ranking the size of the roles in Les Miserables

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?

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

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

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.

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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

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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.

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.

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

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

I'll change 'em.

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Must it ALWAYS be about size?

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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.

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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!".

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

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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?

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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.

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