Article first published as Les Misérables celebrates 25th birthday on Technorati.
The West End and former Broadway musical Les Misérables celebrated its twenty-fifth birthday yesterday.
The world’s longest-running musical opened on October 8th, 1985 at London’s Barbican Centre. Critics were vocal but the public quickly took Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel to their hearts. Advance bookings soared and Miz, as it’s affectionately shortened to, transferred to the West End’s Palace Theatre in December that year. Nearly two decades later in 2004, it moved to a new home at the Queen’s Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, where it is still running.
Last night members of the original London cast sat down for a private get-together with the people behind the show, including original directors John Caird and Sir Trevor Nunn. But the anniversary was far from forgotten.
Last Sunday two concerts took place at the o2 Arena, the former Millenniun Dome. Performers from the current cast at the Queen’s and the Anniversary Cast, which recently finished up its tour by coming home to the Barbican, joined together with members of the original London cast to form a stunning one-off ensemble and choir, including Les Mis alumni Lea Salonga, Peter Polycarpou and the current Éponine at the Queen’s, Samantha Barks.
Although the tour is over, a production with its brand-new orchestrations is scheduled to open in Madrid in November. Producer Cameron Mackintosh recently revived the long-running rumours about a film version of the musical, saying he had signed a contract. The speculation continues, then, one day more.
Image by user jaumemeneses on Flickr, used under a CC-BY-SA license.