ha ha :)

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/9/18 at 11:38am

This thread reminds me of when Andy Mientus was on show people, he mentioned the Marius track was onstage more than any other person in the show.