It premiered in Paris in 1980 and includes music by Claude-Michel Schönberg with original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, as well as an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer.
However, there are no recordings that contain the entirety of the songs, musical score, and spoken parts as featured on stage.
The "Overture" is the opening song and a dramatic instrumental introduction that establishes the setting as Toulon, France, 1815.
The "Work Song" flows from the "Overture", the former opening with a choir of imprisoned men singing a melody later used in "Look Down" but eventually becoming a dark duet between the prisoner Jean Valjean and the guard Javert.
Most of the music is soft and melancholic, but towards the end becomes louder and taut with frustration and anguish as she cries aloud about the wretched state of her life since being abandoned by Cosette's father, and her unfair mistreatment.
It is followed by a tag that breaks away from the main melody, involving the first entrance of Mme Thénardier, which is cut from many recordings.
The song is preceded by a lengthy introduction sung largely by regulars at the inn and Thénardier himself, which is cut from almost all recordings.
"Look Down", sometimes referred to as "Paris: 1832", or in the School Edition as "The Beggars", involves one of the best-known themes in the musical, imitating that which is first heard in the "Work Song".
Thénardier attempts to rob Jean Valjean, realizing he is the one "who borrowed Cosette", a brawl breaks out.
The first part follows the same melody as L'un vers l'autre (Towards One Another), a solo for Éponine that appeared on the original concept album but did not make it to the current version.
The languages sung included French, German, Japanese, Hungarian, Swedish, Polish, Dutch, Norwegian, Czech, Danish, Icelandic and English.
In the Original London recording alone, it plays alongside a Cosette solo, "I Saw Him Once" (Te souviens-tu du premier jour ?
Éponine, bringing Marius to Valjean's house to see Cosette, stumbles upon her father Thénardier and his gang Patron-Minette, made up of Brujon, Babet, Claquesous, and Montparnasse, preparing to rob the house; Éponine screams, dispersing the robbers, while Valjean is led to believe that Javert or his minions have discovered his whereabouts at last, and so prepares to leave at once with Cosette.
"One Day More" is a choral piece with many solos: all of the main characters (except for Fantine and The Bishop, both of whom have died by this point) sing in it in a counterpoint style known as dramatic quodlibet, as well as parts by the ensemble.
Each character sings his/her part to a different melody at the same time (counterpoint), before joining for the final chorus: The song was used by Bill Clinton in his successful 1992 campaign for the presidency of the United States.
It was also used as a finale to the 25th Anniversary concert of Les Misérables at The O2, sung by the OLC with Ramin Karimloo singing the part of Enjolras.
"Little People" begins as Gavroche proudly and merrily uncovers Javert's identity as an undercover police inspector.
The Original London Recording included a much longer version sung by Gavroche in the first act, between "Look Down" and "Red and Black".
Gavroche's gleeful uncovering of Javert is sung to an entirely different melody, already used in the Original French Version and is much shorter, before leading to the musical bit that was left in.
In the book, Marius does not really care much about Éponine until she dies, although he is still polite to her, whereas in the musical, they are portrayed as best friends, and he and his fellow students mourn her death, "fighting in her name"; Marius being quite devastated and heartbroken by his best friend's death, crying while holding her in his arms, refusing to let go when his fellow students try to take her body away, and refusing the comfort of Enjolras.
In the 2012 film, the first half of the song is omitted, excluding the revolutionaries' reminiscence and Grantaire's doubts that his comrades are ready for failure, though the verse with the latter was recorded.
In a documentary on the Blu-ray of the film adaptation, Claude-Michel Schönberg revealed that the song was written specifically for Colm Wilkinson.
[11] "Dawn of Anguish" is another minor interlude in which Enjolras and the revolutionaries realize that the people of Paris are not joining their revolution.
In it, Thénardier describes his robbing the dead bodies from the battle at the barricades and justifies his actions by saying that somebody has to "clean them up...as a service to the town".
The song was notably absent in the 2012 film adaptation, which instead contained a shorter chase-action sequence, scored primarily to "Look Down", in its place.
The omission of the song allows Thénardier's character in the film to remain somewhat comical, though he is still shown in the sewers robbing dead bodies.
After Valjean leaves, Javert contemplates the paradox of hunting the man who has spared him his life; he proceeds to jump to his death in the river.
"Beggars at the Feast" is the second big musical number sung by the Thénardiers, in which they proclaim how through their treacherous ways they always manage to come out on top before waving the audience goodbye with the mocking line "When we're rich as Croesus, Jesus, won't we see you all in hell".
"Valjean's Death" is the penultimate (or last, depending on the song organization) musical number in Les Misérables.
(Reprise)", is the last song in the musical; it is often incorporated with "Valjean's Death" into a single track on recordings, simply entitled "Epilogue".