Why Does Les Mis Have English Accents? or, The History of the Cockney Musical

I shall not be taking criticism on my dog Latin ;)

If you become a patron at £15 or higher, you get to see the script for this video, where I put in a load of extra material that had to be cut for time, including a huge tangent on why Gladiator couldn't have Australian accents, but Mme. Thénardier can come from Hackney. Find my Patreon here:   / jdraperlondon  

I'm a tour guide in London. If you'd like to book me for a private tour, you can find out more here: www.jdraper.co.uk/private-tours

Get tickets for my public tours here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/j-draper...

Sources & Further Reading:
Behr, E. 1989. The Complete Book of Les Misérables.
Coveney, M. 2009. Oliver! The real story of Britain’s greatest musical. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
Crucchiola, J., Jones, N., & Lincoln, K. 2017. What Kind Of Accent Should Actors Use In Period Pieces? https://www.vulture.com/2017/04/jessi...
Lancaster University, 2010. Research shows that Cockney will disappear from London’s streets within a generation. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news-arch...
Napolitano, M. (2009). Disneyfying Dickens: "Oliver & Company" and "The Muppet Christmas Carol" as Dickensian Musicals. Studies in Popular Culture, 32(1), 79-102. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23416184
Soper, N. 2019. Why are there two French versions of the Les Misérables musical? https://bellingua.co.uk/2019/06/23/tr...
Weltman, S. (2011). Boz versus Bos in "Sweeney Todd": Dickens, Sondheim, and Victorianness. Dickens Studies Annual, 42, 55-76. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44371462
Wright, A. 2010. A Tanner’s Worth Of Tune: Rediscovering The Post-War British Musical.


00:00 1. Introduction
02:10 2a. The Cockney Musical: Specimens
11:10 2b. The Cockney Musical: Anatomy
19:57 3. Les Miserables, the Cockney Musical
22:42 4. The Bartification of Victor Hugo
27:01 5. The Fall and Rise of the Cockney Musical