Thenardier – Fieldnotes from the trenches: dressing Les Mis

Also known as the Look Down song, this scene can be very confusing. People in rags inundate the stage as well as a whirlwind of new characters. If this is your first time watching Les Mis, you might not immediately realize that the story has jumped in time by 10 years. You may feel lost. Wait! Who’s the guy handing out the pamphlets? What is the girl with the books doing among the beggars? Who’s the fellow with the blue coat? Why are there guys beating the beggars? Who is the girl with the grimy face? Who’s the kid dangling from the wooden scaffolding?

The last question’s easy. That’s Gavroche. He leads a posse of street urchins, and is kind of the neighborhood watch. He knows everything that’s happening in the slums of St. Michel and is notoriously portrayed with a Cockney accent. Why? He lives in Paris. Supposedly.

Yup. That’s Gavroche

The girl gazing at him is his girlfriend. That’s what she told me.

In the “Look Down” song, he introduces us to several characters. Because of his Cockney accent, he’s generally hard to understand. Which leaves you even more confused. But Will wasn’t difficult to comprehend. He clearly informed us about the “who’s who” in 1832 Parisian Slum Society.

He introduces us to the “old Thenardier.” The lyrics never mention that this is his father. But he is.

3a thenardier Eponine — Mr. and Mrs. Thenardier operate from the tough-love principle when it comes to their daughter Eponine.

Thenardier has his own gang who beg and rob and do anything else that violates the common decency.

001 thenardier and his gang — Thenardier and his gang: Josh, Quinton, Joshua, Michael, and William.

7 marius, Eponine, Valjean in background — Eponine, Gavroche’s sister, is infatuated with Marius, a student (in the blue coat.)

5 Marius enjolras and troupe — The guy with the tricolor sash is Enjolras. He’s the macho leader of the Friends of the ABC (literally translated as “friends of the suppressed.”) Women love him, but he only loves France. And Revolution.

6 beggars and marius — Fellow with the suede vest is Grantaire. (Hint: pretty much anyone who wears a vest is part of the student body.) He’s the thinker and drinker of the group and only supports the Revolution only because Enjolras wants a Revolution.

6a Marius — Back to Marius. He’s usually typified as a one-sided pretty boy with the emotional depth of frozen yogurt. Thom portrays Marius as a compassionate intellectual, a reader, who falls in love with Cosette because she loves books, too. This makes a lot of nerdy bookish girls fall in love with Marius instantly.

8 marius, Eponine, Valjean in background — She cannot read, however. But she’s street smart. This doesn’t impress Marius much.

9 marius, eponine, Valjean, Cosette in background — Sorry, Eponine. Now move aside, because…smart girl alert: Cosette’s looming in the back.

0001 — While Michael in the back demonstrates knockdown power with the baton, Marius picks up the books Cosette dropped when he bumped into her.

00001 — He’s so sorry and she’s all giggles. Michael (with man bun hiding behind her cape) senses trouble.

11 Marius and Cosette meet — The adorable couple bonding over books. Really. They’re so cute.

12 valjean being attacked by Thenardier — No bonding for her poor adoptive father (in the brown tail coat.) Thenardier harasses him for money…

13 valjean being attacked by tehnarier — ….then suddenly recognizes Valjean and not even by his superhuman strength…

14 Valjean attacked again — …but because he’s a con just like him (and has a number on his chest.)

Before Thenardier and his gang can do some real baton damage to Cosette’s dad, Eponine warns everyone that Javert’s about to enter. All the beggars run off, and Valjean whisks Cosette away stealthily.

Javert isn’t hard to recognize. He’s still a police officer, but now sports a fancy cape. (Looks like he’s moving up in the Justice Department!) He voices his disgust about bums on the street. (That includes you, Thenardier!)