Les Miserables - 25th Anniversary Production

Synopsis

Based on elements of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables this musical is one of the most successful around the world. Les Miserables opened at the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985, following a sell-out season at the Barbican. Jean Valjean, released on parole after 19 years on the chain gang, finds that the 'ticket-of-leave' he must display by law, condemns him to be an outcast. Only the saintly Bishop of Digne treats him kindly and Valjean, embittered by years of hardship, repays him by stealing some silver. Valjean is caught and brought back by the police, and is astonished when the Bishop lies to save him, also giving him two precious candlesticks. Valjean decides to start his life anew. Things go well but 8 years later, an encounter with a face from the past threatens everything he now holds dear..

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 24 September 2010

The 25th anniversary touring production of Les Miserables has stopped off in the venue where it all started on 8 October 1985. Clearly based on the original RSC production by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, this new version nonetheless breathes its own fire and dry ice, and not only tells a fantastic story, but also, as I said on that long ago, first 'first night,'  is as brilliantly coloured as it is emotionally demanding.

Then, I heralded a revolutionary ensemble show that applied the RSC principles of Nicholas Nickleby five years earlier to a genuine “rock opera” occupying brand new ground somewhere between Verdi and Andrew Lloyd Webber. There are vaudeville numbers, soaring ballads, sentimental knees-ups, two wonderful dramatic trios and of course those rousing choruses at the barricades.

Alain Boublil’s text is a cunning distillation of Victor Hugo, and Herbert Kretzmer’s lyrics add not only the mood of French cha...

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Latest User Review

Anthony - 6 October 2010:

I my opinion one of the best productions of Les Miserables I have ever seen. I've seen Les Mis countless times, both here and abroad. Somehow this semmemed more intimate- I know, possibly a contradiction in terms, but it's been nearly a week and I'm still thinking about it. John Owen James a Valjean blew me away! Gone is the revolve and Cosette's traditional black costume and the sublties in the staging in such events as Turning and when they sang the love montage Cosette was actually on a balcony- aka Romeo and Juliet before coming down to meet Marius. I know its a small thing but this is the first production where one of the students openly sobbed at Gavroche's death. Truly a supurb production and I actually feel honored to have sen it....

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