LES MISERABLES STARRING MATT LUCAS AND ALFIE BOE - PRESS RELEASE

Following their critically acclaimed performances in the Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Concert at the O2, Cameron Mackintosh is delighted to announce that Alfie Boe will play ‘Jean Valjean’ and Matt Lucas will play ‘Thénardier’ in “LES MISÉRABLES” at the Queen’s Theatre from 23 June 2011. Alfie will play the role of ‘Jean Valjean’ until 26 November 2011 and Matt will play the role of ‘Thénardier’ until 10 September 2011.

Alfie Boe is one of the country’s leading tenors and best selling recording artists. His most recent top 10 album, "Bring Him Home", is now certified "GOLD" with over 100,000 sales. Alfie shot to fame while starring in Baz Luhrmann’s “La Boheme” on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for his performance. His other credits include a nomination for a Classical Brit Award for his album “Onward” and a sell-out production of “The Merry Widow” at the London Coliseum. His recent opera engagements have included a return to the English National Opera to sing ‘Nadir’ in a new production of “The Pearl Fishers” and also his return to the Royal Opera House in Gounod’s“Roméo et Juliette”.

Matt Lucas is one of Britain’s most successful comic actors and writers. His TV credits include “Come Fly With Me” and the multi award-winning “Little Britain”, both for the BBC. His other credits include “Shooting Stars”, “Wind in the Willows” and most recently Tim Burton’s film of “Alice in Wonderland”.

Hadley Fraser will also join the cast on 23 June to play ‘Javert’. Hadley was also in the Anniversary Concert at the O2, where he played ‘Grantaire’. His other credits include “The Pirate Queen” on Broadway and ‘Marius’ in “Les Misérables” at the Palace Theatre.

As well as celebrating it’s 25th Birthday in October last year, the legendary musical “LES MISÉRABLES” made theatrical history with an international first - three different productions in London at the same time. The Original Production at the Queen’s Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, the acclaimed New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican (where the show originally premiered) and the celebratory concert at The O2.

The magnificent score of “LES MISÉRABLES” includes the songs, “I Dreamed a Dream”, “On My Own”, “Stars”, “Bring Him Home”, “Do You Hear the People Sing?”, “One Day More”, “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”, “Master Of The House” and many more.

“LES MISÉRABLES” originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen’s Theatre on 3 April 2004. When “LES MISÉRABLES” celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the World’s Longest Running Musical, surpassing the record previously held by “Cats” in London’s West End. In January 2010, the West End production broke another record by celebrating its historic 10,000th performances.

Seen by nearly 60 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages, “LES MISÉRABLES” is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular musicals ever written, with new productions continually opening around the globe, with seven more currently scheduled. There have been 36 cast recordings of “LES MISÉRABLES”, including the multi-platinum London cast recording, the Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast and complete symphonic albums and the recently released live recording of the New 25th Anniversary Production. The video of the 10th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall Gala Concert has sold millions of copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling musical videos ever in the UK. There are over 2,500 productions of the Les Misérables School’s Edition scheduled or being performed by over 125,000 school children in the UK, US and Australia, making it the most successful musical ever produced in schools. Cameron Mackintosh is currently developing a film of “LES MISÉRABLES” with Working Title and Universal.

Cameron Mackintosh’s production of “LES MISÉRABLES” is written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel and additional material by James Fenton. The original London 1985 production of “LES MISÉRABLES” was adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird.