The Expressive power of

Musical Theatre
Jasper Gifford
Musical Theatre

• Throughout history, theatre has not only been one of the greatest
forms of entertainment, but one of the best methods of expressing
a viewpoint or telling a Story. How is this ability changed when
combined with music?
• This project will investigate Musical Theatre’s ability to express
emotion and communicate identity. I will analyze and evaluate
Bring Him Home from Les Misérables in order to highlight
expressive and communicative nature of Musical Theatre.
Thesis

My analysis and evaluation is framed by

the idea that the intent of musical
theatre is to tell a story and convey a
message. This is shown in Bring Him
Home in 2 main Ways.
1. Its musical simplicity
2. Its emotional complexity
These characteristics can be seen
throughout Musical Theatre as a whole
and heavily used throughout Les
Misérables.
Background of Les Misérables.

Les Misérables (commonly known as Les mis) is a musical written by Claude-Michel

Schönberg which premiered in 1985. It is a stage adaptation of the novel of the same
name written by Victor Hugo. It follows the protagonist Jean Valjean in the aftermath of
the French revolution and during the June Rebellion. The Genre of Les Mis is a topic of
great debate of whether it is an opera or a musical as it uses many common features of
both. For the purpose of analysis I shall be considering it as a Megamusical. The term
megmamusical refers to large-scale musicals with a complex plot, a sung-through score
and a grandiose set design among other things. This style of musical writing was popular
with composers of the 80’s such as Andrew Lloyd-Webber and of course Claude-Michel
Schönberg (Sternfeld, 2014.) Bring Him Home occurs in the Second act of the musical. It
is about Jean Valjean praying to god to save his daughter, Cossete’s love interest, Marius
from the barricade of the June Rebellion. It deals with themes such as religion, faith and
an identity of service and self-sacrifice. It is a solo tenor aria. (Synopsis: Les Misérables —
Utah Shakespeare Festival. 2020).
Musicological analysis

Bring him home uses a mixture of

simplistic musical techniques in order to
construct an emotionally complex piece.
Its is written in a simple quadruple metre
at an andante tempo. These were most
likely used to help elevate the reflective,
prayer-like nature of the piece. The piece
as a whole has a high use of repetition,
with the vocal part being entirely made up
of three main themes and a coda.

Colm Wilkinson performing Bring him home at the 10th anniversary

concert
Musicological analysis

Many people refer to Les mis to be a symmetrical musical because

leitmotifs set up in the begging portion of musical can be found
through out the entire score. Despite this, Bring Him Home contains
no motifs from earlier in the musical and has no motifs derived from
it. This is done to contrast the rest of the musical and to highlight
the importance of this piece in Valjean’s Character arc.
Musicological analysis

Throughout the piece, a mixture of terraced dynamics and modern dynamics are used to
create variance within the piece. For example, at the begging (bars 1-19) when the piece
is more reflective and prayer like, a lighter timbre consisting of a string orchestra and a
harp is used. Towards the middle of the piece (bars 20 – 35) when it becomes more like a
plea, a fuller orchestral timbre at a forte dynamic is used to reflect this. A very simple
bass line which consists mainly of semibreves and minims is used with notes that last more
than a bar in the melody. A slow quaver pulse is also heard underneath. All of these
rhythmic ideas reflect the sacred nature of a prayer. It uses a homophonic texture.
Although some parts have the impression of polyphony, it remains homophonic throughout.
Musicological analysis

The main melody begins with an octave leap from E3-E4 (bar 4), it then continues to go
down to the E3 again in essentially stepwise motion. The next significant jump is at the
start of the chorus which is a jump of a 6th (A to F#) at bar 20 which represents the plea of
the lyric “bring him home.” Here the melody switches from a more falsetto sound to more
of a high belt sound. Shortly after there is a jump of a major 9th (E – F#) (bar 29) with the
lyric “the summers die” which is a metaphor of life finishing. The highest note of the song,
A4 is then sung which represents the fleeting nature of life, “how soon they fly” being the
lyric sung (bar 31). The climax of the song is at the last chorus, where the orchestra and
Valjean are at there loudest (bars 44-55). The Dynamic then significantly softens, and
Valjean holds a falsetto A4 for 12 beats.
Identity

A major theme throughout the piece is this idea of a personal identity of self sacrifice. This
is especially evident in the climax at bars 44-55 with the lyrics: “You can take, you can
give. Let him be, let him live. If I die, let me die, let him live. Self – sacrifice isn’t just
about literally sacrificing one’s life in order to save someone else’s like is evident here,
but is about sacrificing one personal interests for the sake of others. (Self-sacrifice
dictionary definition | self-sacrifice defined. 2020). This idea of self-sacrifice is something
that many people can relate to whether it is something as simple as comforting someone,
or as extreme as offering to die in someone else’s stead.
Conclusion

In conclusion, the Musical Les Misérables uses a multitude of

musicological and literary techniques to create and emotional
complex story. This is most evident in the aria Bring Him Home. It
also uses these techniques to create a sense of identity within the
piece.
Bibliography

• Sternfeld, J.  (2014, July 01). Megamusical. Grove Music Online. Retrieved, from

https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561
59263
0.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002262780.
• Self-sacrifice dictionary definition | self-sacrifice defined. (2020). Retrieved 2 September 2020, from
https://www.yourdictionary.com/self-sacrifice#:~:text=self%2Dsacrifice-,noun,sac%E2%80%B2ri%C2%B
7fic%E2%80%B2ing
• Synopsis: Les Misérables — Utah Shakespeare Festival. (2020). Retrieved 2 September 2020, from
https://www.bard.org/study-guides/synopsis-les-miserables