"Les Miserables" Lyrics

"Les Misérables (Original Broadway Cast Recording)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

Can a sung-through epic make a double LP feel like a novel? The 1987 Original Broadway Cast Recording of Les Misérables answers with through-composed storytelling, leitmotifs tied to each character, and choral weight that turns Paris into an echo chamber of fate. It compresses Victor Hugo’s sweep into set pieces that play like cinematic reels—factory to courtroom, barricade to sewers—yet holds onto intimate confessions.

Captured to coincide with the Broadway premiere at the Broadway Theatre (opening March 12, 1987), the album crystallizes the American company’s sound—Colm Wilkinson’s searing Valjean, Terrence Mann’s implacable Javert, Patti LuPone’s bruised Fantine, and a young ensemble that drives the barricade choruses. Released on Geffen Records in 1987, it became a reference point for later revivals and sold well over a million copies in the U.S., even though—like the London set before it—it trims a few brief narrative links to fit an album arc (as noted by cast-album and show histories).

Questions & Answers

What’s unique about the Broadway cast album compared to the London one?

Rebalances a few tempos/edits and reflects Broadway orchestral/choral blend; some narrative bridges are shortened while headline numbers remain intact.

How “complete” is it?

It’s a substantial but not complete document; brief connective scenes (e.g., short arrests, cart sequence, battle fragments) are condensed for album flow.

Who are the principal voices?

Colm Wilkinson (Jean Valjean), Terrence Mann (Javert), Patti LuPone (Fantine), Randy Graff (Éponine), Michael Ball’s role is on later recordings; Broadway’s Marius is David Bryant; Rebecca Caine sings Cosette.

What label released it and when?

Geffen Records, 1987, first issued as a 2-LP/cassette and later on CD and streaming.

Did it win major awards?

Yes. The album took the GRAMMY for Best Musical Cast Show Album at the 30th GRAMMY Awards (1988).

When did Broadway open?

March 12, 1987, at The Broadway Theatre, after a Kennedy Center tryout; it ultimately ran 6,680 performances.

Notes & Trivia

• It’s the U.S. counterpart to the 1985 London album; both omit some underscored transitions, while the 1988 Complete Symphonic Recording documents the score end-to-end.
• Early U.S. pressings carried Geffen catalog numbers (including GHS 24151 for LP configurations).
• Sales milestones for the Broadway set outpaced the London disc in the U.S., helped by touring and broadcast performances.
• Many later productions adopt this album’s key tempi and ensemble balances as a baseline.

Genres & Themes

Through-composed pop-opera → recurring motifs (Valjean’s prayer line; Javert’s dotted-rhythm pursuit) glue scenes and timeskips.

Revolutionary choral writing → men’s chorus and counter-melodies (students vs. army) harden into percussive blocks; “One Day More” braids motif counterpoint like a finale before the finale.

Confessional ballads → plain diction over pedal tones—Fantine’s aria, Éponine’s torch, Valjean’s midnight soliloquy—keep private stakes audible within spectacle.

Tracks & Scenes

“At the End of the Day” — Company
Where it plays: Act I, after the prologue’s time jump to Montreuil-sur-Mer; factory and town chorus drive the class grind.
Why it matters: Establishes social pressure that will snap Fantine’s storyline and shadow Valjean’s reform (diegetic within the musical world; staged as public bustle).

“I Dreamed a Dream” — Fantine
Where it plays: Act I, immediately after Fantine’s dismissal; a private aria on a public street corner.
Why it matters: Personalizes the economic cruelty we just heard in chorus; the Broadway cut favors a steady, unhurried climb.

“The Confrontation” — Valjean & Javert
Where it plays: Act I, police station aftermath; two vocal lines collide over martial ostinati.
Why it matters: States the moral argument—law vs. grace—that the album revisits at the barricade and in Javert’s crisis.

“Master of the House” — Thénardier, Madame Thénardier & Company
Where it plays: Act I, Montfermeil inn; comic relief with acidic bite.
Why it matters: Satire as survival manual; the Broadway album’s crowd mics make the pub feel packed.

“Stars” — Javert
Where it plays: Act I night watch.
Why it matters: Javert’s creed pinned to celestial order; the steady 12/8 makes inevitability feel like prayer.

“Red and Black” / “Do You Hear the People Sing?” — Students
Where it plays: Act I, ABC Café to street.
Why it matters: Private debate flips to public anthem; Enjolras’s rhetoric gains a march the whole city can hear.

