Song 15 - Stars by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel

What song is this you may ask, as the readers may not now this song, but they will know the musical it's from, Les Miserables, which first came to the West End Stage in 1985. The musical's premiere was in 1980 in Paris, being based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo.  The song, "Stars" is the 19th song in act one of the musical and  is mainly a solo for Javert, who finds out that his most hunted rival Valjean is still alive and the lyrics open up his personal feels for his determination to capture Valjean and why he is passionate about upholding the law.   It is a strong lyric for a determined character and it is interesting that Javert only has two solo, Stars and his own suicide song; both of which are essential songs for character and plot alike.

This is where we see as in novel, how important the choice of songs are for musical and the story telling, if you have seen either the musical or the film, Javert's character doesn't appear to be a hero at the start of the movie.  Javert is a man on a mission to get Valjean back behind bars again and yet, he finds himself in the hands of to Valjean's mercy in the second act; which shatters Javert because it changes his own perception of right and wrong. I am probably not doing the musical any justice because it is one of the most powerful musical I have seen and I think I was moved from the beginning of the opening music right the way through to the end.

I remember listening to the music of Les Miserables from the late 1980s when my dad and sister came back to with the double album LP of the original West End cast after a shopping trip. It had the young Michael Ball playing the young Marius on the original recording. Up to this purchase, I knew the musical of Andrew Lloyd Webber but this music was different to the Cats and The Phantom of the Opera tapes we had.  I remember too the trip we had with the School to go and see Les Miserables in Manchester. This was the first time that I had seen a musical without parents; the first  time I had been to Manchester; and the first time I had willing sat in the gods at the theatre (something I refuse to do now). There was also a bit of me that was very excited that I was getting to see it before my family.

To listen to it
Stars, sung by Philip Quast at the 10th anniversary concert
Album: Les Miserables, original song track 1985.