About Les Miserables

• The international megahit will have one more day and one more destiny on Broadway as it returns to the Imperial Theater where it ran for more than 5,000 performances. A triumph in London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, and around the world, Les Miserables has played in 42 countries and over 319 cities in 22 different languages. The London production has played over 10,000 performances and is now in its 28th year. Romance, revolution, comedy, and tragedy overwhelm the audience as they thrill to such classic songs as “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Castle on a Cloud,” “Bring Him Home,” “One My Own,” “Do You Hear the People Sing,” and “Stars.” 

  Set in France from 1815 to 1832 and based on Victor Hugo’s epic, Les Miserables tells the heroic tale of the saintly Jean Valjean and his pursuit by the intractable policeman Javert. The story journeys from Valjean’s dank prison to the barricades of a student uprising and the sewers of Paris as Javert relentlessly tracks down Valjean whose only crime is doing good. There’s also the heartbreaking Fantine, the tragic Eponine, the valiant Marius, the sweet Cosette, and the comically vulgar Thernadiers, each swept up in this unforgotten spectacle. 

  The new staging features redesigned scenery based on paintings by Hugo to illustrate his book as well as new orchestrations and new staging by Laurence Connor and James Powell. 

  Run time 
  Two hours and 50 minutes (one intermission) 

  Good for kids? 
  The show’s running time is a trifle long for the little ones, but tweens and teens should be able to handle the powerful story and soaring tunes. 

  Did you know? 
  The original Broadway production of Les Miserables opened at the Broadway Theatre in 1987 and later transferred to the Imperial, for a total run of 6,680 performances. A 2006 revival played the Broadhurst and ran for 463 performances. 

  Les Miserables holds the record as the fourth-longest running show in Broadway history after Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and Chicago. 

  The story has been filmed several times with versions in 1935 with Frederic March and Charles Laughton; 1952 with Michael Rennie and Robert Newton; 1978 with Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins (for TV); 1998 with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush; and the Oscar-winning 2012 film version of the musical with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway.