Les Miserables

Les Misérables (, French: [le mizeʁabl]), colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz (), is a sung-through musical based on the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. It is one of the most popular and highest-grossing stage musicals of all time. It was conceived in the late 1970s by French librettist Alain Boublil, and the original French work features music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and a book by Boublil and Schönberg. The show was recorded as a concept album, which was released in 1980, and then presented on stage for four months at the Palais des Sports. In 1983 the core material of the original French production was adapted into an English-language version by producer Cameron Mackintosh and Royal Shakespeare Company directors Trevor Nunn and John Caird. This version, substantially expanded and reorganized from the original, opened in London in 1985, and despite mixed reviews, met with great success with audiences. Les Miserables has been running in London continuously since then, making it the longest-running musical in the West End and the second longest-running musical in the world after the original off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks. Many other long-running productions followed on Broadway and around the world. A film adaptation was released in 2012. Set in early 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells the story of Jean Valjean, a French convict, and his journey of redemption. After stealing a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child, Valjean is imprisoned for 19 years and released in 1815. When a bishop inspires him with a tremendous act of mercy, Valjean breaks his parole, changes his name and starts his life anew. He becomes wealthy and adopts an orphan, Cosette. A police inspector named Javert pursues Valjean over the decades in a single-minded quest for "justice." The plot leads The Characters to Paris, where they are swept up in the events of a revolutionary period in France, as a group of young idealists attempts to overthrow the government from a street barricade.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Les Misérables (musical)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.