Dear "Les Miserables" Fans,

I know that Javert and Eponine have been played by African American actors, but I'm curious to know if Valjean, Fantine, and Cosette have ever been played by African American actors.

I'm wondering just how much racial diversity would make sense in "Les Miserables". I mean, the dynamics of the "Les Mis" characters would certainly be interesting if there was an interracial relationship between a Caucasian Marius and an African American Cosette, and if a Caucasian Eponine was the jealous one.

I'm curious to know if the African American Broadway Eponine's parents were African American, too. I'm curious, because if the Thernardiers adopted Eponine, and she was a different race than they were, why would they treat her more kindly than they treated Cosette, no matter WHAT race Cosette was? Wouldn't a Caucasian Valjean seem too noticeable, within the framework of the story, if Cosette was African American? I know that modern audiences would embrace the diversity of such productions, but would it make sense within the plot of "Les Mis"? Just how tolerant WERE the French people of the 18th Century?

I think that it'd be cool, anyway, to see an African American Valjean, an African American/ Bi-racial Fantine, and an African American Cosette, because I've always wondered what the dynamics between an African American Cosette and a Caucasian Eponine would be like onstage, and I've always thought that an African American Valjean could be just as cool as an African American Javert.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Considering that Les Mis is performed in many countries besides the United States, you may want to adjust your language...

France in the 18th century was as intolerant as any other occidental country and there was probably very few afircan immigration. But I think that Les Mis being a universal story, the race of the performer does not matter. It is not a historical musical but a story about people no matter where they come from.

I have to say that I don't have a very precise view on how races were considered in France in the XIXth century.

But maybe being black was not as extraordinary as we may think... the West Indies were already very "French" at that time.

You probably all know the French writer Alexandre Dumas (The 3 Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Queen Margot to name a few)
He was born the same year that Victor Hugo, and he was from mixed races as his father (Thomas Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie aka général Dumas) was the first black general in French Army.


Maybe we could do some more research to find out how black people were considered, and if (for example) Javert could have been black.

I don't know much about 19th century French race relations, but when colorblind casting appears in "Les Mis" I don't think they're making any attempt at historical realism. They're just casting talented people regardless of race.

To answer your other questions, Duchess, there has been at least one African American Valjean (Lawrence Clayton) and several African American Fantines (Tonya Dixon and Thursday Farrar, among others). I don't think there's ever been an African American or black British Cosette, though. Except for in Asian productions I think Cosette has always been white, regardless of Fantine's race, the one exception being the part-Philipino (but easily passable as white) Ali Ewoldt in the Broadway revival. I guess she's just too ladylike for anyone to easily imagine as a minority, though it wouldn't be any less logical than a black Enjolras, which has happened repeatedly.

Likewise, I'm pretty sure Thénardier has always been white in "official" productions outside of Asia, though Ken Page did play the part at the Muny. A black Thénardier alongside white protagonists probably wouldn't feel very politically correct.

A multiracial stage casting doesn't necessarily mean that the audience is supposed to see the character as the race of the actor. For example, often when grown Eponine is black or Asian, little Eponine is white, and people don't just change races with puberty. However, magical puberty race changes aside, there's also nothing stopping audience members from picturing any of the characters as being African or Asian. There were Africans in most levels of French society by the 19th century (see above for Dumas). I'm not sure about the Asian population at the time, but it wouldn't be improbable.

As for Cosette, I don't know offhand about any African-born actresses, but there has been an Asian Cosette with Julie Benko.

Of course I know that, but Duchess' question was "would it make sense?"
We are then moving from a colorblind production to a point where casting different races would be an artistic choice.

My point was that even if some actors are black, we don't have to be colorblind. Even in an historical point of view, it could be accurate.
If Général Dumas was black, and was in the army one generation before Hugo, then a black Javert could probably be accurate too.
The same for almost any other character : Thénardier, Valjean, Enjolras... All of them could have been black.

Just a quick note: The Maruis I saw on the tour (early April) happened to be Asian, and the rest of the cast, the entire cast, was white.

comped

All characters could have been blacks, yes, but it is rather improbable, since immigration at the time came rather from Italy or Spain and not from Africa and there were not much slaves in France. But it is true that it could be interesting to introduce the issue of race in Les Mis. I think though that the story as in the book than in the musical already deals with a lot of important issues that rather concerns humanity in general, so I would rather not pay so much attention to the race of the player...

Wait, really? Were Andrew Varela, Erin Clemons and Brittney Johnson out?

At this particular performance, they were. and might I say Devin Ilaw (the man of which I speak), did a, IMO, rather half-assed performance that afternoon. He was, in my brother's words, "More wooden then the cane he's using." if that helps .

Norm Lewis played Javert. I saw him on PBS in the concert version and he was magnificent and Lea Salogna played Eponine.