The Final Battle

[bruce11121314]

Seen Les Mis seven times now. Twice, when gavroche threw the bag, the student failed to catch it. Second time this happened, with a different cast from the first time, the student yelled "Bollocks!". Felt bad when he died thirty seconds later.

[koolkat104]

This scene... every time I see it I cry. Everything about it is so well done, and the staging of the entire thing is perfect. I love it. And the music is amazing.

[RaySingh87]

A sad end to a great dream.... I wish I had the heart, courage, and bravery of Enjolras.

*crosses myself and says a prayer*

[RaySingh87]

What a sad end to a great dream.... I wish I had I the heart and the courage and bravery of Enjolras.

*crosses myself and says a prayer*

[ejeff123]

I still dont see the blobs people see in the final battle

[MaryOttMusic]

I have to say the Enjolras' death was the saddest out of them all.

[AuroraExecutionchan]

I love all of this. I'm a huge fan of the subtle Enjy/R interaction. I don't think R was taking Enjolras's place on the barricade; if you look closely it looks like he was trying to reach for Enjolras whose corpse was slipping down the other side. He's reaching down for something, and you can see Enjy's hand vanishing as R is shot.

[violetsrblue0708]

Also, gotta love Grantaire throwing the bottle just after Enjolras is shot waving the flag. =]

[violetsrblue0708]

Probably one of the best casts of Les Mis ever. David Thaxton, Jon Robyns, and Nancy Sullivan are all so wonderful! And this scene really shows Thaxton off. You just missed it on the recording, but The Jump he does from the barricade to the stage floor... I've never scene anyone else do that. It's spectacular!

[TheGreenified]

I start tearing up when Enjolras is waving the flag, and then... When the barricade turns around, I'm shamelessly bawling. :'( Gaaah, the music gets me every time!

Thanks for uploading!

[Monkeyballmania]

Could you please upload Building the Barricade (after On My Own)? I know it's a REALLY short bit but it's a bit that I love every time I see Les Miserables.

[lilmisscleo]

this is my cast i saw!!!!!!!!! :D

[MlleImparfait]

This part of the show affects me like none other. The fact that these young men were willing to risk everything to change a government for people they didn't even know is just heartwrenching. This show and the original novel are just amazingly written.

[MrAaronWomball]

@MlleImparfait they are actually quite naive if you think about it.

When they go to the poor people to tell them they are going to make a stand. They dont listen, you have to think of it from their perspective. The boys who wanted to fight for a free world didn't need it. The poor people are too tired to fight, and these boys who want to fight are students, they have money, nothing is bad about their life. In that sense they are rather foolish. sad tale. Tis calles Les Miserables after all :P

[Outcastjts123]

@MrAaronWomball

well, I guess there are many different interpretations of this scene...

[DuchessRococoPuff]

@MrAaronWomball Not necessarily. In the book, a few of the ABC boys were impoverished (example: Feuilly was a fanmaker, and could barely afford to feed himself).

[rockercharmz888]

@MrAaronWomball So people are now branded foolish for wanting to improve the lives of others? Great logic there.

[MrAaronWomball]

@rockercharmz888 that is the whole point of why no one went to help the students. They didn't have any hope, if they poor people of Paris liked the students they would have faught with them, been inspired by them, however, they didn't like them because they had no idea what they went through on a daily basis. Hence why they didn't help them in their fight.

[rockercharmz888]

@MrAaronWomball They started the uprising knowing that they might lose, and that they might all die. Hence Enjolras' "Let others rise to take our place until the earth is free". In short, they knew that they were going to die, they didn't start this expecting to win, but to at least try. I don't see how that's foolish.

[BroadwaysDreamer]

@MrAaronWomball The students *thought* they had help, but they were actually abandoned. And if the students hand listened to the national guard and had givin up, they would've been killed for treason or imprisoned at the very least, anyway. Besides, as someone had pointed out earlier, there is always Feuilly who was a working man, who was in the revolution cause he wanted to change his own life.

[arccincy]

@MrAaronWomball In the novel the people of Paris do originally attempt to help the students, but they are quickly overwhelmed and killed by the National Guards. They don't help again after that.

[Pretendkid]

so dramatic O_O

[becky5428]

my heart beats soooooo fast when david thaxton sings and i get goosebumps. sounds so silly but hes just phenominal!!!! x

[igkad]

is it me, or did he twitch at 3:29?

[becky5428]

@igkad haha! looks like it but i think its where the sets moving??

[hoursofpallor]

@igkad The revolve isn't always turning very steadily, and - what you can't see in this video - the actor playing Javert is climbing to the top of the barricade and down again AND all the other students are getting up on the other side and climbing down, therefore the barricade is shaking quite a bit every time.

[leelee987654]

@igkad i think its just the set

[TheCodexProduction]

Thank you.

Man, this is so sad! I cry every time!!

[Dayrile123]

I've seen this twice now and i cry everytime that barricade turns around x

[drewsmagicsoaps]

I'm so excited, I'm about to play Enjolras in our schools production and this just gives me tremendous amounts of inspiration.

[TheCodexProduction]

Does anyone know how Enjolras gets the blood on his face? I mean I know he got shot, but did the actor like smear it on his face before the barricade turned?

[villc94]

Someone probably helped him before the barricade turned, when he was settling down :P That's the way we did it in Norway anyway :p

[aldowns88]

@TheCodexProduction Yeah, he probably had a small bottle of stage blood in his pocket.

[Lala2616]

Does anyone think Thaxton's voice sounds a bit like Ramin Karimloo's? Karimloo just finished playing phantom of the opera, but he played this role in the past!

