@@mparagames I mean... it was probably more in the vein of you'd be punished if you survived the attempt, but then again, I don't try to comprehend the insanity of old legal codes
@@mparagames you may go to jail when you fail to kill yourself. and in some countries the family actually had to pay a fine if one of them committed suicide. It was quite a deterrent since killing yourself would actually punish your children. Oh and there were some more spiritualistic consequences. You know, not getting into heaven, being denied a Christian burial, etc. The fear for your soul was a huge deal back then, much more than today
that... goddamn. he'd rather die breaking the law he was so religiously sworn to upholding, than allow himself to co-exist with the man he hunted for years, in a stubborn belief that he can't be changed. taking this into account kind of makes his death ironic.
He has stage fright but manages it through extensive preparation and study of the text. He's quite an industry leader when it comes to the study of acting and how we structure performance in order to make it authentic and compelling.
I've seen him bring up the same point a couple of times that really who wouldn't have stage fright in an industry like musical theatre. It's not like acting in a play where there's a bit more push and pull and you can cover your mistakes. If you mess up the big note then that's what's remembered
@@JezielProdigalSon Quast and Wilkinson were both so phenomenal! I was so disappointed with the movie, especially with the casting of both Jackman and Crowe! Both such good actors, but they really couldn't sing these roles at all well.
Agreed, partly, I do love quast and the way he sings this, but roger allam did amazing as well. Quast did amazing, making his suicide the result of chaos in his mind. Everything about law he has been taught he is questioning now, just the way he sings it with a tinge of almost madness as he throws himself into the void. He did wonderful, but allam, he sang out with complete calmness in his heart, but when it came down to his choices, suicide or life in debt, he sang with a tinge of fear, before finally accepting his "fate" and committing suicide, I love them both, if you get the time, find roger allams version, and let me know your opinion.
There actually is a masterclass on RUclips that Phillip Quast did on this song. I’ve heard this song a thousand times but that made me notice things about the piece that I’d never heard before. It’s well worth watching.
@@lillianward2810 Yes, I love that video! It really illuminates just how deeply Philip Quast understands the character, and the detailed thought process behind this brilliant performance
I really wish this song was called “Javert’s Soliloquy”, both to reflect it being parallel to “Valjean’s Soliloquy” and to get rid of the blatant spoiler. Amazing job by Quast though.
Daemoshiin Belmont It's called "throwing your voice". It basically means you make your voice come from somewhere else or change the pitch of it to make it sound like it's moving.
See, when I first started this, I said "How" and not "Why" The first reply I got was a good enough answer, though it was mostly rhetorical as I can't imagine how I'd go from singing to sounding like I'm genuinely falling, as it requires a massive amount of talent.
0:42 - He missed the word "look". That's the mark of a professional - he didn't hesitate to leave it out in order to follow the orchestra and then meet the beat on the next line. This happens in an instant.
I noticed immediately, the "Look down!" parallel that's made there is one of my favourite lines in the musical, but of course I can forgive Wilkinson, that man IS Valjean
@@pigeon5935 Maybe, but I think acceptance would be if he accepted that the world and people are a lot more complex than he believes and continuated with his life. Like Valjean, he didn’t believe in people and saw most of the as evil or at least hypocrite, but, when he realized he’s wrong (by the bishop forgiving him) he _accepts_ that he was mistaken and decides to change. Javert comes to a similar conclusion, but he cannot accept it and choose to take his own life.
But yet... He still kills himself. It's quite interesting. If you've read "The Fault in Our Stars"... It says specifically. The 5 stages of grief are not for losing someone. Everyone grieves differently. The 5 stages are for grief for your own dying.
The priest was to Valjean as Valjean was to Javert. They both showed that through compassion, your outlook on life can change fundamentally. It doesn't have to be about revenge. Love can win. Though, for Javert, it was too much to bear. He spent his entire life on, what he thought, was duty and justice. When he realized that he spent 20 years on a fruitless endeavor, he couldn't bear it. That same trial changed Valjean into a saintly figure. You can almost say the same of Javert, as he sacrificed his life rather than complete his duty and turn in Valjean. They both sacrificed themselves.
I don't think that Javert every considered his work fruitless. it's just that Valjean made him realize that the word wasn't black and white, and that there could be people who commit crimes out of desperation and not greed, and that not all criminals are bloodthirsty monsters that he always assumed they were. This realization, that Valjean was a good person who had found god and repented for his past sins was at odds with his sense of duty, The only way Javert could fulfill his duties would be to arrest Valjean, and arresting Valjean would be destroying a good man. In the end, Javert knew he could never refuse to do his duty, but couldn't bring himself to go after Valjean anymore, and chose to end his own life, both to ensure that Valjean would be free, and because he couldn't reconcile the man he was with the new worldview that had been opened to him.
The contrast between the two shows two ways your life can go when your worldview is shattered. Keep in mind that when writing the book, Victor Hugo based the characters of both Valjean and Javert on the same person. (Eugène François Vidocq, an interesting character in his own right.)
"Look down, Javert, he's standing in his grave." Such powerful lines. I think the words "look down" is used to symbolise all of the suffering and desperation of the lower classes ("wretched of the earth") that people of the day didn't see.
I understand that your comment is a bit old, so sorry for responding so late. But the "Look down" is more likely a parallel to the first song in the show, where prisoners(among them Jean Valjean) are forced to look down away from the law(among them Javert) in prison until they die. Javert's justice looks down to punish, Valjean's justice looks down to rehabilitate.
@@PinkSkunkSleepy I'm a little late as well but I'm pretty sure you're both right. "Look down" comes back 3 times. Once in the beginning with the prisoners, once in the beginning of act two where it's the beggars who sing it and once in the last part, like in this video. It's indeed a way to grab back onto the start and the middle of the story but also a way to symbolize the upper classes looking down on the less fortunate, be it the prisoners, the poor or the young people who wanted change. In fact the themes throughout the entire musical are the unequalities in society and the "what is justice"/conservative ways vs. progressive ways theme that plays between Javert and Valjean as well as the conservative French Society led by a king and the revolutionists. So yes, the "look down" is meant to symbolize the upper class looking down on the poor class in the opressing society of France. It is also a way of creating a clear starting, middle and end fase in the musical.
fantastic. Javert is one of the most interesting characters of the story. He is an extremist. That's his problem. He only sees black and white and all the grey between these 2 colors don't exist to him. I really feel sorry for a person like this. And nowadays, there are so many!
@@ingwerschorle_ Thats not true at all. You’re thinking of social conservatives. Putting complete faith in the government/ the law and then experiencing cognitive dissonance when it is proven wrong is definitely not something a conservative would do
how is he an extremist or a conservative? he watched hundreds of people die and somehow him and jeanvaljean survived despite being them both being quite crazy. survivor guilt is great in javert, not sure if he needs to have any particular political view to be like that
I feel like Javert is basically a human metronome throughout the show. He’s very premise and exacting. Even his leitmotif is very rhythmic and almost vertical, but here he falls apart. A master class. Philip Quast is a treasure.
And the stars and black and cold/as I stare into the void. This lyric is so powerful: throughout the play the stars have been Javerts reminder of what he must do and what he thinks is right. He swears on the stars that he will find Valjean but as he does, he lets him go, and they are gone. It's like his purpose has been fulfilled and it has consumed him for so long, there is no hope, no inspiration left for Javerts life to hold meaning anymore. The stars that were once bright and had lifted him no are black, rejecting him. The stars could also refer to God, as he is thought to also lie above and give light into darkness. Now that the stars are gone, his devotion to God has been lost and heaven has gone out of reach whereas Valjean has become closer and is able to reach the kingdom. And yet, ironically, it is because Valjean was a good man that Javert suffered. But he is left without belief facing a situation where his faith can no longer help him and all that is left is the void, and the inevitable fate that waits for him in the waters of the river.
Whether literally or metaphorically, we have always sought guidance in the stars. For Javert, as you astutely noted, they serve as embodiments of faith--in secular and divine law, in his mandate as officer--and as evidence that his cause (and by extension, himself) is righteous. And--building on the religious symbolism you pointed out--they're essentially "the way, the truth, and the light" in his eyes. He also (I think) sees himself as a candle in the dark, a civilizing ward against evil and savagery. When that light--perhaps a false one, as Lucifer (before the fall) was called the morning star--is snuffed out, he is completely and utterly lost. Rather than rise anew, he surrenders to the void.
