"Les Miserables" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Palais des Sports

They staged the musical there because they could not find a real theatre in Paris at the time. So it was staged in a huge sports arena. 500,000 people saw the show through its run of 100 performances and over 50,000 people were unable to obtain tickets as a Russian circus had already booked the Palais des Sports.

Answer: "At the End of the Day"

Because it was originally staged in France, the writers knew that every schoolchild had read Victor Hugo's book and knew the storyline. When it was transferred to London, the production team realized that not every person would know the story of Valjean's imprisonment and his absolution from the Bishop, so they wrote all of the show which precedes "At the End of the Day."

Answer: "L'un Vers L'Autre"

"L'un Vers L'Autre" is a beautiful song that I recommend to any fan of the show. Roughly translated, the title means "towards each other" and was placed right after the version of "A Heart Full of Love." "Dans La Vie" is "In My Life" and the recording of the original French production has two tracks of this - one is Cosette's part and the other is Marius'. "Ce N'est Rien" is the death of Eponine (which came directly after "Demain" or "One Day More"). "Mam'zelle Crapaud" is the part where Mme Thenardier is yelling at Cosette to go into the wood to fetch some water.

Answer: The Barbican Centre

The Barbican, home to the Royal Shakespeare Company, was chosen because of the company's rehearsal process. Cameron Mackintosh and the other producers had to make it clear to the company that the show would not be just a 'fun musical' for them to do but had to be approached with the same seriousness as any of their other productions. All RSC company members who were in the show had to agree to stay with the show for at least a year after the run at the Barbican.

Answer: 4 hours

According to "The Complete Les Miserables," by opening night at the Barbican, the show had been cut down to 3 hours and 30 minutes. By the time the show re-opened at the Palace Theatre, another 5 minutes were eliminated and another 5 minutes were taken out in the Washington production. One of the cuts was the "Little People" song which Gavroche sang - only the refrain was kept.

Answer: false

In the video "Stage By Stage," Cameron Mackintosh talks about how the day after opening night the reviews were mainly bad reviews. The tabloids were upset because the musical was not 'happy,' while the 'posh' publications were upset that Hugo's work had been 'degraded' by putting it into musical form.

However, at lunchtime a day or two later, Cameron Mackintosh called the box office to see how bad ticket sales were. The box office couldn't understand how he had gotten through - they sold over 5,000 tickets in the first 3 hours of business that day.

Answer: Valjean

Colm Wilkinson blew them away at his audition - but Colm was a tenor and the part had been written for a deep baritone voice. The part had to be written in a higher key so that Colm could sing it. Incidentally, Colm Wilkinson was the last person to be cast before rehearsals started, and Patti LuPone began rehearsing as Fantine two weeks after rehearsals began.

Answer: true

The show was running too long and so this scene was cut. (Some say because they didn't want to condone little girls talking to strangers.) However, when the show was 'tweaked' in the late 90s, this scene was re-added to the show while other minor musical cuts were made.

The scene had its world 're-'premiere in Toronto where a new tour production started up in Toronto with Colm Wilkinson.

Answer: 1822 Montreuil-Sur-Mer

Digne is where Valjean meets the Bishop (he's the Bishop of Digne). In 1823 he is in Montreuil-Sur-Mer where he is the mayor and owns the factory where Fantine worked. 1823 is also the year that Valjean rescues Cosette from the Thenardiers in Montfermeil. Nine years later, in 1832, there is the student uprising in Paris.

Answer: One Day More

From the official site at www.lesmiserables.com: "A song from the show, "One Day More", was used for Bill Clinton's 1992 US Presidential Campaign. "Do You Hear the People Sing" was played over TV newscasts from the student protest in Tiananmen Square. "Bring Him Home" was officially requested by the US State Department to use as background for promotional material about the US troops engaged in the Gulf War.

Answer: "Castle on a Cloud"

The concert, which featured musicians from the Royal Philharmonic and singers from all over the world, showcased Hannah Chick as Young Cosette. During her solo a balloon popped and although she physically gave notice of the sound, she was very professional in that just by listening to her sing you could not tell that she noticed it.

The balloon popping can be heard on the CD and video of the performance.

Answer: He had already been in 2 cast recordings

It was only fair that for a third English recording another actor was contracted. This is why Gary Morris can be heard on the 'complete' version of the show (though a complete version would, ideally, contain all of the music including that which was cut from the original production).

However, Colm Wilkinson was then approached to be in the 10th anniversary concert - breaking the 'two recordings and that's it' idea.

Answer: Best Actor in a Musical (Terrence Mann)

It also won for: Best Book (Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg), Best Director (Trevor Nunn & John Caird), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Maguire), Best Set Designer (John Napier) and
Best Lighting Design (David Hersey). Terrence Mann lost to Robert Lindsay ("Me and My Girl"). Judy Kuhn (Cosette) lost to Frances Ruffelle. Andreane Neofitou lost to John Napier ("Starlight Express") for best Costume Designer. As you can tell, John Napier was up for Tonys in two different shows as was Trevor Nunn (he was nominated for best Director of a Musical for "Starlight Express").

Answer: Eponine

Kaho Shimada had been in the Japanese production and had to be taught the English words phonetically. Mme Thenardier was played by Gay Soper (who was in the London cast at the time). Fantine was played Debbie Byrne from the Sydney production while Cosette was played by Tracy Shayne from the New York company.

Answer: "I Dreamed a Dream" and Fantine's death

Fantine's death is actually the same basic melody as "On My Own." "Turning" (which is basically "Lovely Ladies" a little slower) was added to the show because the women of the cast did not have much to do the in the second act.