Les Misérables holds the title of longest running musical in the West End for good reason. Over 40 years after it premiered, the rousing musical is just as captivating and relevant as ever. Whether you’re seeing it for the first or the fifteenth time, Les Misérables is one of those shows that leaves its mark.
This landmark production is one of London’s most essential theatre experiences, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Earlier this year, Les Misérables celebrated hitting 16,000 performances in the West End, and is currently booking through March 2027.
Featuring iconic songs like ‘I Dreamed a Dream,’ ‘One Day More’ and ‘On My Own,’ Les Misérables is a production of epic proportions, boasting a talented ensemble of over 40 performers.
The West End production currently stars Ian McIntosh as Jean Valjean, Sam Oladeinde as Javert and Martha Kirby as Fantine. Also starring in the cast are Thiago Phillip Felizardo as Marius, Jess Folley as Éponine, Harry Hepple as Thénardier, Lizzie Bea as Madame Thénardier and Joe Griffiths-Brown as Enjolras.
View live availability for Les Misérables tickets here
Key dates and venue
- Theatre: Sondheim Theatre, London
- Performance dates: Booking to 13 March 2027
- Tickets: See availability for Les Misérables
What is Les Misérables about?
Set in 19th century France, Les Misérables is a sweeping story of redemption, love, and revolution. Though the story is centred around Jean Valjean, the epic tale features a series of characters whose lives are interlinked in some way.
Jean Valjean has just escaped prison, where he’s been for the last 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. Following his escape, he vows to turn things around and breaks his parole to build a new life of charity. In constant pursuit of Valjean is Inspector Javert, a police inspector who is obsessed with tracking the ex-convict down, believing he’ll never change.
Valjean eventually becomes a respectable figure under a new name and encounters Fantine, a woman forced into prostitution to support her daughter, Cosette. When Fantine dies, Valjean feels responsible and rescues Cosette from her corrupt carers, the Thénardiers, intending to raise her himself.
Years later, Valjean and Cosette return to Paris, where she falls in love with Marius, a student revolutionary who is part of a group planning an uprising against the government. The students build a barricade but ultimately are defeated. Valjean and Javert too have their own life-changing encounter, which leads to Javert questioning everything he holds true.
At its heart, Les Misérables is a story about the conflict between justice and mercy. We see characters struggling with their circumstances, whether that’s poverty, mistreatment or oppression. A rousing musical that feels equal parts empowering and heartbreaking, it asks the question ‘can people truly be redeemed? And at what cost?’
The history of Les Misérables
Given its prominent place in West End history, the beginnings of the musical are more inauspicious than most would expect.
The musical was originally written and produced in French, the native language of Victor Hugo, whose epic historical novel served as the source material for the now iconic musical.
It wasn’t until that musical came to the attention of Cameron Mackintosh in 1981 that the musical as we know it came to be. Once Mackintosh decided to create a London version of the show, he went to Paris to meet the original creators, French writer Alain Boublil and composer Claude-Michel Schönberg.
By 1985, the show was taking shape, and it opened at the Barbican that September. In an interview with Playbill.com, Mackintosh also discussed the difficulty he had in raising the funds to produce the show, calling it a big ‘financial risk.’ Once it opened, the initial reviews were mixed, which didn’t help matters.
So, what was it that made Les Misérables such a hit?
The audience. Mackintosh said in that same interview that “it was only because of great word-of-mouth that we sold out within ten days of the opening.”
Les Misérables on stage and beyond
Since it premiered in 1985, Les Misérables has been seen all around the world, having played in 57 countries and translated into at least 22 languages.
Following its success in the West End, the musical premiered on Broadway on 12 March 1987, where it saw similar success with a record breaking sixteen-year run. When it closed in May 2003, Les Misérables was the second-longest-running Broadway musical after Cats.
It swept the Tony Awards, winning 8 of the 12 categories in which it was nominated. The musical has also been revived on Broadway twice, first from 2006-2008 and then from 2014-2016.
The songs from the musical have had a particularly vibrant life offstage as well, strengthening the musical’s reputation.
When Susan Boyle sang ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ on Britain’s Got Talent, her delivery of the powerful anthem went viral, and became the most viewed video on YouTube at the time. Many artists have also performed and recorded covers of the song over the decades, including Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Idina Menzel and Lea Michele.
Star casting: Who has starred in Les Misérables?
Les Misérables has been performed for over 40 years, and many stage and screen stars have stepped into the musical at various points in its production history in the West End, on Broadway and international tours.
Some notable stars include:
- Jean Valjean: Colm Wilkinson (originated the role in the West End and on Broadway), Ramin Karimloo and Alfie Boe
- Javert: Norm Lewis, Roger Allam and Will Swenson
- Fantine: Patti LuPone, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Samantha Barks and Sierra Boggess
- Marius: Michael Ball, Nick Jonas, Andy Mientus and Ricky Martin
- Éponine: Nikki M. James, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Samantha Barks, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Lea Salonga
- Enjolras: Graham Bickley, Killian Donnelly, Bradley Jaden, Ramin Karimloo, Glyn Kerslake, Jamie Muscato, John Owen-Jones, David Thaxton, Oliver Thornton
- Gavroche: Jonathan Bailey, Gaten Matarazzo and Nick Jonas
Les Misérables creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
The original creators of Les Misérables first began working on the musical a few years before Cameron Mackintosh discovered it.
In a twist of fate, Alain Boubil first got the idea to adapt Victor Hugo’s novel while in London watching the Oliver! revival in the West End, produced by Cameron Mackintosh.
Boublil and Schönberg began to adapt the mammoth novel over the course of two years, finally releasing a French language concept album in 1980.
The long-time collaborators are also behind another major musical that, like Les Misérables, has captivated an international audience: Miss Saigon. This classic musical is also an adaptation, this time of Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly rather than a novel.
They also wrote the musical Martin Guerre, which is being revived at the Old Vic later this year for the first time on over 20 years.
The creative team behind the musical
Here’s a quick glance at the creative team behind this powerhouse musical that has taken the world by storm:
- Directors: Trevor Nunn and John Caird
- Producer: Cameron Mackintosh
- Concept, book and original French lyrics: Alain Boublil
- Book and music: Claude-Michel Schönberg
- Lyricist: Herbert Kretzmer
- Set and image designer: Matt Kinley
- Lighting designer: Paule Constable
- Sound designer: Mick Potter
- Costume designers: Andreane Neofitou, Christine Rowland, and Paul Wills
- Projection realisation: Finn Ross (Director) and 59 Productions
The production has seen some notable changes over the years. The staging went through major changes for the 2009/2010 UK Tour, most notably by removing the famed turntable and the revolving barricade set. In place of the turntable, projections were used inspired by Victor Hugo’s own works, giving the production a grander more cinematic feel.
This new version, directed by James Powell and Laurence Connor, would eventually be installed for the West End production from 2019. Following the COVID pandemic, the production reopened with this new staging, which has been in place since.
The star-studded film adaptations of Les Misérables
Both Victor Hugo’s novel and the subsequent musical have been adapted for the screen in recent years. The story at its heart is one that continues to speak to audiences. Some screen adaptations of Hugo’s original novel include:
- Les Misérables (1998 film), starring Liam Neeson as Jean Valjean, Geoffrey Rush as Javert, Uma Thurman as Fantine, and Claire Danes as Cosette, Lennie James as Enjolras and Toby Jones.
- Les Misérables (2018 miniseries), starring Dominic West as Jean Valjean, David Oyelowo as Javert, Lily Collins as Fantine Thibault, Ellie Bamber as Cosette and Joseph Quinn as Enjolras. Derek Jacobi, Olivia Colman and Josh O’Connor also appeared.
Perhaps the most well-known adaptation of Les Misérables is the 2012 film adaptation of the musical, starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen also starred alongside Samantha Barks and Aaron Tveit.
Barks famously played Éponine in the Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Concert in 2010, before appearing in the West End production shortly afterward. She reprised the role in the film version and has since returned to the role as well as stepping in to play Fantine.
Do You Hear the People Sing? Why Les Misérables matters
One of the reasons Les Misérables has remained so popular is in large part due to the resounding nature of the story. The poverty and inequality depicted in the musical, as well as the highly captivating friction between law and justice, are just as relevant today as they were when the musical premiered in the 1980s.
These themes remain a topic of conversation whenever there is any sort of political or societal upheaval. Hugo experienced plenty of political upheaval firsthand: the novel depicts the very real, failed June Rebellion of 1832, which Hugo reportedly witnessed while caught in the streets. He also wrote the book while in political exile.
When the musical premiered in the 1980s, the UK was experiencing its own unrest as it grappled with economic restructuring, unemployment and industrial decline.
Through the decades, the show has even because a symbol of protest and resistance: ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ has been heard at protests all over the world. The song, repeated twice in the production, serves as a call for ordinary people to revolt against injustice and overcome adversity.
What to expect on the night
If you’re heading to see Les Misérables, we’ve got all the details you’re going to want to keep in mind.
- Clocking in at 2 hours and 50 minutes, this is a powerhouse musical that can only be described as epic. From the big ensemble numbers to the impressive set design, the scale of Les Misérables is nothing to sneeze at.
- This is a sweeping drama that knows how to tug at the heartstrings, and while there certainly are funny moments, there is plenty of heaviness. Themes of death, poverty, prostitution, war, loss and suicide run through the entire show, even in its uplifting moments.
- There is some content that won’t be suitable for children, so if you’re planning on going as a family, it’s best to be prepared. The recommended age is 7+, and children younger than 5 won’t be permitted.
- The production also has gunfire, smoke and flashing lights, which some may struggle with.
If you want to see the show, but have some additional access needs, the production does regularly schedule offer Captioned, Audio Described and BSL-interpreted performances. At the time of publishing, there are three scheduled performances coming up this autumn:
- Audio Described Performance: Saturday 5 September 2026 at 2:30pm, with a touch tour: 12:45pm
- Captioned Performance: Saturday 26 September 2026 at 2:30pm
- British Sign Language Performance: Tuesday 17 November 2026 at 7:30pm
Is Les Misérables worth seeing?
YES. Les Misérables is the kind of show you must experience for yourself at least once. It’s engrained in the cultural zeitgeist so much so that even people who have never seen the show can probably name a song from it. Out of context, snippets of the show sell it short, but the whole production is a spectacle that shouldn’t be missed.
There’s a unique moment in theatre, when you realise the audience is all having the same emotional experience as they watch a production. The beauty of Les Misérables is that it delivers that ten-fold. From ‘Bring Him Home’ and ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ to ‘One Day More’ and ‘I Dreamed a Dream,’ this musical has moment after cathartic moment.
Once you see it, you’ll be counting down the days until you can see it again.
Book tickets to Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre here
Plan your visit to Les Misérables
- Theatre: Sondheim Theatre,
- Booking dates: Booking to 13 March 2027
- Performance schedule: 2 hours 50 minutes (including interval)
- Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes (including interval)
- Age guidance: 7+; children under 5 will not be admitted
- Getting there: Nearest tube: Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly line, Bakerloo line)
- Access: Access performances on 5 September 2026 (Audio Described), 26 September 2026 (Captioned) and 17 November 2026 (British Sign Language)
- Tickets: Book tickets from £32
Sondheim Theatre, London
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