With admirable and determined positivity, James Corden and the Late, Late Show released a Les Mis-themed video last night, bidding a fond adieu to the Trump era. It was a coup — if you’ll forgive the word — de théatre. Corden and his team are well-versed in the well-oiled machinery of the viral video. And this one was no exception.
The Les Misérables number ‘One Day More’ was transposed from its original setting on the eve of the 1832 Paris Uprising to the eve of the departure of Trump, plucked as he was by helicopter like a thorn from the lion’s paw of American democracy after four short, limping years. It was neatly done.
‘No more days of angry Tweets (Cuz this time he’s banned for good) […] Biden better change the sheets (Maybe throw away the bed?)’ exulted cast members of the currently mothballed Broadway production. ‘We won’t wear a mask/That’s our given right/At your Trader Joe’s/We’ll start a viral fight’ chimed in a pair of red-hatted Maga ‘crazies’.
Talk show hosts might have to start turning their comedic lens on to members of their own political camp
The effect of exuberant and unalloyed celebration, of finality, was palpable.
As a comedian with zero musical talent or any other secondary skills to resort to, I will just bitterly observe that the actual video is powerful and affecting for the same reasons that parody songs culled from stage shows always are — because you’ve taken a much-loved chunk of the most emotionally manipulative art form there is, musical theatre, and made up a few new words.
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