(gentle music) - Part of what's wonderful about the musical is the characters and this extraordinary story.
- But you don't think it possible that kindness and love can change a man?
- Not having the songs really allows the drama to speak for itself, because this novel is filled with drama.
There is no shortage of drama.
- I love the musical.
With our version, you get six hours to really dive and immerse yourself, not just in these characters, but in that setting, in that place, to get an understanding of why what was going on was going on, how it affected people, not just those characters you know but beyond, and giving very real context.
- [Man] Who won the battle?
- Uh, English.
We were slaughtered.
- So it's all over?
- What normally is only given in a song lyric gets to actually be, maybe, a full episode.
So we really dive into the backstories of certain situations, and experiences, and characters that would be told in a song.
- Fantine, you know, just to get to sit with that character for a bit, to see her fall in love, expect to have a great future, and then, to watch her drop to the bottom of society because it was set up to do that to her and young women like her.
- We could be down in the gutter and no one would care.
Plenty more where we come from.
- But why should it always be like that?
- Because it is.
- For those who don't love musicals, I think this is a new way of experiencing the novel that maybe they wouldn't have before.
- Workers are coming out all over Paris.
This is where we can take our place in history.
(crowd cheering) - It just gives you more of a glimpse into the backstory and into the whole world.
