Les Miserables is currently running in the United States, Spain, and London. It was introduced to the theater world in 1985 at the Barbican Centre in London so in 2010 it celebrated its 25 year anniversary. It was written originally by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schenberg and then produced by Cameron Mackintosh. It is known for being the third longest running show on Broadway. Claude-Michel Schenberg was a French composer who wrote most of the play in 1980. Alain Boublil then came in and wrote the lyrics to the songs. These two guys worked on a lot of different plays together.
The play is based on the book of the same title by Victor Hugo. The story takes place in France in the 19th century. It follows the characters struggles in their lives with redemption. There is a wide variety of characters like prostitutes, students, and factory workers. The play has won several awards. The first award is a Tony Award for the song, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ and 9 other Tony Awards. The second award was three Laurence Olivier Awards. The third award is 7 John Kraaijkamp Musical Awards. The last Award is the London LifeStyle Award for show of the year.
There are nine main characters in this play. All of these characters make for a very interesting play. They are eponine, Jean Valjean, Javert, Marius, Cosette, Fantine, Thenardier, Madame Thenardier, and Enjolras. eponine is played by Chasten Harmon. Jean Valjean is played by J. Mark McVey. Javert is played by Andrew Varela. Marius is played by Justin Scott Brown. Cosette is played by Jenny Latimer. Fantine is played by Betsy Morgan. Thenardier is played by Michael Kostroff. Madame Thenardier is played by Shawna M. Hamic. And the last character, Enjolras is played by Jeremy Hays.
The play is divided up into two acts. In the first act, it starts off with Jean Valjean being in prison for 19 years and is finally released. He was in prison because he stole bread from a store for his starving sister and then he tried to escape prison so he got even more years. In the second act, it starts off with students starting a barricade to spy on the government troops. The army warns the students that they need to surrender or they may die. But they do not listen and the government attacks them. You can hear women crying over the lost of the students.
