Theater producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh created his — dare we say it? — revolutionary new production of Les Misérables to commemorate the 25th anniversary of composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyricist Alain Boublil's musical, a rousing sung-through story of the Paris underclass' failed 1832 rebellion. After being seen around the world, Mackintosh's brisk new version opened in 2019 in the lavishly refurbished Sondheim Theatre (formerly Queen's Theatre) in London, thereby extending Les Mis' record as the West End's longest-running musical.

Mackintosh notably replaced the original production's famous revolving stage with a stream of projections derived from original drawings by Victor Hugo, upon whose 1862 novel Les Misérables is based. The current production stars Jon Robyns as Valjean, the tortured petty criminal whose pursuit by the steely and serpentine Javert (Bradley Jaden) drives the show. As the tragic Fantine, Carrie Hope Fletcher sings the show-stopping ballad "I Dreamed a Dream," and Shan Ako plays the equally ill-fated Eponine, who delivers the heartbreaking "On My Own." Surging ensemble numbers have been leaving audiences tingling.

About Les Misérables

The idea for a musical based on Victor Hugo's novel came to Alain Boublil during a performance of Oliver!, another show famously set among the proletariat. The concept album he recorded with composer Schönberg led to its first French stage version in 1980. Cameron Mackintosh's first English-language production opened in London in 1985, and Les Mis migrated to Broadway two years later. It has since been seen by more than 120 million people in 52 countries and 22 languages.

Set in the gritty streets of Paris during an explosive period of French history, Les Misérables conveys the poverty, danger and degradation of lower-class existence through magnificent songs such as "I Dreamed a Dream," "Bring Him Home," "One Day More" and "Master of the House." And the new production, according to The Guardian's Miriam Gillinson, could not be more contemporary, arriving as it does "at a time when all of us — in our own way — are hoping for a brighter tomorrow."