| Character |
Voice |
Description |
| Jean Valjean |
dramatic tenor |
Valjean is released from jail after serving nineteen years (five for stealing a loaf of bread and fourteen for multiple escape attempts). He breaks his parole and changes his identity, becoming the wealthy mayor of a small town. He later adopts Cosette, the daughter of Fantine. |
| Inspector Javert |
bass-baritone or baritone |
Respecting the law above all else, Javert relentlessly pursues Valjean, hoping to bring the escaped convict to justice. |
| The Bishop of Digne |
baritone |
The bishop houses Valjean after his release from jail and gives him gifts of silver and absolution. |
| Fantine |
mezzo-soprano |
A worker who loses her job and becomes a prostitute in order to pay the Thénardiers for the welfare of her daughter. She later dies of a disease. |
| Bamatabois |
baritone or tenor |
A young gentleman who tries to buy Fantine's services and is responsible for her arrest. |
| Fauchelevent |
baritone or tenor |
In a role reduced from the novel, Fauchelevent appears only in the Cart Crash scene, where he is trapped under the cart and rescued by Valjean. He is an elderly man who has fallen upon hard times. |
| Young Cosette |
treble |
The daughter of Fantine, the Thénardiers force eight-year-old Cosette to work. |
| Madame Thénardier |
mezzo-soprano |
Thénardier's unscrupulous wife. |
| Young Éponine |
silent |
Eight-year-old Éponine is the pampered daughter of the Thénardiers. She grows up with Cosette and is unkind to her. |
| Thénardier |
baritone or tenor |
A second-rate thief, Thénardier runs a small inn. |
| Gavroche |
boy soprano |
Gavroche is a streetwise urchin who dies on the barricade helping the revolutionaries. |
| Enjolras |
baritone or tenor |
Enjolras leads Marius and the rest of the student revolutionaries. |
| Marius Pontmercy |
tenor |
Marius, a student revolutionary, is friends with Éponine, but loves Cosette. |
| Éponine |
mezzo-soprano |
Daughter of the Thénardiers, Éponine, now ragged and a waif, secretly loves Marius. She is killed while returning to the barricades to see Marius. |
| Cosette |
soprano |
Cosette, the daughter of Fantine, has become beautiful under Valjean's care. She falls in love with Marius, and he returns her love. |
| Brujon |
baritone or tenor |
The brutish and cowardly but dissatisfied member of Thénardier's Gang. His role in the musical expands to cover Gueulemer. |
| Babet |
baritone or tenor |
A foreboding member of Thénardier's Gang. |
| Claquesous |
baritone or tenor |
Quiet and masked, expert at evading the police, Claquesous might in fact be working for the law. |
| Montparnasse |
baritone or tenor |
A young member of Thénardier's Gang—a handsome man who wishes to be close to Éponine. |
| Friends of the ABC |
baritone or tenor |
Student revolutionaries who lead a revolution and die in the process, becoming martyrs for the rights of citizens. (See Members listed below) |
| Combeferre |
baritone or tenor |
The philosopher of the ABC group. |
| Feuilly |
baritone or tenor |
Feuilly is the only member of the Friends of the ABC who is not a student; he is a workingman. An optimist who stands as a sort of ambassador for the "outside," while the rest of the men stand for France. |
| Courfeyrac |
baritone or tenor |
Friendly and open, Courfeyrac introduces Marius to the ABC society in the novel. |
| Joly |
baritone or tenor |
A medical student and a hypochondriac; best friends with Lesgles. |
| Grantaire |
baritone or tenor |
Grantaire is a member of the Friends of the ABC. He is the opposite of Enjolras and believes in nothing other than his worship of Enjolras. |
| Jean Prouvaire |
baritone or tenor |
Prouvaire is the youngest student member of the Friends. |
| Lesgles |
baritone or tenor |
Enjolras' second-in-command. Best friends with Joly. |
- The characters