fjays
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Age of characters?I'm interested in the ages of all the characters, especially Eponine.
And the ages that the actors are when they play them, usually.
So go on, please 
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curlyhairedsoprano91
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Female characters?
Eponine is 16, and she's usually played 15-21.
Cosette is 16, and she's also usually played 15-21.
Fantine is in her late teens/early 20s, and she's usually played in her 20s.
Mme T. is "old" (adult) and generally played as such.
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fjays
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| curlyhairedsoprano91 wrote: | Female characters?
Eponine is 16, and she's usually played 15-21.
Cosette is 16, and she's also usually played 15-21.
Fantine is in her late teens/early 20s, and she's usually played in her 20s.
Mme T. is "old" (adult) and generally played as such. |
Oh awesome!
Thanks so much Chs!
this is super-duper helpful because I may be auditioning for les mis soon, but I didn't know if I was in the age group for cosette and eponine..
Good to know I am, but I don't know if I will audition or not..
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bigR
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I don't know. It is very rare to see a Cosette or an �ponine played by an actress between 15 and 21. Most Cosettes and �ponines are played by actresses in their 20's. And in the book it is implied that they were born in 1815, which will make them 17 in 1832, 18 when valjean dies.
And Fantine is not a teenager! In 1823 she is 27 (she was 19 when Cosette was born). And again, as far as I remember most of the actresses who play her are in their late 20's or their 30's.
Mme. Th�nardier is 30 in 1818, and so 44 at the end of the play.
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curlyhairedsoprano91
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BigR, if Fantine was 19 when she had Cosette, how does that conflict with what I said?
fjays, I'm assuming you're auditioning for a community production? Sure, on Broadway most of the cast is scaled older (I mean, Judy Kuhn was 50 when she played Fantine, but that was a little ridiculous), but if it's a normal community theatre setting I'm guessing C and E will be cast "teen."
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bigR
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| curlyhairedsoprano91 wrote: | | BigR, if Fantine was 19 when she had Cosette, how does that conflict with what I said?. |
Simply because the OP was asking about the age of the characters in the musical. Not how old were they ten years before we get meet them.
Was Fantine a teenager at some point in her life? Yes. And the bishop. And Valjean. And the soldier who does the voice warning. And my grandmother.
| curlyhairedsoprano91 wrote: | | Judy Kuhn was 50 when she played Fantine, but that was a little ridiculous) |
well, alex gemignani was in his 30's and nobody said it was ridiculous.
I don't get why been 15 years older than your character is ridiculous but being 30 years younger than your character is considered "normal".
Most of the last valjeans are WAY too young to play the part. Some of them manage to look and act older than they are, but with most of them I just see a young man pretending to be old. And nodoby seems to find it ridiculous. Just a little bit distracting.
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lesmisloony
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I don't get the point of picking fights over something like this. If the person before you is wrong, can't you tell them in a way that doesn't come off as argumentative? "Ooh, I actually found out that Fantine is blah blah blah, so if you were referring to the musical instead of the Book, she'd probably be considered blah blah instead of blee." And then no one feels picked on.
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Ulkis
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| Quote: | | well, alex gemignani was in his 30's and nobody said it was ridiculous. |
I don't know about here, but I know I did, and I think there was a bit of a hubbub on broadwayworld.com about it.
That said, Judy Kuhn is 50? Girlfriend looks good.
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bigR
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Loony, do you think that this
| bigR wrote: |
And Fantine is not a teenager! In 1823 she is 27 (she was 19 when Cosette was born). |
was agressive or argumentative? 
I'm certainly not willing to pick any fights...
And about the age of the actors. If I could choose I would only pick actors who look or can look (with the help of a little make-up and good acting)their parts.
Example: Ren� van Kooten, in the Rotterdam production, had a beautiful voice, I loved listening to him, but I was utterly unable to believe that he was an old man. I don't know, maybe my suspension of disbelief is specially fragile or something, but when I am sitting in a theatre, watching a healthy 30-something with a white wig on stage pretending to be old, and mimicking what are suposed to be an old man's mouvements, it makes me laugh. And you are not suposed to laugh when Valjean dies.
It kind of remembers me of these guys who dress up like women during the carnival, and they make such exagerated gestures that they look like drag-queens, because real women don't move like that...
Some actors can pull it off. But it is rare. Most people shouldn't be playing old men when they are in their 30's.
But what really bothers me is that even if there is some talk about it, it keeps hapening on and on, and it is considered normal, and more or less accepted. Plenty of young men keep playing Valjean.
Now, the moment a woman has two wrinkles (that nodody can see from the stalls), she inmediatelly is too old to play a part.
This doesn't mean that I love the idea of a 50 year old playing Fantine. Ideally, Fantine should be played by someone in her late 20's. BUT I prefer a Fantine with two wrinkles that I can't even see from my sit, than a 35 year old strong man, unable to make me believe that he is an old man playing Valjean.
