RIALTO CHATTER: Ramin Karimloo to Take on Jean Valjean in West End's LES MISERABLES?

One of BroadwayWorld's reliable sources has revealed that West End star Ramin Karimloo, who was just seen as the title character in the 25th Anniversary concert of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, will star as Jean Valjean in the London production of LES MISERABLES in 2012, taking over for Alfie Boe. Karimloo has previously played both Marius and Enjorlas in various productions of the show.

Karimloo is one of the notable actors to play both the roles of Raoul and the Phantom in the West End's production of The Phantom of the Opera. He also originated the role of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, which continues the story of The Phantom of the Opera. Additional stage credits include Miss Saigon, and Jesus Christ Superstar.

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