Alfie Boe and Michael Ball to return to the West End in concert version of Les Misérables
6 February 2019, 15:46
The all-star cast will include the musical theatre duo Alfie Boe and Michael Ball alongside Matt Lucas, Carrie Hope Fletcher and John Owen-Jones.
This summer, the West End stage will welcome a concert production of musical Les Misérables with a cast of musical theatre stars.
Les Misérables is the world's longest running musical and is now in its 34th year in London. But it will be temporarily closing its doors when its current home, the Queen's Theatre, undergoes refurbishment until December 2019.
But Les Mis fans won't go without for long, because this concert version of the show will be opening at the nearby Gielgud Theatre this summer.
The new concert version of the show will star a cast of West End icons and returning musicians who made their name in this show, including Alfie Boe and Michael Ball.
Who will appear in the concert version of Les Misérables?
Alfie Boe will take the main role of Jean Valjean. He has previously performed the role in the musical in 2011 and in the show's 25th anniversary concert at The O2 Arena. Fellow West End pro John Owen-Jones will play Valjean for three performances a week. He has previously graced the West End and Broadway stages of Les Mis in the role of Jean Valjean.
Michael Ball will return to the Les Mis stage as Javert, the justice-seeking inspector who makes it his life's mission to hunt down Jean Valjean. Ball first rose to fame when he played Marius in Les Mis when he was only 23 years old.
The cast also includes Carrie Hope Fletcher. She returns to the musical after playing both young and grown-up Eponine on the West End in 2001 and 2014 respectively. Now, she takes on the taxing role of Fantine who sings the iconic ‘I Dreamed a Dream’.
Matt Lucas will play the role of drunken inn-keeper, otherwise known as ‘Master of the House’, Thénardier. He first played the role in the 2010 celebration of the musical's 25th anniversary at The O2 Arena alongside Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean. He later went on to play the role in the West End production a year later. He will be joined by Katy Secombe as his on-stage wife, Madame Thénardier.
The show's producer, Cameron Mackintosh, announced the news today, stating that for 16 weeks only: “Michael Ball (Javert), Alfie Boe (Jean Valjean), Carrie Hope Fletcher (Fantine) and Matt Lucas (Thénardier) will lead a large cast and orchestra of over sixty-five in the concert version of Les Misérables.”
Mackintosh added: “I am thrilled that the plan to keep Les Misérables running in London with a staged concert version on Shaftesbury Avenue during the enforced closure period has attracted such a stellar cast, with Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Carrie Hope Fletcher, John Owen Jones, Matt Lucas and Katy Secombe, who all have a very close personal connection to the history of the show. Of course I am a bit miserable that Michael, the gorgeous young actor that created the student Marius in the original production, is now for the first time old enough to play the implacable inspector Javert, an amazing match for Alfie’s career defining portrayal of Jean Valjean.”
The final show before the refurbishment will be on 13 July 2019. This new concert staging of the show will run from 10 August – 30 November 2019. Tickets for the concerts will go on sale at 12pm tomorrow, 7 February.
