Cameron Mackintosh announced today that Ramin Karimloo will extend his run playing ‘Jean Valjean’ in the legendary musical “LES MISÉRABLES” at the Queen’s Theatre until 31 March 2012. David Shannon will then return to the role of ‘Jean Valjean’ from Tuesday 3 April – Saturday 16 June 2012. He will be followed by Gerónimo Rauch who will play the role from Monday 18 June 2012 until Saturday 15 June 2013
The current West End company also includes Hadley Fraser as ‘Javert’, Caroline Sheen as ‘Fantine’, Alexia Khadime as ‘Eponine’, Craig Mather as ‘Marius’, Cameron Blakely as ‘Thénardier’, Katy Secombe as ‘Madame Thénardier’, Liam Tamne as ‘Enjolras’ and Lisa-Anne Wood as ‘Cosette’.
David Shannon has previously played ‘Jean Valjean’ in “Les Misérables” at the Queen’s Theatre. His other West End credits include ‘The Phantom’ in “The Phantom of the Opera”, creating the role of ‘John’ in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Beautiful Game”, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, ‘Chris’ in “Miss Saigon” at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, ‘The Man’ in “Whistle Down The Wind”, ‘Rum Tum Tugger’ in “Cats” and ‘Guillaume’ in “Martin Guerre”. He also received critical acclaim for playing the title role in ‘Sweeney Todd’ at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and most recently played Judas in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ with the RTE Concert Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
No stranger to “Les Misérables”, Gerónimo Rauch is an Argentinian singer and actor who is currently playing ‘Jean Valjean’ in the New 25th Anniversary production of Los Miserables in Barcelona. Gerónimo has also previously played the roles of ‘Feuilly’ and ‘Marius’ in Les Misérables in Argentina, as well as taking part in the 25th Anniversary celebration of “Les Misérables at The 02”. In 2002 Gerónimo took part in the Buenos Aires version of TV talent show “Popstars”, and was successfully chosen to become a founder member of the band Mambrú, whose debut album went Triple Platinum, selling over 120,00 copies. Previous theatre credits inlcude ‘Doody’ in “Grease” at Astral Theatre in Beunos Aires, ‘Jesus’ in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Teatro Lope de Vega in Madrid, and ‘Mary Sunshine’ in “Chicago” at the Teatro Coliseum in Madrid.
As well as celebrating its 25th Birthday in October 2010, the legendary musical “LES MISÉRABLES” made theatrical history with an international first - three different productions playing in London simultaneously. 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 in 1985) 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 performance.
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. Shooting for the film of “LES MISÉRABLES” starts in March and stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Aaron Tveit and Samantha Barks. It is produced by Cameron Mackintosh with Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan of Working Title and Universal Studios and is directed by Tom Hooper.
