Major Cast Changes Announced for West End LES MISERABLES

There will be major cast changes in the legendary musical "LES MISÉRABLES" at the Queen's Theatre from Thursday 23 June 2011. Caroline Sheen will play ‘Fantine', Alexia Khadime ‘Eponine', Craig Mather ‘Marius', Katy Secombe ‘Madame Thénardier', Liam Tamne ‘Enjolras' and Lisa-Anne Wood ‘Cosette'. They join the previously announced Alfie Boe as ‘Jean Valjean', Matt Lucas as ‘Thénardier' and Hadley Fraser as ‘Javert'.

Following the evening performance on Saturday 18 June, the production will close for three days in order to facilitate the installation of a brand new state of the art surround sound system and the building of a bigger pit to accommodate the slightly larger orchestra necessary to play the new 25th Anniversary Tour orchestrations. The production will re-open with the new cast and musicians on Thursday 23 June.

Caroline Sheen's many West End credits include ‘Sophie' in "Mamma Mia!", creating the role of ‘Jennifer Gabriel' in "The Witches of Eastwick" and ‘Eponine' in "Les Misérables". Her other credits include the title role in "Mary Poppins" in both the UK and US tours. Alexia Khadime recently completed a successful run as ‘Elphaba' in "Wicked" at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End. Her other West End credits include ‘Nala' in "The Lion King". Katy Secombe's credits include ‘Rosie' in "Mamma Mia!" in the West End, ‘Mama Morton' in the tour of "Chicago" and "Guys and Dolls" at the National Theatre. Liam Tamne recently appeared in "Hair" in the West End. His other West End credits include ‘Link Larkin' in "Hairspray!" and "Wicked". He also appeared in "Departure Lounge" at Waterloo East Theatre. "LES MISÉRABLES" marks both Craig Mather and Lisa-Anne Wood's West End debuts.

Alfie Boe is one of the country's leading tenors and best selling recording artists. His most recent top 10 album, "Bring Him Home", is now certified "GOLD" with over 150,000 sales. Alfie shot to fame while starring in Baz Luhrmann's "La Boheme" on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for his performance. His other credits include a nomination for a Classical Brit Award for his album "Onward" and a sell-out production of "The Merry Widow" at the London Coliseum. His recent opera engagements have included a return to the English National Opera to sing ‘Nadir' in a new production of "The Pearl Fishers" and also his return to the Royal Opera House in Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette". Matt Lucas is one of Britain's most successful comic actors and writers. His TV credits include "Come Fly With Me" and the multi award-winning "Little Britain", both for the BBC. His other credits include "Shooting Stars", "Wind in the Willows" and most recently Tim Burton's film of "Alice in Wonderland". Hadley Fraser recently appeared in the Anniversary Concert at the O2, where he played ‘Grantaire'. His other credits include "The Pirate Queen" on Broadway and ‘Marius' in "Les Misérables" at the Palace Theatre.

Please note: Alfie will play the role of ‘Jean Valjean' until 26 November 2011 and Matt will play the role of ‘Thénardier' until 10 September 2011.

As well as celebrating its 25th Birthday in October 2010, the legendary musical "LES MISÉRABLES" made theatrical history with an international first - three different productions playing in London simultaneously. The Original Production at the Queen's Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, the acclaimed New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican (where the show originally premiered in 1985) and the celebratory concert at The O2.

The magnificent score of "LES MISÉRABLES" includes the songs, "I Dreamed a Dream", "On My Own", "Stars", "Bring Him Home", "Do You Hear the People Sing?", "One Day More", "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", "Master Of The House" and many more.

"LES MISÉRABLES" originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen's Theatre on 3 April 2004. When "LES MISÉRABLES" celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the World's Longest Running Musical, surpassing the record previously held by "Cats" in London's West End. In January 2010, the West End production broke another record by celebrating its historic 10,000th performance.

Seen by nearly 60 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages, "LES MISÉRABLES" is undisputedly one of the world's most popular musicals ever written, with new productions continually opening around the globe, with seven more currently scheduled. There have been 36 cast recordings of "LES MISÉRABLES", including the multi-platinum London cast recording, the Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast and complete symphonic albums and the recently released live recording of the New 25th Anniversary Production. The video of the 10th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall Gala Concert has sold millions of copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling musical videos ever in the UK. There are over 2,500 productions of the Les Misérables School's Edition scheduled or being performed by over 125,000 school children in the UK, US and Australia, making it the most successful musical ever produced in schools. Cameron Mackintosh is currently developing a film of "LES MISÉRABLES" with Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan of Working Title and Universal Studios.

Cameron Mackintosh's production of "LES MISÉRABLES" is written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel and additional material by James Fenton. The original London 1985 production of "LES MISÉRABLES" was adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird.