"Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" is possibly THE most tragic song in all of musical theater, and Marius's sense of survivor guilt and sudden social isolation is so heart-breakingly palpable throughout the lyrics. I'm inevitably completely gutted by the fact that Marius somehow has to continue existing in a world where his friends "sang about tomorrow, / And tomorrow never came," while grappling with the fact that his friends now "will sing no more" for a cause that he ultimately cannot even say was worth their sacrifice.
But the amazing thing about this musical is that, even though there are exactly four (4) named characters still alive by the end of the show (and two of those characters are Thénardiers, meh), it really is an entire narrative about redemption and hope. So, when all those who have been lost reappear for the final reprise of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" their very presence refutes Marius's lyrical despair in "Empty Chairs." Here are Les Amis de l'ABC, still singing about tomorrow, in spite of the historical narrative that doomed them. And, so long as this musical continues to be as beloved as it has been for the past 40 years, in a certain sense, these characters will never stop singing until tomorrow comes.