The stars are sometimes seen as a reminder of God's presence and sovereignty. A reminder of the order and justice of the universe. If the stars are Gone for Javert he might thing God has closed him off, abandoned him. Or that he just doesn't have the Stars to steer by anymore. The devastation of realizing the 'lost' person he wanted to save was ultimately close to God than he ever was. The world itself had gone 'cold' for him?
this is the best version of the suicide ever. Philip quast's voice makes him sound like a madman. hes trying to hold onto what little he has left in life, but finds himself questioning his own beliefs and morals. the orchestration is beautiful and the best. i dont like when he says " ill escape now from that world..." when they add the out of key section in the movie, this is the best. there is a video on you tube where Philip quast sings and Russel crowe acts it out, and that is probably my favorite video because even though Philip quast is amazing, Russel crowe does a pretty good job at the acting aspect.
Quast does a very passionate rendition, which is very impressive, musically speaking. For Crowe, though... it feels more human, more intimately connected. Less like I'm peering into the backdrop panic of the mind and more like I'm seeing it unfold in front of me. Crowe does a more vulnerable Javert, I think, in this song. Quast's Javert doesn't decide to jump until the end. Up until that moment, he's still deciding... which fits with the rest of Quast's portrayal of a vibrant, firey man. Even at 1:35, he's still deciding, still looking for a way out. Crowe's Javert knew that something was wrong from the start. He begins the song already shaken and panicking. He already knows there's no way out, and so there's a stronger sense of broken desperation through the whole song. Both are good, just different. I do love me some angst, though, and the quiet vulnerability of Crowe's Javert is my favorite because of that... but Quast's Javert is just *fun*
Nobody plays this role better than Philip Quast. Javert is one of the greatest roles one could play on Broadway and Quast is a master at capturing the voice of this tragic character. I believe this perfect musical will continue to live on but I don't know if we will ever see someone play the role of Javert as perfectly as Philip Quast.
I feel bad saying it, but it's extremely funny to me that Javert had such a ridiculously rigid worldview, that a guy NOT killing him was enough to destroy his entire perception of reality and cause him to immediately kill himself.
I think it's all a bit deeper than that. It's not the fact that he wasn't killed that braked him, it's because his worldview shattered. For Javert the world is full of bad selfish and generally evil people. This is literally how he sees it, and the Law is the only thing that keeps the world from ending. And he lives to protect the law and the world by proxy. When he suddenly meets compassion from a man who was the worst lawbreaker in his eyes he simply cannot understand that. He tries to rationalize this, but he cannot. And so his world is broken and his life has no meaning anymore. And unlike Valjean he's unable to find a new meaning. So he quits.
@@Fedorchik1536 Very true - also Javert probably started to question every single decision he made in the past. He would also have to live with all his past actions and the fact that he may have inadvertently harmed a lot of people
I think its a little deeper than that. Imagine enforcing all your life and someone comes around and dismantles ur whole belief system. Not only that it dismantles ur beliefs, but your whole existence.
The actual definition of life is anything you do that prevents you from killing yourself. Javert obviously question the very thing that holds him together, commiting suicide at that point becomes the true problem whether Javert's action was justifiable.
The beauty of his voice holding that note on "reprieved." It's sublime and freezes me in my tracks. There's no better Javert than Philip Quast, and I'm a huge fan of Roger Allam.
Him singing the second syllable of that word is my all time favorite singing sound, out of all the performances, songs and singers I have heard. It actually makes me want to take up singing again because he not only is so invested in the role, but his voice is to die for and, most of all but he enjoys delivering such a gorgeous sound with his one in a million, high caliber and and finely-tuned instrument. It just gives you shivers.
I just love how the music goes back to Stars in the end, building a link between Javert's personality and his decision to die. He was so very sure that he is following the right path, now he would rather die than admit that he has been living the wrong way--Just wonderful, impossibly good, masterly performed and will be always remembered.
He admits it. That's why he dies. He realizes that he dedicated every instant of his life to a fruitless endeavor, and that he has nothing left to live for.
I interpret the entrance of Stars at the end as Javert finally regaining control of the situation. From the moment Valjean left, Javert sang to his tune (after all, the entire song is a parallel to Valjean's Soliloquy), and it is only when Javert no longer feels bound to detaining and turning in Valjean, a good man, that his sense of justice and his guide, the Stars, shine one last time upon him as the Seine consumes his body.
Ugh... Philip Quast’s tone, pronunciation, intonation, enunciation, and acting in this song is soooo on point that it makes my spine tingle. He’s so perfect as Javert! 😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️
The benchmark and the finest performance of Javert, I have seen many play the role over the years and yet Philip Quast is head and shoulders above all. The entire cast of the 10th-anniversary performance is pure magic to listen to and in my honest opinion the finest stage performance of the production past and present.
I was obsessed with "Stars" for so long before I listened to Javert's Suicide. The part where he says the stars are black and cold gives me chills everytime
Me too but after he sung Stars got me damn he's still hot even today.Saw him in Mary Poppins the musical in Sydney a couple of years ago he's still got some set of pipes
That “Take him Valjean” hits me so hard, I think it's because I assume that the moment Javert said that he knew that he wouldn't be able to live with that desicion so he sees what's going to happen (that's the moment that he admits in his own way that he has been wrong his entire life and feels that the weight of having to reconsider is too much for him to bear) and also I find that “I will be waiting 24601” very emotional because it's as if Javert is struggling to hold it together for some seconds more to maintain his authority image while knowing that, in fact, he won't be waiting!🥺 Something like the parents that tell their children that they're gonna punish them without actually planning to do so, just for the sake of keeping control! Sorry for ranting, I'm just ridiculously obsessed with this song and especially this version! 😅
As he mentions, he came from the gutter, like Fantine or Valjean. His early life probably wasn't better than theirs, and he probably has seen all the evils of this world, then and as a police officer. I think that his unshakable faith in the law was the only thing that held him together, allowing him to believe that justice could exist, that suffering was deserved, that life could have a meaning in this terrible world.
Absolutely my favourite performance of this song, on point singer/actor, on point orchestra. That vocal fry he puts on his voice during the last note will never not give me chills.
One of my all time favorite characters. Quast truly does him justice. What a voice! And he is so achingly beautiful here, I can't help but be a tiny bit in love with him
to be honest I really enjoyed both interpretations of Javert, Phillip Quast and Russel Crowe, the show different sides of the same character, I mean you can touch the anger almost madness throught the screen when you listen this one and with Crowe you see a more reflective and calm Javert. I cant deny that Quast has an amazing and superior voice, hes part of the dream cast for a reason, but please stop giving shit to Russel
i agree. considering that none of the actors in the movie has been or was professional singers in any way, i think they pulled off an amazing interpretation and performance in the movie. i waited years to watch the movie, because i feared the harsh critics of it, thinking that they might have destroyed such a good story like Les Miserables in that movie, but all my fears was unfounded after i recently actually watched it!
yeah, but one thing is to be trained in something in your youth or whatever, another thing is to be a professional worker, doing musical shows 2-3 nights a week for years at end. and yeah, you are probably right. a lot of it came down to direction as well. and, like they have stated in the behind-the-scenes footage, the actors were allowed the freedom to improvise and make a performance that was less like a musical-show and acting out the character more through the blending of the acting and music combined.
***** yeah, i agree! for me it was the other way around first. watched it live the first time when i was young, then later read the book, then watched a non-musical movie, and now, recently, watched the musical movie we are talking about.
“And shall I now begin to doubt? Who never doubted all these years?” This line really spoke to me. This past year has been very trying for my core values and beliefs. I think our beliefs will continue to be tried throughout our lives, but if we learn how to grow, adapt, and have faith when we are young, it is easier to change as we get older. Javert never had a doubt or question in his mind until this moment. He simply could not comprehend a world that didn’t fall into his core values and didn’t know how to cope. Not to this extent, but the same thing happened to me when my world view was challenged. But I’m glad I was able to learn to grow and expand my view and it’s been easier as more challenges arise. But I really felt that line in this song now more than ever.
