Why does everyone want to play Eponine?

Hello, Thespians!

(Lea Salonga)

(Samantha Barks)

"OH MY GOD I WANNA PLAY EPONINE SO BADLY", said every single musical theatre girl ever in the history of musical theatre from 1985 to nowadays. 

Every. Single. One. Of. Them. 

...

Yeah alright, myself included, I admit it. I'm guilty!

I'm telling you, I still haven't met a girl - who wants to work in musical theatre of course - that wouldn't love to play Eponine in Les Mis or that wouldn't do anything to get that job. And I see why, I love Eponine's character with all my heart. For some reason this character is so desirable and fascinating that some people are almost getting sick to hear everyone talking about her. And don't get me started on the song 'On My Own', which is a beautiful still very sad song, that according to a lot of casting directors is on top of the list of the overdone audition songs. 

But my question for the day is: why? Why do we all want to play that character SO badly? What's so special about Eponine? Why is she so 'enticing' to us?

I thought about this a lot, and according to my personal opinion and experience (I actually have already played Eponine, but not professionally), I decided to make a list of the 5 reasons why girls want to play this beautiful character so much:

1. THE EMOTIONAL CONNECTION
   Let's face it, we all are a little bit like Eponine. She's so great in all her flaws you end up growing an attachment towards her. A lot of you will probably experience, or have already experienced, a situation where there's this guy you fancy a lot, but he seems to have his head somewhere else, or particularly on someone else, and you feel like you are a ghost to him. Maybe we know how Eponine must have felt towards Marius, so we want to portray this situation and show the audience that this happened to Eponine and the same thing could happen to anyone, girls and boys.
   
   
2. THE BEAUTIFUL SONGS
   I've said it before and I say it again, On My Own is truly so beautifully sad, and the thing about it is that you can easily relate to it. That's the trick. When you sing it, you almost don't even have to fake Eponine's feelings, because those could easily be your feelings too. "Pretending he's beside me" "And I know he's only in my mind" "Still I say there's a way for us" "Without me his world will go on turning". Such powerful still true words.
   Talking about sad songs, A Little Fall Of Rain is just too much. Do you know why is it called like that? Not because it's raining, but because Eponine is covered in so much blood that she thinks it's raining. Ahah. Very funny, isn't it?
   But in all its sadness the song is so beautiful, because she's dying but for the first time in her life she's happy, because the love of her life is holding her. Her love for Marius is stronger than death. So it's not only a sad song, it's a tragic song. God, I'm gonna start crying.
   (Then of course there are all the other parts, Eponine's Errand, The Robbery, Eponine's part in One Day More and the other singing bits.)
   
   
3. THE VOCAL CHALLENGE
   Another thing about Eponine's character is that the songs she sings are a challenge because you belt your heart out with On My Own, but your voice must also be very soft for A Little Fall Of Rain. Personally, I love challenges, and I love the fact that through Eponine I can experiment my voice singing different types of songs!
   
   
4. EPONINE'S WILL AND STRENGTH
   A lot of people consider Eponine a weak character, because 'all she can do is go after Marius and then die'. I personally disagree with it, because
   1)She comes from a messed up family, still she manages to survive even if her parents don't care about her - for example think about the fact that her father doesn't even recognize her;
   2)Those were tough years, you know it very well if you have studied that period of History at school or if you've read books about it, or of course if you've read Les Mis. In many instances girls and women Eponine's age and condition were either prostitutes or dead or starving or absolutely miserable. But Eponine isn't. She's got no one, still she manages to keep a little bit of dignity;
   3)She physically holds back her father and his gang from robbing Cosette's house, and she screams to warn Marius and Cosette knowing that the gang could've killed her for this;
   4)SHE DISGUISES HERSELF AS A BOY AND JOINS THE REVOLUTION I MEAN DID ANYONE ELSE DO THAT. I know she does it for Marius, still SHE DISGUISES HERSELF AS A BOY AND JOINS THE REVOLUTION I MEAN DID ANYONE ELSE DO THAT.
   So yeah, Eponine weak? Nah, I don't think so.
   
   
5. SHE'S SO SASSY THOUGH
   - "Here, whatcher doing with all them books? I could have been a student too. Don't judge a girl on how she looks, I know a lot of things I do."
   - "That cop, he'd like to jump us! But he ain't smart, not he."
   - "Got you all excited now, but God knows what you see in her! Aren't you all delighted now?"
   Also she constantly mocks Marius and she's so funny. Of course, this depends on the kind of Eponine they want to portray, but I love it when she's all sassy - like Carrie's or Samantha's Eponines for example. Like I've read in a comment on YouTube, Eponine isn't supposed to be only sad and lost, but "tough, independent, smart, playful and fearless", even if also heartbroken. 

That's it! Please let me know in the comments whether you agree with me or not, and tell me if you think there are other reasons why everyone loves Eponine so much. Thank you! Bye!