I found the staging of that particular line really valuable - I'd never previously caught that line and having it hammered home really helped it get through what is usually a big musical muddle (the chorister in me hates it when different lines are sung over each other :P).
See, I've always loved that kind of thing. My favourite number in the whole show is One Day More, which has ten of the principals and the entire chorus singing seven different things all on top of each other *g*. Since we had no lyric sheets, it took me ages to work it all out. (And it wasn't until I gained internet access that I found out exactly what Javert is singing near the end - for some reason he gets new lines there when everyone else is repeating themselves.)
As a result, I've got a much better perspective on Javert's character and anyway, I've never read musical!Valjean as actually willing to kill Javert. So losing that line, while a pity, probably just takes out a bluff.
Yeah, making the salient bit of Javert's backstory clear is probably not a bad thing. While I'm sure Valjean is bluffing, it does give Javert some extra motivation to think he's a hardened criminal. Interestingly, Movie!Valjean is the only version I know of who definitely kills someone - we see him hit the sniper who almost kills Enjolras. In the book he deliberately shoots at the guy's hat and we can't actually see exactly what he does in the stage show.
But then my version is the French-language version so I'm clearly a heathen anyway :P
I heard the French concept album as a teenager - I do not even remember how - and it is so weird if you know the English version first. And not just because I could not understand a word of it. There's no Prologue! Or Stars or Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. Or Bring Him Home, but that's probably just as well since Valjean is a baritone.
However, since it is the original version, I think you are safe from persecution as a heretic ;).
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See, I've always loved that kind of thing. My favourite number in the whole show is One Day More, which has ten of the principals and the entire chorus singing seven different things all on top of each other *g*. Since we had no lyric sheets, it took me ages to work it all out. (And it wasn't until I gained internet access that I found out exactly what Javert is singing near the end - for some reason he gets new lines there when everyone else is repeating themselves.)
As a result, I've got a much better perspective on Javert's character and anyway, I've never read musical!Valjean as actually willing to kill Javert. So losing that line, while a pity, probably just takes out a bluff.
Yeah, making the salient bit of Javert's backstory clear is probably not a bad thing. While I'm sure Valjean is bluffing, it does give Javert some extra motivation to think he's a hardened criminal. Interestingly, Movie!Valjean is the only version I know of who definitely kills someone - we see him hit the sniper who almost kills Enjolras. In the book he deliberately shoots at the guy's hat and we can't actually see exactly what he does in the stage show.
But then my version is the French-language version so I'm clearly a heathen anyway :P
I heard the French concept album as a teenager - I do not even remember how - and it is so weird if you know the English version first. And not just because I could not understand a word of it. There's no Prologue! Or Stars or Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. Or Bring Him Home, but that's probably just as well since Valjean is a baritone.
However, since it is the original version, I think you are safe from persecution as a heretic ;).