West End 'Les Miz' to Mark 9,000th Performance, Aug. 10

The world's longest running musical, the legendary Les Miserables will celebrate its 9,000th performance in London on Friday, August 10th at the Queen's Theatre.

The show stars John Owen-Jones as 'Jean Valjean', Hans Peter Janssens as 'Javert', Joanna Ampil as 'Fantine', Gary Watson as 'Marius', Edward Baruwa 'Enjolras', Chris Vincent as 'Thénardier', Melanie La Barrie as 'Madame Thénardier', Cassandra Compton as 'Eponine' and Claire-Marie Hall as 'Cosette'.

Originally opening at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, the Cameron Mackintosh/Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Miserables 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 is now booking until December 2007. When the show celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the world's longest running musical, surpassing the record previously held by Cats in the West End.

Now successfully revived on Broadway and seen by over 55 million people worldwide in 38 countries and in 21 languages, Les Miserables remains one of the world's most popular musicals.  There have been 33 cast recordings of the musical, including the multi-platinum London cast recording and the Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast and complete symphonic albums.  The video of the 10th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall Gala Concert has sold well over one million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling musical videos ever in the UK.  There are over 1,500 productions of the Les Misérables School's Edition scheduled or being performed by over 100,000 school children in the UK, US and Australia, making it the most successful musical ever produced in schools.  

The Cameron Mackintosh/Royal Shakespeare Company production by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg is based on the novel by Victor Hugo, has lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with original text by Alain Boublil and additional material by James Fenton.  Les Miserables is adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird.

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