@@TheRitzierComic That's not the intrusive r. The intrusive r is when you add the r sound to the beginning of the word that comes after some specific words. Now what Philip was saying was: "I am the law(R) and the law is not mocked!" The intrusive r would've been like: "I am the law (R)and the law (R)is not mocked!" (Notice how there is also an r sound at "is"?)
@@naufalzaid7500 - Marcin is correct. I'm not sure what distinction you're referencing but both the "linking R" and the "intrusive R" are put at the /END/ of a word that ends in a vowel sound when the next word also begins with a vowel. There are no Rs that get put in front of the next word. The difference is, to put it simplistically, that the linking R is put between a word ending in a vowel but only when the next word also starts with a vowel (ex. "I am the LAWR and the LAWR is not mocked"). But an "ntrusive R" happens even if it's the last word in a sentence or regardless of whether or not the next word starts with a vowel (ex. "That's a bad ideaR, but Iike it."
People complain about the sound but I doubt that any of those people have been present when someone jumped off a bridge into the Chena river. The sound is pretty much accurate and I have no idea how people find it funny.
Iron Storm we're used to hearing them in Bugs Bunny cartoons and associated it with slapstick. We never knew the cartoon sound editors opted for realism too
“I am reaching, but I fall, and the stars and black and cold. As I stare into the void of a world that cannot hold.” Before 2020, Javert’s choice to commit suicide seemed so sudden and unreasonable to me, but now I understand. When the world you knew crumbles around you, death becomes the only logical choice.
Perhaps not the only logical choice, but certainly a tempting one. While the world feels like its against you and you can do nothing but watch as your life's work crumbles to dust in front of you, can we blame Javert in good conscience? Like you, the pandemic has given me a lot more understanding of his choices. I've also gained a healthy appreciation for well-written tragedy and the catharsis it affords us. Also, I hope you are doing better, times are hard right now.
I love this song because it shows that no matter how much Javert says he and Valjean are nothing alike, they're too similar but with one big difference. It uses the same melody as "Valjean Soliloquy" with the only difference being at the end with the final note. Javert goes down and Valjean goes up. It show how truly weak Javert was and how strong Valjean it. Valjean is able to move forward and become better while Javert can't see a world where he failed and kills himself. The fact that they're both old too. Javert knows chasing Valjean is a young man's game that he can't play anymore. He's not as strong as him. I also love the lines: "Damned if I'll live in the debt of a thief"/"Damned if I'll yield at the end of the chase"/"I am the law and the law is not mocked"/"I'll spit his pity right back in his face"/"There is nothing on earth that we share"/"It is either Valjean or Javert!". It shows just how wrathful, greedy, and prideful he is, which are three of the Deadly Sins. Then in "Stars", he says: "I never shall yield"/"Till we come face to face", and he does that. He yielded by killing himself once he came face to face with Valjean. I love to think of this as Valjean truly knowing what God is while Javert doesn't know at all. Yes, he know about the Lord, but he doesn't know what it's like to truly feel him. And to think that in some religions, if you kill yourself, you go to Hell and it was illegal to kill yourself back then, he left the world breaking the two things he followed and believed most. The law and religion. This is why I love musicals like Les Mis. There is so much attention to detail and you can tell that they loved the musical. The little details that tell you everything that is going to happen. It clear why it lasted on Broadway for so long. Not just the songs and the amazing and vocally demanding singing, but because of the story and the meaning behind everything.
When faced with the fact that Valjean was not an evil man rather than accept that Javert’s interpretation of a vengeful, judgmental and unmerciful God was wrong and that a God would grant mercy and change someone’s heart, Javert chose to take his own life.
It isn't just that, it's that his entire perception of how he lived his whole long life was shattered, he realizes he was wrong. He cannot understand how he allowed himself to be so brainwashed and basically realized he wasted his entire life over nothing. Thus he says "Does he know that granting me my life today, this man has killed me even so?" It is both a literal and figurative lyric, the Javert he thought he knew, has just been murdered by Valjean. You gotta think, he's an old man, his best days are behind him. He saw no other alternative than death.
When I saw Les Misérables live and this song came on, everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting and watching to see what would happen next. It was all the chills and overall was amazing
Its such a great performance. notice how Colm is highly aware of the beat and feel of the music and either he missed his cue or the orchestra sped up and he immediately cut out the word "Look" to shorten it to down. a true professional. Also the way Phillip sings the man of mercy comes again and talks of justice! chefs kisses all around!
I can't get those lines out of my head now, I love them. "Look down, Javert! He's standing in his grave! Give way, Javert!" "I will be waiting, 2460-Oneeeeeeeeeee!"
I just want to say one thing to the ones who compare Quast to Crowe. This version of Quast was live in a theater and unique, the one of Crowe was a scene in a film, that means that it was the best version chosen among many attempts and not unique and live.
Philip Quast is a miracle. Who else could sing this with any kind of conviction at all. We are all certainly blest to be able to hear this magnificent performance. And now a thousand years from now, nations will be privileged to hear and exult. Jim Cunnie
He nearly didn't audition. He was embarrassed that he couldn't sightread music and walked out of the theatre before it was his turn to audition- for the chorus.
Um...WHAT?? Crowe could not musically carry this part, not even close. I am an amateur and I had dozens upon dozens in my small community theatre tell me that I was "so much better than Russell Crowe".
Shawn Pavlik pfft, please, like the talent matters. What a useless skill. I don’t care how hard it is to make those sounds, if it doesn’t sound good, I don’t like it. I’m in it for the sound, not the talent. I liked Crowe’s sound better.
"Like the talent matters"?? LOL Wow...YES, the talent matters. Absolutely. The talent IS the sound. This was a movie musical and as such, they should have found singers who could act (Quast) vs. actors who can kind of sing (Crowe, Seyfried....though Seyfried is MUCH worse than Crowe).
Maaan the music sounds like he's coming back to life when it goes "And must I now begin to doubt", and then "I am reaching but I fall, and the stars are dark and cold" give me chills and make me wanna cry every time.
Valjean's soliloquy: "This act of kindness completely changed my perception of the world. I will change for the better, now that I understand it's possible." Javert's soliloquy: "This act of kindness completely changed my perception of the world. Guess I'll yeet myself, off I go"
In my opinion Javert realised that if the law was flawed then suddenly a lot of the things he had done in service to it take on a much darker tone and for that he was irredeemable. I mean, even just in the things shown he does some incredibly horrible things like killing Fantine, who knows what other things had he done in service to the law? And imagine after a lifetime of acting like that and considering yourself in the right, suddenly taking another look at yourself, this time with the filters off and you see a monster. He never believed people could change or be redeemed, imagine what the thought that he himself was a monster do to someone like that?
It's not like that, when you realize that everything you worked for in your life was an illusion, all you sought and defended was an illusion, your whole world is shattering before you, and there is no way out in this case, Javert realized that everything he stood for, everything he believed in was a big lie
Incredible performance, but can we also give a shout out to the genius who wrote the novel and the one who composed all these phenomenal songs? To have even written one of them would have been remarkable in a lifetime! Every aspect of this musical is amazing and filled with genius, not the least the performers like Quast.
I think I fall a little e bit more in love with poor Javert every time I see this clip with al,his frailties. Poor man was driven to chase and was thwarted. Love Phillip Quast's poignant portrayal.
came here from norm lewis's version, which i also adore, and I do like the contrast of the two performances. While Norm Lewis sounds enraged that the world would question his Javert in such a way, Quast sounds like his mind's just been blown and he's so terrified that he doesn't know how to cope. Such great performances!
3:31 Just...wow. That emotional change kills me. This song, when we performed Les Mis, was the turning point for me in the show, mainly because it was when the open weeping began (Thank gods I was in Turning and had the excuse to cry). Just...Javert was my favorite character from the start, and I'm friends with the student at my school who played him, and so it made the scene all the more emotional. I love this song, I love Quast's singing, and it'll always hold a special place in my heart.
4:12 onwards is a reallly good summary of Javert's life. It starts out so glorious and ends in such dissonance. (And of course it is also a twisted theme of Stars.)
“Damned if I’ll live in the debt of a thief / Damned if I’ll yield at the end of the chase” are some pretty interesting lines. They’re a callback to Valjean’s “If I speak, I am condemned / If I stay silent, I am damned” in Who Am I, with the notable difference being that Javert says “damned” twice, which I think is because he thinks of God and the law as the same thing, contrasting with Valjean’s ability to separate them. Javert views all crimes as sins, with the only repentance being jail time. The musical’s characters’ morality systems are reflected by their view of God. Valjean views God as benevolent, Javert views God as an unforgiving being, who is just but not kind, and Thenardier, who has no morals, says that God is dead. (This is kind of a shitty thing to do, especially when the book was written by someone who wasn’t actually very religious, but you can make your own judgements on that)
It is genius that this song has the same tune as Valjean's song like this, it shows the difference in the characters and their choices in life. Truly amazing.
Quast has a voice that can fill a music hall in an absolutely majestic way, while Crowe has a voice that gives a sense of raw intimacy with the character. Quast is great for the theater, Crowe is great for the silver screen.
Seriously? I thought Crowe was shite, he barely hit the notes, and his voice carried no emotion. When Crowe sang, he just sang the notes, whereas Quast puts meaning in the words
The SANDWICH Guy he was terrible. He’s barely a singer, let alone a musical theatre singer. There was literally no emotion and no feeling in the notes, making it hard to empathise with the character
In my school production of les mis which still has a month left I play javert and these videos help so much so hopefully I can keep giving great performances and apparently on the last night in a month we have a surprise for me and john valjean
Ethan Vardy My first role was Javert in the dramatic version. Still my favorite role I have ever played, I channeled all of my teenage anger through that character, it was a blast. If you do it right you'll get the biggest applause, everyone loves Javert
If I remember from reading the book, Javert was born in a prison to a mother who was (part?) Gypsy. That may offer some context to why he was the way he was.
He was born in prison to a woman only described as a fortune teller and with a father that served as a galley slave, which is also the position Valjean is in when we first see him. He is described as belonging to the "gypsy race", so he is ethnically Romani. His parents being criminals had a large impact on his life because due to his birth he considers himself unworthy of amusement or joy.
![Les Misérables (10th Anniversary) - Look down [Lyrics on screen]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/aS8S3ZxVWBw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Megan Thee Stallion - Mamushi (Remix) [feat. TWICE] [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5c0_u9PsrsQ/mqdefault.jpg)
A note: At this time, suicide was a crime in France. Javert's last act was to break the law.
a crime... where you can't take a sentence?
@@mparagames I mean... it was probably more in the vein of you'd be punished if you survived the attempt, but then again, I don't try to comprehend the insanity of old legal codes
@@mparagames you may go to jail when you fail to kill yourself. and in some countries the family actually had to pay a fine if one of them committed suicide.
It was quite a deterrent since killing yourself would actually punish your children.
Oh and there were some more spiritualistic consequences. You know, not getting into heaven, being denied a Christian burial, etc. The fear for your soul was a huge deal back then, much more than today
@@boooster101 > You know, not getting into heaven
that still exists, but it's more a religious thing rather than the law
that... goddamn. he'd rather die breaking the law he was so religiously sworn to upholding, than allow himself to co-exist with the man he hunted for years, in a stubborn belief that he can't be changed.
taking this into account kind of makes his death ironic.
One thing to remember is this "Philip Quast has really awful stage fright and always has done, yet he makes the best perfomance of Javert ever here"
He has stage fright but manages it through extensive preparation and study of the text. He's quite an industry leader when it comes to the study of acting and how we structure performance in order to make it authentic and compelling.
I've seen him bring up the same point a couple of times that really who wouldn't have stage fright in an industry like musical theatre. It's not like acting in a play where there's a bit more push and pull and you can cover your mistakes. If you mess up the big note then that's what's remembered
Phenomenal.
Just saw the movie with Hugh Jackman and Russel Crowe, on tv last night.
It reminded me how great Philip Quast is.
@@JezielProdigalSon Quast and Wilkinson were both so phenomenal! I was so disappointed with the movie, especially with the casting of both Jackman and Crowe! Both such good actors, but they really couldn't sing these roles at all well.
What a masterclass in acting and singing. This man was born to play Javert. The complicated emotions are expressed so well.
Agreed, partly, I do love quast and the way he sings this, but roger allam did amazing as well. Quast did amazing, making his suicide the result of chaos in his mind. Everything about law he has been taught he is questioning now, just the way he sings it with a tinge of almost madness as he throws himself into the void. He did wonderful, but allam, he sang out with complete calmness in his heart, but when it came down to his choices, suicide or life in debt, he sang with a tinge of fear, before finally accepting his "fate" and committing suicide, I love them both, if you get the time, find roger allams version, and let me know your opinion.
Victor Hugo would be proud
There actually is a masterclass on RUclips that Phillip Quast did on this song. I’ve heard this song a thousand times but that made me notice things about the piece that I’d never heard before. It’s well worth watching.
@@lillianward2810 Yes, I love that video! It really illuminates just how deeply Philip Quast understands the character, and the detailed thought process behind this brilliant performance
Yeah, he did amazing. And I know I'm going to be criticized for saying this, but I think Russel Crowe also did quite well.
I really wish this song was called “Javert’s Soliloquy”, both to reflect it being parallel to “Valjean’s Soliloquy” and to get rid of the blatant spoiler. Amazing job by Quast though.
In the playbill I have from when I saw Les Mis, it was called Soliloquy, but most people refer to it as Javert’s Suicide
I believe it was originally Javert's Suicide but its called Javert's soliloquy in newer performances. I may be wrong though
I've literally never seen the stage performance in full, and yet this is still so fascinating to me lol
I Agree
I've seen it called "Soliloquy- Javert's Suicide"
How he makes that last word sound like he's falling is beyond me.
Daemoshiin Belmont It's called "throwing your voice". It basically means you make your voice come from somewhere else or change the pitch of it to make it sound like it's moving.
PotatoKing Gaming I'm glad you saw the complete and utter missing of the point there, too.
See, when I first started this, I said "How" and not "Why"
The first reply I got was a good enough answer, though it was mostly rhetorical as I can't imagine how I'd go from singing to sounding like I'm genuinely falling, as it requires a massive amount of talent.
+Daemoshiin Belmont Probably just moves from the mic or changes his angle on it while he holds the note
+Daemoshiin Belmont *smack*
0:42 - He missed the word "look". That's the mark of a professional - he didn't hesitate to leave it out in order to follow the orchestra and then meet the beat on the next line. This happens in an instant.
I didn't even notice, which says a LOT
You can hardly catch it, too. Wilkinson is a god of the stage
holy christ I've never noticed it for 10 yrs since I've known this version of musical
Wow
I noticed immediately, the "Look down!" parallel that's made there is one of my favourite lines in the musical, but of course I can forgive Wilkinson, that man IS Valjean
valjean: give me three days
8 years later
valjean: one more hour
Jean Valjean, capturing the procrastinator in us all.
Alfredo Gang Underrated comment
I will never yield until til we come face to face.... but then I'll let you go
Me bargaining with my teacher on passing my homework in the due date.
@@marcelinon.1897 of course. I sing the Confrontation with my teacher every time I procrastinate
Valjean: Three days are all I need
Valjean, literally two minutes later: Your child will live within my care
I just realised Javert goes through the stages of grief.
Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance
I don’t believe be goes into the last one, he’s unavailable to accept what happened: :,(
@@mrtuwnbr I think he does, he comes to the conclusion that he cannot live in a world where his previous views are false.
@@pigeon5935 Maybe, but I think acceptance would be if he accepted that the world and people are a lot more complex than he believes and continuated with his life. Like Valjean, he didn’t believe in people and saw most of the as evil or at least hypocrite, but, when he realized he’s wrong (by the bishop forgiving him) he _accepts_ that he was mistaken and decides to change. Javert comes to a similar conclusion, but he cannot accept it and choose to take his own life.
@@mrtuwnbr Agree 100%. His inability to accept the conclusion is what leads to his downfall.
But yet... He still kills himself. It's quite interesting.
