Booking to 2 October 2010
This October the legendary musical Les Miserables will celebrate its 25th birthday. To mark the occasion, the show’s producer Cameron Mackintosh is staging an extraordinary one-off concert at the O2 Arena in London on Sunday 3 October.
The concert will see stars from the original London cast come together with current casts and major celebrities to celebrate the birthday, including Nick Jonas, Alfie Boe, Norm Lewis, Matt Lucas, Lea Salonga, Jenny Galloway, Camilla Kerslake and 300 performers and musicians.
Les Miserables will also make theatrical history with three different productions running simultaneously in London: the original production at the Queen’s Theatre, the new 25th anniversary UK tour which will come to the Barbican for a short season, and the exclusive concert at the O2.
In October this year, the legendary musical LES MISÉRABLES will celebrate its 25th birthday by making theatrical history with an international first – three different productions in London at the same time. The Original Production at the Queen’s Theatre, the New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican, London and now, stars in their multitudes will gather for a celebratory concert at The O2 on Sunday 3rd October, when all three productions and many of the shows original cast will come together to celebrate this momentous occasion.
The 25th Anniversary concert at The O2 will host a company of over 300 actors and musicians, including Alfie Boe as ‘Jean Valjean’, Nick Jonas as ‘Marius’, Norm Lewis as ‘Javert’, Matt Lucas as ‘Thénardier’, Lea Salonga as ‘Fantine’, Jenny Galloway as ‘Madame Thénardier’, Camilla Kerslake as ‘Cosette’ and the casts of the Original Production at the Queen’s Theatre, the New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican, London and members of the Original 1985 London cast.
Heading The O2 Concert cast is Alfie Boe, one of the country’s leading tenors and best selling recording artists. Alfie shot to fame while starring in Baz Luhrmann’s “La Boheme” on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for his performance. His other credits include a nomination for a Classical Brit Award for his album “Onward” and a sell-out production of “The Merry Widow” at the London Coliseum. His future opera engagements will see Alfie return to the English National Opera to sing ‘Nadir’ in a new production of “The Pearl Fishers” and also his return to the Royal Opera House in Gounod’s”Roméo et Juliette”.
Matt Lucas is one of Britain’s most successful comic actors and writers. His TV credits include the multi award-winning “Little Britain”, “Shooting Stars”, BBC’s “Wind in the Willows” and most recently Tim Burton’s film of “Alice in Wonderland”. Jenny Galloway is regarded as a legendary ‘Madame Thénardier’, and has played the part many times, including the 10th Anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall. She has also created the roles of ‘Rosie’ in “Mamma Mia!” for which she won an Olivier Award, and ‘Mrs Brill’ in “Mary Poppins” both in the West End and on Broadway.
Lea Salonga will fly in from Manilla to play ‘Fantine’. No stranger to “Les Miz”, Lea has played ‘Eponine’ in London and ‘Fantine’ on Broadway. She became an international star by creating the role of ‘Kim’ in the original production of “Miss Saigon” at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and subsequently on Broadway. Lea won a multitude of awards for this role, including the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theatre World Awards. Lea will join her former “Les Miz” co-star Norm Lewis, who has just received rave reviews for “Sondheim on Sondheim” at Studio 54 in New York. Norm played ‘Javert’ in the Broadway production of “Les Misérables” and his other Broadway credits include ‘John’ in “Miss Saigon” and ‘King Triton’ in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”.
Nick Jonas is one third of the phenomenally successful pop music artists, the Jonas Brothers. Worldwide they have sold over 8 million albums, played to millions of fans on three continents, earned dozens of international awards and have garnered 36 gold and platinum album certificates. No stranger to “Les Miz”, Nick played the part of ‘Gavroche’ for the final nine months of the show’s original Broadway run. Camilla Kerslake is an English classical crossover singer who became the first signing to Gary Barlow’s new record label. Her debut album shot to number 4 in the Classical Album Charts and has been nominated for a Classical Brit Award. Camilla also sings the Christian hymn, “How Can I Keep from Singing?” in the 2009 Waitrose supermarket Christmas advert.
Nick will also appear in the London production of Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre for three weeks only from 21 June 2010.
The O2 Concert will also feature the casts of the original London production (still playing to packed houses at the Queen’s Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue), the cast of the acclaimed New 25th Anniversary Production and members of the original 1985 cast. The new production, which is breaking box office records all over the UK and opening in countries all over the world will play for 20 performances only (14 September – 2 October) at the Barbican, London where the show originally premiered.
The magnificent score of “LES MISÉRABLES” includes the songs, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’, ‘On My Own’, ‘Stars’, ‘Bring Him Home’, ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’, ‘One Day More’, ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’, ‘Master Of The House’ and many more.
“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 “LES MISÉRABLES” 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 London’s West End. In January 2010, the West End production broke another record by celebrating an historic 10,000th performances.
Seen by over 56 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages, “LES MISÉRABLES” is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular musicals ever written, with new productions continually opening around the globe, with seven more currently scheduled. There have been 36 cast recordings of “LES MISÉRABLES”, including the multi-platinum London cast recording, the Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast and complete symphonic albums and the soon to be released live recording of the New 25th Anniversary production. The video of the 10th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall Gala Concert has sold millions of copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling musical videos ever in the UK. There are over 2,500 productions of the Les Misérables School’s Edition scheduled or being performed by over 125,000 school children in the UK, US and Australia, making it the most successful musical ever produced in schools. Cameron Mackintosh is currently developing a film of “LES MISÉRABLES” with Working Title and Universal.
Cameron Mackintosh’s production of “LES MISÉRABLES” is written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel and additional material by James Fenton. The original London 1985 production of “LES MISÉRABLES” was adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird.
The New 25th Anniversary production and the O2 Concert are directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell and designed by Matt Kinley. Original costumes by Andreane Neofitou, additional costumes by Christine Rowland, lighting by Patrick Woodroffe and Paule Constable and sound by Mick Potter.
Show Information
Important Notes
Seats with a £30 face value are restricted view. Tickets will not be post out until 7 days BEFORE the event
Venue Information
O2 Arena, Peninsula Square , London, SE10 0DXNearest Tube or Train: North Greenwich (Jubilee Line)
Nearest Buses: 108, 129, 132, 161, 188, 422, 472, 486
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I’ve just seen this production on my local PBS station and been blown away by the vocals and acting! It’s a breathtaking experience. This performance is far, far vocally superior to the movie version (which has its own merit, however). Had to buy this DVD. Alfie’s unrivaled voice brings me to tears no matter how often I hear him. Wonderful music like “Les Mis”, done exceptionally well, makes the soul soar. And it, too, helps us “touch the face of God.”