Crossover programming

Les Misérables has travelled all over the world and been translated into over 20 languages–and Valjean and Javert have been facing off with each other on stage for nearly four decades. Author Ruth Kenyon will present highlights from her research into the history of the show’s staging, with a focus on “Confrontation,” and discuss how performers have negotiated directing and acting choices over time in the effort to make conflict visible and understandable.

“To love is to act.” Victor Hugo wrote these words three days before he died—and brought them to life in Les Misérables. Hugo shows what we can accomplish when we act out of a generous, humanitarian love that translates into positive action, a love deeply connected to conscience. We will look at how love shines through Bishop Myriel and Jean Valjean and how Hugo’s vision inspires both readers and Les Mis lovers. Insights I gained from interviewing artists who captured the novel’s heart in the famed musical—especially Les Mis creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, director Tom Hooper, and actor Hugh Jackman—will inform our investigation into Hugo’s persuasive power. And we will see how Hugo’s vision finds remarkable resonance in the words and deeds of modern social justice activists, including Bryan Stevenson, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Shaka Senghor.  The contemporary relevance of Les Misérables is undeniable. 

By Professor Marva Barnett

Maya Chhabra will present and discuss her translation of Alexandre Dumas’s account of the June 1832 rebellion, as described in his article “My National Guard Woes” (Mes Infortunes de Garde National). Chhabra and panelists will discuss this previously untranslated account, how the description of the rebellion fits into Dumas’s larger work on his experience in the National Guard, and possible issues of censorship, as the article was published under Louis-Philippe.