London
A little fall of rain may have done them a world of good
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
— Helena Williams (@Rafaela99) December 16, 2019
@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.
— Pond (@shoshannanana) December 17, 2019
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
— Sionz (@x_Sionz_x) December 16, 2019