LES MISERABLES to Open ZACH Theatre's Second Season in the Topfer Theatre

ZACH Theatre will present Austin's first professional theatre staging of international musical theatre sensation LES MISERABLES as the opening show of the 2013-14 season, the second season in the new Topfer Theatre, this fall. The world's longest running musical, LES MISERABLES has been seen by more than 65 million people in 42 countries.

"ZACH will reinvent LES MISERABLES by revisiting the heart of a piece that audiences continue to clamor to see on the stage," says Dave Steakley, producing artistic director. "With big soaring music, an epic-scale production, and the hallmark intimacy of the Topfer Theatre, ZACH's second season on the Karen Kuykendall stage will begin with a musical that will add to the legacy begun with RAGTIME last fall."

LES MISERABLES will be the first of six plays and musicals chosen specifically to build on the dynamic and intimate experiences audiences are enjoying now during ZACH's first season in The Topfer Theatre. Austin's finest professional actors will join extraordinary guest artists and nationally acclaimed playwrights for an unforgettable 2013-14 season at ZACH.

LES MISERABLES is based on the novel of the same name by French poet and playwright Victor Hugo. Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant of abnormal strength and potentially violent nature, and his quest for redemption after serving 19 years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his starving sister's child. Valjean breaks his parole and starts life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him, but he is hunted relentlessly by the policeman Javert for breaking his parole, and must leave his past behind and keep his vow to raise the young orphaned Cosette. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.

The musical was originally conceived and produced in France, before its English-language adaptation, which opened at the Barbican Centre in London in 1985, launching what has turned into a global phenomenon.

Additional information about ZACH's second season in the Topfer will be announced soon. Please see www.zachtheatre.org to see what is currently on stage.

ZACH Theatre is Austin's leading professional producing theatre, employing more than 600 actors, musicians, and designers annually. Founded in 1932, ZACH is the longest running theatre company in Texas, serving 95,000 adults and youth annually. ZACH creates its own nationally recognized plays and musicals that ignite the imagination, lift the spirit, and engage the community under the proven leadership of Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and Managing Director Elisbeth Challener. Now in its 80th year, ZACH continues to expand and engage with Austin, adding the new 420-seat, 32,000-square-foot Topfer Theatre to its performing arts campus, nearly doubling ZACH's capacity while retaining its hallmark intimate theatre-going experience.

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