Does Donald Trump know what ‘Les Miserables' is about?
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Which of the two principal characters of 'Lez Miz' does Trump identify with? The noble, principled Jean Valjean, who does everything he can to protect the vulnerable, who is imprisoned for nearly two decades for stealing a loaf of bread, who promises a dying woman he has just met that he will protect her young child and then proceeds to raise her as his own?
Or the rigid, ruthless, humorless Inspector Javert, who hunts Valjean relentlessly after Valjean violates a condition of his parole that amounts to a mere technicality, refusing to believe that any 'criminal' can possibly find redemption?
Trump is often identified with reality TV, but he also has an intuitive understanding of theater. What is Mar-a-Lago but the world's gaudiest set? Trump recognizes the symbolic weight of the Kennedy Center, a cultural center in the nation's capital. That's why
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More than many of today's politicians, Trump understands that live performance still carries a potent, singular power, even in a digital age mediated by screens. He draws upon the mechanisms of theater. Consider his nearly-immediate response last year when he was the target of an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. With blood on his ear and face, Trump pumped his fist in the air and
So it's not surprising that the military parade in Washington scheduled for this Saturday — a day that coincides with Trump's birthday — shapes up to be, essentially, a theatrical event. Critics have accused Trump of inflaming the protests in Los Angeles against his immigration policies — and surely he knows how the imagery can work in his favor.
'Les Miserables' is based on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, with music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (and, in English, by Herbert Kretzmer), and a book (i.e., script) by Schonberg and Boublil. It premiered on Broadway in 1987 after a successful run in England. A common misconception is that 'Les Miz'' is about the French Revolution of 1789, but it was inspired by a short-lived anti-monarchist rebellion in 1832, called the June Rebellion, which is also known as the Paris Uprising.
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Trump is not the first president to be identified with a Broadway musical. Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were big fans of '
The lyrics in 'Les Miz' are not at the 'Hamilton' level, not awash in nuance, and neither are Trump's public utterances or social-media posts. He trades on the same handful of words: 'disgrace,' 'fake news,' 'witch hunt,' 'tremendous,' 'beautiful' (as in '
'I know words. I have the best words,' Trump told a South Carolina crowd in 2015.
So move aside, Shakespeare! You too, Hugo.
Don Aucoin can be reached at
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