Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg Reworking MARTIN GUERRE, Seeking Opera House Premiere

After the spectacular success of both LES MISERABLES and MISS SAIGON, on the West End, on Broadway and worldwide, the team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg based their third musical, MARTIN GUERRE, on the true story of a 16th Century French soldier who assumes another man's identity and then falls in love with his wife.

Though it took the 1997 Olivier Award as Best New Musical and ran for over 700 performances, MARTIN GUERRE did not match the rousing success of its predecessors. There was a nine-month American tour, but the show has never reached Broadway.

But Boublil and Schonberg, who are being honored Monday night at Carnegie Hall by the New York Pops, now tell the Associated Press that they are reworking the show in hopes to have it performed in an opera house.

"We are bringing back a kind of authenticity and emotion to the work, which is very gratifying for us," said Boublil, the lyricist and librettist. "Many opera houses now are welcoming serious musicals with heavy subject matter. We think that MARTIN GUERRE belongs there."

Cameron Mackintosh, the original producer, avoided Broadway because he thought it wasn't finished, and the pair continues to work on it.

"Maybe it was not ready," acknowledged Boublil. Schonberg, the composer, offered another reason: "Maybe MARTIN GUERRE belongs to another world."

Changes mostly involve the character of Guerre's wife, who Boublil calls "the person who drives the show." They've also reinstated their original ending, which was thought to be too grim.

"It was too sad. It was too operatic. It was too this, it was too that. And now it's back," said Boublil. Schonberg agreed: "We are still sure that it is the best ending that we can have for the show."

Monday's concert will feature music from MARTIN GUERRE and four other Boublil and Schonberg musicals, performed by 18 guest artists including Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Patti LuPone, Norm Lewis, Montego Glover, Laura Osnes, Lea Salonga and Kyle Scatliffe, Stephanie J. Block, Jeremy Jordan and Hugh Panaro. The 78-piece orchestra will be augmented by students from Camp Broadway Kids and a chorus from Essential Voices USA.

New York Pops music director and conductor Steven Reineke says he would listen to LES MISERABLES nonstop as a teenager.

"The shows are wonderful," he says. "They speak to audiences all over the world. They've clearly struck gold here with this collaboration."

Hugh Panaro originated the title role in the U.S. tour of MARTIN GUERRE, and will be singing from the score Monday night.

"They're family," he says. "I've known them since I was 23 years old when I played Marius in LES MIZ back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth."

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