On Sunday, 3rd of October, Katy and I were there :) Ok, so we weren’t there live and in person, but we did the next best thing. I am, of course, talking about the live telecast of the 25th anniversary performance of Les Mis at the 02, which we saw at the Cinema de Lux in Leicester.
With a cast of 600, including Gareth Gates and Matt Lucas, the world’s longest running musical was transmitted live via satellite to more than 130 cinemas nation-wide across the UK and more widely, throughout Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. European countries joining in the big screen birthday party include Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Norway and Denmark. It was also re-broadcast in Canada and the US.
Alfie Boe, who played Jean Valjean, was such a hit Sunday night that he received a standing ovation in the middle of the show as he finished the song “Bring Him Home.” Later even McKintosh said that in that 25 years no one had received a standing ovation during the show. It was a first.
I cried like a little girl throughout the presentation. I mean, big chest-heaving sobs and full waterworks. Katy laughed at me.
People were wondering what Cameron Mackintosh could have planned to out-do his 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. In 1995 the stage was stormed by no less than 17 Jean Valjean’s from productions around the world marching in full evening dress with their countries flags, singing snatches of “Do You Hear the People Sing” in their native tongues.
The answer, what Mackintosh referred to as the “Company of Companies”, was well worth the wait: the cast of the production which has toured the UK, “coming home” to the Barbican after 25 years and soon heading for Europe; the cast of the Queen’s Theatre show, a constant fixture of Shaftesbury Avenue and the West End’s longest running musical; the London company which created Les Miserables way back in 1985; and the assembled O2 concert cast all took the stage together. The best bit was they each brought a Jean Valjean with them!
Having created the role, there is no denying that Colm Wilkinson is the voice of Jean Valjean. His effortless falsetto for “Bring Him Home” has to be the reference for every subsequent performer. The highlight of the entire evening was to hear the four Jean Valjean’s (Colm Wilkinson, John Owen-Jones, Alfie Boe and Simon Bowman) perform “Bring Him Home” as a quartet. Even aged 66, Wilkinson gave the other three tenors a run for their money and he seemed to be loving every minute of it. This man has a voice that can make a stone weep with pleasure. It was… breathtaking. A performance of “One Day More” followed from the cast of 1985 and every one of them proved that a quarter of a century on, they’ve still got it.
“Les Misérables” originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen’s Theatre on 3 April 2004 where it continues to play to packed houses. When it celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the World’s Longest Running Musical. In January 2010 the West End production broke another record by celebrating an historic 10,000th performances. Seen by over 57 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages, it is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular musicals ever written.
The original London show, a collaboration between the Royal Shakepeare Company and Cameron Mackintosh, opened at the Barbican on 8 October 1985. Despite mixed reviews – and a bum-numbing three-and-a-half hour running time – the musical found favour with audiences. It transferred to the Palace Theatre in December that year where it stayed until 2004. It then moved to the Queen’s Theatre, where it still runs today. Based on Victor Hugo’s door-stopper of a novel, it follows one man’s story of survival in the face of persecution amidst social and political upheavals in 19th Century Paris.
To mark the Silver Jubilee, here are 25 facts about the world’s longest-running musical:
1. The original French version of the show – by lyricist Alain Boublil and composer Claude-Michel Schonberg – ran for 107 performances in 1980 at the Palais des Sports in Paris.
2. The London production was co-directed by John Caird and Trevor Nunn. The English lyrics were by Herbert Kretzmer – who at the time was TV critic for the Daily Mail.
3. That didn’t stop the Mail on Sunday’s Kenneth Hurren writing in his 1985 review: “Watching it is rather like eating an artichoke: you have to go through an awful lot to get a very little.”
4. Michael Ball, who played Marius, has told the BBC since: “We thought we’d be looking for new jobs after the first night.”
5. In the original London production, the role of Inspector Javert was played by Roger Allam – who can currently be seen in the film Tamara Drewe.
6. The role of thieving innkeeper Thenardier was played by Alun Armstrong, who currently stars in the BBC series New Tricks.
7. There are approximately 101 cast and crew directly involved in every performance.
8. Each performance requires 392 complete costumes – and 31 wigs.
9. There have been almost 40 cast recordings of Les Misérables.
10. On 22 January 2010, the show celebrated its 10,000th performance in London.
11. The RSC is estimated to have made £19m from royalties from touring productions.
12. Productions have played in 42 countries including Iceland, New Zealand, Bermuda, Philippines, Mauritius, China, Mxico, the Channel Islands and the Dominican Republic.
13. Les Misérables has been translated into 21 different languages: English, Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, German, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, French, Czech, Castillian, Mauritian Creole, Flemish, Finnish, Argentinian, Portuguese, Estonian and Mexican Spanish.
14. The production has played over 45,000 professional performances worldwide to a total audience of more than 57 million people – that’s almost the population of Italy.
15. Contrary to popular opinion, the musical is NOT set during the French Revolution of 1789. The action begins in 1815, and follows events over the next two decades including the Paris Uprising of 1832.
16. Les Misérables is the third longest running show in Broadway history after Phantom of the Opera and Cats.
17. The Les Misérables schools edition was launched in the US in 2001 and in the UK in 2002.
18. In school productions, the entire cast must be 19 years of age or under, and must be amateurs.
19. The biggest single live audience for Les Misérables to date was 125,000 at the 1989 Australia day concert in Sydney.
20. In 2004, a special concert performance was given at Windsor Castle in honour of French President Jacques Chirac to celebrate the centenary of the entente cordiale – Britain’s friendly agreement with France.
21. Les Miserables celebrated its 10th anniversary with a gala concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
22. The concert starred the original Jean Valjean, Colm Wilkinson. The finale featured 17 different Jean Valjeans from around the world singing in different languages.
23. Les Misérables became the West End’s longest-running musical on 7 October 2006. On that night super-fan Sally Frith from Gloucestershire saw the show for the 740th time.
24. In 2009, Susan Boyle sang Les Mis song I Dreamed a Dream on TV show Britain’s Got Talent. It became one of the most watched videos on YouTube.
25. Producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh is currently developing a film version of the musical. (The first movie version of the novel Les Misérables was a silent film in 1909. There were no songs.)
