Congratulation to Les Misérables for its 38th anniversary of London premiere!

It was the first production in English, 5 years after a French-language concept album was released in 1980. After two years of preparation, Cameron Mackintosh together with the Royal Shakespeare Company opened the show at the Barbican Centre.

The previews started on 28 September 1985 and the official English-language world premiere was held on 8 October 1985.

After many years of success, it's hard to believe that the initial reviews for Les Misérables were mostly negative. Fortunately, the public opinion was very different. The tickets were sold out very quickly for the three-month booking period.

After the initial three-month run the show transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4th December 1985. On 3rd April 2004, Les Misérables moved again to the Queen’s Theatre – now called Sondheim Theatre – with some revisions of staging and since the show has been playing there.

The show is based on Victor Hugo's 1862 French novel, Les Misérables follows the life of Jean Valjean - from his 19-year imprisonment for stealing a loaf of bread to his reformation as an industrialist while being constantly pursued by the morally strict police inspector Javert. The score of Les Misérables includes hit songs such as 'I Dreamed a Dream', 'On My Own', 'Bring Him Home', 'One Day More', 'Do You Hear The People Sing?' and many more.

Les Misérables became the West End’s longest-running show on 7th October 2009. The West End production recently celebrated its 15.000th performance.

Watch the West End trailer here: