LES MIZ Tour Celebrates 25 Anniversary with Barbican Theatre Run, 9/22-10/2

Cameron Mackintosh's current touring production of Les Miserables, which is making its way around the U.K., is set to return to a familiar home this fall in celebration of the show's 25th anniversary. The production will run at London's Barbican Theatre, it's English-language birthplace in 1985, for 22 performances, September 14 through October 2, 2010. A Queens Theatre staple for nearly 22 years in the West End, this new run will mark the first time in London that the same musical has run simultaneously.

The touring production premiered in Cardiff in December 2009 and has since successfully played in Manchester, Norwich and Birmingham. It will continue to run in 2010 in Edinburgh, Paris, Bristol, Salford and Southampton.

This new production features direction by Laurence Connor and James Powell and a new set deign by Matt Kinley. Costumes are by Andreane Neofitou, with contributions from Christine Rowland, lighting is by Paule Constable and sound is by Mick Potter.

The production stars John Owen-Jones as Jean Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert and Gareth Gates as Marius. As BroadwayWorld previously reported, a new live cast recording of this production will be released this spring.

Les Miserables has played the Queen's Theatre in the West End now for twenty-four years - the longest running musical in West End history - having generated a profit of a cumulative £30 million. The show enjoyed a 16-year run on Broadway from 1987 - 2003, and was revived again in 2006. This is in addition to the countless number of tours and licensed productions throughout the world, cast albums, t-shirts etc. that have made the musical its own industry.

Les Miserables was composed in 1980 by Claude-Michel Schonberg with a libretto by Alain Boublil, and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Based on the 1862 Victor Hugo novel of the same name, it is set in early 19th-century France and follows the intertwining stories of a cast of characters as they struggle for redemption and revolution. The main characters are joined by an ensemble that includes prostitutes, student revolutionaries, factory workers, and others. Songs from the Tony Award-winning score have been recorded by the likes of some of the industry's most famous voices, including those of Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, David Essex, and Michael Crawford.

Tickets for the new Barbican Theatre production go on sale March 16. Call the box office at 020 7638 8891 for bookings.

 

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