Taking Text To The Stage
Illawarra Mercury
Thursday February 3, 2005
The idea of turning Les Miserables into an opera is nothing new. Puccini and other 19th century composers contemplated the idea but it didn't actually happen until the 1970s.
That's when co-composer Alain Boublil saw the British musical Oliver! and got an idea.Boublil and his long-time partner Claude-Michel Schonberg then set about turning Victor Hugo's Les Miserables into a work of musical theatre.To begin such a project, Schonberg said, "You must love the book. It's like a big river, that book - you have the feeling of the river rolling and rolling until the sea. When I read the book, I was already listening to the music."After two years of work, a two-hour demonstration was recorded. Released in 1980, the recording sold 260,000 copies. The first stage version of the work was produced at the Palais des Sports (Paris) and seen by 500,000 people.The work came to the attention of British producer Cameron Mackintosh, who commissioned an English translation. Mackintosh opened the show at London's Barbican Theatre under the auspices of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1985.While reviews were mixed, the public loved it and the Les Miserables phenomenon was up and running.To date, it's been performed in more than 20 countries, including Australia, Japan, United States, Iceland, Austria, France, Canada and South Africa.It's also won numerous international theatrical and musical awards.
© 2005 Illawarra Mercury