[LegsandJump]

To be honest, I never thought Karimloo's voice fit Enjolras from all I've heard from him. Also, Thaxton's got a much better lower range... and he doesn't sound sharp.

[Lala2616]

I wouldn't really know, just as soon as Thaxton opened his mouth I couldn't help thinking the tone of his voice was similar. It's meant to be a compliment of course! But you're probably right.

[kemathenga]

What is Enjolras doing at 1:13? He's not wounded yet, isn't he? Lost his key or something? It IS rather touching the way he says good-bye to Grantaire but also confusing - and OOC, of course.

[LegsandJump]

trying to find the OOCness. Can't see any.

and there is a wounded Marius on the ground he's looking at. As common sense and blocking would suggest. To be fair, you can't see Jon Robyns very well in the video.

[kemathenga]

Can't you? R wasn't even in the battle, much less replacing Enjolras on the barricade. But thanks for the hint toward Marius, I've seen his arm!

[LegsandJump]

... R isn't in the battle. He's sitting in front of the barricade. Marius gets shot. Grantaire and Enjolras kneel down next to him, Enjolras has a kind of "Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk" moment - albeit very differently seeing as the entire scene is different - with R and then climbs up the barricade, waves the flag, gets shot, R runs up to him, gets shot, too.

That's what happens. No OOCness.

[kemathenga]

Oooooo-kay, I am talking about the book. So, it is OOC from Hugo's point of view, but not from Boublil/Schönberg's apparently? D'accord? :-)

[LegsandJump]

Sorry, but no. Not at all. Boubil/Schönberg did not create any kind of material to base this on. There have been numerous productions where the relationship between Enjolras and Grantaire was non-existent. What you get here is a very clear idea that, yes, there is a connection of some kind, which is exactly what Hugo pointed out. It's simply not OOC.

[kemathenga]

We must agree to disagree on that one, then, LegsandJump. I can see that the idea of a very close relationship BETWEEN Enjolras and Grantaire is tempting but there is simply nothing like that in the book. Grantaire has a strong inclination towards Enjolras which I find easy to identify with, btw, and maybe Hugo just left the reader with too much to ask for in this. :-)

[balletDancergirl22]

wow at 3:24

[MajorNeirLex]

I saw the show last week, Thaxton's voice in Look Down and The Final Battle is still echoing in my head...Heck, his "Is Free" was amazing. I'd go back immediately if I could

[iLikeMuffins100]

aw! I love the little Enjy/R interaction here!

[Izzy41630]

Hmm. When you think about it, Enjolras was kinda useless, wasn't he?

"Oh, everyone's dying around me. Maybe waving a flag will somehow help."

I mean, it's dramatic, and brave, and all, but....I dunno. Seems kinda like a lame way to die. Especially since he seems to be one of the first.

[LegsandJump]

Waving the flag is not about changing their fate. It couldn't be changed seeing as the people didn't join them on the barricade. They knew they were about to die.

The flag is not just "a flag": Waving it is the last defiant act of holding up high the symbol of revolution and freedom; a sign that it was not in vain (parallel to "Let others rise to take out place until the earth is free").

See, I like to make fun of it, too. But it's not useless. And it's not brave either.

....

And it's not lame.

[Izzy41630]

But Enjy, to me, seems like one of those types that would go down fighting, tooth and nail. I like the flag thing, but he does it far too early here, in my opinion. Should be reserved until the end, as the final defiant act, when there's nothing else that he can do.

[LegsandJump]

Well, that's kind of the case. I mean, there IS nothing else he can do. I guess they were also going for the symbol of the flag being gone (and him being shot) as the beginning of the end of the barricade. Plus, if you think about the scene from a practical point of view, I suppose the actor needs the time to get into that god-awful position.

Have you seen it live, by the way? Because I think it works perfectly there. Can't be translated to video.

[Izzy41630]

Haven't gotten the chance to see it, unfortunately. I suppose you're right: he DOES need time to get into that position (How he stays like that without sliding down the barricade, I don't know. XD), but I'm just thinking from the audience's perspective right now. Doing the flag thing is dramatic and exciting, etc. but it's like, the very first thing done, and that just makes it seem kinda weird to me.

[balletDancergirl22]

wow what JUMP

[DieHard24601]

out of curiosity, do you know who the soldier is in this? i was listening to it on my ipod and i don't think it sounds as strong as killian donnely usually does it

[LegsandJump]

yeah, I'm pretty sure it's not Killian, seeing as he is on stage, covering John Jo's track. No idea who it is, though... Greg Castiglioni?

[DieHard24601]

I was actually thinking that, since he does have that nice range, and he's not covering for jimmy johnstone in this show

[TheDoctornumbaone]

the theatre group im in is doing this but school edition and i'm lookin forward to doin this bit on the barricade, the shows next week and we'll have the set up for sunday so we'll be doin it on the actual barricade its exciting

[donnatella]

I love when the guy with the loudspeaker sings!

[comoguer]

I saw it in London in Sept 08 and it was amazing. This scene is so compelling! The the revolve turns and reveals the dead Enjolras...simply amazing! On a different note though does anyone else think that Enjolras looks a bit emo with the wristbands?

[LegsandJump]

seeing as they're no white bandages with blood oozing from them... no.

(and yes. that scene is haunting.)

[rebelteen666]

haha yeah

and just another great part, when marius is lying injured on the floor, and david and keith anthony higham are crowded around him, then drew sarich is like "get the fuck outta my way, i have to save my daughters fiance"

oh and when grantaire's bottle drops right before he dies

[Lala2616]

@rebelteen666 it's amazing how there are so many little things to watch out for in all the chaos going on on stage :) terrific!

[rebelteen666]

thanks! this is one of my favorite scenes, to see it on such clear video... thanks!