Les Misérables
Author of the book: Victor Hugo
The writers of the musical: Jean - Claude Schönberg & Alain Boublil
Place: West End London, the premiere was on the 8th of october 1985 at the Barbican Theatre.
Nowadays it is one of the longest playing musicals ever and starts its 25th year.
Other world premieres: France in 1980, New York in 1987, the Netherlands 1991 & 2008, Belgium in 1989 ...
More information
Hans Peter as 'Javert'
The story:
This is the story of Jean Valjean, a convict freshly out of prison after serving nineteen years hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread. The original sentence was five years; unsuccessful escape attempts and the resulting additional time pushed it to a grand total of nineteen years. He believed that his sentence was grossly out of proportion to his crime, and by the time of his release he had built up a tremendous bitterness toward society. This bitterness was only intensified by the rejection and scorn which he experienced in attempting to find work and lodging immediately after his release; he was determined to have his revenge against society and against God in some form or fashion. But an unthinkable act of mercy and generosity by a saintly small-town bishop drastically alters the trajectory of Valjeans life. From that point on, Valjean determines to live as an honest man, and through the rest of the story he strugglesquite imperfectly at timesto become an honest man. Javert, an extremely zealous police chief who once supervised Valjeans work gang, is never far behind, and is determined to have Valjean back in prison for breaking parole. Monsieur and Madame Thenardier, the owners of an inn in Montfermeil, are also pursuing Valjean for their own corrupt and dishonest ends. The story takes us from one end of France to the other, from the very top of Parisian society to the very bottom, from Waterloo to the July Revolution of 1830 and the student-led uprising of 1832 which serves as the storys climax.
They also made several movies of 'Les Mis'. The most famous version is the one of 1999 with the main parts performed by Geoffrey Rush (cfr. Cpt. Barbosa in The Pirates of the Carribbean), Liam Neesson, Uma Thurman...
