Theatre News

WOS TV: 25th Les Mis Returns Home to Barbican

| London's West End |

27 September 2010

The West End’s longest running musical, Les Miserables returned home to the Barbican on Thursday (23 September 2010) with a star studded press night for the show, revisiting where it all started 25 years ago. Just one of the myriad of celebrations impresario Cameron Mackintosh has lined up for Boublil & Schönberg’s revolutionary musical, Les Miserables continues to play the West End’s Queen’s Theatre, with a star-studded concert performance being given at the O2 on 3 October 2010 and broadcast to cinemas worldwide.

Spotted amongst the stars on Thursday night were members of the original cast, including Frances Ruffelle (the original Eponine) and Rebecca Caine (original Cosette) as well as composer Claude-Michel Schonberg.

Below we’ve got interviews with member of the cast including John Owen-Jones (Jean Valjean), Earl Carpenter (Javert), Ashley Artus (Thénardier), Lynne Wilmot (Madame Thénardier) and Katie Hall (Cosette) as well as some shots of that Les Mis magic!

Les Miserables had its world premiere at the Barbican on 8 October 1985. Based on Victor Hugo’s classic humanitarian novel set in 19th-century revolutionary France, the musical has a book by Alain Boublil, music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer.

After its premiere at the Barbican, the landmark Royal Shakespeare Company production, adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird and designed by John Napier, transferred, care of Cameron Mackintosh, to the West End’s Palace Theatre where it ran for 18 years and over 7,500 performances before moving down the road to the Queen’s on 3 April 2004.

On its 21st birthday in 2006, it surpassed Cats as the West End’s longest-running musical. Globally, the musical has been seen by over 56 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages.