Prologue – Work Song
Chorus (Prisoners):
Look down, look down
Don’t look ’em in the eye
Look down, look down,
You’re here until you die
1st Convict:
The sun is strong
It’s hot as hell below
Chorus:
Look down, look down,
There’s twenty years to go
2nd Convict:
I’ve done no wrong!
Sweet Jesus, hear my prayer!
Chorus:
Look down, look down,
Sweet Jesus doesn’t care
3rd Convict:
I know she’ll wait,
I know that she’ll be true!
Chorus:
Look down, look down,
They’ve all forgotten you
4th Convict:
When I get free ya won’t see me
Here for dust!
Chorus:
Look down, look down
Don’t look ’em in the eye
5th Convict:
How long, oh Lord
Before you let me die?
Chorus:
Look down, look down,
You’ll always be a slave
Look down, look down,
You’re standing in your grave
Javert
Now bring me prisoner 24601
Your time is up
And your parole’s begun
You know what that means.
Valjean:
Yes, it means I’m free.
Javert:
No!
It means you get
Your yellow ticket-of-leave
You are a thief
Valjean:
I stole a loaf of bread.
Javert:
You robbed a house.
Valjean:
I broke a window pane.
My sister’s child was close to death
And we were starving.
Javert:
You will starve again
Unless you learn the meaning of the law.
Valjean:
I know the meaning of those 19 years
A slave of the law
Javert:
Five years for what you did
The rest because you tried to run
Yes, 24601.
Valjean:
My name is Jean Valjean
Javert:
And I am Javert
Do not forget my name!
Do not forget me,
24601.
Chorus:
Look down, look down
You’ll always be a slave
Look down, look down
You’re standing in your grave.
Valjean:
Freedom is mine. The earth is still.
I feel the wind. I breathe again.
And the sky clears
The world is waking.
Drink from the pool. How clean the taste.
Never forget the years, the waste.
Nor forgive them
For what they’ve done.
They are the guilty – everyone.
The day begins…
And now lets see
What this new world
Will do for me!
Farmer:
You’ll have to go
I’ll pay you off for the day
Collect your bits and pieces there
And be on your way.
Valjean:
You have given me half
What the other men get!
This handful of tin
Wouldn’t buy my sweat!
Laborer:
You broke the law
It’s there for people to see
Why should you get the same
As honest men like me?
Valjean:
Now every door is closed to me
Another jail. Another key. Another chain
For when I come to any town
They check my papers
And they find the mark of Cain
In their eyes I see their fear
`We do not want you here.’
Innkeeper’s Wife:
My rooms are full
And I’ve no supper to spare
I’d like to help a stranger
All we want is to be fair
Valjean:
I will pay in advance
I can sleep in a barn
You see how dark it is
I’m not some kind of dog!
Innkeeper:
You leave my house
Or feel the weight of my rod
We’re law-abiding people here
Thanks be to God.
Valjean:
And now I know how freedom feels
The jailer always at your heels
It is the law!
This piece of paper in my hand
That makes me cursed throughout the land
It is the law!
Like a cur
I walk the street,
The dirt beneath their feet.
Bishop:
Come in, Sir, for you are weary,
And the night is cold out there.
Though our lives are very humble
What we have, we have to share.
There is wine here to revive you.
There is bread to make you strong,
There’s a bed to rest till morning,
Rest from pain, and rest from wrong.
Valjean:
He let me eat my fill
I had the lion’s share
The silver in my hand
Cost twice what I had earned
In all those nineteen years –
That lifetime of despair
And yet he trusted me.
The old fool trusted me –
He’d done his bit of good
I played the grateful serf
And thanked him like I should
But when the house was still,
I got up in the night.
Took the silver
Took my flight!
Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven
Constables
1. Tell his reverence your story
2. Let us see if he’s impressed
1. You were lodging here last night
2. You were the honest Bishop’s guest.
And then, out of Christian goodness
When he learned about your plight
1. You maintain he made a present of this silver.
Bishop:
That is right.
But my friend you left so early
Surely something slipped your mind
You forgot I gave these also
Would you leave the best behind?
So, Messieurs, you may release him
For this man has spoken true
I commend you for your duty
And God’s blessing go with you.
But remember this, my brother
See in this some higher plan
You must use this precious silver
To become an honest man
By the witness of the martyrs
By the Passion and the Blood
God has raised you out of darkness
I have bought your soul for God!
What Have I Done?
Valjean:
What have I done?
Sweet Jesus, what have I done?
Become a thief in the night,
Become a dog on the run
And have I fallen so far,
And is the hour so late
That nothing remains but the cry of my hate,
The cries in the dark that nobody hears,
Here where I stand at the turning of the years?
If there’s another way to go
I missed it twenty long years ago
My life was a war that could never be won
They gave me a number and murdered Valjean
When they chained me and left me for dead
Just for stealing a mouthful of bread
Yet why did I allow that man
To touch my soul and teach me love?
He treated me like any other
He gave me his trust
He called me brother
My life he claims for God above
Can such things be?
For I had come to hate the world
This world that always hated me
Take an eye for an eye!
Turn your heart into stone!
This is all I have lived for!
This is all I have known!
One word from him and I’d be back
Beneath the lash, upon the rack
Instead he offers me my freedom
I feel my shame inside me like a knife
He told me that I have a soul,
How does he know?
What spirit comes to move my life?
Is there another way to go?
I am reaching, but I fall
And the night is closing in
And I stare into the void
To the whirlpool of my sin
I’ll escape now from the world
From the world of Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean is nothing now
Another story must begin!
At the End of the Day
The Poor:
At the end of the day you’re another day older
And that’s all you can say for the life of the poor
It’s a struggle, it’s a war
And there’s nothing that anyone’s giving
One more day standing about, what is it for?
One day less to be living.
At the end of the day you’re another day colder
And the shirt on your back doesn’t keep out the chill
And the righteous hurry past
They don’t hear the little ones crying
And the winter is coming on fast, ready to kill
One day nearer to dying!
At the end of the day there’s another day dawning
And the sun in the morning is waiting to rise
Like the waves crash on the sand
Like a storm that’ll break any second
There’s a hunger in the land
There’s a reckoning still to be reckoned and
There’s gonna be hell to pay
At the end of the day!
Foreman:
At the end of the day you get nothing for nothing
Sitting flat on your butt doesn’t buy any bread
Worker 1:
There are children back at home
And the children have got to be fed
Worker 2
And you’re lucky to be in a job
Woman:
And in a bed!
Workers:
And we’re counting our blessings!
Woman 2:
Have you seen how the foreman is fuming today?
With his terrible breath and his wandering hands?
Woman 3:
It’s because little Fantine won’t give him his way
Woman 1:
Take a look at his trousers, you’ll see where he stands!
Woman 4:
And the boss, he never knows
That the foreman is always in heat
Woman 3:
If Fantine doesn’t look out, watch how she goes
She’ll be out on the street!
Workers:
At the end of the day it’s another day over
With enough in your pocket to last for a week
Pay the landlord, pay the shop
Keep on grafting as long as you’re able
Keep on grafting till you drop
Or it’s back to the crumbs off the table
You’ve got to pay your way
At the end of the day!
Girl:
And what have we here, little innocent sister?
Come on Fantine, let’s have all the news!
“Dear Fantine you must send us more money
Your child needs a doctor
There’s no time to lose…”
Fantine:
Give that letter to me
It is none of your business
With a husband at home
And a bit on the side!
Is there anyone here
Who can swear before God
She has nothing to fear?
She has nothing to hide?
Valjean:
Will someone tear these two apart?
What is this fighting all about?
This is a factory, not a circus!
Now come on ladies, settle down
I run a business of repute
I am the Mayor of this town
I look to you to sort this out
And be as patient as you can-
Foreman:
Now someone say how this began!
Girl:
At the end of the day
She’s the one who began it
There’s a kid that she’s hiding
In some little town
There’s a man she has to pay
You can guess how she picks up the extra
You can bet she’s earning her keep
Sleeping around
And the boss wouldn’t like it!
Fantine:
Yes it’s true there’s a child
And the child is my daughter
And her father abandoned us,
Leaving us flat
Now she lives with an innkeeper man
And his wife
And I pay for the child
What’s the matter with that?
Women:
At the end of the day
She’ll be nothing but trouble
And there’s trouble for all
When there’s trouble for one!
While we’re earning our daily bread
She’s the one with her hands in the butter
You must send the slut away
Or we’re all gonna end in the gutter
And it’s us who’ll have to pay
At the end of the day!
Foreman:
I might have known the bitch could bite
I might have known the cat had claws
I might have guessed your little secret
Ah, yes, the virtuous Fantine
Who keeps herself so pure and clean
You’d be the cause I had no doubt
Of any trouble hereabout
You play a virgin in the light
But need no urgin’ in the night.