“In My Life” / “A Heart Full of Love” — Cosette, Marius, Éponine
Where it plays: Act I, Rue Plumet garden vigil.
Why it matters: The love triangle locks in; countermelodies foreshadow Act II’s heartbreak.

“One Day More” — Company
Where it plays: Act I finale; seven threads interleave.
Why it matters: Cast-album apotheosis—counterpoint summarizing everyone’s motive in one harmonic engine.

“On My Own” — Éponine
Where it plays: Act II, night rain before the barricade fully rises.
Why it matters: A torch song that resets the triangle from Éponine’s view; the Broadway phrasing leans conversational over belted peaks.

“A Little Fall of Rain” — Éponine & Marius
Where it plays: Act II, under fire at the barricade.
Why it matters: Intimacy at war-scale; orchestration thins so breath and tremor carry.

“Bring Him Home” — Valjean
Where it plays: Act II midnight prayer above sleeping students.
Why it matters: Falsetto plea over sustained strings; the album preserves the held-note hush that audiences remember.

“Javert’s Suicide” — Javert
Where it plays: Act II bridge.
Why it matters: Motif inversion: the lawman’s certainty collapses into off-kilter harmonies and a final plunge.

“Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” — Marius
Where it plays: Act II aftermath in the café.
Why it matters: Survivor’s guilt as chamber ballad; the MIC mix keeps consonants crisp over hushed piano.

“Finale” — Company
Where it plays: Cemetery vision to epilogue chorus.
Why it matters: Reprises “Do You Hear the People Sing?” as moral epilogue—mercy outlives the barricade.

Music–Story Links

• Law vs. grace: Valjean’s prayer motif softens harmonically across acts; Javert’s dotted pursuit line refuses to bend—until it breaks.
• Private hope vs. public cause: love-theme counterpoint weaves into choral marches, fusing domestic desire with civic urgency.
• Memory as chorus: the finale reframes individual losses inside a communal voice, turning grief into promise.

How It Was Made

Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; original French lyrics by Alain Boublil & Jean-Marc Natel; English libretto and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer; produced on Broadway by Cameron Mackintosh. The Broadway cast album was issued by Geffen in 1987, with subsequent CD and digital editions. For a fully uncut document of the score, producers later assembled the Complete Symphonic Recording (1988/89) with an international cast.

As per production records, Broadway followed a late-1986 Kennedy Center run; opening night landed March 12, 1987. The recording reflects that staging’s balances—bigger brass in crowd scenes, close-mic intimacy in the arias—as carried in the pit and company vocals.

Reception & Quotes

The album rode the show’s momentum to strong U.S. sales and awards; it remains a go-to reference for performers and fans, even after newer cast recordings.

“A sung-through juggernaut whose recording plays like a film soundtrack.” AllMusic summary

“GRAMMY-winning cast album that helped cement Broadway’s late-’80s mega-musical era.” Recording Academy

Additional Info

• Common U.S. LP catalog reference: Geffen GHS 24151 (gatefold 2-LP).
• Streaming editions list ~1h 30m of material; some connective recitatives are omitted by design.
• For complete score study, compare this album to the 1989 Complete Symphonic Recording (entire score, different cast).
• The Broadway production became one of the longest-running shows; later revivals and tours often keep this album’s keys and tempos.
• Signature numbers frequently used in auditions: “On My Own,” “Stars,” “Bring Him Home,” “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.”

Technical Info

• Title: Les Misérables (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Year: 1987 (album); Broadway opening March 12, 1987
• Type: Stage musical cast recording
• Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg
• Lyrics/Book (English): Herbert Kretzmer (lyrics); adaptation from Boublil & Natel’s French text
• Producers (stage): Cameron Mackintosh (lead producer)
• Label (album): Geffen Records
• Notable placements (by scene): “I Dreamed a Dream” (Fantine’s fallout), “One Day More” (Act I finale), “On My Own” (night rain), “Bring Him Home” (midnight prayer), “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” (after the barricade)
• Awards: GRAMMY — Best Musical Cast Show Album (1988)

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: AllMusic (album overview); Recording Academy/GRAMMYs; IBDB (opening/run); Wikipedia (musical & song order); Spotify & castalbums.org (timings/label); Discogs (LP catalog).

November, 12th 2025