If you've read "The Fault in Our Stars"... It says specifically. The 5 stages of grief are not for losing someone. Everyone grieves differently. The 5 stages are for grief for your own dying.
I always get chills when Quast sings, "Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life." The music is just stunning at that moment!
"Damned if I'll live int he debt of a thief!"
The priest was to Valjean as Valjean was to Javert. They both showed that through compassion, your outlook on life can change fundamentally. It doesn't have to be about revenge. Love can win.
Though, for Javert, it was too much to bear. He spent his entire life on, what he thought, was duty and justice. When he realized that he spent 20 years on a fruitless endeavor, he couldn't bear it. That same trial changed Valjean into a saintly figure. You can almost say the same of Javert, as he sacrificed his life rather than complete his duty and turn in Valjean. They both sacrificed themselves.
I don't think that Javert every considered his work fruitless. it's just that Valjean made him realize that the word wasn't black and white, and that there could be people who commit crimes out of desperation and not greed, and that not all criminals are bloodthirsty monsters that he always assumed they were.
This realization, that Valjean was a good person who had found god and repented for his past sins was at odds with his sense of duty, The only way Javert could fulfill his duties would be to arrest Valjean, and arresting Valjean would be destroying a good man. In the end, Javert knew he could never refuse to do his duty, but couldn't bring himself to go after Valjean anymore, and chose to end his own life, both to ensure that Valjean would be free, and because he couldn't reconcile the man he was with the new worldview that had been opened to him.
The contrast between the two shows two ways your life can go when your worldview is shattered. Keep in mind that when writing the book, Victor Hugo based the characters of both Valjean and Javert on the same person. (Eugène François Vidocq, an interesting character in his own right.)
Can we talk about 3:27? Cause this man took a literal pause to look down at the river and make his decision before continuing. Absolute genius.
"Look down, Javert, he's standing in his grave." Such powerful lines. I think the words "look down" is used to symbolise all of the suffering and desperation of the lower classes ("wretched of the earth") that people of the day didn't see.
I understand that your comment is a bit old, so sorry for responding so late. But the "Look down" is more likely a parallel to the first song in the show, where prisoners(among them Jean Valjean) are forced to look down away from the law(among them Javert) in prison until they die. Javert's justice looks down to punish, Valjean's justice looks down to rehabilitate.
Ava Aelius yeah. That’s what I thought, it was like a reference to look down from the very beginning
@@PinkSkunkSleepy I'm a little late as well but I'm pretty sure you're both right. "Look down" comes back 3 times. Once in the beginning with the prisoners, once in the beginning of act two where it's the beggars who sing it and once in the last part, like in this video.
It's indeed a way to grab back onto the start and the middle of the story but also a way to symbolize the upper classes looking down on the less fortunate, be it the prisoners, the poor or the young people who wanted change.
In fact the themes throughout the entire musical are the unequalities in society and the "what is justice"/conservative ways vs. progressive ways theme that plays between Javert and Valjean as well as the conservative French Society led by a king and the revolutionists.
So yes, the "look down" is meant to symbolize the upper class looking down on the poor class in the opressing society of France. It is also a way of creating a clear starting, middle and end fase in the musical.
javert: "MOVE OVER. ILL JUMP IN THE GRAVE FIRST."
Oh, and the privileged and powerful see their plight so much more clearly today?
If you haven't seen the video of Philip Quast talking about singing this song, look it up. The man is as brilliant as his sublime voice.
Could you link it?
Sam Raffield it shows you how to be perfect
ruclips.net/video/Y6F5QgCXT4c/видео.html
Here it is
This video is incredible, thank you for the link.
I think Russell Crowe is better
"The man of mercy comes again, and talks of justice!" Oh, Mr Quast, please. You cannot be this good.
He really speaks with feeling.
I always loved how Quast yells certain words - another amazing part is during The Confrontation when he sings “I was born with SCUM LIKE YOU!”
Woot!!
@@jozxyqk4407 And in Fantine's Arrest "THAT'S the way to please the Lord!"
fantastic. Javert is one of the most interesting characters of the story. He is an extremist. That's his problem. He only sees black and white and all the grey between these 2 colors don't exist to him. I really feel sorry for a person like this. And nowadays, there are so many!
Without doubt, the most interesting character in the play. He's fascinating, and Quast's portrayal is absolutely second to none.
Compromise between doing what's right and doing what's wrong! That's what we need.
he's unfortunately not an extremist, his worldview exactly mirrors that of political conservatives
@@ingwerschorle_
Thats not true at all. You’re thinking of social conservatives.
Putting complete faith in the government/ the law and then experiencing cognitive dissonance when it is proven wrong is definitely not something a conservative would do
how is he an extremist or a conservative? he watched hundreds of people die and somehow him and jeanvaljean survived despite being them both being quite crazy. survivor guilt is great in javert, not sure if he needs to have any particular political view to be like that
I feel like Javert is basically a human metronome throughout the show. He’s very premise and exacting. Even his leitmotif is very rhythmic and almost vertical, but here he falls apart. A master class. Philip Quast is a treasure.
Shut up nerd.
I can't believe Philip Quast is only 38 in this concert
2 years younger than the actors who played Enjolras and Grantaire, in fact!
@@lyl9255 really? That's amazing!
@@lyl9255 How?!
Huh??
Oh my gosh. I had no idea!
He was suprisingly good at throwing his voice. The sound effects helped, but it was mostly him.
Underrated comment.
And the stars and black and cold/as I stare into the void. This lyric is so powerful: throughout the play the stars have been Javerts reminder of what he must do and what he thinks is right. He swears on the stars that he will find Valjean but as he does, he lets him go, and they are gone. It's like his purpose has been fulfilled and it has consumed him for so long, there is no hope, no inspiration left for Javerts life to hold meaning anymore. The stars that were once bright and had lifted him no are black, rejecting him.
The stars could also refer to God, as he is thought to also lie above and give light into darkness. Now that the stars are gone, his devotion to God has been lost and heaven has gone out of reach whereas Valjean has become closer and is able to reach the kingdom. And yet, ironically, it is because Valjean was a good man that Javert suffered. But he is left without belief facing a situation where his faith can no longer help him and all that is left is the void, and the inevitable fate that waits for him in the waters of the river.
Whether literally or metaphorically, we have always sought guidance in the stars. For Javert, as you astutely noted, they serve as embodiments of faith--in secular and divine law, in his mandate as officer--and as evidence that his cause (and by extension, himself) is righteous. And--building on the religious symbolism you pointed out--they're essentially "the way, the truth, and the light" in his eyes.
He also (I think) sees himself as a candle in the dark, a civilizing ward against evil and savagery.
When that light--perhaps a false one, as Lucifer (before the fall) was called the morning star--is snuffed out, he is completely and utterly lost. Rather than rise anew, he surrenders to the void.
The stars are sometimes seen as a reminder of God's presence and sovereignty. A reminder of the order and justice of the universe. If the stars are Gone for Javert he might thing God has closed him off, abandoned him. Or that he just doesn't have the Stars to steer by anymore. The devastation of realizing the 'lost' person he wanted to save was ultimately close to God than he ever was. The world itself had gone 'cold' for him?
this is the best version of the suicide ever. Philip quast's voice makes him sound like a madman. hes trying to hold onto what little he has left in life, but finds himself questioning his own beliefs and morals. the orchestration is beautiful and the best. i dont like when he says " ill escape now from that world..." when they add the out of key section in the movie, this is the best. there is a video on you tube where Philip quast sings and Russel crowe acts it out, and that is probably my favorite video because even though Philip quast is amazing, Russel crowe does a pretty good job at the acting aspect.
Where is this video?
Quast does a very passionate rendition, which is very impressive, musically speaking. For Crowe, though... it feels more human, more intimately connected. Less like I'm peering into the backdrop panic of the mind and more like I'm seeing it unfold in front of me. Crowe does a more vulnerable Javert, I think, in this song.
Quast's Javert doesn't decide to jump until the end. Up until that moment, he's still deciding... which fits with the rest of Quast's portrayal of a vibrant, firey man. Even at 1:35, he's still deciding, still looking for a way out. Crowe's Javert knew that something was wrong from the start. He begins the song already shaken and panicking. He already knows there's no way out, and so there's a stronger sense of broken desperation through the whole song.
Both are good, just different. I do love me some angst, though, and the quiet vulnerability of Crowe's Javert is my favorite because of that... but Quast's Javert is just *fun*
Nobody plays this role better than Philip Quast. Javert is one of the greatest roles one could play on Broadway and Quast is a master at capturing the voice of this tragic character. I believe this perfect musical will continue to live on but I don't know if we will ever see someone play the role of Javert as perfectly as Philip Quast.
Javert: One More Step You Die...
Valjean: *Takes Another Step*
Javert: I Guess I'll Die.
Philip Quast was not messing around. Give him two square feet of stage and he'll deliver a performance so powerful it will echo down through the ages.
I feel bad saying it, but it's extremely funny to me that Javert had such a ridiculously rigid worldview, that a guy NOT killing him was enough to destroy his entire perception of reality and cause him to immediately kill himself.
I think it's all a bit deeper than that. It's not the fact that he wasn't killed that braked him, it's because his worldview shattered.
For Javert the world is full of bad selfish and generally evil people. This is literally how he sees it, and the Law is the only thing that keeps the world from ending. And he lives to protect the law and the world by proxy. When he suddenly meets compassion from a man who was the worst lawbreaker in his eyes he simply cannot understand that. He tries to rationalize this, but he cannot. And so his world is broken and his life has no meaning anymore. And unlike Valjean he's unable to find a new meaning. So he quits.
@@Fedorchik1536 Very true - also Javert probably started to question every single decision he made in the past. He would also have to live with all his past actions and the fact that he may have inadvertently harmed a lot of people
I think its a little deeper than that. Imagine enforcing all your life and someone comes around and dismantles ur whole belief system. Not only that it dismantles ur beliefs, but your whole existence.
The actual definition of life is anything you do that prevents you from killing yourself. Javert obviously question the very thing that holds him together, commiting suicide at that point becomes the true problem whether Javert's action was justifiable.
@@Fedorchik1536 Also good to know that in "original" Valjean is not as "innocent" as in musical.
The man of mercy comes again and talks of justice!
Come time is running short
Look down Javert,he's standing in his grave.
+Someone Was here Give way, Javert
+viljami k take him val Jean before I change my mind I will be waiting 24601
Come, time is running short. LOOK DOWN, JAVERT, HE'S STANDING IN HIS GRAVE!
The beauty of his voice holding that note on "reprieved." It's sublime and freezes me in my tracks. There's no better Javert than Philip Quast, and I'm a huge fan of Roger Allam.
Reprieveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed, just gives me goosebumps, he just has an amazingly powerful voice.
Reading that just as I got to it!
Him singing the second syllable of that word is my all time favorite singing sound, out of all the performances, songs and singers I have heard. It actually makes me want to take up singing again because he not only is so invested in the role, but his voice is to die for and, most of all but he enjoys delivering such a gorgeous sound with his one in a million, high caliber and and finely-tuned instrument. It just gives you shivers.
I love the mirroring of the soliloquy.
Plus the the voice crack in "cannot hold", uh it's just so perfect.
when he ‘throws himself from the bridge’ I am speechless, this is the pinnacle of Phillip Quast’s role as Javert, the execution was phenomenal
Even my phone doesn't want him to die. The app crashed right before the "onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn"
I just love how the music goes back to Stars in the end, building a link between Javert's personality and his decision to die. He was so very sure that he is following the right path, now he would rather die than admit that he has been living the wrong way--Just wonderful, impossibly good, masterly performed and will be always remembered.
He admits it. That's why he dies. He realizes that he dedicated every instant of his life to a fruitless endeavor, and that he has nothing left to live for.
I interpret the entrance of Stars at the end as Javert finally regaining control of the situation. From the moment Valjean left, Javert sang to his tune (after all, the entire song is a parallel to Valjean's Soliloquy), and it is only when Javert no longer feels bound to detaining and turning in Valjean, a good man, that his sense of justice and his guide, the Stars, shine one last time upon him as the Seine consumes his body.
Ugh... Philip Quast’s tone, pronunciation, intonation, enunciation, and acting in this song is soooo on point that it makes my spine tingle. He’s so perfect as Javert! 😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️
The benchmark and the finest performance of Javert, I have seen many play the role over the years and yet Philip Quast is head and shoulders above all. The entire cast of the 10th-anniversary performance is pure magic to listen to and in my honest opinion the finest stage performance of the production past and present.
I personally think Terrance Mann has a better voice, but my god, the *emotion* in this version is incredible.
I was obsessed with "Stars" for so long before I listened to Javert's Suicide. The part where he says the stars are black and cold gives me chills everytime
Every once in a while something comes along and really changes your life for the better. This concert was one of those moments.
I had a huge crush on him after this scene when I first watched it as a kid
You were a kid in 2012. You are still a kid... xD
He did this scene long before 2012.
@@ComedyLoverGirl Yeah, this is the 10th anniversary recording. This came out in the 90s!
Me too but after he sung Stars got me damn he's still hot even today.Saw him in Mary Poppins the musical in Sydney a couple of years ago he's still got some set of pipes
He's like 50
Philip Quast is Javert as much as Colm Wilkinson is Valjean.
10th Anniversary cast is superb. None other compares and is ever satisfying. Simply how it is.
No other Cast will ever compare
Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman should be ashamed at how they did in the movie when compared with this one.
You know what this needs? An extremely loud cartoon-like crunching sound to indicate he hit the ground when he fell.
And the Goofy sound effect after he finishes "onnnnnnnnnnnnn"ing.
Abysmal. That was... absolutely cringeworthy.
Except he walks into the Seine and drowns himself, he doesn't hit the ground...
Childish remarks to the extreme.
That's why I love Nestle crunch
That “Take him Valjean” hits me so hard, I think it's because I assume that the moment Javert said that he knew that he wouldn't be able to live with that desicion so he sees what's going to happen (that's the moment that he admits in his own way that he has been wrong his entire life and feels that the weight of having to reconsider is too much for him to bear) and also I find that “I will be waiting 24601” very emotional because it's as if Javert is struggling to hold it together for some seconds more to maintain his authority image while knowing that, in fact, he won't be waiting!🥺 Something like the parents that tell their children that they're gonna punish them without actually planning to do so, just for the sake of keeping control!
Sorry for ranting, I'm just ridiculously obsessed with this song and especially this version! 😅
I like “I will be waiting” because it can be taken to mean that he will either be waiting for Valjean there, or in the other side.
I know exactly what you mean about this song. I find myself listening to it over and over. That and "Who Am I". Such powerful songs.
It feels like Javert has so much pain inside. I'm crying... beautiful
As he mentions, he came from the gutter, like Fantine or Valjean. His early life probably wasn't better than theirs, and he probably has seen all the evils of this world, then and as a police officer. I think that his unshakable faith in the law was the only thing that held him together, allowing him to believe that justice could exist, that suffering was deserved, that life could have a meaning in this terrible world.
@ 2:00 Better let my hair down before I kms
Lol in other words ish about to get real
I'm going through my Garden of Gethsemane moment, I'm going to die, everything I've ever believed has come to naught - I'm gonna look sexy.
Absolutely my favourite performance of this song, on point singer/actor, on point orchestra. That vocal fry he puts on his voice during the last note will never not give me chills.
One of my all time favorite characters. Quast truly does him justice. What a voice! And he is so achingly beautiful here, I can't help but be a tiny bit in love with him
to be honest I really enjoyed both interpretations of Javert, Phillip Quast and Russel Crowe, the show different sides of the same character, I mean you can touch the anger almost madness throught the screen when you listen this one and with Crowe you see a more reflective and calm Javert. I cant deny that Quast has an amazing and superior voice, hes part of the dream cast for a reason, but please stop giving shit to Russel
i agree. considering that none of the actors in the movie has been or was professional singers in any way, i think they pulled off an amazing interpretation and performance in the movie. i waited years to watch the movie, because i feared the harsh critics of it, thinking that they might have destroyed such a good story like Les Miserables in that movie, but all my fears was unfounded after i recently actually watched it!
Ar Pr I agree. I thought that Russel did a nice job too.
yeah, but one thing is to be trained in something in your youth or whatever, another thing is to be a professional worker, doing musical shows 2-3 nights a week for years at end. and yeah, you are probably right. a lot of it came down to direction as well. and, like they have stated in the behind-the-scenes footage, the actors were allowed the freedom to improvise and make a performance that was less like a musical-show and acting out the character more through the blending of the acting and music combined.
***** I didn't know Russell was a Broadway singer
***** yeah, i agree! for me it was the other way around first. watched it live the first time when i was young, then later read the book, then watched a non-musical movie, and now, recently, watched the musical movie we are talking about.
Philip quast still gives me goosebumps
“And shall I now begin to doubt? Who never doubted all these years?”
This line really spoke to me. This past year has been very trying for my core values and beliefs. I think our beliefs will continue to be tried throughout our lives, but if we learn how to grow, adapt, and have faith when we are young, it is easier to change as we get older.
Javert never had a doubt or question in his mind until this moment. He simply could not comprehend a world that didn’t fall into his core values and didn’t know how to cope.
Not to this extent, but the same thing happened to me when my world view was challenged. But I’m glad I was able to learn to grow and expand my view and it’s been easier as more challenges arise. But I really felt that line in this song now more than ever.
This is perfect, stellar, absolutely flawless. Phillip Quast IS javert. My ears are blessed
I am the LAWR and the LAWR is not mocked! FTFY
I never understood why they didn't say LAW instead of LAWR
@@user-dt6vp2gh6g its called an accent lol
@@TheRitzierComic That's not the intrusive r. The intrusive r is when you add the r sound to the beginning of the word that comes after some specific words.
Now what Philip was saying was:
"I am the law(R) and the law is not mocked!"
The intrusive r would've been like:
"I am the law (R)and the law (R)is not mocked!"
(Notice how there is also an r sound at "is"?)
@@user-dt6vp2gh6g it's an accent. just like how in the US, some say "wash" and some others saw "warsh." Regional/dialect thing.
@@naufalzaid7500 - Marcin is correct. I'm not sure what distinction you're referencing but both the "linking R" and the "intrusive R" are put at the /END/ of a word that ends in a vowel sound when the next word also begins with a vowel. There are no Rs that get put in front of the next word. The difference is, to put it simplistically, that the linking R is put between a word ending in a vowel but only when the next word also starts with a vowel (ex. "I am the LAWR and the LAWR is not mocked"). But an "ntrusive R" happens even if it's the last word in a sentence or regardless of whether or not the next word starts with a vowel (ex. "That's a bad ideaR, but Iike it."
Just saw Quast in a small play in Sydney last night. Playing a man who cant sing! He was excellent, as always.
he is acting amazingly and his eyes are like caribbean blue :)
There is no way to go ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnn SPLAT
What a way to kill him off with dignity ;)
*SPLASH
People complain about the sound but I doubt that any of those people have been present when someone jumped off a bridge into the Chena river.
The sound is pretty much accurate and I have no idea how people find it funny.
Iron Storm we're used to hearing them in Bugs Bunny cartoons and associated it with slapstick. We never knew the cartoon sound editors opted for realism too
*Epic trumpets intensify*
“I am reaching, but I fall, and the stars and black and cold. As I stare into the void of a world that cannot hold.”
Before 2020, Javert’s choice to commit suicide seemed so sudden and unreasonable to me, but now I understand. When the world you knew crumbles around you, death becomes the only logical choice.
r u ok??
@@shoeling Pretty damn far from ok, but still here at least. Thanks for asking!
Perhaps not the only logical choice, but certainly a tempting one. While the world feels like its against you and you can do nothing but watch as your life's work crumbles to dust in front of you, can we blame Javert in good conscience? Like you, the pandemic has given me a lot more understanding of his choices. I've also gained a healthy appreciation for well-written tragedy and the catharsis it affords us. Also, I hope you are doing better, times are hard right now.
In my opinion, this is the best version of Les mis. I love it so much! And Phillip quast's voice is fantastic.
I love this song because it shows that no matter how much Javert says he and Valjean are nothing alike, they're too similar but with one big difference. It uses the same melody as "Valjean Soliloquy" with the only difference being at the end with the final note. Javert goes down and Valjean goes up. It show how truly weak Javert was and how strong Valjean it. Valjean is able to move forward and become better while Javert can't see a world where he failed and kills himself. The fact that they're both old too. Javert knows chasing Valjean is a young man's game that he can't play anymore. He's not as strong as him.
I also love the lines: "Damned if I'll live in the debt of a thief"/"Damned if I'll yield at the end of the chase"/"I am the law and the law is not mocked"/"I'll spit his pity right back in his face"/"There is nothing on earth that we share"/"It is either Valjean or Javert!". It shows just how wrathful, greedy, and prideful he is, which are three of the Deadly Sins. Then in "Stars", he says: "I never shall yield"/"Till we come face to face", and he does that. He yielded by killing himself once he came face to face with Valjean.
I love to think of this as Valjean truly knowing what God is while Javert doesn't know at all. Yes, he know about the Lord, but he doesn't know what it's like to truly feel him. And to think that in some religions, if you kill yourself, you go to Hell and it was illegal to kill yourself back then, he left the world breaking the two things he followed and believed most. The law and religion.
This is why I love musicals like Les Mis. There is so much attention to detail and you can tell that they loved the musical. The little details that tell you everything that is going to happen. It clear why it lasted on Broadway for so long. Not just the songs and the amazing and vocally demanding singing, but because of the story and the meaning behind everything.
When faced with the fact that Valjean was not an evil man rather than accept that Javert’s interpretation of a vengeful, judgmental and unmerciful God was wrong and that a God would grant mercy and change someone’s heart, Javert chose to take his own life.
It isn't just that, it's that his entire perception of how he lived his whole long life was shattered, he realizes he was wrong. He cannot understand how he allowed himself to be so brainwashed and basically realized he wasted his entire life over nothing. Thus he says "Does he know that granting me my life today, this man has killed me even so?" It is both a literal and figurative lyric, the Javert he thought he knew, has just been murdered by Valjean. You gotta think, he's an old man, his best days are behind him. He saw no other alternative than death.
I have listened to this version well over 1000 times over the last 8 years , and it never loses its conviction! Incredible!
When I saw Les Misérables live and this song came on, everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting and watching to see what would happen next. It was all the chills and overall was amazing
Its such a great performance. notice how Colm is highly aware of the beat and feel of the music and either he missed his cue or the orchestra sped up and he immediately cut out the word "Look" to shorten it to down. a true professional. Also the way Phillip sings the man of mercy comes again and talks of justice! chefs kisses all around!
I can't get those lines out of my head now, I love them. "Look down, Javert! He's standing in his grave! Give way, Javert!" "I will be waiting, 2460-Oneeeeeeeeeee!"
Phillip Quast - no one ever better as Javert! The very best ever!
XD Like if you were like me and tried to sing along. Me: "Shall his crimes be REPRIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-" *faints*
I hammer that note!!!!
to get long notes, you have to sing from your diaphragm and use as little air as possible. With this trick I can even do the 10 second note in Stars
I mouth along, I can't sing lol
That's one of the easier notes. Most people struggle with the lower notes.
My boyfriend said he only likes Russel Crowe’s Javert and none of the others. He’s now my ex.
He needs arresting
He will answer to javert!
Just magical. Never fails to remind me why I love musical theatre so much ❤️
I just want to say one thing to the ones who compare Quast to Crowe. This version of Quast was live in a theater and unique, the one of Crowe was a scene in a film, that means that it was the best version chosen among many attempts and not unique and live.
Socrates Exactly.....and there's a massive difference between a theatrical singer, and an actor who sings a bit!
+Socrates I think both actors were fantastic in their own respects.
And it was not good.