Girl
She’s been laughing at you
While she’s having her men
Women:
She’ll be nothing but trouble again and again
Woman:
You must sack her today
Workers:
Sack the girl today!
Foreman:
Right my girl. On your way!
I Dreamed a Dream
Fantine:
There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
And still I dream he’ll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
Lovely Ladies
Sailor 1:
I smell women
Smell ’em in the air
Think I’ll drop my anchor
In that harbor over there
Sailor 2:
Lovely ladies
Smell ’em through the smoke
Seven months at sea
Can make you hungry for a poke
Sailor 3:
Even stokers need a little stoke!
Women:
Lovely ladies
Waiting for a bite
Waiting for the customers
Who only come at night
Lovely ladies
Ready for the call
Standing up or lying down
Or any way at all
Bargain prices up against the wall
Old Woman
Come here, my dear
Let’s see this trinket you wear
This bagatelle…
Fantine:
Madame, I’ll sell it to you…
Old Woman:
I’ll give you four
Fantine:
That wouldn’t pay for the chain!
Old Woman:
I’ll give you five. You’re far to eager to sell. It’s up to you.
Fantine:
It’s all I have
Old Woman:
That’s not my fault
Fantine:
Please make it ten
Old Woman:
No more than five
My dear, we all must stay alive!
Women:
Lovely ladies
Waiting in the dark
Ready for a thick one
Or a quick one in the park
Whore 1
Long time short time
Any time, my dear
Cost a little extra if you want to take all year!
All: Quick and cheap is underneath the pier!
Crone
What pretty hair!
What pretty locks you got there
What luck you got.
It’s worth a centime, my dear
I’ll take the lot
Fantine:
Don’t touch me! Leave me alone!
Crone:
Let’s make a price.
I’ll give you all of ten francs,
Just think of that!
Fantine:
It pays a debt
Crone:
Just think of that
Fantine:
What can I do? It pays a debt.
Ten francs may save my poor Cosette!
Whore 1:
God, I’m weary!
Sick enough to drop.
Belly burns like fire –
will the bleeding ever stop?
Pimp:
Cheer up, dearie.
Show a happy face.
Plenty more like you here
if you can’t keep up the pace!
Whore 1:
Only joking – dearie knows her place…
Pimp:
Give me the dirt, who’s that bit over there?
Whore 1:
A bit of skirt. She’s the one sold her hair.
Whore 2:
She’s got a kid. Sends her all that she can
Pimp:
I might have known
There is always some man
Lovely lady, come along and join us!
Lovely lady!
Whore 1
Come on dearie, why all the fuss?
You’re no grander than the rest of us
Life has dropped you at the bottom of the heap
Join your sisters
Whore 2
Make money in your sleep!
Whore 1:
That’s right dearie, let him have the lot
Whore 3:
That’s right dearie, show him what you’ve got!
Women:
Old men, young men, take ’em as they come
Harbor rats and alley cats and every kind of scum
Poor men, rich men, leaders of the land
See them with their trousers off they’re never quite as grand
All it takes is money in your hand!
Lovely ladies
Going for a song
Got a lot of callers
But they never stay for long
Fantine:
Come on, Captain,
you can wear your shoes
Don’t it make a change
To have a girl who can’t refuse
Easy money
Lying on a bed
Just as well they never see
The hate that’s in your head
Don’t they know they’re making love
To one already dead!
Fantine’s Arrest
Bamatabois
Here’s something new. I think I’ll give it a try.
Come closer you! I like to see what I buy…
The usual price, for just a slice of your pie
Fantine: I don’t want you. No, no, m’sieur, let me go.
Bamatabois: Is this a trick? I won’t pay more!
Fantine: No, not at all.
Bamatabois
You’ve got some nerve, you little whore
You’ve got some gall.
It’s the same with a tart as it is with a grocer
The customer sees what he gets in advance
It’s not for the whore to say `yes sir’ or `no sir’
It’s not for the harlot to pick and to choose
Or lead me to a dance!
Fantine:
I’ll kill you, you bastard,
try any of that!
Even a whore who has gone to the bad
Won’t be had by a rat!
Bamatabois
By Christ you’ll pay for what you’ve done
This rat will make you bleed, you’ll see!
I guarantee, I’ll make you suffer
For this disturbance of the peace
For this insult to life and property!
Fantine:
I beg you, don’t report me sir
I’ll do whatever you may want
Bamatabois
Make your excuse to the police!
Javert:
Tell me quickly what’s the story
Who saw what and why and where
Let him give a full description
Let him answer to Javert!
