Les Misérables (musical)

Les Misérables, commonly known as Les Mis, is a musical based on the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. The name, which is French, is pronounced /le mi ze ʀɑbl/.

"Les Mis" tells the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his attempts to start a new life and make the world a better place. The musical was written by the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and the librettist Alain Boublil, and opened in September 1980 at the Palais des Sports in Paris for a projected eight-week season — it ran for sixteen weeks, closing only because the venue was already committed to other projects after that point. In 1982, English producer Cameron Mackintosh began work on an English language version, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. The first English production, produced by Mackintosh and directed by Trevor Nunn, opened on October 8, 1985, in the Barbican Theatre, London. The Broadway production that opened in 1987 was nominated for twelve Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, and ran until 2003; at the time of its closing it was the third-longest running show in the history of Broadway.

It came first in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals" (wherein Nation refers to the United Kingdom). [1] On 8 October 2005, the show celebrated its 20th anniversary performance at London's Queen's Theatre, where it is currently booking to 6 January 2007 - overtaking Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats as longest running West End musical ever.

The musical was written by the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and the librettist Alain Boublil. It opened in September 1980 at the Palais des Sports in Paris for a projected eight-week season; such was its success that it ran for sixteen weeks, closing only because the venue was already committed to other projects after that point. Les Misérables was a part of the major European influence on Broadway in the 80's along with Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and Miss Saigon.

Well-known songs from the musical include "I Dreamed a Dream", "Master of the House", "Do You Hear the People Sing?", "On My Own", "A Little Fall Of Rain", "Bring Him Home," "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", "Stars", "At the End of the Day", and "One Day More".

-- Now Playing - Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone.

Here they talked of revolution.
Here it was they lit the flame.
Here they sang about `tomorrow'
And tomorrow never came.

From the table in the corner
They could see a world reborn
And they rose with voices ringing
I can hear them now!
The very words that they had sung
Became their last communion
On the lonely barricade at dawn.

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me
That I live and you are gone.
There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.

Phantom faces at the window.
Phantom shadows on the floor.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will meet no more.

Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me
What your sacrifice was for
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will sing no more.