Salisbury crowe was bad man
apparently nearly everything was working against the them in the movie, so I don’t blame them for how their performances turned out
That "oooooooooooonnnn" made this scene stick out for me as one of the best. I just love how for the first time, Javert seems to feel pain.
man how did he sing like he is crying
I can seemingly hear all the struggle in his heart, damn it
Philip Quast is a miracle. Who else could sing this with any kind of conviction at all. We are all certainly blest to be able to hear this magnificent performance. And now a thousand years from now, nations will be privileged to hear and exult. Jim Cunnie
God every time I watch a Les Miz video and Quast comes in there's so much power in his voice I have to stop for a second and collect myself
"It is either Valjean or Javert ! " "The world was wide enough,for both Hamilton and me..."
ThreshIsLife 😜
The fandom never disappoints
"Neither can live while the other survives"
ThreshIsLife omg i cried at both of those songs
Vat?
The first time I saw this live I literally about cried.
Goosebumps every time!!!!
I can hear this a thousand times without getting tired. 2022
It's truly like Quast was born to play this part. To me, his performance as Valjean will never be matched, neither vocally nor acting-wise.
He played Javert, it was Colm Wilkinson who played Valjean in the 10th anniversary
I know, I meant Javert. Damn Hugo for writing a story with two main characters with names starting with the same letter.
He nearly didn't audition. He was embarrassed that he couldn't sightread music and walked out of the theatre before it was his turn to audition- for the chorus.
MsJubjubbird True story? That's amazing!
Yup. Thank god for the director who called him back in.
just beyond words . Philip is a genius actor and singer, cannot be matched
By far, the best performance of this song, from the best Javert.
I agree!
I disagree, I liked Crowe better
Um...WHAT?? Crowe could not musically carry this part, not even close. I am an amateur and I had dozens upon dozens in my small community theatre tell me that I was "so much better than Russell Crowe".
Shawn Pavlik pfft, please, like the talent matters. What a useless skill. I don’t care how hard it is to make those sounds, if it doesn’t sound good, I don’t like it. I’m in it for the sound, not the talent. I liked Crowe’s sound better.
"Like the talent matters"?? LOL Wow...YES, the talent matters. Absolutely. The talent IS the sound. This was a movie musical and as such, they should have found singers who could act (Quast) vs. actors who can kind of sing (Crowe, Seyfried....though Seyfried is MUCH worse than Crowe).
Maaan the music sounds like he's coming back to life when it goes "And must I now begin to doubt", and then "I am reaching but I fall, and the stars are dark and cold" give me chills and make me wanna cry every time.
Valjean's soliloquy: "This act of kindness completely changed my perception of the world. I will change for the better, now that I understand it's possible."
Javert's soliloquy: "This act of kindness completely changed my perception of the world. Guess I'll yeet myself, off I go"
In my opinion Javert realised that if the law was flawed then suddenly a lot of the things he had done in service to it take on a much darker tone and for that he was irredeemable. I mean, even just in the things shown he does some incredibly horrible things like killing Fantine, who knows what other things had he done in service to the law? And imagine after a lifetime of acting like that and considering yourself in the right, suddenly taking another look at yourself, this time with the filters off and you see a monster. He never believed people could change or be redeemed, imagine what the thought that he himself was a monster do to someone like that?
It's not like that, when you realize that everything you worked for in your life was an illusion, all you sought and defended was an illusion, your whole world is shattering before you, and there is no way out in this case, Javert realized that everything he stood for, everything he believed in was a big lie
Incredible performance, but can we also give a shout out to the genius who wrote the novel and the one who composed all these phenomenal songs? To have even written one of them would have been remarkable in a lifetime! Every aspect of this musical is amazing and filled with genius, not the least the performers like Quast.
I think I fall a little e bit more in love with poor Javert every time I see this clip with al,his frailties. Poor man was driven to chase and was thwarted. Love Phillip Quast's poignant portrayal.
came here from norm lewis's version, which i also adore, and I do like the contrast of the two performances. While Norm Lewis sounds enraged that the world would question his Javert in such a way, Quast sounds like his mind's just been blown and he's so terrified that he doesn't know how to cope. Such great performances!
3:31
Just...wow. That emotional change kills me.
This song, when we performed Les Mis, was the turning point for me in the show, mainly because it was when the open weeping began (Thank gods I was in Turning and had the excuse to cry). Just...Javert was my favorite character from the start, and I'm friends with the student at my school who played him, and so it made the scene all the more emotional. I love this song, I love Quast's singing, and it'll always hold a special place in my heart.
When he takes his hair out of his ponytail and looks all disheveled: my favorite Javert thing
4:12 onwards is a reallly good summary of Javert's life. It starts out so glorious and ends in such dissonance.
(And of course it is also a twisted theme of Stars.)
Jen-Yueh Hu Starts gloriously? Are you kidding me?
I LOVE HIS EYES..
“Damned if I’ll live in the debt of a thief / Damned if I’ll yield at the end of the chase” are some pretty interesting lines. They’re a callback to Valjean’s “If I speak, I am condemned / If I stay silent, I am damned” in Who Am I, with the notable difference being that Javert says “damned” twice, which I think is because he thinks of God and the law as the same thing, contrasting with Valjean’s ability to separate them. Javert views all crimes as sins, with the only repentance being jail time.
The musical’s characters’ morality systems are reflected by their view of God. Valjean views God as benevolent, Javert views God as an unforgiving being, who is just but not kind, and Thenardier, who has no morals, says that God is dead. (This is kind of a shitty thing to do, especially when the book was written by someone who wasn’t actually very religious, but you can make your own judgements on that)
"... no way to go ooooooooonnnnnn.....". The arm thrown grasping. I am wrecked. Perfection, sheer perfection.
It is genius that this song has the same tune as Valjean's song like this, it shows the difference in the characters and their choices in life. Truly amazing.
Quast's performance is hands down the best rendition of Javert I have ever seen.
I am the lawr and the lawr is NOT MOCKED!
I love the contrast between him an Crowe. I thought Crowe was amazing to be so honest. Both versions are so different and they're both amazing!
Quast has a voice that can fill a music hall in an absolutely majestic way, while Crowe has a voice that gives a sense of raw intimacy with the character. Quast is great for the theater, Crowe is great for the silver screen.
I agree with this ^^^
Crowe was a disgrace
Seriously? I thought Crowe was shite, he barely hit the notes, and his voice carried no emotion. When Crowe sang, he just sang the notes, whereas Quast puts meaning in the words
The SANDWICH Guy he was terrible. He’s barely a singer, let alone a musical theatre singer. There was literally no emotion and no feeling in the notes, making it hard to empathise with the character
In my school production of les mis which still has a month left I play javert and these videos help so much so hopefully I can keep giving great performances and apparently on the last night in a month we have a surprise for me and john valjean
Congratz! Good luck to you! :) Inspector Javert.
How did it go?
Good Job! Btw, it's Jean Valjean.
Wow im in one too. Im not Javert though. Just a freshman
Ethan Vardy My first role was Javert in the dramatic version. Still my favorite role I have ever played, I channeled all of my teenage anger through that character, it was a blast. If you do it right you'll get the biggest applause, everyone loves Javert
Is anyone else in love with Phillip Quast just because of this show?
we watched this when i was in high school and here I am like 15 years later still listening to this masterpiece
If I remember from reading the book, Javert was born in a prison to a mother who was (part?) Gypsy. That may offer some context to why he was the way he was.
He was born in prison to a woman only described as a fortune teller and with a father that served as a galley slave, which is also the position Valjean is in when we first see him. He is described as belonging to the "gypsy race", so he is ethnically Romani.
His parents being criminals had a large impact on his life because due to his birth he considers himself unworthy of amusement or joy.
Philip Quast would make a great Phantom of the Opera!
I can see that...
Not anymore
+PCGaming why not ?
juliusren jlius I mean.. he might be able to do a good job - but he's getting older so there could be better options out there
Remember, the Phantom is supposed to be a tenor....
A man who cannot forgive another cannot forgive himself.
Suck yourself off why don't you...drama geek.
For me the most incredible moment is "...and he gave me back my liiiife" How he tremblous to say that, is an out of this world perfomance
Oh those eyes....Melting
Thank you for uploading this. This has always been my favorite rendition of this song from Les Mis, and it's one of my favorite songs
I love the way Quast says "AND TALKS OF JUSTICE!"
It sounds like he's mocking Valjean
everytime i watch this video i have goosebumps and i sob like a child. Thank you for sharing this.