Why Does Les Mis Have English Accents? or, The History of the Cockney Musical

I shall not be taking criticism on my dog Latin ;)

Sources & Further Reading:
Behr, E. 1989. The Complete Book of Les Misérables.
Wright, A. 2010. A Tanner’s Worth Of Tune: Rediscovering The Post-War British Musical.

00:00 1. Introduction
02:10 2a. The Cockney Musical: Specimens
11:10 2b. The Cockney Musical: Anatomy
19:57 3. Les Miserables, the Cockney Musical
22:42 4. The Bartification of Victor Hugo
27:01 5. The Fall and Rise of the Cockney Musical

[lemueljr]

My high school drama teacher wouldn't allow us to use cockney accents in our production of Les Mis because it was a pet peeve of hers that it took place in France. Boy, I really wish I could see her reaction to this.

[andthatsshannii]

Even if someone somehow hasn’t been exposed to dickens, it still provides some great shorthand that English speakers around the world understand: “these characters sound like they’re wealthy and educated. These characters sound like they’re working class”

[drsuchomimus]

“Wait, it’s all Cockney?”
“Always ‘as been, guv’nor”

[mikaylaeager]

I’d argue that Newsies is the American contribution to this genre of musical. The New York accents are notoriously and comically thick and I really don’t think they come across as glamorous, perhaps just a little less influenced by pantomime. It’s working class, nostalgic, and it certainly has some big dance numbers as well as social commentary.

[matthewconnolly]

I feel like it's interesting that Eponine never seems to inherit the. cockney accents of her parents (and her brother) even though she is living in the same environment as them, since cockney accents codify them as lower class, unglamorous and kind of caricatures, while she is a tragic, romantic figure. It would be cool to see an On my Own attempted with a cockney accent

[canadagood]

I must note that Oliver the novel was published in 1837 and that the June rebellion of 1832 is the big historic highlight of Les Misérables (published 1862). The time periods are almost contemporary.

[Tony.H]

I wonder why they didn't translate this to the Dutch version. In most English language musicals, RP gets translated to Algemeen Nederlands (General Dutch, what they speak on TV), but Cockney, NYC, or other working class accents turn into Jordaans, Amsterdam local speak. Bert in Mary Poppins or Eliza in My Fair Lady, for example, speak like this. African accents also often get translated into Caribbean Dutch and get an Antillian or Suriname twist to it (if appropriate). Often, even if there's regional accents they'll do smth with that (Scottish often becomes Frisian, and in American originals with specific British ppl, they'll often be Flemish). But in Les Mis they do speak more slurily or properly, but they did not apply class based accents, though they could have easily. Interesting!

[halu]

I know you couldn't mention *every* cockney musical, but I feel disappointed you didn't mention chitty chitty bang bang. It will always rank in that genre for me

[randomslomo]

Angela Lansbury is playing the heck out of the role of Mrs. Lovett in that scene, that's what she's doing. 🥰 Sweeney Todd is my all time favorite musical.

[troyjohnson]

What Angela Lansbury is doing there at about 18:30 is letting Mrs. Lovett's soul rejoice that she's not only hit upon a scheme that may finally help her out of crushing poverty, she's also looped in an accomplice who is the perfect source for fresh supplies who also happens to be the man for whom she's had a long standing desire.

[gemmamoon]

I think one major reason for the death of cockney musicals (and showtune-based musicals in general) is Hair, which essentially invented the rock musical. It also inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber’s early works and his success subsequently lent itself to set-piece-heavy pop/rock musicals.

I would argue that most musicals today aren’t comprised of show-tunes, but rather a genre of choice blended with narrative lyrics. Hadestown is folk, Six is diva pop, etc. It is a shame that the pop/rock musical has led to so many jukebox musicals. They’re not bad on principle but half of Broadway right now is jukebox and it’s exhausting.

Edit: fixed some misspellings

[MargaretPinard]

"...and the Beadle and Javert have the same hat" 🤣I am LOVING this! I hadn't thought about musical characters in the US being glam, but that may be a selective bias...and Newsies weren't! Anyway, LOVE this idea--thanks for pointing me to it from the clock app :)

[meteorplum]

I got my hands on the French concept album years before I heard the Broadway cast album or saw the show in person. I appreciate your digging into Boublil's own desire to replicate Oliver. My gripe about the English lyrics is that the music is written for the French lyrics, which does the French thing of compressing way more syllables into a beat than normally happens in English. And as much as the English lyrics try and often succeed in meeting the music at least half way, there are bits where it sounds awkward when compared to the same passage in French. Also mildly annoyed that Gavroche's English lyrics are toned down in the criticism of the system.

[samneis]

Cool info. I never thought about Les Mis from its theater roots, and once you've explained the background of the producers this reason for the accents is the strongest. But as a big fan of the novel, I would say I think Victor Hugo would like what the Brits have done. I've read that he intentionally added a lot more slang dialogue and intentionally incorrect grammar in the dialog of characters like Thenardier than any other French authors were doing at the time. Apparently it was much commented on at the time, with some people disapproving, and other people getting all excited about the dialects of the Parisian underclass, kind of like how (coincidentally) all my friends in the 90's in America learned about Cockney rhyming slang from Guy Ritchie movies. So dialect was a big part of the novel too. With only high school French to guide me I'd never pick up on the cultural context of 1800's Parisian argot. And if one was to try to stage a musical in English, and then try to have people sing English in different French accents, I don't think anyone anywhere would understand. So when they translated the French prose to English lyrics, it totally makes sense to translate the accents and dialogue along the lines of the roughly equivalent British social classes. British people will pick up on the meaning automatically, and even if Americans don't know every distinction of it, most of us are pretty aware of the general implication of Cockney vs "posh". So I always assumed that was why the musical was like that. But either way it came about, the novel is very, very much about social commentary, and the musicals translate the spirit of it pretty well.

[lostnfound]

I love that you used Feuilly as an example of characters! He’s one of my absolute favourites, but he’s not usually who you first think of when you talk about Les Mis.

[radyperry]

It’s interesting working at a retirement village because a lot of activities are focused on nostalgia for the residents and a lot of the songs they play during these activities are from cockney musicals (there’s a lot from Oliver)

[TwelvePaws]

Mind blown about Les Mis. I say that having worked on the show as a lighting tech on an off since the 90's and lost count of how many times I've seen it (the10th year cast of casts is still the best ever) I never knew about its relationship with Oliver!

[erinclarke]

Loved this! I had just showed my partner Les Mis and he asked why they have london accents if it’s set in france, and my answer was nowhere near this thorough. Thank you!!!

[DavidMcIntosh_ACE]

Great video! That smash edit to Phantom of the Opera @ 27:12 had me laughing out loud.

[vntagecassette]

i don't know why the algorithm chose now to show me this video, but i'm SO glad that it did. this is directly up my alley