Time Out
"There is nothing like it. There never has been."
Les Miserables is the longest-running musical in the world, and more than 40 years after it first opened in London in 1985 it still fills the Sondheim Theatre eight times a week. Adapted by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg from Victor Hugo’s epic novel and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, it is the show that turned a sung-through French concept album into a global phenomenon.
The story follows Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread and hunted for years afterwards by the implacable policeman Javert. Building a new life under a false name, Valjean takes in the orphaned Cosette and is swept up in the student uprising on the streets of 1832 Paris, where love, conscience and revolution collide. It is a sweeping tale of justice, redemption and the endurance of the human spirit.
Why it’s worth the watch
Les Miserables has moved audiences for four decades, and this staging keeps it feeling fresh. Here is why it still lands:
- The score. ‘I Dreamed a Dream’, ‘On My Own’, ‘Bring Him Home’, ‘Stars’ and the rousing ‘One Day More’ and ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ make up one of the most loved scores in all of musical theatre.
- The emotion. Few shows build to such an overwhelming finish; it is a genuine three-hankie night out.
- The staging. The current production trades the old revolving stage for vast, painterly designs drawn from Victor Hugo’s own artwork, giving the barricade and the Paris streets a real cinematic sweep.
- The story. Hugo’s themes of poverty, mercy and second chances are as resonant now as they were in 1862, which is why the show never dates.
