Dream on...

As the world's longest-running musical turns 40. MARION MCMULLEN looks at the global success of Les Misérables

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Les Mis at London's Palace Theatre

THEY have been manning the barricades for 40 years and the appeal of Les Misérables has taken the musical all over the world.

Some theatre critics blasted the opening night calling it witless, over long and synthetic entertainment ... but audiences disagreed.

They gave the production a 10-minute standing ovation when it opened at the Barbican Theatre in London on October 8, 1985, and a record-breaking 5,000 tickets were snapped up the following day.

Critic Edward Behr predicted back then that Les Mis would be “a musical that makes history”.

His prediction has proved right and 40 years later Les Misérables is still going strong and finding new audiences.

Bringing French writer Victor Hugo's 19th-century novel to the stage first began with the release of a concept album by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.

A copy of the album landed on the desk of Cats producer Cameron Mackintosh and he quickly saw its potential. He worked for two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company to develop the story of Jean Valjean, who is imprisoned in 19thcentury France for stealing a loaf of bread and then spends years avoiding being recaptured by the unstoppable prison guard Javert.

The original cast saw Irish tenor Colm Wilkinson as Valjean.