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Rose Laurens – L’air de la misère (Les misérables / 1980)
Rose Laurens
Rose Laurens, previously billed as Rose Merryl (born Rose Podwojny; 4 March 1951 – 29 April 2018), was a French singer-songwriter, known for her 1982 single “Africa”, a top-three hit in several European countries.
She was also famous for portraying the character of Fantine, on the original 1980 French concept album of Les Misérables, singing “L’air de la misère” and “J’avais rêvé d’une autre vie” two songs later adapted into English as “On My Own” and “I Dreamed a Dream” respectively.
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Rose Laurens discography
Les Miserables
Les Misérables is a French epic historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for film, television, and the stage, including a musical.
In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including The Miserables, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims, and The Dispossessed.
Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.
Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love.
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Les Misérables colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz, is also a sung-through musical with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and a book by Schönberg and Boublil, based on the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. Set in early 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his desire for redemption. After stealing a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving child, Valjean is imprisoned for 19 years and released in 1815.
When a bishop inspires him with a tremendous act of mercy, Valjean breaks his parole and starts his life anew and in disguise. He becomes wealthy and adopts an orphan, Cosette. A police inspector named Javert pursues Valjean over the decades in a single-minded quest for “justice”. The characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists attempts to overthrow the government at a street barricade in Paris.
The French musical premiered in Paris in 1980 with direction by Robert Hossein. Its English-language adaptation, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, has been running in London since October 1985, making it the longest-running musical in the West End and the second longest-running musical in the world after the original off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks. Many other long-running productions followed on Broadway and around the world, and a film adaptation was released in 2012.
Les Misérables is also a 2012 epic period musical film directed by Tom Hooper from a screenplay by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, based on the stage musical of the same name by Schönberg, Boublil, and Jean-Marc Natel, which in turn is based on the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. The film stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen, with Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit, and Daniel Huttlestone in supporting roles.