Billed as "the world's most popular musical," Les Miserables has been translated into numerous languages and has been performed in theaters all over the world. With music by Claude-Michel Schoenberg, book by Schoenberg and Alain Boublil, and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, adapted by Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, the musical began life in 1980 in a Paris sports arena. In 1985, Cameron Mackintosh took over as producer in collaboration with London's Royal Shakespeare Company, thus beginning Les Miserables ' legacy as one of the most significant musical theater works of the late twentieth century.

Based on Victor Hugo's somber and sprawling novel, the musical Les Miserables brings to the stage the tale of Jean Valjean, a man who is determined to survive and to do good in the face of vengeful persecution. Freed from prison after serving hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread, Valjean initially reverts to...