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music is my life!!!
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Eponine - probably meant to be about 15, played by an actress, usually late teen-early 20's
Cosette - i think she should be younger than Eppy, so probably about 14 (afterall, it wasn't unheard of for a mid-teen to get married then  ). Often played by anybody aged 16-30 (at a push ) , although aged down a fair bit!
Fantine - I think she sould be in her 20's or 30's. People had their babies pretty early on at that time, so i wouldn't even be surprised if she was a teen when she was with Felix.
Madame Thenard. - often played by women in their 40's AT LEAST. They'd probably be aged up anyway, and have the voice to go with the look
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bigR
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| music is my life!!! wrote: | Eponine - probably meant to be about 15, played by an actress, usually late teen-early 20's
Cosette - i think she should be younger than Eppy, so probably about 14 (afterall, it wasn't unheard of for a mid-teen to get married then ). Often played by anybody aged 16-30 (at a push ) , although aged down a fair bit!
Fantine - I think she sould be in her 20's or 30's. People had their babies pretty early on at that time, so i wouldn't even be surprised if she was a teen when she was with Felix.
Madame Thenard. - often played by women in their 40's AT LEAST. They'd probably be aged up anyway, and have the voice to go with the look |
Ok. I'm not being argumentative. Really. We can discuss for hours about which age the actors playing the characters should be, but the real age of the different characters is not up for discussion. Victor Hugo has the last word. Meaning that Cosette is not younger than �ponine, not because I am stubborn, and I want to have it my way, but because Victor Hugo said so. 
Again, unless I am making a mistake somewhere:
-Fantine is 27.
-Cosette and �ponine are the same age. Hugo hints that Cosette was born by the middle/final months of 1815. So, they are both 17 in 1832.
-Mme. Th�nardier is 30 when Fantine leaves Cosette with her. That makes her 35 in Master of the House and 44 in 1832.
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lesmisloony
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Hahaha, I think it was the exclamation mark that made the first thing look argumentative.
But that most recent post was completely warranted, no worries.
THE QUESTION HAS BEEN ANSWERED. TWICE.
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Orestes Fasting
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| lesmisloony wrote: | | I don't get the point of picking fights over something like this. If the person before you is wrong, can't you tell them in a way that doesn't come off as argumentative? "Ooh, I actually found out that Fantine is blah blah blah, so if you were referring to the musical instead of the Book, she'd probably be considered blah blah instead of blee." And then no one feels picked on. |
No. It is not uselessly mean and nasty, nor is it "picking fights," to confidently state something you know, so please don't tell other people to pretend they didn't know things, or water down facts with qualifiers and "well this is just my opinion," so as not to hurt anyone's feelings. Your feelings would have to be pretty damn tender to be hurt by "Actually, Fantine was 26 when she died."
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curlyhairedsoprano91
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Ack! I'm sorry if I've caused trouble, guys... I apologize for any mistakes. 
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lesmisloony
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Yeah, God forbid we all try to get along instead of just looking like a bunch of know-it-all jerks.
(Just to be clear, bigR, I'm not specifically referring to you in saying this. You made it clear that you didn't intend to be argumentative and that I was misreading your intention just based on one bit of punctuation. And that's why I feel we should try to be less confrontational--one little misplaced punctuation mark can change the tone of an entire phrase! Because my original point was that it would be more fun if we all made an effort to be nicer to each other. And hey! Both people were right in the first place!)
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fjays
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... So, as it is a community theatre putting on the show, being 16 probably wouldn't qualify me to play Eponine or Cosette?
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Orestes Fasting
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No harm in trying; I wouldn't be surprised if there had been professional Eponines around your age. Just be aware that since both roles are open to a pretty wide age range, you'll be up against more experienced actresses in their 20s or early 30s.
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EponineBarker
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| fjays wrote: | | ... So, as it is a community theatre putting on the show, being 16 probably wouldn't qualify me to play Eponine or Cosette? |
| Orestes Fasting wrote: | | No harm in trying; I wouldn't be surprised if there had been professional Eponines around your age. Just be aware that since both roles are open to a pretty wide age range, you'll be up against more experienced actresses in their 20s or early 30s. |
I believe Frances Ruffelle was 16 when she played Eponine in the original cast in London.
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curlyhairedsoprano91
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I'm pretty sure she was 20.
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Orestes Fasting
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Wiki lists her birthdate as 1965, so yeah, she was 20. But as an example of the wide range of possible ages for the role, she returned to it in the 90s at the age of 32.
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Elin
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Gemma Wardle understudied Eponine in the 1992 Manchester cast when she was 16. She took over the role in London 2 years later (and also went on as Fantine once!).
Wasn't Brandy Brown only 15?
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