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Welcome to the Sound of Musicals，our new musical segment. In this new segment，the Sound of Musicals, I will be joined by Oliver，who is, as you know, a musical enthusiast, and has also had years of practice in amateur theater groups. Welcome back，Oliver.

Hello, thank you for having me back.

And are you excited that we're gonna talk about musicals and different types of musicals？

I am so excited. I could talk about musicals for a very，very long time. So this is a very good thing for me to be doing right now.

Yeah，great. I mean this is why we actually started a new segment just for musicals. But first of all，why do you like musical so much？

I like musicals，I think because it tells stories that we relate to... modern sort of real world stories，but it has more of an optimistic side to it. So even though bad things are happening，the music is normally optimistic or joyful.

So it takes away some of the seriousness and sadness which I like，because it's a very good way to relax and to enjoy the music and the show and the story you are listening to or watching.

Especially compared to opera. Opera is always so serious.

Opera is a very serious and very difficult thing to do. So musicals are definitely more for relaxing. You told me before you like them, why do you like them？

The reason I like musicals partially is because what you said，they're very happy tunes，very catchy tunes. And I don't know musicals just put a smile on my face. I wouldn't say I'm a huge music fan. In general，I don't listen to a lot of music, I listen to audio books more. But musicals is one thing that I would love，not just listening to them，but it's also…a lot of the musicals are worth really going to the theater to see.

They definitely are, everything is very，very different in the theater, yeah.

Yeah, exactly，it's magical. But having said that, our first musical of choice that the first musical we're gonna talk about in this new segment is not as joyful, is it？

No, it’s not, this is possibly my favorite musical，but is the opposite of everything I just said about why I like musicals. So it's a very strange one. Yes, it's fantastic though.

I think some of our audience will be able to guess. And then Oliver，you can tell us the name of the musical.

I'm sure lots of people already know，but the musical today is Les Miserable.

Les Miserable，the French pronounce it Les Misérables, right, like with the “r” sound，but English speakers would just say Les Miserables or Les Mis.

Yes.

This is what I've heard.

Today I am going to be calling it Les Mis because it's much easier than trying to say the French name and get it wrong so many times because I know I don't say it right, Les Mis.

Yeah, because when you see it，it's so easy to just relate to the English word miserable.

Yes，if we read it in English，it says Les miserable, which is not quite right, Les Mis for me today.

就是悲惨世界. Yon know that in Chinese we just translated into a miserable world or sad，very sad，tragic world.

I did not, but that really does describe it very well.

So for the audience who have never read the book or watch the movie or actually seen the musical, first of all，let's talk about the background of the show because it is based on a book，based on a very famous book，right？

It's based on the novel，Les Miserables，same name, which was written by a Frenchman named Victor Hugo in 1862.

So it's an old book. It was written close to the end of all of the problems that France had had with the revolution. So Victor Hugo was there and he knew what was happened and he wrote Les Miserables to talk about it.

Yeah, it's pretty much a book on realism. It's because a lot of it is more realistic depiction of the misery that France has been through.

雨果这本书，当时是有一千两百页长，it was originally over 1,200 pages. It was a very long story.

It is a very long story. I have the book on my bookshelf here and it's a big book.

Yeah，and the musical version of it， when did it debut？

So the first musical version of Les Mis was in Paris in 1980. And that ran only for 3 months，but then in 1985，it was made into an English speaking version of Les Mis and it started in London. I think it’s stopped a few years ago，but it is the longest running show in the West End ever. So it was running for more than 20 years.

It's definitely one of the most longest running musicals in the West End.

And I remember few years back when I went to London，I actually saw the poster. It was still showing in the theater.

Yes，it showed for a very long time because people kept going to see it, it kept finding new audiences and there was no need for it to take a break. It’s why it is such a popular musical.

So Oliver，can you give us a very，very brief summary of the story for our audience who have never read the book or seen it？I know it's a difficult task.

Brief is something which you can't really do with Les Miserables，but I will try.

So the story follows a man named Jean Valjean.

Jean Valjean.

He begins the show as a prisoner having stolen some bread to feed his sister and her son.

Because he was poor，right？

Because the time this was set，there was a lot of famine. The economy was struggling，so there was no money，there was no work. And lots and lots of people they either turned to crime，or they had to suffer through horrible times. It was a very bad time of French history.

He steals bread, he goes to prison. And when he gets out，he has an encounter with a bishop who teaches him about redemption. And it makes him want to be a better man， and then it jumps forward in time because that happens a lot. And he has an encounter with a working girl called Fantine.

I remember in the story then Jean Valjean basically started to work hard and got his own factory.

He did, yes, so he meets Fantine because she is one of his workers, she works for him. But through the plans of the other girls working with Fantine, Fantine loses her job. And in this time that is a terrible thing to happen，especially because Fantine has a young daughter who she has to send money to be looked after. So she needs the job, she needs money

And her daughter is Cosette, right？When you see Les Miserables the poster that little girl that child that's Cosette.

That is Cosette, that is Fantine’s daughter Cosette sweeping the floors normally, is the image we see of her. And so Fantine loses her job，she needs money and she goes down a sad slope where she basically gives up everything that she has.

First，she has her hair cut off, so people can use it to make wigs; Next, they take her teeth which is very nasty and then she begins work…

Selling her body.

… selling her body, yes, I was trying to think how to say that one, yes, selling her body.

And it's a very very bad time for her and she becomes very very ill，which is when she, for me one of the best parts of the Les Mis movie certainly was “I dreamed a dream”, it’s Fantine when she is very ill, and the bottom of life，she sings that song and it's very very moving.

Yeah，we can talk about that later.

We will talk about that one later. Jean Valjean comes, he finds Fantine, and he starts to look after her，but Fantine is too ill and she passes away. So Jean Valjean travels to find Fantine’s daughter Cosette and he starts to look after her. Jump forwards again in time, because that happens a lot in Les Miserables, Cosette is grown up and they are living in Paris.

Now this is Paris in 1830 or the1830s. And there are lots of groups of people getting ready for revolution.

Revolution.

France has… they've already had one revolution in 1789，but the people are not happy again. There is no food，there's no work. There's no money. So the people want to have another revolution to change their country again. And Cosette falls in love with one of the revolutionaries called Marius. And Jean Valjean falls in with these revolutionaries to try and protect Marius. So that Cosette doesn't lose her love. And the revolutionaries, it doesn't work for them. They all die fighting against the soldiers of the king of France except Marius.

So that was how it ended.

That was how this…Yes, it was called the Students Revolution because most of the people fighting were students. They thought they could bring a better world. This is how it ended was a few groups of people fighting, they hoped that the people of Paris would rise up and fight with them. But nobody did. So it was a small revolution，a very sad time and lots of young people died. They were killed during the fighting.

I mean the book and the story is sad enough. And then when you put it on stage，when you use music，like you said to convey desperation that hopelessness, it's a very very powerful piece.

It is very powerful，especially when you have the beginning of the revolution with the grand music，we will fight for freedom and these messages are being sent.

And then by the end of the show，only one man Marius is left，all of his friends are gone，all of the other students are gone.

All of the main characters are gone.

Nearly all of them are, yes. Most of the main characters they don't have a very happy time during this musical.

Very sad musical.

Definitely, it is yes.

So in the very first episode of this new segment，the very first episode of our first musical Les Misérables or Les Mis，we talked about so far the story，the background and history.

In the second part，we're going to actually talk about the conflicts between the characters，go a little bit more into the characters and also talk about the music.

To wrap today's episode up，let's listen to a little bits that I really love from the show.

……

I dreamed a dream in times 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

……