Les Misérables performance interrupted by brief on-stage fire

The touring production of Les Misérables had a small hitch last night in Cardiff when the barricade accidentally caught fire.

According to reports from the auditorium, one of the musical's stars, playing Javert, accidentally lit a small part of the set on fire while holding a flaming brand during the show's famous revolution scene.

The incident caused a show stop of nearly 10 minutes as the fire was quickly and efficiently put out and damage was assessed. After this the performance continued.

Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's musical, adapted from the novel by Victor Hugo, opened on tour in late 2018, with the West End production about to re-open the refurbished Sondheim Theatre. The newer 2009 staging of the production will be performed in the space.

According to social media, audiences enjoyed the spontaneous pyrotechnics:

Well that was exciting! My first ever Les Miserables and Javert climbs over the barricade with a flaming torch and sets fire to it! NOT PART OF THE SHOW! Cue fire extinguisher, rapid exit of corpses and lowering of safety curtain! #LesMiserables #cardiff #wmc

@kaihumphries I think you would have enjoyed Les Miserables more if you'd seen tonight's performance in Cardiff. Javert set the barricade on fire. It was excellent.

Was so engrossed in Les Miserables tonight, I thought the fire was part of the show…until all the dead bodies started running off set! Superb performance #lovesamusical pic.twitter.com/tywCaI0kte