THE UK'S MOST POPULAR MUSICAL

Les Misérables Is The Nation’s Most Popular Musical - UK

Les Misérables has been declared the nation’s most popular musical by listeners to BBC Radio 2. Elaine Paige asked listeners to her Radio 2 show to nominate their favourite musical. Over 400,000 votes were cast with Les Misérables scooping nearly half (41%) of the total vote. Six months ago listeners were given a short-list of 50 musicals which included The Sound Of Music, Grease and Cats, but none of them made the final top 10. Elaine Paige ran down the results of the top ten Essential Musicals in her Radio 2 show and the results were: 1. Les Misérables 2. Phantom Of The Opera 3. Seven Brides For Seven Brothers 4. The King And I 5. Sunset Boulevard 6. Evita 7. Chess 8. The Rocky Horror Show 9. Follies 10. Hair Elaine, who presented the musical’s producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh with an award, says: “I’d like to congratulate Cameron - as producer of Les Misérables and on behalf of all the listeners to Radio 2, to present him with an award for the nation’s most popular musical. Twenty years on it’s still an Essential Musical.” Sir Cameron Mackintosh says: “I’m completely knocked out, particularly getting it from Elaine. It’s amazing, and when I heard that we’d won it, I couldn’t quite believe it because several of my other shows, which I also adore, were also in the running. And for Les Mis to have won nearly half the votes out of the 400,000 is fantastic. I’m so grateful to all the listeners of Radio 2 and the millions of people all over this country that keep coming to see the show, which next year will become the longest running musical ever, and will take over the record from Cats, our other show.” Lewis Carnie, Head of Live Music and Events at Radio 2, says: “The diversity in the final top 10 reflects the broad spectrum of listeners to Elaine’s show - their interest in musical theatre ranges from Sondheim to Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lloyd Webber to Benny and Bjorn. It’s no surprise that five of the shows that made it into the top 10 all featured Elaine (Chess, Evita, Hair, The King and I and Sunset Boulevard) as she continues to be the ‘first lady’ of the West End. Radio 2 is the home of musical theatre and the fact that there were 400,000 votes is phenomenal - it shows the passion that listeners have for musical theatre.”