In this nest of whores and vipers
Let one speak who saw it all
Who laid hands on this good man here?
What’s the substance of this brawl?
Bamatabois
Javert, would you believe it
I was crossing from the park
When this prostitute attacked me
You can see she left her mark
Javert:
She will answer for her actions
When you make a full report
You may rest assured, M’sieur,
That she will answer to the court.
Fantine:
There’s a child who sorely needs me
Please M’sieur, she’s but that high
Holy God, is there no mercy?
If I go to jail she’ll die!
Javert:
I have heard such protestations
Every day for twenty years
Let’s have no more explanations
Save your breath and save your tears
`Honest work, just reward,
That’s the way to please the Lord.’
Valjean:
A moment of your time, Javert
I do believe this woman’s tale
Javert: But M’sieur Mayor!
Valjean:
You’ve done your duty, let her be
She needs a doctor, not a jail.
Javert: But M’sieur Mayor!
Fantine: Can this be?
Valjean:
Where will she end –
This child without a friend?
I’ve seen your face before
Show me some way to help you
How have you come to grief
In a place such as this?
Fantine:
M’sieur, don’t mock me now, I pray
It’s hard enough I’ve lost my pride
You let your foreman send me away
Yes, you were there, and turned aside
I never did no wrong
Valjean: Is it true, what I have done?
Fantine: My daughter’s close to dying…
Valjean: To an innocent soul?
Fantine: If there’s a God above
Valjean: Had I only known then…
Fantine: He’d let me die instead
Valjean:
In His name my task has just begun
I will see it done!
Javert: But M’sieur Mayor!
Valjean: I will see it done!
Javert: But M’sieur Mayor!
Valjean: I will see it done!
Voices: Look out! It’s a runaway cart!
The Runaway Cart
Voices
Look at that!
Stay away!
You’ll be crushed by the cart!
Don’t approach! Don’t go near!
Or that load’s gonna fall!
Oh my God! Who is that?
It’s Monsieur Fauchelevant!
There is nothing to do!
There is nothing to do!
Valjean:
Is there anyone here
Who will rescue the man?
Who will help me to shoulder
The weight of the cart?
Voices
Don’t go near him, Mr. Mayor
The load is heavy as hell
If you touch it, the whole thing’ll fall
It’ll kill you as well.
Fauchelevant
M’sieur le Mayor, I have no words
You come from God, you are a saint.
Javert:
Can this be true?
I don’t believe what I see!
A man your age
To be as strong as you are!
A mem’ry stirs…
You make me think of a man
From years ago
A man who broke his parole
He disappeared
Forgive me, Sir,
I would not dare!
Valjean:
Say what you must
Don’t leave it there…
Javert:
I have only known one other
Who can do what you have done
He’s a convict from the chain gang
He’s been ten years on the run
But he couldn’t run forever
We have found his hideaway
And he’s just been re-arrested
And he comes to court today.
Well, of course he now denies it
You’d expect that of a `con’
But he couldn’t run forever –
No, not even Jean Valjean!
Valjean:
You say this man denies it all
And gives no sign of understanding or repentance?
You say this man is going to trial
And that’s he’s sure to be returned
To serve his sentence?
Come to that, can you be sure,
That I am not your man?
Javert:
I have known the thief for ages
Tracked him down through thick and thin
And to make the matter certain
There’s the brand upon his skin
He will bend, he will break
This time there is no mistake.
Who Am I?
Valjean:
He thought that man was me
Without a second glance
That stranger he has found
This man could be my chance!
Why should I save his hide?
Why should I right this wrong
When I have come so far
And struggled for so long?
If I speak, I am condemned.
If I stay silent, I am damned!
I am the master of hundreds of workers.
They all look to me.
How can I abandon them?
How would they live
If I am not free?
If I speak, they are condemned.
If I stay silent, I am damned!
Who am I?
Can I condemn this man to slavery
Pretend I do not feel his agony
This innocent who bears my face
Who goes to judgement in my place
Who am I?
Can I conceal myself for evermore?
Pretend I’m not the man I was before?
And must my name until I die
Be no more than an alibi?
Must I lie?
How can I ever face my fellow men?
How can I ever face myself again?
My soul belongs to God, I know
I made that bargain long ago
He gave me hope when hope was gone
He gave me strength to journey on
Who am I? Who am I?
I am Jean Valjean!
And so Javert, you see it’s true
That man bears no more guilt than you!
Who am I?
24601!
You will find me at the hospital