Les Misérables (musical)

Les Misérables, commonly known as Les Mis, is a musical based on the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It tells the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his attempts to start a new life and make the world a better place.

Well-known songs from the musical include "I Dreamed a Dream", "Do You Hear the People Sing?", "On My Own", and "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables".

The musical was written by the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg[?] and the librettist Alain Boublil[?], opening in 1980 in Paris.

The English version (lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer[?]) opened on October 8, 1985 in the Barbican Theatre[?], London. Two months later it moved to the Palace Theatre, where as of June 2003 it is still running. On October 8, 1995 the show's 10th anniversary was celebrated with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall; one of the finalés was a performance of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" sung a line at a time by seventeen Jean Valjeans, each from a different production in a different country.

The Broadway production ran from March 12, 1987 to May 18, 2003 (its scheduled end on March 15, 2003, having been postponed by a surge in public interest) at the Imperial Theatre[?]. After 6,680 performances in sixteen years, it is the second-longest-running Broadway musical after Cats.