Les Misérables opened at the Barbican Theatre, London, on 8 October 1985 and musical theatre history was made. The production transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and it has been at the Queen’s Theatre since 3 April 2004. The Broadway version opened on 12 March 1987.

Since then, Les Misérables by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, has travelled the globe and won many major awards throughout the world, including eight Tony awards.

‘Strangely enough for two Frenchmen, it all started on Broadway back in 1972, when Alain was taken to a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar. What he saw opened a door in his mind. It was as if all the dreams we had made together since we first met in 1967, about writing a real story which could mix our love for opera and pop songs, had suddenly materialised. Alain only went to bed on the morning after he had found an idea which became our first musical La Rèvolution Française. We became terminally addicted to the musical theatre. After La Rèvolution, we were looking for the next subject which would be even more suitable to blend the opera and musical forms into one and the same work. Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables came as the answer.

The baby was born in Paris in 1980, grew up rapidly and successfully on both recordings and stage, in a sold-out three-month arena version at Le Palais des Sports in Paris. However, this special child of ours had to become an adult yet and this came through the matronly care of an English producer, Cameron Mackintosh, who listened to the French record long after the show had closed in Paris.

We crossed the Channel in 1983 and Cameron took us through all the different stages of finalising our work, bringing us together with Trevor Nunn, John Caird and Herbert Kretzmer. The rest is a fairy tale for us and since then our life has totally changed. We are now creating what we love most, in countries where this art is also a respected profession, and we have met a family of people who share the same dreams about the musical theatre as we do. To our delight our musical Les Misérables is now following in the footsteps of Victor Hugo’s novel; embraced by different nations in different languages all over the world.’

ALAIN BOUBLIL and CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHÖNBERG

The musical’s reception in London almost exactly mirrored that of the original publication in Paris of Hugo’s novel. It was the people and not the critics who made Les Misérables a hit. Although the show opened at the RSC to initially mixed reviews in the British press, audiences reacted with great enthusiasm. As a result, the entire RSC run was sold out. Night after night, the audience responded with standing ovations.  In December 1985, the show moved to London’s Palace Theatre where it ran for 18 years, transferring to the Queen’s Theatre in April 2004.

During its 21st year Les Miz was acclaimed as the British nation’s favourite musical by the listeners of BBC Radio 2 and the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that Les Miz has had more concurrent productions (15 at one time) than any other musical in history.

Now Les Misérables has achieved the honour of becoming the world’s longest running musical.

The show reached an even wider audience when Susan Boyle sang ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent. Almost overnight itbecame the world’s most popular song with over 130 million YouTube hits and counting!